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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet appears to have set a new record for the most amount of damage dealt in a single turn - but several different Pokemon are now vying for the title.
For years, conventional wisdom suggested that the record holder was the lowly Shuckle. Known for its tanky properties, under the right circumstances, the Gen 2 turtle could deal more than 500 million damage in a single turn. A Shuckle from Gen 3 would need to be transferred to Gen 6 and leveled up to 100, where they'd have to compete in a triple battle against a level 1 Noibat, and hit it with a super-buffed Ice Ball. Pokemon expert Mx_Toniy_4869 (who we spoke to recently about their wide range of obscure Pokemon facts) outlined everything you'd need to get right to hit that target on Reddit.
Now, Mx_Toniy has returned with a moveset that claims to nearly double that damage output. Scarlet and Violet introduced a new Ghost-type move called Last Respects, which increases its base power by 50 each time a Pokemon on your team faints in battle. If your Last Respects-wielding 'mon was the last man standing, the move would offer a huge 300 base damage, making it one of the most powerful moves in the game, above last-ditch manoeuvres like Explosion.
But, as Mx_Toniy points out, that bonus doesn't increase based on the number of fainted Pokemon you have on your team, but on the number of times Pokemon on your team have fainted. Capping out at 100 stacks, with enough Revives, Last Respects' base power tops out at 5050 - making it the perfect candidate for a new all-powerful move.
Mx_Toniy's calculations suggest that a level 100 Slaking landing a fully-stacked, critical hit, max damage version of Last Respects on a level 1 Happiny, while buffed by Helping Hand, should deal a little under 1.15 billion damage. The setup for that move requires a not-insignificant amount of setup, including two very specific teams and a huge amount of RNG (outlined once again on Reddit), so it's almost impossible to actually pull off, but at least mathematically, it's possible to double Shuckle's damage.
However, French YouTuber Fildrong suggested that it's possible to do even more. Using similar setup, a Sudowoodo would be able to Mimic Last Respects, copying it into its own moveset. Using extra attack boosts and copying further from the Pokemon around it in a double battle, Fildrong claims that the tree Pokemon would be able to hit for more than 1.8 billion points. Their video takes place in online competitive Pokemon portal Smogon, so it might not be 100% official, but it would be a step above Slaking's efforts if it's replicable.
Beyond that, it might be possible to double that damage, using all that previous setup in partnership with a Baxcalibur. Its signature move, Glaive Rush, deals a lot of damage, but means that the next attack directed at Baxcalibur would always hit, and always deal double damage. It's not clear whether the setup could be the same, as Baxcalibur's position as a pseudo-legendary likely makes its stats higher than the Happinys and Wigglytuffs that take the hits in Fildrong and Mx_Toniy's examples, but some quick maths would point to a total of 3.6 billion damage. Whether Slaking, Sudowoodo, or Baxcalibur takes the crown is still up for debate, but it's fair to say that Shuckle has been left firmly in the dust.
A literal flamingo is tearing up Pokemon Scarlet and Violet speedruns.
