Do speed changes affect gyro ball?

Do stat drops in speed, like by sticky web or rock tomb affect power of gyro ball? Or do only base speeds count? Also, please tell if paralysis changes any mechanics. That question is unclear.

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

Base Power = 25 × min(6, (Target’s Current Speed / User’s Current Speed))

(Gyro Ball’s Base Power Formula)

Source

According to Bulbapedia, Current Speed counts, meaning Speed drops affect Gyro Ball. It is possible for a Pokemon to be so slow (or the opponent so fast) that stat stages don’t boost Gyro Ball’s power, because it maxes out at 150 Base Power. Here is some calculations:

With Neutral Speed:

0 Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (38 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Abomasnow: 96-114 (34.1 - 40.5%) – guaranteed 3HKO

With -1 Speed:

0 Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (57 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Abomasnow: 144-170 (51.2 - 60.4%) – guaranteed 2HKO

With Paralysis:

0 Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (38 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Abomasnow: 96-114 (34.1 - 40.5%) – guaranteed 3HKO

Source

It seems that paralysis doesn’t affect Gyro Ball’s power but being slower via stat stages (or you opponent’s stat stages being higher) does.I used Bronzong because Gyro Ball’s Power isn’t maxed out against my dummy Pokemon, Abomasnow, so we could tell the difference if stat stages affect Gyro Ball. If your Pokemon with Gyro Ball is slow enough, it doesn’t make a difference. :P

Hope I helped!

Note from Meta Ridley:Iron Ball affects the power of Gyro Ball as well, look at these calcs:With Iron Ball;> 252+ Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (111 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Abomasnow: 266-314 (69.2 - 81.7%) – guaranteed 2HKO

And without Iron Ball;> 252+ Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (54 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Abomasnow: 132-156 (34.3 - 40.6%) – guaranteed 3HKO

Inthis video, we explored some of the mechanics of Gyro Ball, starting out with a Shuckle at -6 speed with Iron Ball, then later on shifting to -6 speed and paralyzed (but with the item slot free for something else). In particular, this test uncovered the mechanic thatif a Gyro Ball user has exactly 0 speed, the move is treated as 1 powerregardless of the opponent’s speed.

Shuckle is obviously much slower than the other Pokemon involved in the test, so if not for this special-case mechanic, its Gyro Ball would have very high power: in that sense, this serves as a compelling test case for the mechanic that’s easy to distinguish from any other result. The only way the speed stat can be treated as 0 is if the game is taking both the stat “boosts"andone of paralysis or Iron Ball into account (whichever of the two is in effect at the time), and the fact that the damage output is so low proves that it is indeed defaulting to that 1-power case, except for one turn at 5:22 after the Iron Ball had been removed but before Shuckle got paralyzed.

No speed changes

+6 speed user

0 Atk Solgaleo Gyro Ball(3 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 22-27 (3.4 - 4.2%) – possibly the worst move ever

+6 speed target

-6 speed user

-6 speed target

0 Atk Solgaleo Gyro Ball(3 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 22-27 (3.4 - 4.2%) – possibly the worst move ever

paralyzed user

paralyzed target

tailwind: Showdown!’s damage calculator doesn’t have this…swift swim user:

0 Atk Solgaleo Gyro Ball(7 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 51-61 (7.9 - 9.5%) – possibly the worst move ever

swift swim target

0 Atk Solgaleo Gyro Ball(29 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 211-249 (32.9 - 38.8%) – 99.6% chance to 3HKO

choice scarf user

0 Atk Solgaleo Gyro Ball(9 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 66-78 (10.2 - 12.1%) – possible 9HKO

choice scarf target

0 Atk Solgaleo Gyro Ball(22 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 160-189 (24.9 - 29.4%) – 100% chance to 4HKO

slow start user

0 Atk Slow Start Solgaleo Gyro Ball(14 BP)vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chansey: 51-61 (7.9 - 9.5%) – possibly the worst move ever

slow start target

sourceSo apparently every kind of speed change affects gyro ball’s power except paralysis, slow start, and maybe tailwind.

So I played around a bit with thisDamage Calculator, and it seems that speed decreases on your side/speed increases on the opponent’s side do not affect Gyro Ball’s damage output, but speed increases on your side/speed decreases on the opponent’s side will reduce Gyro Ball’s power. Also, paralysis has no effect on Gyro Ball’s power whatsoever.

So running Sticky Web or another speed-reducing move and Gyro Ball on the same team is not a smart idea, but your opponent’s Sticky Web will not buff your Gyro Ball.

If you’re curious about what Pokemon I tested this with, I used a Ferrothorn (which commonly runs Gyro Ball) and an Abomasnow (the default setting).