Breakpoints and Charge Moves
It seems like people mainly focus on how much damage they are doing with their quick moves when it comes to their Pokemon's attack IV but I never here anything about charge moves. The breakpoint calculators are only for quick moves. I did a little research and it seems like that the damage from a charge move only has noticeable increases as a pokemon levels up and that the attack IV is not very important. Is this really true though? Would a 0 attack IV level 30.5 Pokemon really do more damage with its charge move than a 15 attack level 30 Pokemon? Basically I just want to know how much IVs really matter when it comes to charge moves (and a reason to feel better about my best Lugia only having 11 attack).
Answers
Charge moves aren't being focused on all that much because the damage gained through IV is little. Quick move breakpoints can up the damage up to 10%, while charge moves ( due to their high base power) will gain much less than 1 % for an individual breakpoint.
Regarding your example, it's entirely possible that they do the same damage against a pkm with high defense but it is more likely that you will have the less than 1 % increase.
What I understood back on its day (anyone correct me if I got it wrong, please):
- IVs also matter for charge moves, not "just level"
- Many more little breakpoints can be reached as the pokemon level increases (for fast moves there are "key levels" where you make a breakthrough)
- % increase of damage output is tiny for charge moves as opposed to quick moves
These are the reasons why we mostly focus on quick move breakpoints.But you may consider charge moves breakpoints for specific match ups when you decide where to stop powering up your pokemon. My recommendation is, rather than charge move breakpoints, take into consideration quick move and bulkpoints to decide which level to take your favourite mons to.
It is the number of times that you use the move that matters. You use a fast move dozens of times in a fight and a charge move only a few times. Hitting a single breakpoint for 1 extra damage from your fast move will increase your damage output more than hitting several breakpoints for 2-3 extra damage from your charge move.
