Pokémon Champions Fake Out Guide
Fake Out is the best tempo tool in doubles: a guaranteed turn-one flinch. Here's exactly how it works, why the faster Fake Out wins the mirror, every legal Reg M-B user by Speed, and the full set of counters.
How Fake Out works
Fake Out is a Normal-type physical move with +3 priority that deals a little damage and always makes the target flinch, so the foe does nothing for the rest of the turn. It is the single best tempo tool in doubles: it goes before almost everything and denies the opponent an action. The catch is that it only works the turn its user switches in. Stay in a second turn and Fake Out fails. You have to pivot out and back to re-arm it.
You use it to stop a fast threat from firing, to chip a Focus Sashso your partner's hit finishes the KO, or simply to buy a free turn for a teammate to set up, redirect, or set speed control.
The faster Fake Out goes first. Fake Out is a +3 priority move, but priority only decides the bracket. Inside the +3 bracket the normal Speed order applies. So when both sides bring a Fake Out user and both switched in this turn, the faster user flinches first and the slower one never gets to click it. That is why the Fake Out mirror is decided by base Speed, and why the table below is sorted by it.
Legal Reg M-B Fake Out users, by Speed
Read it top-down: whoever is higher wins the mirror. A Fake Out lead against a fasterFake Out means you eat the flinch first, so if the enemy runs Weavile (125) and you run Incineroar (60), don't expect to flinch anything on the turn you both lead. Bring a Ghost, a Quick Guard, or your own faster flincher instead.
| Speed | Pokémon | Set / why you run it |
|---|---|---|
| 135 | Lopunny-MegaNORFIG | The fastest Fake Out in the format. Wins nearly every mirror, then Scrappy High Jump Kick. |
| 130 | Raichu-Mega-YAELE | Fast Fake Out + Encore/Electroweb disruption off a Special attacker. |
| 125 | WeavileDARICE | Fast Fake Out + Ice Shard revenge killer with Triple Axel pressure. |
| 120 | SneaslerAFIGPOI | Base-120 Fake Out on a hard-hitting Close Combat / Dire Claw attacker that also carries Quick Guard. |
| 117 | SalazzlePOIFIR | Fast Fake Out + Fake Tears / Encore chip support. |
| 110 | RaichuELE | Non-Mega fast Fake Out. A budget speedy flincher. |
| 106 | LiepardDAR | Prankster user that can Fake Out then Fake-Tears / Encore off the same slot. |
| 105 | LopunnyNOR | Fast Fake Out before it Megas. Becomes Scrappy (hits Ghosts) once it Mega Evolves. |
| 104 | MeowsticPSY | Fake Out + Prankster support (Light Screen / Helping Hand). |
| 100 | Kangaskhan-MegaBNOR | Fake Out EVERY turn it stays in (Parental Bond), plus Double-Edge pressure. |
| 100 | Medicham-MegaFIGPSY | Fake Out off Pure Power. The flinch chips, and the follow-up hits very hard. |
| 94 | TinkatonFAISTE | Fake Out + Gigaton Hammer; a bulky Fairy flincher. |
| 68 | Scrafty-MegaADARFIG | Bulky Fake Out with Intimidate and Fighting STAB. Trick Room friendly. |
| 60 | IncineroarSFIRDAR | The best support in the game: Fake Out + Intimidate + Parting Shot. Slow, so it loses fast mirrors. |
| 60 | GrimmsnarlADARFAI | Prankster Fake Out into screens / Taunt. Slow, but its flinch still lands under Trick Room. |
| 50 | SableyeADARGHO | Prankster Fake Out + Will-O-Wisp / Encore. Very slow, at home in Trick Room. |
How to counter Fake Out
Fake Out shapes almost every lead in the format, so having an answer matters. There are four clean ways to beat it: block the priority, be immune to the flinch, be immune to the move, or simply play around it.
