Captain N said:
What is it that allows some Pokemon to attack with two moves in one round? They can also use an item Plus attack in the same round as well.
That can't happen, so I'm not sure what you've been seeing... But it might have been one of these possibilities:
1) Some moves hit multiple times with a low base damage for each individual hit, like Fury Attack, Fury Swipes, Double Kick, Triple Kick, Bullet Seed, Icicle Spear, Rock Blast (I think it was Rock Blast), and Comet Punch. Generally these attacks are much weaker than a single strong-hit counterpart, but on rare occasion one might find a use for them in breaking through Substitutes. (And I mean very, very rare occasion.)
2) Some moves hit a low base damage on their first hit, but then deal a fixed percentage of damage for the next several turns and prevent the target from switching for either as long as they last, or until the Pokemon who used the move switches out itself. Examples include Fire Spin, Whirlpool, Sand Tomb, and Bind, which sap 1/16th of your HP for two to five turns. During that time, the Pokemon who used the trapping move can use other moves.
3) Focus Punch. Text will indicate that it's charging at the beginning of the turn, and if the Pokemon using the move gets through the turn without taking damage from a direct attack, then Focus Punch will be used at the end of the turn. It's only one move, but the text may be confusing.
4) Leech Seed. It saps 1/8th of the target's HP every turn, and gives that HP to the side who used Leech Seed, until the targeted Pokemon switches out or uses Rapid Spin. Like Fire Spin/Whirlpool/etc., this move is designed to accumulate slow residual damage instead of getting in a strong single hit. Unlike Fire Spin/Whirlpool/etc., Leech Seed is not only not an awful move, but one of the most helpful moves in the game. Many Pokemon who would otherwise counter Grass-types don't like risking the chance of losing HP and healing the opponent.
I'm going to give an example of Leech Seed not because you asked for it, but because here we have a move that actually merits discussion. It'll be a simplified example since things like Wish and Spikes and Pain Split and Sandstorm change things around, but it'll do. Let's look at three possibilities:
1) An Adamant Heracross with no training in Special Defense, carrying Choice Scarf, switches in and eats damage from a Timid Roserade's Leaf Storm. This does 38-45% damage to Heracross, quite a lot for a "not very effective" attack. (Leaf Storm is the strongest Grass attack in the game, and Roserade has one of the game's best Special Attack stats.) Heracross uses Megahorn because that would OHKO a Roserade with no Defense, but the Roserade user switches to Dusknoir, who takes 21-24% from Megahorn.
In this example, the player with Roserade and Dusknoir has, at best, sacrificed 21% of one Pokemon's HP in order to take out 45% of an enemy's HP. At worst, the player gave up 24% to take out 38%.
2) The same Heracross switches in on the same Roserade, except that Roserade uses Leech Seed. This does 12.5% damage to Heracross, which will be about 37 HP. Roserade is healed by up to 37 HP, which on Roserade's end is actually
more than 12.5% due to her lower HP stat; it's about 14.2%. The Roserade player switches out and brings in Dusknoir, who again takes 21-24% from Megahorn. Heracross loses another 37 HP, and since Dusknoir is probably using max HP, it should have a similar but slightly lower HP stat, and will recover about 12.6%.
In this scenario, the player with Roserade and Dusknoir has done 25% damage to Heracross. At absolute worst, the player has taken 11.4% damage in order to accomplish that. At best, the player took 8.4% damage on Dusknoir's end, but recovered as much as 14.2% on Roserade's end, for a net
gain.
3) See the above example, except that the Heracross player switches out immediately after being hit with Leech Seed. This isn't necessarily an uncommon move; the Heracross player might only have brought Heracross in so that the opponent would switch in a wall, which would provide valuable knowledge about what the opponent's team consisted of. ("Ah, I see. So if I just get rid of Dusknoir at some point, then Heracross should have more free reign.")
In this scenario, Leech Seed has done 12.5% damage to Heracross (for the turn it was used). At worst, the player just did 12.5% damage and took none. At best, the player did 12.5% damage and healed 14.2% HP. Whether things will turn out good or bad for the Roserade player beyond that point is unknown; it depends on whether the Heracross player's switch-in can take Dusknoir.
