Dark Ampharos 2 — what does this card actually do?
This card has 120 HP, a top attack printed at 70 damage and a Fighting weakness.
Lightning/Darkness · Stage 2 · Team Rocket Returns · measured against 20,444 cards on file — card data read July 28, 2026
What does Dark Ampharos 2 do in a game?
Dark Ampharos 2 is a Lightning/Darkness Pokémon card with 120 HP, printed as Stage 2.
Its strongest attack, Shock Bolt, is printed at 70 damage for 3 Energy — 23 damage per Energy card.
Because of the Fighting weakness, any Fighting attack printed at 60 damage or more removes it in a single turn.
Dark Ampharos 2Team Rocket Returns
Dark Ampharos 2 performance summary
120 HP · Lightning/Darkness · Stage 2 · retreat 2 · Fighting weakness ×2
as of July 28, 2026
damage per Energy card, among cards whose cheapest attack costs 2
Strongest on Hit points — top 33.9% of the archive. Weakest on Attack cost lightness — bottom 43.8%.
Each spoke is this card's place among every card in the archive that prints that figure. Further out is stronger — retreat and attack cost are shown as lightness, so a cheap card reaches outward. Counted July 28, 2026.
| Measure | Percentile | Printed value |
|---|---|---|
| Hit points | 66.1% | 120 HP |
| Top printed damage | 64.7% | 70 damage |
| Energy efficiency | 57.8% | 23 per Energy |
| Retreat lightness | 45.3% | 2 Energy |
| Attack cost lightness | 43.8% | 2 Energy |
2 attacks printed on the card. The badge is the Energy it asks for.
Among the 17,290 cards in every card in the archive that carry printed HP, this one is number 4,897 at 120 HP.
Dark Ampharos 2120 HPPrinted HP
The ceiling of this archive is 380 HP — 260 HP above this card.
Mega Emboar ex 273380 HPWhat stands out on Dark Ampharos 2
- Hit points 120 HP puts it in the 80~120 band, where 33.1% of 17,290 cards with printed HP sit.
- Energy It returns 23 damage per Energy card against 32.5 for cards whose cheapest attack costs 2.
- Weakness A Fighting attack printed at 60 damage or more removes it in a single turn.
Dark Ampharos 2 at a glance
- What it is. A Lightning/Darkness Pokémon card with 120 HP printed as Stage 2, printed in Team Rocket Returns.
- What it can do. 2 attacks printed on the card, the strongest at 70 damage for 3 Energy.
- What it fears. A Fighting weakness at ×2, which means 60 printed damage is enough to remove it.
- What it costs to move. 2 Energy to retreat, discarded from the card itself.
- Where it can be played. Unlimited only.
- What this page does not claim. Deck lists, tournament results and win rates are not published here, because the card files this site reads do not contain them.
What do the attacks on Dark Ampharos 2 cost, and what do they hit for?
The card prints 2 attacks. The strongest asks for 3 Energy and returns 70 damage, which is 23 damage for every Energy card attached.
| Attack | Energy cost | Cards of Energy | Printed damage | Damage per Energy | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ram | 2 Colorless | 2 | 30 | 15 | No extra effect. |
| Shock Bolt | 1 Lightning + 2 Colorless | 3 | 70 | 23 | Discard all Lightning Energy attached to Dark Ampharos. |
Retreating costs a further 2 Energy, discarded from this card, and that cost is paid on top of anything in the table.
What each attack asks a deck to attach before it can be used, drawn as the symbols printed on the card.
One Energy card attaches per turn, so the number of symbols is also the number of turns the attack waits.
How does Dark Ampharos 2 compare with every other card?
Each bar below is the whole archive cut by one printed figure, with the band this card falls into marked. A number on its own says nothing about whether it is high or low — the shape of the archive does.
The ceiling of this archive is Mega Emboar ex at 380 HP — every bar here is measured against it.
This card prints 120 HP, which is 32% of that ceiling.
Every figure in this panel is counted the same way: from the card files this site reads, read July 28, 2026, over the 17,290 cards that print an HP figure. Each bar is measured against the tallest HP in the archive, 380 HP.
17,290 cards in the archive carry a printed HP figure. This one has 120 HP.
Cards in the 80~120 band typically print 56 damage and ask 1 Energy to retreat.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ~70 | 38.6% | 6,669 cards |
| 80~120 — this card | 33.1% | 5,725 cards |
| 130~180 | 15.5% | 2,679 cards |
| 190~230 | 6.6% | 1,148 cards |
| 240~280 | 3.3% | 567 cards |
| 290~330 | 2.4% | 412 cards |
| 340+ | 0.5% | 90 cards |
16,246 cards print damage on at least one attack. The highest on this card is 70.
