Power or Accuracy?

[Vandslaux]

Fire Blast>Flamethrower on Heatran. He's bulky enough to afford a miss, and Fire Blast hasn't really missed that much for me.

[Enjyu]

I don't get how hydro pump always hits when an opponent uses it on me. But my starmie's hydro pump misses about half the time....that's why I switched to scald.

[DiamondClass]

I believe its good to have a balance of power and accuracy, of course, boost accuracy of powerful moves is probably one of the best strategies going today. Such as for Hurricane and Thunder in the rain, and Blizzard in hail. However, I will give the edge to accuracy for the majority of the cases.

[pikadon92]

I prefer accuracy when it comes to pokemon who can afford less power.

[Soperman]

I pick both accuracy and power. Like close combat. Even tbolt is powerful.

Except on scizor. Then I use low power moves. (they actually dish out A LOT of power..)

That's not the point of this thread. I asked Accuracy or Power, not both. This is for moves like Flamethrower over Fire Blast, Surf over Hydro Pump, etc. Thunderbolt is powerful, but not as strong as Thunder. Would you want the extra power, or stay with Tbolt?
Also, we all know Scizzor is an exception becuase of his ability. In fact, he doesn't have any moves above a power of 80 besides Superpower that anybody would actually use (Giga Impact doesn't count). Even then, there is no weaker alternative for Superpower.
Anyway, I just checked, and I'm beginning to see a pattern.
Most trainers prefer Accuracy, just because they hate missing. However, all of the more "veteran" battlers prefer power.
Pure made a good point that it depends what makes the job done. Most pokemon I use have SD or CM or something like that to boost their stats, so I find the extra power unnecessary.

[rckstr]

Power always for me

[Serebii!]

I prefer to go with power as long as th accuracy is still decent, but I also don't battle much

[pkmnswampmaster]

Iot deppends on the user but I like Accuracy better because a Miss makes the accurate move better
2 succesfuls Flamethorwers hit harder than 1 Fire Blast we asume here that the second one missed)

[Nar_]

Power, usually.

Like, in small cases like Aqua Tail or Heat Wave.

[Eaglehawk]

Accuracy pretty much standard on Bulky Offense/Stall teams, while Power is preferred on Offense.

Bulky and Stall all have very defensively oriented Pokemon that can take repeated hits from opponents and take minimal damage, which makes something like FlameThrower or Ice Beam much more appealing. Offense doesn't have the bulk to survive two attacks and generally have to resort to stuff such as Fire Blast or Hydro Pump.

I tend to never use any offensive move with an accuracy lower than 80.

[Skydra]

It depends; sometimes I like reliability. However, with some basic multiplication, if Aqua Tail hits 9 times out of10 for 90 damage, it does a total of 810. An 80 power Waterfall hitting 10 times is 800. Fire Blast hitting 85 times out of 100 is 10200, while Flamethrower hitting 100/100 times with 95 power is 9500. Overall, the riskier moves do more in the long run, on average, but if you don't feel like you have good luck, Accuracy is probably better than power. On some sets, it doesn't really matter, since you could be sweeping with either using setup.

[Lobita]

Definitely accuracy is more important to me. I don't like to take chances in competitive combat, a slightly lesser attack power can be boosted through other means.
Plus um, sandstorm is common as hell, sooo a Pokémon with a low accuracy high power move could just be a sitting duck, failing turn after turn to make a move.

[Zachmac]

I've had enemy Salamence fail to OHKO some of my steel types just because it ran flamethrower of fire blast, and seeing as it runs fire moves just for steels,it should definitly use Fire Blast>Flamethrower, even if you like acc. better. I think it was either Skarmory or Ferrothorn...maybe both...

Power, usually.

Like, in small cases like Aqua Tail or Heat Wave.

A difference of 5 base power or 10 acc? Flamethrower is always, and I mean always, better then Heat Wave. Unless you play doubles.

10% acc. is too large of a risk for such small power differences. I guess Aqua Tail is okay, but waterfall's flinch chance has saved me tons of times.

[zerofield]

The whole issue is actually really simple. Will the less powerful move grab the KOs that you need? If so, there's no reason to use a more powerful move. However, if you need a move to ko something, and the less powerful move can't deal enough damage, you have a 100% chance of failure. If the more powerful one can dish out enough damage, then you have a 10% or 20% chance of failure. That's it in a nutshell.

Definitely accuracy is more important to me. I don't like to take chances in competitive combat, a slightly lesser attack power can be boosted through other means.
Plus um, sandstorm is common as hell, sooo a Pokémon with a low accuracy high power move could just be a sitting duck, failing turn after turn to make a move.

Sand doesn't lower accuracy, except with stuff like Thunder and Hurricane...

EDIT: lol i just realized pure basically posted this comment on the previous page ;-;

[meteor64]

This entire issue is subjective to what your Pokemon needs to achieve within its role. Its obvious something like Blissey will want Flamethrower while a sun-based Moltres will want Fire Blast.

[fearless rocker]

too little accuracy will lose you games, and so will too little power

[viker2]

A lot of strong/decent moves: dragon pulse, dark pulse, flamethrower, draco meteor, fire blast, etc. have good/100 accuracy, and if your heading for 100 accuracy, just hold a wide lens or something

[YourPermanentRecord631]

Power is in my opinion, more necessary as you can get around accuracy with support.

[jstinftw!]

Unless I'm using a slow, fragile Pokemon, I'll almost always go Power>Accuracy. Sure, for example, with Hydro Pump, if I HP 10 times, I'll miss twice, but the chances of me using HP 10 times in a row is slim, plus the chance of me using it more then once or twice is just as slim, as my opponent will likely send in something to counter my move. Or the move is a tech move, put in just to counter a Pokemon or two and only needs to go off once or twice. The chances of me missing then are significantly smaller.

That doesn't mean I run Dynamicpunch or 50% acc moves though; I'll go with a 90% acc, or a 85%. Sometimes even 70% if I think the Pokemon can take it. But the difference in power is often much appreciated. Whereas it would be as 2HKO, I can clear them in 1, so I don't have to worry about being outsped or whatever. It's down and I have free roam! (:

[Lightning Raider]

Usually I go with the more powerful moves. I'd risk a miss to get a OHKO and the only time you resent a more powerful such as Focus Blast over an Aura Sphere for example, is when you miss the Focus Blast. The higher base power always makes a difference (when it hits!).

[Oao]

Voted for accuracy because generally I prefer to use moves that don't have a high chance of missing and that moves with high power and low accuracy usually come with their own drawbacks such as low PP or stat drops. I only tend to use stronger moves when the power difference is big or when there are no other options.

[Cool Rafe]

I usually choose accuracy over power because even if it lacked the power to KO my opponent's Pokemon with one hit , it still does some damage before my Pokemon faints . If I select power and my move misses , I do no damage at all . I just hate relying on luck .

[Agonist]

Certainly accuracy. Although I do tend to use moves with accuracy below 75% for more power, I usually use accuracy modifiers with them (ie.: hone claws or scope lens).

Scope Lens doesn't raise accuracy, it increases the critical hit ratio.


Anyway, I generally go with accuracy for anything with below eighty accuracy, except for ****ing Focus Miss.

[SoulMuse]

I tend to go with Power. However when I have a move that has questionable accuracry (Focus Miss), I will build overly redunant coverage this that move covers.

[Pichu47]

POWWWWEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR

I do prefer accuracy though mainly because i get really mad when fire blast/thunder/whatever misses :/