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The Worst Abilities

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OshyHikari

c l a r i t y
Since the old thread got closed due to a pointless revival I'm gonna remake it.

Basically, what do you think are the worst abilities ever when it comes to Pokemon?

I basically admit Normalize was a terrible ability, it gives Skitty/Delcatty absolutely no way to hit super-effectively with any attack and makes it hopeless against Rock/Steel/Ghost-type Pokemon, the only good thing with it is to use a gimmick with Thunder Wave to paralyze Ground-types.

And then there's also Hustle, it makes physical attacks stronger but sacrifices some of the vital accuracy. When I found out my Togekiss in SoulSilver had it I immediately ditched him, and training a Deino in my 5th Generation games was hard because of it.
 
In my opinion Klutz is a pretty bad ability. I guess it's ok if the Pokemon is holding a status inflicting item that effects the opponent but then it can't hold anything good that improves stats.
 

CuriousHeartless

Well-Known Member
Firstly, you might want to add some amendment so not every third post is Truant, Slow Start, and Defeatist.

Klutz and Normalize are pretty bad, but at least I think they do have uses. Tangled Feet isn't terrible, but it isn't great. Pressure is a wonderful ability, but just how widespread and generic it is makes me hate it.
 

Regality

Digital King
I would say the generic starter abilities!
I mean, it may just be because I never see them take affect, but unless you are at low health they are useless and I generally don't allow my pokemon to get to, or remain at, low health..
 

UbersSuck20

#FreeGenesect
No. You are kidding. If anything, Hustle is one of the best abilities in the game. It makes Togekiss' Attack acceptable and it sends Zweilous' over the likes of Zekrom's base Attack.

Useless abilities:
1. Slow Start (Do I need to explain?)
2. Truant (See Slow Start)
3. Stall
4. Defeatist
5. Turboblaze and Teravolt(why just not give Reshiram and Zekrom Mold Breaker?)
6. Run Away
 

Shine

Psyched Up
Staff member
Moderator
Firstly, you might want to add some amendment so not every third post is Truant, Slow Start, and Defeatist.

This


Seriously, they're bad on purpose, because they're meant to limit the strength Pokemon with that ability.






6. Run Away

Run Away is actually nice when you accidentally goes into battle against a much higher leveled Pokemon without any other way to escape from the battle.
 

OceanicLanturn

Non non non!
1. Illuminate: Honestly, having an Illuminate mon in the front inside a cave is terrifying enough.
2. Stall: Dafuq is this used for? Maybe Slow Substitute but Sableye ain't Blissey, or Ferrothorn.
3. Plus/Minus: Useless in singles. I don't think someone would use two electric types (hint: Earthquake) just to enjoy the Plus/Minus benefit. Not too familiar with doubles meta though.
4. Heavy Metal: What's this for? Low Kick and Grass Knot hits harder. I mean, cool, heavy slam does more damage as a whole, but Heavy Slam is pretty... inconsistent. I'd prefer Return.
5. Overcoat: In-game, weathers are rare. Competitively, all the other Pokemon that get overcoat have better options, except Wormadam, which brings me to my next point.
6. Anticipation: In-game, OHKOs are rare. Competitively, OHKOs are banned.
7. Oblivious: Usually stuff like preventing a burn or freeze are more useful, but Oblivious is just... bad to me. Attract have a 50% chance of working, depending on gender. Let's slap an anti-attract move to a status that's already pretty underpowered compared to burn and poison!
8. Run Away: In-game it's pretty handy for getting away from stupid Zubats. But comp battles? Ain't nobody got time for that.
9. Keen Eye/Big Pecks: Unlike Hyper Cutter, accuracy decreasing and defense decreasing are barely seen in competitive battles. Even in-game, something like Super Luck would be better for Unfezant to get random haxs. At least Big Pecks prevent defense drop from Crunch. I mean, who uses Leaf Tornado on Serperior?
10. Tangled Feet: Marvel Scale is useful. Tangled Feet is not. You can still hurt yourself. And Evasion boost. Seriously?
11. Rivalry: The boost is good. But the drop when fighting the same gender sucks. It's just so... bad. You do less damage to a mon of different gender? No way. Considering Haxorus's awesome Mold Breaker, Nido's Sheer Force/Hustle, Shinx's lol Intimidate, Unfezant's Super Luck and even Beautifly's Swarm have better effects, no thanks.
 

