"Jump-Start Event Best Friend Bonus Research: Unable to Reproduce Pokebattler Values (ft. HP Flying Ho-Oh)"

#PokemonGO: AbstractWe were unable to reproduce Pokebattler's Jump-Start Event best friend damage bonus of 16%. We believe the correct value to be 15% (or a 1.15 multiplier), not 16% (1.16), based on both qualitative and quantitative research.IntroductionIn this post from Saturday, u/123123123jm, u/celandro, and u/vlfph gathered evidence and deduced that the best friends damage bonus has been increased during the Jump-Start Event from 10% to 16%. Pokebattler was updated to reflect that research. On the strength of that update, u/ct9876 and I attempted a unique six Groudon duo in the rain on Sunday. This was our best attempt. Despite cycling almost perfectly with Sharpedo, following up with Kyogre in the second slot, and my tanking a Fire Blast with both Kyogre and Gyarados (whoops) we had barely flipped yellow at 150s. Since Sharpedo and Kyogre are responsible for getting ahead of the clock in this setup, we were unable to complete the duo in eight attempts over three passes.When reality didn't match the sims, we couldn't resist investigating. We noticed that the Alakazam video used in the Pokebattler article as evidence for the 16% bonus suffers from three potentially confounding factors:Fast moves beginning before the friendship bonus is shown at the top of the screenMultiple relobbies, indicating the possibility of boss health regeneration (a known raid desync issue)Energy rubberbanding on the third Alakazam, making move counting unreliableAnd in fact, the authors themselves admit that the move counts, on which the deduction is based, may be inaccurate.HypothesisThe Jump-Start Event best friend boost is 1.15, not 1.16.Methodology & ResultsTo reproduce the result, we found a Tier 2 raid and looked for a breakpoint that could be reached with a 1.16 damage multiplier, but not a 1.15 multiplier. Using our favorite breakpoint calculator spreadsheet, we found that a level 40 Ho-Oh with a 15 attack IV using Hidden Power Flying does 34 damage per hit with a 1.15 damage multiplier and 35 damage per hit with a 1.16 damage multiplier. We further found that a 1.151 damage multiplier would also yield 35 damage per hit, making this the perfect case to set an upper limit on the multiplier.Against the Tier 2 Roselia with 1800 hp, then, a 1.15 damage multiplier would require 53 hits to KO, while the higher multiplier would require only 52 due to the higher breakpoint.Breakpoint ValuesDamage MultiplierDamage per HitHits Required1.1534531.15135521.163552​Armed with the calculations, we did the raid. I used the empty lobby trick to enter before u/ct9876, whose maxed perfect Ho-Oh we used for the test. Once he entered, he waited to ensure that the friend bonus icon was shown onscreen before attacking. He then used only fast moves for the duration of the raid and did not dodge. I did not touch my screen. You can watch the side-by-side videos here: https://youtu.be/siYKFStFxHo.Reviewing the video, we each counted three times, and got 53 fast moves each time. On first view, there appeared to be a 54th fast move used, but it is clear from looking closely at the boss health bar that no damage is applied by that move.DiscussionWe were unable to reproduce the posited best friends damage bonus increase from 10% to 16% through both qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitatively, we failed a duo challenge in which both Kyogre (25 to 26 damage) and Gyarados (22 to 23 damage) would have reached an additional fast move breakpoint with the higher multiplier. Quantitatively, we have demonstrated that the upper bound of the new bonus is between 15% and 15.1%. Combined with the Moltres vs. Roselia case in the original article, which established a lower bound of 13%, we believe the Jump-Start Event best friend damage bonus is 15%. However, more research is required to conclusively establish the new values, particularly at good and great friendship levels, which are currently only hypothesized.PostscriptThanks for reading all the way through! Enjoy this clip of Magikarp closing out our last duo attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PB0yY3JQJI via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/324IG23