Ability Speculation/Wishlist Thread

[Mega Altaria]

Speculate on what new Abilities could be in the 2019 Pokémon Switch game or what changes can be made to the Abilities we have now as in nerfs and buffs. And what sort of Abilities do you want in the game?

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

Reposting:

I would like more variants than anything else. More X-worker, X-ate abilities, a Speed variant of Defiant/Competitive, Special variant of Fur Coat, Dark-type variant of Synchronize etc.

As for ability buffs, the obligatory "Run Away should be universal" and "Damp should have Water Sport's effect".

Edit: Might as well use the dead space:

Spoiler: List

New ability wishlist:
Type variants:
*Steelworker: Fairy, Rock, Psychic or Dragon. There is a lot of stuff they can do with this.
*Synchronize: Dark and Ghost. This is for more distribution/lore reasons than anything else, since not all Dark-types have latent psychic abilities like Umbreon. Same for Ghosts.
*Sap Sipper: A Bug-type version of this would be cool. An Electric version would be better.
*Surge Surfer: A Misty Terrain variant of this would be good, since Misty Terrain does not buff Fairy-types directly. Most Fairies tend to be slow, so this would be helpful.

Stat variants:
*Defiant: Speed, as mentioned above. This would nullify the effects of Sticky Web while giving you a boost when you encounter an Intimidate Pokémon.
*Fur Coat: A Special Defense variant of this would be cool, since we need more Special walls besides Chansey and Blissey.
*Big Pecks etc.: A Speed variant would be good as would be relevant against Sticky Web.

Distribution wishlist:
*Aerilate: I would like to see this in a non-Mega context. Flying is one of the best under-appreciated types, so whatever early route fodder ends up getting this will likely be unexpectedly OP.
*Surge abilities: These will inevitably get more distribution, but I list them here because I hope we won't have to wait for one generation like we did Drizzle/Drought.

Buff wishlist:
*Run Away: As mentioned above, this should work universally. Run Away is worthless in Trainer battles including competitive metagame, so it should something at the very least.
*Swarm etc.: These should work at half health like Gluttony, some of the current pinch berries and Power Construct. This wouldn't make them good, but it would make them playable.
*Damp: Since self-destruction moves have been nerfed, this should at least have Water Sport's effect. It wouldn't make it good, but it would give it a reason to be used in gimmick sets.

Others:
*In general, more Terrain-based abilities would be nice. They are the new Weathers, so they should be acting as such.
*More immunity granting Abilities are always fun to abuse, so perhaps Grass and Fire can get more Abilities to counter them? Same goes for Ice and Flying.

 

[paipr_christian]

I'd like to see Anticipation and Forewarn to be buffed.

Make it so that Anticipation increases the users moves Speed stat by 1 when the Pokemon senses a super effective move.

Forewarn should increase both defenses by 1 stage if the "Powerful" move is going to be used that turn.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I want to see an Ability that cancels out Ground type immunities from Levitatie, Magnet Rise, And Flying types. It is basically an always activated Gravity effect. This field effect once the user either leaves or faints in battle. I was thinking it could be called Grounded.

Another ability is one that I want to see on a sea snake Pokémon called Neurotoxin. Basically what it does is give all biting moves (aside from Poison Fang) a chance to cause Bad Poison status and increases damage from those moves.

 

[Mega Altaria]

I've been thinking of an Ability that can remove hazards like Adhesion. Depending on the layers of hazards it absorbs, it may have additional effects like damage from Spikes and Stealth Rock or poisoning from Toxic Spikes from being attacked by a contact attack. And its effects wear off as soon as the Pokémon flees or it switches out of battle.

 

[paipr_christian]

I've been thinking of an Ability that can remove hazards like Adhesion. Depending on the layers of hazards it absorbs, it may have additional effects like damage from Spikes and Stealth Rock or poisoning from Toxic Spikes from being attacked by a contact attack. And its effects wear off as soon as the Pokémon flees or it switches out of battle.

Hmm... I actually like this. Like something that removes entry hazards but gives the Pokemon an Iron Barb's or Poison Point/Touch like effect afterwards.....

 

[RileyXY1]

I don't know if this game will even have abilities.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I don't know if this game will even have abilities.

If they get rid of abilities Regigigas is going to be the new meta. But seriously, they're not going to get rid of abilities, it'd break so many pokémon like Shedinja, Castform, Wishiwashi, Aegislash, etc.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Hmm... I actually like this. Like something that removes entry hazards but gives the Pokemon an Iron Barb's or Poison Point/Touch like effect afterwards.....

