Reckless (Ability)

Reckless (Japanese: すてみ Life-Risking) is an Ability introduced in Generation IV. Prior to Generation V, it was the signature Ability of Hitmonlee.

Effect

In battle

Reckless increases the power of moves that have recoil or crash damage by 20%, except Struggle. Because recoil damage is proportional to damage dealt, Pokémon with Reckless will also take increased recoil damage when using moves boosted by Reckless.

Affected moves

The table below lists the moves affected by Reckless, as well as the Pokémon that can have Reckless and learn those moves.

Move Type Cat. Power and Boost Learned by Axe Kick  Fighting  Physical 120 144 Brave Bird  Flying  Physical 120 144 Double-Edge  Normal  Physical 120 144 ***** Flare Blitz  Fire  Physical 120 144 Head Charge  Normal  Physical 120 144 Head Smash  Rock  Physical 150 180 High Jump Kick  Fighting  Physical 130 156 Jump Kick  Fighting  Physical 100 120 Submission  Fighting  Physical 80 96 ** Supercell Slam  Electric  Physical 100 120 Take Down  Normal  Physical 90 108 * Wave Crash  Water  Physical 120 144 Wild Charge  Electric  Physical 90 108

Although the following moves are affected by the Ability, they currently cannot be learned by any Pokémon with Reckless. They may, however, be called via Metronome, Mirror Move, Copycat, or Mimic, or be used by a Pokémon that gained Reckless by an Ability like Trace or Receiver or a move such as Skill Swap or Role Play.

Outside of battle

Reckless has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Reckless

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0106		Hitmonlee	Fighting		Fighting	Limber	Gen IV+	Unburden
0111		Rhyhorn	Ground	Rock	Lightning Rod	Rock Head
0112		Rhydon	Ground	Rock	Lightning Rod	Rock Head
0396		Starly	Normal	Flying	Keen Eye	None	Gen VI+
0397		Staravia	Normal	Flying	Intimidate	None
0398		Staraptor	Normal	Flying	Intimidate	None
0464		Rhyperior	Ground	Rock	Lightning Rod	Solid Rock
0500		Emboar	Fire	Fighting	Blaze	None
0550		Basculin Red-Striped Form	Water		Water		Adaptability	Mold Breaker
0619		Mienfoo	Fighting		Fighting	Inner Focus	Regenerator
0620		Mienshao	Fighting		Fighting	Inner Focus	Regenerator
0626		Bouffalant	Normal		Normal		Sap Sipper	Soundproof
0862		Obstagoon	Dark	Normal		Guts	Defiant
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 the Generation V games, Starly has no Hidden Ability, but a Starly with its Hidden Ability flag set will evolve into Staravia with its Hidden Ability Reckless and can produce Starly with their Hidden Ability flag set when bred. A Starly with its Hidden Ability flag set will have its Ability changed to Reckless when transferred to Pokémon Bank.

• In Pokémon Black and White, Blue-Striped Basculin have Reckless as their second standard Ability; however, a Blue-Striped Basculin with Rock Head can be obtained from an in-game trade in White. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, wild Blue-Striped Basculin have Rock Head as their second standard Ability, but Blue-Striped Basculin bred in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 have Reckless as their second standard Ability. In Generation VI, Blue-Striped Basculin have Rock Head as their second standard Ability, and Blue-Striped Basculin with Reckless transferred to Pokémon Bank have their Ability changed to Rock Head.

Pokéstar Studios opponents with Reckless

F-00  Steel  Normal  HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 100 100 100 100 100 100

In other games

Mystery Dungeon series

In Explorers of Time and Darkness and Explorers of Sky, Reckless increases the damage of affected moves by 50%.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, the damage and recoil damage (including crash damage in the case of Jump Kick missing) of these moves is increased by 20%. The Ability does not affect the moves Struggle or Final Gambit.

Description

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

• Alder's Bouffalant was revealed to have Reckless as its Ability.

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.