Cards in the 70~120 band typically have 141 HP and ask 2 Energy to retreat.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ~30 | 42.7% | 6,938 cards |
| 40~60 | 22.0% | 3,566 cards |
| 70~120 — this card | 21.8% | 3,535 cards |
| 130~180 | 9.0% | 1,461 cards |
| 190~250 | 3.8% | 621 cards |
| 260+ | 0.8% | 125 cards |
17,262 cards have at least one attack with an Energy cost. The cheapest on this card asks 2 Energy.
Cards whose cheapest attack costs 2 typically have 116 HP and print 65 damage.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1.8% | 304 cards |
| 1 | 54.4% | 9,392 cards |
| 2 — this card | 26.4% | 4,565 cards |
| 3 | 14.7% | 2,533 cards |
| 4 | 2.4% | 421 cards |
| 5 | 0.3% | 47 cards |
17,240 cards carry a retreat cost. This one costs 2 Energy to retreat.
Cards with a retreat cost of 2 typically have 132 HP and print 79 damage.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 5.3% | 914 cards |
| 1 | 49.3% | 8,503 cards |
| 2 — this card | 28.6% | 4,926 cards |
| 3 | 12.6% | 2,168 cards |
| 4 | 4.2% | 729 cards |
That is where Dark Ampharos 2 stands highest on HP — number 1 of 97 cards in Team Rocket Returns. Cut the archive a different way and the answer moves, which is what the bars below are for.
- Hit points 120 HP
middle half 60–130 HP - Top printed damage 70 damage
middle half 20–90 damage
- Lowest to highest printed in the archive
- Middle half of the archive
- This card
Each row is stretched from the lowest printed figure to the highest, so the two rows are not on one shared scale — read each row on its own.
Open the group this card falls into
Back to summaryWhat Dark Ampharos 2 does without attacking
Dark Ampharos 2 carries 1 printed effect that work outside the attack step, so it can matter on a turn the card never attacks.
Why this sits apart from the attacks
An attack costs Energy and ends your turn. What is printed above does neither — it is available while the card is in play, so it is a different kind of cost to a deck. Attack costs are in the section above.
This effect places damage counters, which is not the same as dealing damage
Darkest Impulse puts damage counters on a Pokémon rather than dealing damage to it. One counter is ten damage on the board, but the rules keep them apart: effects that reduce or prevent damage do not stop counters from being placed, and weakness and resistance are not applied to them.
Is Dark Ampharos 2 efficient for the Energy it asks for?
Printed damage on its own says nothing — a 70 damage attack that needs 3 Energy and one that needs two are different cards. Dividing one by the other puts every attack on the same scale.
Each bar is what cards asking that much Energy typically print, divided by the Energy they ask for. The number beside the bar is that figure.
Cards whose cheapest attack costs 2 typically return 32.5 damage per Energy card. This card returns 23.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Energy | 49.0 | 49 damage typical |
| 2 Energy | 32.5 | 65 damage typical |
| 3 Energy | 34.7 | 104 damage typical |
| 4 Energy | 27.8 | 111 damage typical |
| 5 Energy | 41.8 | 209 damage typical |
| Dark Ampharos 2 — this card | 23.0 | 70 damage for 3 Energy |
Further right is a costlier attack, further up is a harder-hitting one, so the cheap and heavy corner is top left. The size of a grey dot is how many cards sit at that Energy cost.
| Group | Typical printed damage | Damage per Energy card | Cards in this group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest attack costs 0 Energy | 45 | — | 304 |
| Cheapest attack costs 1 Energy | 49 | 49 | 9,392 |
| Cheapest attack costs 2 Energy | 65 | 33 | 4,565 |
| Cheapest attack costs 3 Energy | 104 | 35 | 2,533 |
| Cheapest attack costs 4 Energy | 111 | 28 | 421 |
| Cheapest attack costs 5 Energy | 209 | 42 | 47 |
| Ram | — | 15 | — |
| Shock Bolt | — | 23 | — |
Where this sits once the archive is cut by damage instead
The bars above cut the archive by what an attack asks for. Cut the same archive by what an attack prints and the groups come out differently — the damage ranges on record are gathered on one page, which is where a figure like 70 is read as high or low rather than merely large.
What does being a Lightning card do for Dark Ampharos 2?
Type decides two things at once — which cards take double damage from this one, and which cards deal double to it. Both are read from the weakness printed on each group, not from a rule of thumb.
17,249 cards carry an energy type. The note under each name is the weakness printed most often on that group.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Psychic | 13.5% | 2,335 cards |
| Water | 14.1% | 2,435 cards |
| Colorless | 12.6% | 2,173 cards |
| Fire | 9.1% | 1,574 cards |
| Fighting | 10.9% | 1,884 cards |
| Lightning — this card | 8.8% | 1,520 cards |
| Grass | 13.8% | 2,387 cards |
| Metal | 5.4% | 925 cards |
| Darkness | 7.2% | 1,249 cards |
| Dragon | 3.1% | 530 cards |
| Fairy | 1.4% | 237 cards |
Read from the weakness printed on each group. The first row is this card; the rest are groups that most often print a Lightning weakness.