It sometimes can be a combination of both. But this Ability would be more effective on bulkier Pokémon.

 

[paipr_christian]

It sometimes can be a combination of both. But this Ability would be more effective on bulkier Pokémon.

Sticky Coat
When entering the battlefield this Pokemon rolls around and collects entry hazards with varying effects depending on what was collected.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Sticky Coat
When entering the battlefield this Pokemon rolls around and collects entry hazards with varying effects depending on what was collected.

Another name. But as long as the effect is retained I'll be fine. Despite the existence of hazard-removing moves, hazards are so common in the singles meta that I feel that there's a need to remove hazards more efficiently, especially if that effect is incorporated into an Ability.

As part of its effects, if attacked with a contact move by a Poison-type Pokémon, its poisoning effects are removed but it will still take damage from the Stealth Rocks and the Spikes that has collected onto the Pokémon with that Ability. Steel-types will still take Stealth Rock/Spikes damage but even though they will be unable to remove its poisoning effects, they will be immune to it.

 

[Zaide]

Reposting:


As for ability buffs, the obligatory "Run Away should be universal" and "Damp should have Water Sport's effect".

Regarding more variants : No please. We don't need a variant of everything. We don't need a special type intimidate. We don't need a special version of fur coat. At least, not in a large amount. The lack of variants of certain abilities increases specificity between special and physical, or between different types. In that you may have to make sacrifices to benefit from certain effects. I don't want Pokémon to become even more of just a typing and stat distribution matchup.

I don't know if this game will even have abilities.

This game has probably started development before Sun and Moon were released. With Sun and Moon introducing so many new ability gimmicks (water bubble, battle bond, power construct, etc.), I doubt the upcoming games will have abilities removed. They've became a key aspect of the game, and I do not believe increased simplicity would be achieved for a broader audience by removing them. This is not something that you can advertise as a selling point, either, from a marketing standpoint.

Another name. But as long as the effect is retained I'll be fine. Despite the existence of hazard-removing moves, hazards are so common in the singles meta that I feel that there's a need to remove hazards more efficiently, especially if that effect is incorporated into an Ability.

As part of its effects, if attacked with a contact move by a Poison-type Pokémon, its poisoning effects are removed but it will still take damage from the Stealth Rocks and the Spikes that has collected onto the Pokémon with that Ability. Steel-types will still take Stealth Rock/Spikes damage but even though they will be unable to remove its poisoning effects, they will be immune to it.

I love the idea. But the way you would make it work is quite overpowered, basically rendering entry hazards useless. Either you have it activate only once per fight with a gimmick (making it work only at full health, for example, while still feeling the effects of the hazard), or you have it affect only one type of hazard (like poison types remove absorb toxic spikes), or have the pokemon receive double damage from the damaging hazards (after all it's rolling around on itself to remove them, that must hurt!).

 

[Mega Altaria]

I love the idea. But the way you would make it work is quite overpowered, basically rendering entry hazards useless. Either you have it activate only once per fight with a gimmick (making it work only at full health, for example, while still feeling the effects of the hazard), or you have it affect only one type of hazard (like poison types remove absorb toxic spikes), or have the pokemon receive double damage from the damaging hazards (after all it's rolling around on itself to remove them, that must hurt!).

But still hazards completely changed the meta once Stealth Rock was introduced. One way to nerf it is that the Pokémon will retain the hazards it has taken up for the rest of the battle so that once its Ability has activated it cannot take up any more hazards and that way it would work only once in battle. Or the damage would be scaled to a more minimal scale, especially with stacking Spikes and super effective Stealth Rock, so that the Ability wouldn't take out Pokémon as quickly.

 

[Zaide]

But still hazards completely changed the meta once Stealth Rock was introduced. One way to nerf it is that the Pokémon will retain the hazards it has taken up for the rest of the battle so that once its Ability has activated it cannot take up any more hazards and that way it would work only once in battle. Or the damage would be scaled to a more minimal scale, especially with stacking Spikes and super effective Stealth Rock, so that the Ability wouldn't take out Pokémon as quickly.

I thought about this, and instead came up with very gimmicky solutions. But reading your post made me remember of one thing that have been increasing in the past few games: Forms. Aegislash, Mimikyu, Wishiwashi, Minior, Ash-Greninja, Complete Zygarde, Darmanitan, etc. You could even argue mega evolutions/primals/ultra-necrozma are also the same mechanism, just with different triggers.

