Physical move

A physical move (Japanese:  physical move) is one of the three categories of moves and one of the two that inflict damage.

Physical moves deal damage depending on both the stat of the attacking  and the  stat of the defending Pokémon.

There are also a small number of special moves introduced in Generation V that are said to deal physical damage; although these moves are classified as special moves, they too deal damage based on the defending Pokémon's Defense stat (as opposed to its Special Defense).

While most physical moves make contact, some do not. For example, does not make contact despite being a physical move.

Generation I-III
Before Generation IV, whether a move was physical or special was determined by type. All damaging moves of the following types are physical moves:

Shadow moves
The following Shadow moves are physical moves:

Generation IV on
From Generation IV onward, every individual move is designated as either physical or special, independent of its type. Most damaging moves of the types that were physical before Generation IV are physical moves, and most Dark moves are also largely physical. However, there are exceptions, such as and.

Generation V also introduced three special moves that deal physical damage:, , and.

In other languages
Physique ぶつりわざ 物理招式