1. Quick Guard: block the priority for the turn
Quick Guard is itself a +3 priority move that protects your whole sidefrom all priority moves for the turn: Fake Out, Sucker Punch, Extreme Speed, and priority Taunt all bounce off. It is the cleanest hard counter: lead Quick Guard on turn one and their Fake Out does nothing, freeing your partner to set up or attack unmolested. Note it can be worn down by repeated use, so it's a turn-one play, not a wall.
| Speed | Pokémon | Why this Quick Guard user |
|---|---|---|
| 126 | TalonflameAFIRFLY | Fast Tailwind lead that can Quick Guard the enemy Fake Out on the same turn it needs protection. |
| 120 | SneaslerAFIGPOI | Carries both Fake Out AND Quick Guard. Flinch them, or wall their priority. |
| 118 | HawluchaFIGFLY | Quick Guard partner for a setup sweeper. Blocks Fake Out so your +2 attacker fires. |
| 112 | Lucario-MegaFIGSTE | Quick Guard on a fast Steel. Covers a Trick Room setter from priority Taunt too. |
| 110 | Gallade-MegaPSYFIG | Quick Guard + Inner Focus (can't be flinched itself): a double answer to Fake Out. |
| 110 | Lycanroc-DuskAROC | Quick Guard + Accelerock. Blocks their priority, then out-priorities back. |
| 100 | Medicham-MegaPSYFIG | Quick Guard off a Pure Power attacker. Protect the team, then swing. |
| 85 | CeruledgeBFIRGHO | Ghost typing means it's Fake-Out-immune AND can Quick Guard for the partner. |
| 75 | Scizor-MegaBBUGSTE | Quick Guard + Bullet Punch: a slow, bulky priority answer. |
| 50 | KingambitBDARSTE | Quick Guard the turn you set up. Nothing flinches your Swords Dance, then Sucker Punch. |
2. Priority-blocking abilities
Three abilities make a Pokémon (and, importantly, sometimes only itself) immune to opposingpriority moves, Fake Out included. If the ability holder is on the field, the enemy simply can't target it with Fake Out at all.
- Armor Tail, Farigiraf (A-tier):the premier Trick Room setter. Nothing can Fake Out it or the Pokémon it's protecting, so it sets Trick Room unmolested. That's the whole reason it's the format's best TR lead.
- Queenly Majesty, Tsareena (B-tier): immune to priority, so Fake Out and Sucker Punch both fizzle. A great anti-priority pivot with U-turn and Trop Kick.
- Dazzling:the same effect as the two above; no meta-relevant Reg M-B user currently runs it, but be aware it exists on the same list of "can't be hit by priority" abilities.
3. Flinch & move immunity
Ghost-types are immune to the whole move. Fake Out is Normal, and Normal does 0 to Ghost: no damage and no flinch (a flinch only applies if the move connects). Leading a Ghost is the most common way to stop an enemy Fake Out lead.
| Speed | Pokémon | Ghost: Fake Out does 0, no flinch |
|---|---|---|
| 130 | Gengar-MegaAGHOPOI | Fast Ghost that walks in on Fake Out for free. |
| 120 | Froslass-MegaAICEGHO | Ghost lead immune to the flinch; Taunt the setter behind it. |
| 90 | AnnihilapeBFIGGHO | Ghost typing AND Inner Focus/Vital Spirit lines: doubly Fake-Out-proof. |
| 84 | GholdengoASTEGHO | Ghost/Steel: no flinch, and Good as Gold shrugs off status support too. |
| 78 | BasculegionSWATGHO | A top-tier S-rank threat whose Ghost half ignores Fake Out entirely. |
| 70 | SinistchaAGRAGHO | Bulky Ghost redirector. Fake Out does nothing to it. |
Inner Focus can never flinch. A Pokémon with Inner Focus ignores every flinch, so Fake Out does its chip and nothing else. In Reg M-B the notable users are Kangaskhan, Annihilape (which is also Ghost, so doubly immune), and Dragonite, a Dragon Dance sweeper that can set up straight through a Fake Out lead.
4. Play around it
- Protect the target. Protect (+4) beats Fake Out (+3), so if you read the flinch coming at your key Pokémon, Protect it and let the partner do the work. The Fake Out is wasted.
- Lead a Ghost or Inner-Focus mon so their turn-one Fake Out has no legal target it can usefully flinch.
- Bring your own faster Fake Out. As the users table shows, the faster flincher wins the mirror: Weavile (125) or Sneasler (120) beat Incineroar (60) every time they both lead.
- Don't over-value the flinch. A good opponent will Protect the obvious Fake Out target; when you read that, click a real attack at the other foe and save the flinch for later.
New to this? This is a deep dive on one concept. Start with the Great Ball toolkit guide, which teaches the full doubles toolkit from the ground up.