CAP 18 CAP 18 - Part 12 - Flavor Ability Discussion

[paintseagull]

The playtest has started, and now we need to finalize the last flavour details for the CAP - those that will have absolutely no bearing on how it plays/is playing on PS! Still, these details will bring Volkraken together as a believable Pokemon, so contributions and good discussion are still very needed. First - Flavour Ability! This ability should have little significance competitively, and should be all about what makes sense on the Pokemon.

The following abilities are banned from this discussion:

Air Lock
Aura Break
Bad Dreams
Color Change
Dark Aura
Defeatist
Fairy Aura
Forecast
Fur Coat
Huge Power
Illusion
Imposter
Moody
Multitype
Parental Bond
Protean
Pure Power
Shadow Tag
Slow Start
Stance Change
Teravolt
Truant
Turboblaze
Victory Star
Wonder Guard
Zen Mode

Arena Trap
Drizzle
Drought
Magic Bounce
Magic Guard
Prankster
Sand Stream
Snow Warning
Speed Boost​

If you are curious as to why these abilities are banned, check out this thread to learn more. Remember, the ability we choose here is an Ineffective Ability, meaning that it should be inferior to both Analytic and Infiltrator (Volkraken's competitive abilities).

There's no official leader for this discussion, but please look to the mods/project leaders in general for guidance and judgement calls on what counts as ineffective. (But if you're not sure if an ability is ineffective or not, err on the side of caution - it probably is inappropriate.)

----------------
CAP 18 so far:

Name: Volkraken

Art:

Sprites:

Height: 4'03" (1.3 m)
Weight: 98.1 lbs (44.5 kg)

Concept:

Concept: Major Third

General Description: A Pokemon that forms an effective offensive or defensive core with two lesser-used OU Pokemon.

Justification: Cores have always been an integral part of the metagame, whether you're running Talonflame/Staraptor to brute force everything, Slowbro/Amoonguss/Heatran for Regenerator-Leftovers stalling, or a whole team of Dragons + Magnezone. We've previously explored what it takes to make a successful partnership in CAP11 (Voodoom), but the metagame (and the simulator!) has changed dramatically since Voodoom's creation. I would also like to up the ante a little bit: Instead of just one, can we now take TWO Pokemon and find their missing piece? Whether we opt to build on an established two-Pokemon partnership or choose two previously unrelated Pokemon and put them together, I think that we can certainly find a Voodoom for a more offensive time.

Questions to Be Answered:
How do effective cores in the current metagame differ fundamentally from the cores of previous metagames, if at all?
Is synergy as important (relative to power) in the current metagame as it previously has been? (That is, has power creep rendered synergy unnecessary?)
What differences are there between tailoring a Pokemon to two others and tailoring it to one? What else must be considered besides weaknesses and resistances?
How does the addition of a Pokemon to a core change what other Pokemon can be effectively run alongside the core?
Does Team Preview make running cores more difficult?
Is it possible to create a core uncounterable by a single Pokemon? (For example, Celebi/Heatran/Jellicent was a very effective BW core that got slaughtered by Tyranitar. Can a core force opponents to counter it with another core?)
Tagging onto the above, what is required to "counter-core" a core? What combination of offensive and defensive characteristics among "counter-core" members achieves this?

Typing: Water/Fire
Abilities: Analytic / Infiltrator / ??
Stats: 100 HP / 45 Atk / 80 Def / 135 SpA / 100 SpD / 95 Spe
Movepool:

Level Up

0 - Constrict
0 - Flash
0 - Bite
0 - Leech Life
0 - Reflect
0 - Water Gun
4 - Reflect
9 - Water Gun
14 - Whirlpool
18 - Fire Spin
23 - Flame Burst
28 - Scald
32 - Destiny Bond
37 - Dive
42 - Power Gem
46 - Aqua Ring
51 - Heat Wave
56 - Hydro Pump
66 - Memento

Egg

(Water 1 / Water 2)

