Best Dream World Ability

[Blue Monarch]

Nothing is "cheap," so long as its allowed by the rules. The word "cheap" is a word meant to accuse both a certain strategy and the players who use it. Those players are only trying to maximize their chances of winning, which is what competitive pokemon is all about, with whatever resources are given to them. People should not be criticized for doing whatever it takes, within the rules, to win.

What there is, however, are aspects that can decrease the depth and quality of a meta-game. Communities, like Smogon or PO, decide in their own ways what constitutes the optimal meta-game, and if removing certain aspects improves the metagame, it is done.

Word choice aside, however, you are right in decrying some of the abilities for having a negative effect on the game. Shadow Tag is probably the biggest offender there, and that is why Wobbuffet was rightly banned in previous generations. Chandelure makes it much worse. Thus "best" in terms of advantage gain is "bad" for the quality of the game. I'm reserving judgement on permanent weather, because while it is powerful, there are still enough options within each weather to perpetuate a level of variety.

I'll agree that Sap sipper is a wonderful ability. Azumarill in particular might find some real use for it.

Agreed with the semantics EXCEPT...

Shadow Tag is cheap though :|
It is a HUGE offender and makes something like Wobbuffet and Chandelure quite monstrously broken.

Some objections:

"But things hit harder this gen!"
As opposed to what? Yes Haxorus hits ridiculously hard and Gamefreak has a huge fetish for hard hitting Pokemon this gen apparently, but wasn't Wobbuffet played in ubers and still got away in spite of the harder hitting Pokemon? Besides, you choose who to switch Wobbuffet into and trap them, and unless the other guy had a Shed Shell or have Shadow Tag themselves or maybe U-turn/Volt Switch, they're not escaping the clutches of Wobbuffet anyways. There is NO ONE with brains out there who will switch a Wobbuffet against a Hydreigon, for example.

"But Encore is nerfed for 3 turns!"
You're still helping something to set up, regardless of the turn nerf, 3 turns is all you need to help something set up.

"Good players can counter Chandelure"
No, you can revenge it with stuff like Tyranitar, but you can't counter Shadow Tag Chandelure without taking overspecialised measures. For example, you will need to carry Shed Shell on every Pokemon just to escape one Pokemon from revenge killing something. How is that countering? There is no way to directly switch into Chandelure because Chandelure chooses who to KO and who it doesn't. It's quite simple; you meet Shadow Tag Chandelure, that's the end of the road for you.

"Stealth Rocks chips off 25% HP off Chandelure"
... still a good 4 Pokemon quite possibly revenged.

Now that I got that cleared up...

Yes, Sap Sipper is awesome. Grass immunity is something not to be scorned. Sure, Grass isn't that great of an offensive typing, but it saves you from being, I don't know, Contrary Serperior dead or Leech Seeding Ferrothorns. In fact, that attack boost can make a Sawsbuck an ideal counter to Ferrothorn, dealing considerable damage to Ferrothorn with Jump Kick while switching into a Leech Seed or Power Whip. Gyro Ball I imagine might hurt a bit, and Thunder Wave is no fun.

 

[365pokemon]

If anyone got wind, it'd be Rayquaza, which is pretty much God of Sky, just as Groudon and Kyogre are Land and Sea. Groudon with sand stream would actually make some sense. Kyogre, however, I've got no clue for. Not sure what would be better than drizzle either.

Rayquaza, no, ANYTHING bringing about permanent tailwind would be ridiculous even by uber standards. Free Sand-rush/Swift Swim/Chlorophyll for everyone.

They probably won't get new abilities, just new moves. But a premanent trick room ability would be awesome.

Oh and unnerve on ttar means that if you run it, your team doesn't have to be based on sandstorm, which is quite useful.

 

[Blue Monarch]

They probably won't get new abilities, just new moves. But a premanent trick room ability would be awesome.

Oh and unnerve on ttar means that if you run it, your team doesn't have to be based on sandstorm, which is quite useful.

Eh, somewhat borderline with the whole sandstorm stuff. Yes, it means no residual damage for non Ground/Rock/Steels or helping enemy Excadrills (though people rarely run that guy without Tyranitar), but that also means a significant decrease in Tar's Special Defence. With the sand up, Tyranitar can be tailored to even survive a LO Focus Blast from Timid Gengar and other significant damaging moves like LO + 1 Bug Buzz from Volcarona, etc. That is, if you EV it that way. So the whole sand stuff is up to debate whether one wants to get rid of it or not.

 

[RifleAvenger]

Eh, somewhat borderline with the whole sandstorm stuff. Yes, it means no residual damage for non Ground/Rock/Steels or helping enemy Excadrills (though people rarely run that guy without Tyranitar), but that also means a significant decrease in Tar's Special Defence. With the sand up, Tyranitar can be tailored to even survive a LO Focus Blast from Timid Gengar and other significant damaging moves like LO + 1 Bug Buzz from Volcarona, etc. That is, if you EV it that way. So the whole sand stuff is up to debate whether one wants to get rid of it or not.

I must agree. Back when I used TTar, I was always surprised how well it took special hits. I raised a bulky variant that could take a lot of punishment. Without sand, T-Tar is vulnerable to special hits, and loses the ability to mess with opposing weather. Sandstorm actually has few real abusers, and one use of T-Tar is to throw a monkey-wrench into Drought and Drizzle teams.

