Pokémon F.E.A.R. Strategy

About

Pokémon F.E.A.R. Strategy is an infamous competitive Pokémon strategy that exploits the mechanics of the game such that a very weak Pokémon can defeat the strongest opponents. The strategy has been joked and memed about within the competitive Pokémon community for a decade, and saw renewed interest in 2023, when it was discovered that an NPC trainer utilizes the strategy in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC.

Origin

"F.E.A.R." in the Pokémon F.E.A.R. strategy is an acronym that stands for "Focus Sash / Endeavor / Quick Attack / Rattata."^[1] The strategy is as follows:

1. Give a level 1 Pokémon the Focus Sash item, which lets it survive a one-hit knockout move with 1 HP. The choice Pokémon for this is Rattata since it is generally considered one of the weakest in the series, but any Pokémon that can learn Endeavor and a priority attacking move will work. Alternatively, some Pokémon that have the Sturdy ability, which has the same effect as a Focus Sash, are viable for the strategy.
2. Have the Pokémon learn the move Endeavor, which brings an opponent's health down to the same HP as the user. Since the user's Pokémon has likely survived the previous attack with 1 HP due to the Focus Sash, this will bring the opponent's health down to 1 HP.
3. Have the Pokémon use an attacking move that is programmed to go first, like Quick Attack or ExtremeSpeed. This knocks out the opposing Pokémon.

Bulbapedia^[3] has a page dedicated to the strategy and also offers several counters to invalidate it. Some include using a Ghost-type Pokémon, which would be immune to Endeavor, and using multi-hit moves to knock out the Level 1 Pokémon.

The strategy was discovered in the fourth generation of Pokémon games. It is believed that the first known use of "F.E.A.R." was utilized by a player named Marriland, who was able to knock out an opponent using the strategy in 2007^[4] (Marriland's 2012 reupload of the battle shown below). One of the earliest existing discussions about F.E.A.R. was posted to GameFAQs^[2] on May 1st, 2008.

Spread

The strategy has long been infamous in the Pokémon community, particularly as it was iterated and improved upon in subsequent generations. The Pokémon Aron became infamous as a F.E.A.R. Pokémon due to its ability Sturdy and the move Sandstorm. Giving Aron a Shell Bell, which allows a Level 1 Aron to recover to full HP after using Endeavor, meant it could implement the strategy infinitely if the opponent could not adapt,^[4] with Sandstorm finishing off the opponent instead of Quick Attack. Other Pokémon like the Duosion line, the Clefairy line, and Togedamaru have all been choice F.E.A.R. Pokémon in various generations.

However, the strategy was considered quite risky, as it required perfect conditions to pull off and many experienced players developed counters to it. On February 17th, 2023, YouTuber False Swipe Gaming posted a video documenting the history of the strategy, including a lengthy section on why the gimmick didn't work at high-level play. The video gained over 712,000 views in nearly one year (shown below).

Though the strategy wasn't particularly viable at high-level play, it still was widely joked about and memed in the Pokémon community. For example, on June 26th, 2014, Redditor GreenTamer posted a meme explaining the strategy in /r/Pokémon,^[6] gaining over 1,100 points in nearly ten years (shown below, left). On September 5th, 2021, Redditor Bespaeyeeterskeet posted a Who Would Win? meme joking about F.E.A.R. in /r/pokemonmemes,^[5] gaining over 1,500 points in two years (shown below, right).

In the second half of the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC, released in December of 2023, an NPC trainer utilizes the strategy using a Smeargle with ExtremeSpeed.^[7] On December 28th, Redditor After-Sugar-7059 posted about the trainer in /r/PokemonScarletViolet,^[8] gaining over 1,200 points in one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References