Aqua Jet
Assurance
Captivate
Scary Face
Tickle
Water Pulse

TM/HM

TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM11 - Sunny Day
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM32 - Double Team
TM33 - Reflect
TM35 - Flamethrower
TM38 - Fire Blast
TM41 - Torment
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM46 - Thief
TM48 - Round
TM50 - Overheat
TM54 - False Swipe
TM55 - Scald
TM56 - Fling
TM59 - Incinerate
TM60 - Quash
TM61 - Will-o-Wisp
TM66 - Payback
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM70 - Flash
TM87 -Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM89 - U-turn
TM90 - Substitute
TM91 - Flash Cannon
TM100 - Confide
HM03 - Surf
HM05 - Waterfall

 

[Albacore]

A few random ideas :

• Suction Cups is borderline competetive, so it may not be good, however, it does have flavour to it.
• Damp fits an underwater Pokemon quite well
• Poison Point or Touch could work, even though Volkraken isn't a Poison type, these abilities have found themselves on non-Poison types before
• Cured Body may, much like Suction Cups, be too competitive to be chosen, but can be considered
• White Smoke could fit a Volcanic Pokemon well, as well as Magma Armor
• Torrent and Blaze are pretty generic choices, but they may well be too uninventive to be selected
• Bulletproof
• Own Tempo could somewhat work I guess

 

[FMD]

I'm certain that Illuminate will be supported by many due both to the behavioural aspects of the vampire squid on which the CAP is based as well as the bioluminescent patches on its body. I feel that this ability would be a good fit both because it has no in-battle use and it has a decent flavor aspect.

 

[Ununhexium]

I will nominate Illuminate. Volkraken is a bioluminescent pokemon so it makes sense

Maybe Tangled Feet because of all of the tentacles and I would call it "inferior" because of the recent swagger ban so confusion is rare

Toxic Boost might have nice flavor
EDIT: ninjad

 

[Mektar]

Neither Volkraken nor the Vampire Squid upon which it is based have Suction Cups. I would prefer Illuminate.

 

[LightningLord2]

Volkraken is a spineless Pokémon, so Limber might work. With a decent speed, this might be rather useful, so I'd pick Illuminate as a second choice.

 

[Empress]

I have a strong feeling that many people will be jumping on the Illuminate and Suction Cups bandwagon, and I understand why, but I strongly discourage you guys from doing so. Let me make this clear (sorry in advance for the capitals): FLAVOR ABILITIES DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE USELESS! Think about it- Voodoom's Lightning Rod and Malaconda's Infiltrator were useless at their inception. Tomohawk's Justified is useless on it. Necturna's Forewarn/Telepathy, Mollux's Illuminate and Cawmodore's Big Pecks are all completely useless. As for the above two, Illuminate is still worthless, and Suction Cups has no use on Volkraken. It does not fear phazing due to its lack of boosting moves, and Latias can Defog away those entry hazards to prevent SR from putting a dent in Volkraken.

With that in mind, my #1 suggestion is Flame Body. It does have some competitive use, but in no way overshadows Analytic and Infiltrator, which are both more reliable. Flame Body works because Volkraken is part Fire-type, and it is a common token ability among those types. It should also be noted that burning Azumarill with Flame Body would be absolutely hilarious.

For other abilities with some (but limited) use, how about Sniper or Liquid Ooze? They fit the idea of an octopus, given its ability to shoot ink. LightningLord2's suggestion of Limber makes sense as octopi are invertebrates. Volkraken isn't all that fast either, so Limber would not overshadow Analytic or Infiltrator. It also has a bit of an unnerving appearance, so perhaps Pressure would make sense too. Or if you wanted to go even more flavorful and less competitive (as we always do), then Unnerve falls along the same reasons as Pressure.

 

[Burt Racecar]

Water Veil - it's completely useless on this pokemon. A pokemon with this ability cannot be burned. Volkraken is already immune to burns. This is my number one favourite; it has zero competitive use and fits on it quite well.

I will also chuck out Damp as a secondary suggestion.

 

[Mova]

Illuminate could work, since vampire squid are bioluminescent, but I have to agree with Liquid Ooze, since Volkraken could potentially use its ink to defend itself from whoever tries to use a recovery attack on it. Liquid Ooze could be useful in certain situations, but it's not as reliable as Analytic or Infiltrator.

 

[FierceDeity1]

Out of the ones already suggested, I like Damp, Unnerve, and Pressure the best. Im not a fan of Flame Body, as his body lacks flames, but if we were to go the fiery route, I would prefer either Flash Fire, or if that is too competitive, Heatproof. Let's just resist fire even more!