 

[365pokemon]

I must agree. Back when I used TTar, I was always surprised how well it took special hits. I raised a bulky variant that could take a lot of punishment. Without sand, T-Tar is vulnerable to special hits, and loses the ability to mess with opposing weather. Sandstorm actually has few real abusers, and one use of T-Tar is to throw a monkey-wrench into Drought and Drizzle teams.

Yes, but this means that now you can put tyranitar with pokes that you couldn't really before.

 

[Blue Monarch]

Sand works like a double-edged sword, but I don't mind if one or two of my Pokemon don't like the sand. It's not like my opponent will have a team of 6 sand immune Pokemon, right?

 

[Tbird]

I can't imagine tyranitar being used outside of sand anyway. What team would he fit on? I guess he'd just revert to his old Choice Scarf standard and be used to nail Starmie and co, which would as such make him a prime choice to use if you are using something like CB Garchomp. But even then, Garchomp really quite likes the sand being up and would still love tyranitar to take Stray surfs and stuff for him, which would be a much harder feat if the sand wasn't up.

Yeah Ttar sans sand to me seems really pointless.

 

[Darverses]

Sheer Force.

Nidoking is even more of a beast now than when he was a rabbit.

 

[365pokemon]

Sheer Force.

Nidoking is even more of a beast now than when he was a rabbit

Yes, I have a question for everyone: for items on nidoking: life orb or scarf? Life orb means more damage, but nidoking is relatively slow, and it already gets a boost without it.

 

[Zachmac]

They probably won't get new abilities, just new moves. But a premanent trick room ability would be awesome.

Oh and unnerve on ttar means that if you run it, your team doesn't have to be based on sandstorm, which is quite useful.

A trick room ability would be far to unbalanced. Curse snorlax, rampardos, iron ball ditto, Escavalier....

Unerve sucks. Would you sacrifice tyranitar's special defense boost for a useless ability?

Yes, I have a question for everyone: for items on nidoking: life orb or scarf? Life orb means more damage, but nidoking is relatively slow, and it already gets a boost without it.

As a sweeper, try a scarf. As a wall breaker, use the life orb.

 

[JasonTongFlute]

Drizzle on Politoed definitely!

But now Kyogre is less unique!

 

[Victreebong]

There's some DW abilities that now define the Pokémon utilizing them, and they would be nothing without them. Blaziken is at the top of that list, and so is Sableye. Sableye, as a matter of fact, was nigh impossible to use prior to BW. If you need more confirmation, play with it's counterpart Mawile, who still is held back by pitiful stats, despite Sheer Force's awesomeness.

Then there's others who benefitted markedly, but could hold their own with prior abilities. Infernape and Espeon come to mind. Infernape gets the Iron Fist from DW, but Blaze on Infernape is no slouch either, especially since the majority of Infernape have Focus Sash slapped onto them. Synchronize Espeon is laughable these days, but at one point paralyzing Espeon meant paralyzing your own team members. Now you don't have to actually paralyze Espeon for your own move to backfire...

I'd say Blaziken won this Generation's best DW ability lottery. Say what you will about Drizzletoed and Droughtails, Blaziken turns into a one Pokémon killing machine in ONE turn thanks to Speed Boost. No other Pokémon can claim that stand alone title. It's at it's best in OU, but thanks to Smogon, that's not happening.

 

[UbersSuck20]

Truant Durant

Moxie or Speed Boost.

 

[Ðew™]

I'm gonna say prankster here pretty much because of whimsicott's early success, the fact that it helped contribute to making thundurus i broken, and the success of prankster sableye thus far.

 

[Divine Retribution]

I think the worst Dream World has to offer has yet to be unleashed. Once we see Shadow Tag Chandelure, I think the general opinion might be different. In fact, I wonder if the whole reason why GF has waited so long to release it is because they've realized what a monster they're creating.

 

[MrWaffles9000]

Technician Breloom or Politoad

 

[Touché Amoré]

Whoaa Huge Power

No not really not Dream World to bad huh


But no. Magic Bounce is a very very good ability. Especially when hazards are a big part of the metagame now.

Reckless is also a good ability that does not get a lot of mention. Reckless Mienshao has rediculous power but it is overshadowed by Regenerator I guess >_>

Hydration is another good one. Making Vaporeon and Alomomola that much more useful.

And yeah Overconfident probably been said 100 times but yeah. It was actually given to quite a few Pokemon I see ・_・It really made some of the already very strong Pokemon even more dangerous. To the point where it is always good to be prepared to deal with Moxie users

 

[☭Azimuth_055☣]

I really liked Multiscale on Dragonite. It helped power down some super-effective moves that would otherwise OHKO Dragonite.

 

[BlueWartortle]

Espeon, Chandelure and Dragonite all got (or will get) interesting Hidden Abilities that helped them get into the Gen V metagame, even if they are too old/too new.

However, I think that the best Dream World ability we will ever get is CONTRARY! Hail, Serperior! Even over Speed Boost Blaziken that made it Uber )

 

[PKMN Trainer Tee]

I think poison heal on Gliscor is pretty cool. :>
Kind of helps in preventing your opponents from giving your Pokemon status problems.