What being a Lightning card is worth
Groups that most often print a Lightning weakness: Water (2,435 cards). Against those, this card's printed damage counts double. Going the other way, Lightning cards are themselves most exposed to Fighting.
What knocks out Dark Ampharos 2 in one hit, and what does it knock out?
Weakness doubles the damage a Fighting attack deals to this card, so the bar it has to clear is 60 printed damage rather than 120.
Marshadow60 damage60 damage becomes 120 against this card
Dark Ampharos 2120 HPWhy this card was picked to stand opposite
Of the 901 cards in the archive that can remove Dark Ampharos 2 in a single attack, this one clears the bar by the smallest margin — 60 printed damage against a bar of 60. Anything printed higher removes it just as surely, so this is where the line actually sits, and this print is legal in Standard play today.
Read from the weakness printed in the lower-left corner of the card.
| Card | Set | HP | Printed damage | After weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mega Lucario ex (77) | Mega Evolution | 340 | 270 | 540 |
| Mega Lucario ex (160) | Mega Evolution | 340 | 270 | 540 |
| Mega Lucario ex (179) | Mega Evolution | 340 | 270 | 540 |
| Mega Lucario ex (188) | Mega Evolution | 340 | 270 | 540 |
| Mega Lucario ex (113) | Ascended Heroes | 340 | 270 | 540 |
| Toxtricity ex (100) | Paradox Rift | 260 | 270 | 540 |
120 HP against a Fighting ×2 weakness means any Fighting attack printed at 60 damage or more is enough. 909 cards in the archive clear that bar.
140 HP
Samurott [31]
140 HP
Samurott [32]
140 HP
Empoleon [35]
140 HP
Samurott [39]
140 HP
Empoleon [29]
140 HP
Togekiss [104]
2,684 cards in the archive are weak to Lightning/Darkness and sit inside the damage this card can deal. Point at a card to see it full size.Tap a card to open its page.
What is Dark Ampharos as a Pokémon, across every card it has been printed on?
Dark Ampharos 2 is one print of Dark Ampharos. The figures below are about the Pokémon rather than this single card — how many times it has been printed, how tough those prints run, and how many of them can still be played.
What has to be in play before Dark Ampharos 2 can be?
Dark Ampharos evolves from Dark Flaaffy, so the whole line has to be built before this card reaches the field.
- This card cannot be played from your hand onto an empty spot — it goes on top of Dark Flaaffy.
- The line runs 3 stages, so the first card has to be in play 2 turns before this one can be.
- Every print in the line shares Pokédex number 181.
Every print of a stage is counted, not just the one shown in the chain above, so the bar is the ceiling that stage has reached rather than one card from it.
Is this the strongest Dark Ampharos print, and can the older ones still be played?
2 prints carry this name in the archive. They share a Pokémon but not a card — printed HP, printed damage and tournament legality all move from one print to the next.
Bar height and the number above each bar = highest HP that year; the two digits below = the year.
| Set | Regulation mark | Standard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Ampharos 2/109 | EX Team Rocket Returns | No mark printed | Not legal in Standard |
| Dark Ampharos 001/105 | Neo Destiny | No mark printed | Not legal in Standard |
0 of the 2 prints listed here are legal in Standard play. An older print of the same Pokémon is a different card for legality, because legality is read from the print rather than from the name — so owning the cheap old copy does not always mean you can enter with it.
Back to summaryWhich other cards share the Pokémon behind Dark Ampharos 2?
Every card below carries the same Pokédex number as this one, so they are the same Pokémon printed as different cards — different stages, different mechanics and different names all sit in this group.
90
Ampharos [1]
150
Ampharos ex [89]
100
Ampharos [2]
120
Ampharos δ [1]
70
Dark Ampharos [1]
120
Ampharos [1]
100
Ampharos [1]
80
Ampharos [1]
220
M Ampharos-EX [88]
140
Ampharos [105]
240
Ampharos-GX [185]
170
Ampharos-EX [87]
140
Ampharos [BW67]
130
Ampharos [1]
130
Ampharos [1]
240
Ampharos-GX [163]
130
Ampharos [1]
100
Ampharos [34]
120
Ampharos [14]
120
Ampharos [23]
220
M Ampharos-EX [28]
240
Ampharos-GX [43]
160
Ampharos [90]
210
Ampharos V [171]
140
Ampharos [40]
170
Ampharos-EX [27]
150
Ampharos [78]
160
Ampharos [109]
140
Ampharos [40]
210
Ampharos V [49]
150
Ampharos [57]
150
Ampharos [56]
160
Ampharos [49]
140
Team Rocket's Ampharos [74]
160
Ampharos [29]
35 cards in the archive share this Pokédex number (#181). The badge on each card is its printed HP, the figure under the name is its hardest printed attack, and the name sits under the picture. Point at a card to see it full size.Tap a card to open its page.
