Using Frisk in wild Pokemon battles

[Knight of Time]

Hi, I recently caught a Stantler in my HeartGold game with Frisk, mainly for the purpose of helping me find wild Pokemon that are holding items (e.g. Abra with a TwistedSpoon, Ditto with Metal Powder), just wondering, but if my Stantler is at the top of the party when sent into a wild Pokemon battle, can it tell when a wild Pokemon is holding an item?

Or do I have to make a switch for Frisk to work?

Either way, thanks in advance.

[Poryhedron]

Wild Shuppet with Frisk can tell when my opening pokémon is holding an item, so I can't think of any reason why your Stantler wouldn't be able to use Frisk on a wild pokémon at the start of the encounter.

[Knight of Time]

Oh, well, that's good. I taught my Stantler Role Play to scout for ability as well, so that'll probably be handy later on.

[Blademaster]

What's Frisk?

[DarkestLight]

Sarcasm,? Or srs?

If Sarcasm- ha.

If srs-its a Ability that allows the user to shake down your opponent Pokemon before the match starts to see if they are holding any items.

[Blademaster]

So it's like a precognitive form of the move Thief, then?

I can see this being useful to me...

[Poryhedron]

It doesn't take the item, but it does let you know if there's an item to take. Useful in competitive play to warn you about a foe holding a Choice item, or a Toxic Orb that it might be planning on foisting off on you...etc...

[Blademaster]

Well seeing how Thief is a crapshoot at best and a shitty waste of a moveslot at worst, I can see how the two could combine in-game for some practical applications. Like against wild Chanseys.