And thinking about this, I think it would make a lot of sense to have that pokémon change form when it absorbs hazards. A form change that would not be reversible, obviously.

But now we'd need to come up with what happens after the form change. In general, form changes can trigger two things : stat changes and typing changes. So even with this, I doubt it would be wise to have it gain an ability like poison barb, iron barb, etc. Let alone a combination of all.

I also don't know if the game remembers the order in which hazards were put on the field (I doubt so), but something that would be nice would be the Pokémon gaining a 2nd type based on what hazard it absorbs. If the game remembers the order, then the latest hazard put on the field, else one at random (even if it would remove all). Stealth rock would add rock type, Spikes would add ground type, Toxic Spikes would add poison type, and Sticky Web would add bug type. Each of the 4 forms would have a different appearance obviously.

Hell, there could even be a stat increase for each form : defense for rock, attack for ground, special attack or special defense for poison, and speed or special defense for bug (speed would make more sense to me). Going even further, it could even have a unique move that changes based on the type of the user, allowing it to use the hazard that it has absorbed. But maybe that would be too much, even if it would make sense.

Overall that may sound complicated, but I think that would be feasible for gamefreak code-wise, and it would be balanced (one-time hazard removal, and it does not become overpowered after), while being very fun to play with.

 

[Mega Altaria]

I kinda think that's going a bit overboard there. But anyway, the different hazards can stack as in on one side of the battlefield so you can have Stealth Rock and Sticky Web on one side as an example, so I wonder what sort of type changes will be prioritised. Maybe it could be determined by RNG and therefore the effects are randomised.

 

[Fairy Queen]

Buff Illuminate. Give it the same effects as holding a BrightPowder.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Buff Illuminate. Give it the same effects as holding a BrightPowder.

Yeah, that would definitely make it better in some way. But I kinda feel that makes things a bit more RNG that way but maybe it could also have an additional effect of boosting the power of light-based moves like Dazzling Gleam, Flash Cannon, etc.

 

[Fairy Queen]

Yeah, that would definitely make it better in some way. But I kinda feel that makes things a bit more RNG that way but maybe it could also have an additional effect of boosting the power of light-based moves like Dazzling Gleam, Flash Cannon, etc.

I guess that could work too. Or even raising the users accuracy like Compound Eyes. Starmie snd Lanturn would like this with hydro pump, thunder, and blizzard. Watchog would love this with hypnosis.

 

[Zaide]

Yeah, that would definitely make it better in some way. But I kinda feel that makes things a bit more RNG that way but maybe it could also have an additional effect of boosting the power of light-based moves like Dazzling Gleam, Flash Cannon, etc.

I like your idea more. Woud allow to get a new type of move (like sound moves, punch moves, biting moves, etc.) without creating that "light" type I know some have been wanting. There's already a good basis of moves that would make this ability worth it, in Solarbeam, Signal Beam, Aurora Beam, Flash Cannon and Dazzling Gleam. Moves like Photon Geyser, Prismatic Laser, Moongeist Beam, Sunsteel Strike, Luster Purge and Light of Ruin could also be included, but they're exclusive moves - and thank god because a boosted LoR would be bonkers.
Maybe it could also include most beam moves (Except a few like ice beam or bubble beam), rather than just the two that specifically (I may have forgotten a few) mention light in their game descriptions and aurora beam (which is rainbow so closely related to light)
The creation of such an ability would also mean that we'd get 1-2 new light based moves anyways, and I think the 5 mentionned above + maybe an electric type and a fire type light-based move would make it a decent ability now, depending on how much it buffs (30% or 50%, IMO, although 50% would be insane on solarbeam, but it's not like strong pokémon have access to it AND illuminate anyways)

This also reminds me that we need an ability that buffs sound based moves too. Either by boosting their sheer power, or by doing something like parental bond on those moves (aka echoing)

 

[Fairy Queen]

I want an Iron Fist equivalent for kick-based moves (rolling kick, double kick, high jump kick, jump kick, blaze kick, low kick, mega kick, triple kick, trop kick). Imagine a High Jump Kick coming off with that boost. Ideally, Blaziken, Hitmontop and Tsareena would have gotten this ability.

I would also love an ability that boosts the power of priority moves. Technician serves this to a certain extent (for the weaker ones) but in general, an ability like this could be fun.