Your game piece starts on 100% then moves up or down on the board based on the different buffs. If it was a true multiplier, one buff would be 125% and an additional x1.25 would bring the total to 156.25%. Instead, these stages are used, which then acts as a multiplier like those above.

The first three boosting moves listed above all increase your attack and defense stats by 2 stages. This means one Silver Wind trigger gives you a 50% attack and defense boost. A 2nd trigger from one of these moves will cap this boost, doubling your initial attack and defense values. Once a Pokemon’s stats have been moved to the fourth boost stage (200%), further boost triggers will not increase your stats.

These bonuses can be quite swingy in battle. A 50% increase to Attack and Defense is the difference in stats between Shiftry and Mewtwo. It’s the largest multiplier other than Super Effectiveness (and noteworthy that a Pokemon like Mewtwo often doesn’t need Super Effectiveness to be a great choice in battle).

Power-Up Punch

The 2019 Battle Showdown introduced the move Power-Up Punch as a Fighing-type move that buffs attack. Each use of Power-Up Punch increases the attack stat one stage as shown in the above chart. Due the the consistent nature of the move, it can just be viewed as a strict buff rather than worrying about how it is affected by RNG. Some of the following principles may still apply.

One of the biggest things that Ancient Power & Co added to the game is the idea that future moves may impact battling in Pokemon Go in dynamic ways. Even a straightforward move like Power-Up Punch bring different decision trees to consider in PvP, leading to a more complex and fun battle system in the future!