Pokémon Ability

Commander

When the Pokémon enters a battle, it goes inside the mouth of an ally Dondozo if one is on the field. The Pokémon then issues commands from there.

In-depth effect

Tatsugiri will go into Dondozo's mouth and be unable to be damaged from attacks. Dondozo can no longer switch out. Dondozo's stats all raise by 2 stages

Pokémon with Commander

1 Pokémon known to have Commander (Gen 9 dataset)

Tatsugiri

About the Commander ability

Commander is one of 112+ abilities in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Each Pokémon has one active ability at a time, drawn from a list of 1-3 possible abilities per species (the third slot, when present, is the Hidden Ability — only accessible via Tera raids, Mass Outbreaks, or Ability Patch).

Official game text: When the Pokémon enters a battle, it goes inside the mouth of an ally Dondozo if one is on the field. The Pokémon then issues commands from there.

How it works: Tatsugiri will go into Dondozo's mouth and be unable to be damaged from attacks. Dondozo can no longer switch out. Dondozo's stats all raise by 2 stages

How to get a Pokémon with Commander

If Commander is a regular ability (not Hidden Ability), simply catch the Pokémon and it has a 50% chance per slot of having Commander. You can use an Ability Capsule (50 BP at Chansey Supply) to swap between regular ability slots. If Commander is the Hidden Ability of one of the 1 Pokémon listed above, you'll need either:

To catch the Pokémon from a 5-star or 6-star Tera raid
To use an Ability Patch (consumable from picnic crafting / raid rewards) on a Pokémon that already has Commander as a regular ability
To transfer a Pokémon with Hidden Ability via Pokémon HOME from older games

For the full list of abilities and their competitive impact, see our abilities reference. To check how an ability affects damage calculations, use our damage calculator.