Shine

Psyched Up
Staff member
Moderator
Smoke ball

I said "without any other way", that means no Smoke Ball either :p

Run Away is generally useful on a lower leveled Pokemon, or when you face a wild Pokemon with Shadow Tag/Arena Trap ability. It does gets useless on higher leveled Pokemon, though, since they tend to have higher Speed than the stuffs they're facing.
 
Since the old thread got closed due to a pointless revival I'm gonna remake it.
I basically admit Normalize was a terrible ability, it gives Skitty/Delcatty absolutely no way to hit super-effectively with any attack and makes it hopeless against Rock/Steel/Ghost-type Pokemon, the only good thing with it is to use a gimmick with Thunder Wave to paralyze Ground-types.

Another plus to Normalize is that it gives Skitty and Delcatty permanent Same-Type Attack Bonus.

Personally, there's nothing I despise more than Hustle. The fact that it sacrifices Accuracy for Power makes Deino and Zweilous nearly untrainable. At least the Hydreigon is worth is, and at least it has Levitate.
 

Quilava42

Blazing Flowers
1. Illuminate: Honestly, having an Illuminate mon in the front inside a cave is terrifying enough.
2. Stall: Dafuq is this used for? Maybe Slow Substitute but Sableye ain't Blissey, or Ferrothorn.
3. Plus/Minus: Useless in singles. I don't think someone would use two electric types (hint: Earthquake) just to enjoy the Plus/Minus benefit. Not too familiar with doubles meta though.
4. Heavy Metal: What's this for? Low Kick and Grass Knot hits harder. I mean, cool, heavy slam does more damage as a whole, but Heavy Slam is pretty... inconsistent. I'd prefer Return.
5. Overcoat: In-game, weathers are rare. Competitively, all the other Pokemon that get overcoat have better options, except Wormadam, which brings me to my next point.
6. Anticipation: In-game, OHKOs are rare. Competitively, OHKOs are banned.
7. Oblivious: Usually stuff like preventing a burn or freeze are more useful, but Oblivious is just... bad to me. Attract have a 50% chance of working, depending on gender. Let's slap an anti-attract move to a status that's already pretty underpowered compared to burn and poison!
8. Run Away: In-game it's pretty handy for getting away from stupid Zubats. But comp battles? Ain't nobody got time for that.
9. Keen Eye/Big Pecks: Unlike Hyper Cutter, accuracy decreasing and defense decreasing are barely seen in competitive battles. Even in-game, something like Super Luck would be better for Unfezant to get random haxs. At least Big Pecks prevent defense drop from Crunch. I mean, who uses Leaf Tornado on Serperior?
10. Tangled Feet: Marvel Scale is useful. Tangled Feet is not. You can still hurt yourself. And Evasion boost. Seriously?
11. Rivalry: The boost is good. But the drop when fighting the same gender sucks. It's just so... bad. You do less damage to a mon of different gender? No way. Considering Haxorus's awesome Mold Breaker, Nido's Sheer Force/Hustle, Shinx's lol Intimidate, Unfezant's Super Luck and even Beautifly's Swarm have better effects, no thanks.

THANK YOU! I swear, I find these abilities useless too.
 

Cyberra

pain in the ***
Cute Charm. I HATE Cute Charm. Few things make me frustrated faster than my pokemon being "immobilized by love" for SIX FREAKING TURNS while my opponent piles damage on me. Good thing it was my lvl 40 Luxray against a lvl 33 Clefairy or the damn thing would've killed me. But still, ARGH!!!
 

ParaChomp

be your own guru
From the sounds of it those abilities aren't bad at all.

Levitate, I'm not a fan of it.

In all seriousness though, they all have their uses just some are just wasted potential. Forecast is an example, Castform is an outstanding concept but its stats make it fall short. Same with Zen Mode, Darmanitan just doesn't have the proper moveset to support such and interesting strategy. On top of that, stats would also be hard to juggle. Solar Power is another one which a lot of mediocre Pokemon get, if it weren't for that recoil, they could see some more use.
 
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AnakBaé

Well-Known Member
Pressure: A popular ability among legendaries before RSE. It's completely useless, unless you're abusing CM Suicune. Thankfully GF realized it's futility and replaced their abilities with better DW abilities such as Regenerator, Lightningrod, Multiscale, etc.
 
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