How did Volcarona's Bug Buzz bypass Substitute?

Feb. 19, 2021

I was doing some Battle Tree battles in USUM, and in one of them, I fought an Aurorus that used Substitute. I had my Volcarona use Bug Buzz to destroy the Substitute, but instead of doing that, it just damaged the Aurorus directly, killing it. In a later battle, I encountered the same Aurorus and it happened again. I don’t know if this is a bug, or an intentional game mechanic. Anyone know why this happened?

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

Sound-based moves bypass Substitutes completely in Gen 6 onwards, and hit the Pokemon behind it. Bug Buzz is classified as a sound-based move, so it stands to reason why it hit through Substitute. Additionally, any Pokemon with Infiltrator bypasses Substitute as well.

Source: Experience andBulbapedia

Hope I helped!