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Mons with two complimentary abilities?

Aduro

Mt.BtlMaster
Some pokemon only get abilities that are almost useless. Others get one great ability that gives them a unique niche. But there are a lucky few that get two or more abilities that can be completely viable in a competitive team.

For instance Clefable. Whenever you see another player use one, its always a question of whether its going to run Unaware or Magic Guard. Both abilities are completely competitively viable for Clefable's movepool. Sure, most players run Magic Guard. But you really don't want your win condition, +2 Garchomp getting revenge killed by an Unaware Clefable.

Others include Galarmanitan, Gyarados and Excadrill. They can compete in high tier singles or VGC with at least two abilities.

Which pokemon do you think can most effectively either of its abilities?
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Azumarill is another example. Obviously everyone knows about the power of Huge Power Azumarill utilizing a Choice Band or Belly Drum to pose a massive offensive threat. Well, how do you deal with Huge Power Azumarill? Often with a bulky Grass type such as Ferrothorn, Tangrowth, or Tapu Bulu. These Pokemon can easily stomach Azumarill's powerful attacks and threaten it back with super-effective Grass moves. However, with the release of the virtual console games, an insidious combination became legal for Azumarill; its Hidden Ability Sap Sipper along with Whirlpool and Perish Song. This allows Azumarill to lure in opposing bulky Grass types, trap them with Whirlpool, and then doom them with Perish Song.

It's very interesting how these two sets play off of each other and their completely separate checks. Switching a bulky Grass type in to deal with a suspected Huge Power Azumarill only to be trapped by a Sap Sipper set can be devastating, but on the flip side of the same coin, immediately sending out a frail powerhouse like Tapu Koko or Gengar anticipating a Sap Sipper set can be equally disastrous if it turns out to be a Huge Power set. If you lack one of the few Pokemon who can deal with both sets, such as Mega Venusaur or a bulky Water Absorb user like Gastrodon, you must play very carefully and study your opponent's team to try and determine which set you're facing.
 
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Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
Koffing and Weezing have two useful standard Abilities now. Levitate negates it’s Ground type weakness while Neutralizing Gas gives it back but it can cause havoc for teams that heavily rely on Abilities in battle.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Plenty of them. Poliwrath now that it finally gets good Fighting STAB gets both Swift Swim and Water Absorb. Swift Swim could probably work in rain teams with Belly Drum to create a fast sweeper, while Water Absorb could be a fun bulky combo with Surf partners and Dive (Milotic could be good with it deterring Intimidate). Togedemaru has three good abilities. Both of Umbreon's abilities are quite nice in different circumstances, with Synchronize being a deterrent to walls trying Toxic and Inner Focus being nice to be able to set up in the face of Fake Out. Snorlax has three good abilities, Thick Fat allowing walling better by adding resistances, Gluttony working well with sets like Belly Drum + Selfdestruct + Custap or with Figy Berries, and Immunity blocking Toxic. Alolan Marowak is a big one too, Lightningrod brings its total resistances/immunities to 10 different types and is great redirection, while Rock Head gives it that terrifying no-recoil Flare Blitz that OHKOs virtually everything that does not resist it. Kommo-o often runs Soundproof to block Hyper Voice from Mega Gardevoir, Sylveon and Mega Salamence or Clangorous Soulblaze from enemy Kommo-o, but it can also run Overcoat to be immune to Hail and Sandstorm, so you can easily fit it on a Hail team to threaten stuff like Incineroar or Tyranitar. Porygon2 has three different abilities that are all viable. Lilligant can use Own Tempo to combo with Petal Dance (quite neat next to Oricorio if you also run Quiver Dance), or it can use Chlorophyll for Sun teams to support with After You or get powerful fast hits in with Solar Beam. Reuniclus has a great Magic Guard but also has Regenerator it can run. Gothitelle can use either Shadow Tag for trapping or Competitive to get boosts from Intimidates and stuff. Bruxish can either block enemy priority, halve the odds of enemy status moves hitting, or get extra power on its biting moves, and all are viable. Kingdra can either be a Swift Swim sweeper or it can run Sniper with Focus Energy and a Scope Lens, then spam Draco Meteor with 100% crit rate without caring about stat drops. Shuckle can run Gluttony for better healing with berries like Iapapa, or it can run Contrary which is nice on Power Trick sets to get boosts from Intimidates. Oranguru can run either Inner Focus to stop Fake Outs from blocking its Trick Room setup, or it can run Telepathy in case it has partners that use spread attacks, like Petal Blizzard Lurantis or Earthquake users.
 
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Luthor

Well-Known Member
Galarian Darmanitan its Gorilla Technique is a great ability but it's Zen Mode makes it a radically different type of foe and could be very threatening under the right circumstances.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
Galarian Darmanitan its Gorilla Technique is a great ability but it's Zen Mode makes it a radically different type of foe and could be very threatening under the right circumstances.
I know that it definitely threw me off first time facing Melony as I was planning on doing her Gym solely with Fire and Steel types and didn’t know that her Darmanitan had Zen Mode.
 
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