1. One-hit KO moves
True to their collective name, these moves have the potential to deplete the vitality of the foe completely. However, these moves — Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, and Sheer Cold — are effective rarely in standardized battle, and their efficiency increases against weaker Pokémon. And they don’t hit higher-level Pokémon. For beginning trainers it is conventional to institute these moves as a supplement to prominent competencies, but experienced trainers use these moves only if the Pokémon to know one has low offensive stats. Generally, these attacks do little more than provide a booster to offensive potential, and that’s where it stands.

2. Fly, Dig, Dive, and Bounce
In the Red, Blue, and Yellow versions, these moves protected the user completely from attack. However, this now gives your opponent a free turn to make up for a wasted attack or item administration to no avail. If your Pokémon used Dig and is in the dormitory stage, your opponent can simply switch out for a Flygon or Articuno, and Dig will be ineffective in that case. If the foe is a Dugtrio or Camerupt, it can simply pull a Magnitude or Earthquake, maybe even a Fissure, and they will still hit. In fact, Earthquake’s power will double when used against a Pokémon using Dig. If your Wailord used Dive, it would be vulnerable to Surf.

I’m not finished with you yet. Using Fly or Bounce (in Grumpig’s case) will not protect you from Gust, Sky Uppercut, Thunder, or Twister. The power of these attacks will double in this case. When hit by Twister in this situation, your Pokémon definitely still can flinch, annulling Fly or Bounce at the expense of the Power Points. These moves do not let you administer items without penalty, which is a common misconception. Use these moves only if you know your opponent can’t find the loophole.

3. Same-type Multiplier
If the type of an attack matches one of those of the Pokémon using it, the final damage is increased by 50 percent. This is pretty well known, but difficult to pin down efficiently. Teaching Magnitude, Earthquake, Mud Shot, and Fissure to your beloved Whiscash will involve this multiplier, granted, but if it happens to run into a Parasect, it’s screwed: all of these attacks are Ground-type, and since Parasect is of the Grass and Bug types, the attacks won’t do much, if anything, and one timed Solarbeam can put Whiscash out of its misery.

4. Held Items
Remember that administering an item directly from the Pack or Bag takes up one turn; so make a habit of equipping eligible items to your Pokémon. Keep in mind that Pokémon can use not all items. You may have noticed that a Hyper Potion restores 200 HP, but this does its job only when you, the trainer, administer it. Attaching a Hyper Potion won’t help your Pokémon at all, but an attached Berry/Oran Berry or Gold Berry/Sitrus Berry can be used by your Pokémon to restore HP between turns.

Another sort of held item is the power-up item, which can be Silk Scarf/Pink Bow, Charcoal, Mystic Water, Miracle Seed, Magnet, Metal Coat, Soft Sand, et cetera. These moves will raise the potency of certain types of attacks, but you should be careful about whom you attach it to. Remember that an Electric-type move’s power when used by an Electric-type Pokémon will increase by 50 percent, so it would be obstreperous to attach a Magnet for more effect. Invest instead in a move that isn’t the type of the user, such as a Shadow Ball on a Mewtwo being powered up by Spell Tag.