Bug-type Pokémon have a reputation of being the weakest of all the Pokémon types. But with the expansion of the Pokémon universe and addition of more type matchups, Bug is becoming a decent contender in the world of competition-based battling.

One somewhat controversial move is U-Turn, a Bug-type move that allows you to do damage and swap out your Pokémon in the same turn. For the casual player, this move may be an instant skip, especially if the Pokémon in question isn’t a Bug-type. However, it offers some great advantages if used properly. Here are 10 things you didn’t know about U-Turn in Pokémon.

10 The Stats

First and foremost, U-Turn is a Bug-type move, making it super effective against Grass, Dark, and Psychic-type Pokémon. It’s listed as a physical move, meaning that it makes contact with the opposing Pokémon and is affected by the user’s Atk stat rather than the Sp. Atk. With a 100% accuracy and a rating of 70 power, it’s one of the safer and more reliable moves to use for the casual player. The summary above can be found on Bulbapedia.

As is typical with Pokémon, Bug-type Pokémon gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) when using U-Turn. STAB usually boosts the move’s power by 50%. But if the Pokémon has the Adaptability ability, STAB increases to a 100% boost. So the power of U-Turn could hypothetically be boosted to 105 or 140.

9 Introductory Game

U-Turn is a relatively new move, introduced in Generation IV. Its debut region was Sinnoh, then carried through HeartGold and SoulSilver, X and Y, and the more current games. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, you can get the U-Turn TM after beating Bugsy, the Bug-type gym leader of Azalea Town.

Usually, U-Turn is listed as TM89. However, in Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, it became TM18. In the newest titles, Sword and Shield, it’s TM56.

8 Ability Advantages

The biggest advantage of U-Turn is the ability to swap out a Pokémon while doing damage to your opponent. Swapping out still works, even if there’s an ability in play that should prevent a Pokémon from retreating. For example, if your opponent uses Mean Look, your U-Turn Pokémon will still be able to escape.

However, U-Turn will not pass on any status effects to your next Pokémon. So if you were benefiting from a Pokémon using the move Ingrain, that continuous HP-restoration would not be passed to the next Pokémon.

7 Similar Moves

U-Turn is constantly compared to two other moves: Baton Pass and Volt Switch. Both contain the ability of switching your Pokémon out.

Baton Pass is a Normal-type move and does not deal damage to the enemy Pokémon. However, it does allow you to pass on stat changes to your next Pokémon. So if you used Swords Dance to boost your attack, that attack boost stays in place for whoever you choose to have subbed in.

Volt Switch is the most similar to U-Turn since it also deals damage. It’s basically the Electric-type version of U-Turn, not passing along stat changes and instead, being classified as a special move rather than physical.

6 Best Pokemon For U-Turn

A large number of Pokémon can learn U-Turn from a TM. Everything from the starter evolutions to Ultra Beasts are included on the list. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and U-Turn can be an essential piece in your battle strategy if used correctly.

To take the most advantage of what U-Turn has to offer, Scizor, Rotom-W, Jolteon, and Landorus have become some of the most preferred U-Turn users. Due to their strengths and weaknesses, it’s very easy to build a support team around these Pokémon, opening up a new strategy of constant switch and putting pressure on your opponent to match pace.

5 U-Turn Vs. U-Turn Board

For this one, we’re going to take a look at the Pokémon card game. If you hop from one to the other, you’ll see differences in HP, Weakness and Resistance, and Pokémon abilities. However, it’s an easy adjustment going from the video games to the card game since the essentials stay similar enough. You can only battle with one Pokémon at a time, and you can only have five Pokémon on your bench, like how you can have up to five additional Pokémon in your party.

In the case of U-Turn, the move itself doesn’t exist in the card game. This is for good reason since the ability to switch out a Pokémon is balanced by how you use the Energy cards in your deck. So instead, U-Turn was adapted into the U-Turn Board item card. If attached to a Pokémon, the retreat cost (how many Energy cards need to be discarded from that Pokémon to swap it out) is lowered by one Energy.

4 Meaning in a Name

Admittedly, this is more speculative than factual. But given how prevalent puns are in Japanese media, it’s worth adding to the list. If you watch anime, you should be very familiar with the subtitle notes “this is a play on words.”

The Japanese name for U-Turn is Round-trip. The hiragana of this is とんぼがえり, pronounced tonbogaeri. The first part, tonbo, means dragonfly. Given the love for play on words, this could possibly be why U-Turn was classified as a Bug-type move. And though there are other Pokémon that can learn the move by leveling up, 2 out of the 17 are Yanma and Yanmega. You know, the dragonfly Pokémon. As a bonus, they’re the only 2 out of the 3 Pokémon that receive STAB from using U-Turn.

3 Learning Through Levels

Only 17 Pokémon can learn U-Turn through leveling up. As of Generation VIII, these Pokémon are: Mankey, Primeape, Hoppip, Skiploom, Jumpluff, Yanma, Yanmega, Gligar, Gliscor, Finneon, Lumineon, Archen, Archeops, Zoroark, Mienfoo, Mienshao, Meloetta, Decidueye, Sobble, Drizzile, Inteleon, Drakloak, and Dragapult.

Out of the 17, only 3 receive the STAB: Yanma, Yanmega, and Accelgor. Don’t let the type of a Pokémon determine your move roster! You’d be surprised by what you can do. Though maybe having a Linoone with Surf isn’t a great strategic choice.

2 Banning U-Turn Competitively

There’s been some argument among the competitive community that U-Turn should be banned. The strategy can easily eliminate teams, and as stated before, U-Turn allows you to swap your Pokémon without the penalty of wasting a turn. Some in the Smogon forum have stated that U-Turn is an unbalanced move in that it doesn’t have something to check the swap-out.

However, most users believe that U-Turn is a fair move due to how both it and Volt Switch have changed the basis of how Pokémon is now played, be it with the NPCs or actual players.

1 The VoltTurn Strategy

As mentioned earlier, players like using both Volt Switch and U-Turn in the same competitive team. This gives you two Pokémon that can swap out at will while dealing damage to the enemy. Essentially, it doesn’t make you waste a potential turn if you’re stuck with a bad type match up.

The core of the strategy is to have two users, one for U-Turn and one for Volt Switch, so you have flexibility as well as offensive power. Typically, you’d use a tank to back up your speedy VoltTurn users, such as Tyranitar, Blissey, and Ninetales.

NEXT: 5 Reasons Ice Is The Worst Pokémon Type (& 5 Why It’s Bug)