Helping Hand is a Normal-type status move with +5 priority — the highest priority bracket in the game. When used, it boosts the partner’s next move by 1.5×.
It has no effect in singles (there’s no partner). It’s purely a doubles support move.
Why 1.5× matters
A 1.5× boost sounds modest. In practice, it’s often the difference between a KO and a survive. Helping Hand turns rolls — situations where a move has a chance to knock out but doesn’t always — into guaranteed KOs.
The boost stacks multiplicatively with everything else: STABSTABmechanicSame-Type Attack Bonus: a move deals ×1.5 damage when its type matches one of the user's types.Click to read more →, type effectiveness, items, stat boosts. A Pokémon that already has a Choice Specs boost and STAB gets the Helping Hand multiplier on top of all of that.
The timing
Because Helping Hand is +5 priority, it resolves before almost every other move, including Fake OutFake OutmoveA +3 priority Normal-type move that does small damage and forces the target to flinch — only usable on the user's first turn out.Click to read more → (+3). The standard play is:
- Turn 1: Lead with a support Pokémon that uses Helping Hand, plus a hard attacker.
- The Helping Hand resolves first.
- The attacker’s move hits with the 1.5× boost.
The opponent often can’t stop this — the only way to prevent it is to knock out the Helping Hand user before it acts (hard to do at +5 priority) or to put the target in a position where the boosted move still doesn’t KO.
In Regulation M-A
Helping Hand sees heavy use in rain teams. Basculegion using Wave CrashWave CrashmoveBasculegion's signature move — 120 base power Water-type physical attack with 1/3 HP recoil.Click to read more → is already extremely powerful — a Helping Hand from Pelipper or a support Pokémon turns it into one of the highest-damage single moves in the format. The archetype sometimes deliberately runs Helping Hand over another support move specifically to enable this.
WhimsicottWhimsicottpokemonPrankster utility lead. Priority Tailwind, Encore, and Sunny Day let it dictate tempo against teams that thought they had it.Click to read more → is another common Helping Hand user, because it pairs fast and flexible support options with high utility for whatever attacker it’s next to.