Trace (Ability)

Trace (Japanese: トレース Trace) is an Ability introduced in Generation III.

Effect

In battle

Trace copies the Ability of a random adjacent opponent, replacing Trace itself.

This is activated when the Pokémon with Trace enters battle or when a Pokémon gains Trace. In Wonder Launcher battles, Trace can be activated by an ally's Ability Urge.

Trace can be swapped by Skill Swap. In Generations III and IV, Trace can be copied by Role Play, but In later generations, Trace cannot be copied by Role Play, Power of Alchemy, or Receiver. Entrainment fails if used by a Pokémon with Trace.

Generation III

It can copy any Ability, but if it copies Trace, it will not activate again.

Generation IV

There are now Abilities that cannot be copied by Trace.

Trace can not copy the ability of a Pokémon holding a Griseous Orb.

While a Pokémon with Trace is in battle, if at any time an opponent has an Ability that can be copied by Trace, Trace will activate and replace itself with that Ability. Trace can only activate once while a Pokémon is on the field; even if the Pokémon gains Trace again (e.g. via Skill Swap) after activating it the first time, Trace cannot activate until after it is switched out.

In a Double Battle with only one opponent remaining, if a Pokémon with Trace is sent into battle to replace a fainted Pokémon, Trace has a 50% chance to select the non-present opponent and not activate. Once a Pokémon takes its turn (uses a move, switches out, etc.), Trace will activate and copy the Ability of the opponent that is present.

Generation V

When a Pokémon with Trace enters battle, it copies a random adjacent opponent's Ability (replacing itself). If no opponents have Abilities that can be copied by Trace when the Pokémon with Trace enters battle, Trace cannot be activated until it enters battle again.

Generation VI onward

While a Pokémon with Trace is in battle, if at any time an adjacent opponent has an Ability that can be copied by Trace, Trace will activate and replace itself with that Ability. Even if a Pokémon had previously activated Trace, if it gains Trace again (e.g. via Skill Swap), Trace will activate at the first opportunity.

Abilities that cannot be copied

Trace cannot copy any of the following Abilities in generations marked with a ✔.

Trace can copy Wonder Guard.

Outside of battle

Trace has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Trace

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0065		Alakazam Mega Alakazam	Psychic		Psychic	Trace	None	None
0137		Porygon	Normal		Normal	Trace	DownloadGen IV+	Analytic
0233		Porygon2	Normal		Normal	Trace	DownloadGen IV+	Analytic
0280		Ralts	Psychic	Fairy	Synchronize	Trace	Telepathy
0281		Kirlia	Psychic	Fairy	Synchronize	Trace	Telepathy
0282		Gardevoir	Psychic	Fairy	Synchronize	Trace	Telepathy
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

In other games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

When a Pokémon with this Ability is hit by a move or regular attack, Trace replaces itself with the Ability of the attacking Pokémon. Trace does not distinguish between foes and allies, and can be activated by beneficial moves such as Safeguard. Prior to Gates to Infinity, Pokémon can have more than one Ability—if a Pokémon has more than one Ability, Trace chooses one at random. The copied Ability lasts until the Pokémon enters a new floor.

Description

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

• In volume 23, Blue's Porygon2 was revealed to have Trace as its Ability.
• In the X & Y arc, Diantha mentioned that her Gardevoir has Trace as its Ability.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 複製 Fūkjai * 追蹤 Jēuijūng * Mandarin 複製 / 复制 Fùzhì * 追蹤 Zhuīzōng * French Calque German ErfassenVIII+ FährteIII–VII Italian Traccia Korean 트레이스 Trace Brazilian Portuguese Traçar Spanish CalcoIX+ RastroIII–VIII Turkish Kopyalama Vietnamese Theo dấu

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.