What was printed next to Dark Ampharos 2 in Team Rocket Returns?
A card is met inside a set, not on its own, and the number on it is the order that set gave it. The cards either side are the ones a collector actually turns past to reach this one.
80
Azumarill [1]
90
Dark Crobat [3]
70
Dark Electrode [4]
70
Dark Houndoom [5]
70
Dark Hypno [6]
70
Dark Marowak [7]
70
Dark Octillery [8]
These are the cards numbered either side of #2 in Team Rocket Returns. The badge on each card is its printed HP. Point at a card to see it full size.Tap a card to open its page.
Which rules apply to Dark Ampharos 2, and where can it be played?
Two kinds of rule meet on one card — the sentence printed on the card face, and the rulebook clauses that apply because of what the card carries.
The rule printed on this card
“This Pokémon is both Lightning Darkness type.”
| Clause | What the rulebook says | Cards it applies to | Share of the archive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weakness | Some Pokemon have Weakness or Resistance to Pokemon of certain types, marked in the lower-left corner of the card. | 16,744 cards | 81.9% |
| Retreat | Retreat your Active Pokemon (only once per turn). | 17,244 cards | 84.3% |
| Energy per turn | You can attach Energy just once each turn! | 17,180 cards | 84.0% |
Counted across 20,444 English cards. A clause applies to this card because the card carries the property the clause names, not because we judged it to.
| Format | Status | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Not listed | This card is not listed for this format |
| Expanded | Not listed | This card is not listed for this format |
| Unlimited | Legal | Can be played in this format |
Read from the format list recorded with the card. Formats rotate on a schedule set by the organiser, and that schedule is not published on this page.
Where this card can be played
This card is legal in Unlimited play. It was released on November 1, 2004.
Dark Ampharos 2 in depth — what these figures add up to
Three readings of the same card, side by side: what it costs to get going, where it sits among the cards it will be compared with, and what takes it off the field.
What it asks a deck for
- Its hardest attack, Shock Bolt, needs 3 Energy attached. Energy attaches once a turn, so that attack waits 3 turns from an empty card.
- That works out at 23 damage for every Energy card attached.
- Moving it out of the active spot costs 2 more Energy, discarded from the card itself.
- It cannot start the game in play — Dark Flaaffy has to be on the field first.
Where its HP stands, cut four ways
What actually removes it
- A Fighting attack printed at 60 damage removes it in a single turn — that is the bar, not its 120 HP.
- 909 cards in the archive clear that bar.
- Going the other way, it removes 2,684 cards in one attack.
Dark Ampharos 2 card record
| Hit points | 120 HP | Type | Lightning/Darkness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weakness | Fighting ×2 | Retreat cost | 2 Energy |
| Evolves from | Dark Flaaffy | Card type | Stage 2 |
| Pokédex number | #181 | Set | Team Rocket Returns |
| Card number | 2 of 109 | Series | EX |
| Released | November 1, 2004 | Rarity | Rare Holo |
| Illustrator | Emi Miwa | ||
| Tournament legality | Unlimited only | ||
| Printed rule | This Pokémon is both Lightning Darkness type. | ||
Read from the printed card face, the set listing and the official format list.
What does Dark Ampharos 2 cost?
This page is about what the card does. The figure below is the one number worth carrying across, read on August 14, 2026.
Dark Ampharos 2 — frequently asked questions
How much damage does it take to knock out Dark Ampharos 2?
What is the strongest attack on Dark Ampharos 2?
What is the retreat cost of Dark Ampharos 2?
Does Dark Ampharos 2 deal damage or place damage counters?
Can an older Dark Ampharos print be played in a tournament?
What does Dark Ampharos evolve from?
Can Dark Ampharos 2 be played in a tournament?
What does the rule on Dark Ampharos 2 mean?
Does this page say how good Dark Ampharos 2 is in a deck?
Where these card facts come from
Card facts are read once from openly published card files and do not change between readings — a printed card cannot gain HP. The places below are where the same information can be checked. Last updated: July 28, 2026 — the counts and rankings on this page were taken from the card files read on that day.
Primary official source
First-party official sources — the body that issues the data itself, such as a government agency, a statutory register or a rights holder publishing its own records.
Industry source
Second-party sources — marketplaces, trade associations, research institutes and companies that compile data about the market.