Defiant (Ability)

Defiant (Japanese: まけんき Competitive Spirit) is an Ability introduced in Generation V.

Effect

In battle

When a stat of a Pokémon with this Ability is lowered by an opponent, its Attack is increased by two stages. Defiant will not activate if the Pokémon with this Ability lowers its own stats (such as with Close Combat) or if its stats are lowered by an ally, but will activate if its stats are lowered as a result of its barrier being broken in a Max Raid Battle.

If multiple stats are lowered (such as by Memento or Venom Drench), Defiant activates for each stat lowered.

Defiant activates before a held White Herb. If the Pokémon no longer has any negative stat stages after Defiant is applied, the White Herb will not have the chance to activate.

Outside of battle

Defiant has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Defiant

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0056		Mankey	Fighting		Fighting	Vital Spirit	Anger PointGen IV+
0057		Primeape	Fighting		Fighting	Vital Spirit	Anger PointGen IV+
0083		Farfetch'd	Normal	Flying	Keen Eye	Inner Focus
0145		Zapdos Galarian Form	Fighting	Flying		None	None
0432		Purugly	Normal		Normal	Thick Fat	Own Tempo
0624		Pawniard	Dark	Steel		Inner Focus	Pressure
0625		Bisharp	Dark	Steel		Inner Focus	Pressure
0628		Braviary	Normal	Flying	Keen Eye	Sheer Force
0641		Tornadus Incarnate Forme	Flying		Flying	Prankster	None
0642		Thundurus Incarnate Forme	Electric	Flying	Prankster	None
0766		Passimian	Fighting		Fighting	Receiver	None
0862		Obstagoon	Dark	Normal	Reckless	Guts
0870		Falinks	Fighting		Fighting	Battle Armor	None
0979		Annihilape	Fighting	Ghost	Vital Spirit	Inner Focus
0983		Kingambit	Dark	Steel		Supreme Overlord	Pressure
1017		Ogerpon Teal Mask	Grass		Grass		None	None
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

• In Pokémon Legends: Arceus's internal code, Hisuian Braviary's Hidden Ability is Defiant instead of Tinted Lens.
• Prior to Generation IX, Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon had Defiant instead of Competitive.

In other games

Description

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

• Grimsley's Bisharp is revealed to have Defiant as its Ability.

Trivia

• This Ability can trigger a harmless text glitch when activated in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity.
• This Ability originated as a TCG Poké-BODY.

In other languages

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.