 

[FireArrow]

Illuminate all the way. I'd suggest an ability based on mimicry, but the only one is imposter (unreleased HA maybe?)

 

[Mowtom]

Liquid Ooze sounds good to me, for the reasons already stated. I think that Rain Dish, and Sticky Hold would also be good choices. It seems natural for a squid to become healthier in the rain, and I can see it being able to hold on to its item with its tentacles.

 

[FMD]

Liquid Ooze doesn't really fit. That goes to Pokemon with the majority of their body either being poison (Gulpin) or house toxins in a large portion of themselves (Tentacruel). I don't think that this really fits with Volkraken.

Also, wouldn't useless qualify as inferior? You listed off several prior CAPs and their "useless" abilities so wouldn't that mean that it's not the wrong thing to do? If it has been acceptable every time before now, why would it suddenly be such an awful thing that can't be allowed under any circumstance?

 

[Deck Knight]

A few abilities I like:

Flame Body is simple and innocuous enough on its own. Spreading burns is fun!

Hydration is a flavorful ability that only helps Volraken in Rain with something like Hydration Rest, but it doesn't really have anything over Analytic or Infiltrator's offensive boosts. It really wants other weather so its Fire Blast can OHKO Aegislash and friends.

Magma Armor is helpful to prevent random freeze, but Volkraken already 4x resists Ice, is neutral to Freeze Dry, and has Scald so...

Unnerve is also on a few Fire-types (Houndoom and Pyroar), and its only real competitive niche is preventing Azumarill from eating Sitrus Berry after a Belly Drum.

 

[NoaHPassO]

Possibly White Smoke, considering vampire squids shoot out bioluminescent "ink". Other than that, I do like the idea of Tangled Feet or Liquid Ooze.

 

[canno]

Illuminate is probably the best flavor ability on this. It's moves and design are based on light, along with the vampire theme, so it not having illuminate makes no sense to me.

 

[ShatteredSummers]

I think Flame Body is a great one on this CAP, because it has a fiery sort of body that I'm guessing does heat up what is around it. Flash Fire would also be nice, but that probably can't be used. Hydration (because it's a marine squid), Klutz (because the tentacles), and Liquid Ooze also jump out at me.

 

[Ununhexium]

Possibly White Smoke, considering vampire squids shoot out bioluminescent "ink". Other than that, I do like the idea of Tangled Feet or Liquid Ooze.

I actually was thinking white smoke, but I was thinking it might be too powerful of an ability

 

[AdamMario6556]

im surprised no one thought of this, after all it is having to do with flavor... how about Gluttony?

 

[Psyco_Josho]

Maybe if we were to go a bit left-field, we could give it Color Change? For it's relationship with octopi? (Yes, I know it's a squid, but still...)

Keen Eye fits with Analytic flavorfully.

WATER VEIL!!!

I'm not sure about competitive use, but maybe Frisk would work well, since some octopi have been known to very intelligently handle objects given to them to obtain food.

Sniper would fit well, seeing as Octillery, another Water 1/2 cephalopod Pokémon, gets it and is very offense-based.

Stall is a unique option that gives it the flavor of waiting until the last second to get the kill. And it would be totally awesome in ASB!

Unnerve because it is a bit unnerving.

Illuminate fits well with its bioluminescence theme.

Magma Armor is a cool-sounding ability that will have almost no usage due to a 4x Ice resistance and most Ice moves having a very low Freeze chance anyway. I can't really imagine Volkraken having any real armor made of magma though.

 

[FierceDeity1]

Keen Eye and Sniper look pretty cool, and I could see them fitting in well. I still don't think the design is fiery enough for Flame Body or Magma Armor, so I am going to push Heatproof again, showing that this guy can take the extreme heat of underwater volcanos despite being based on a creature commonly fried in oil. Also, the x8 Fire Resist would be too hilarious to pass up, imo.

 

[FMD]

The reason Octillery gets Sniper is that it has a gun barrel on its face and it evolves from an archer fish. It wouldn't really make sense for Volkraken to get Sniper just because Octillery does.

 

[paintseagull]

Let me clarify this point- justification for this ability is FLAVOUR ONLY.
Competitive arguments are for showing how it will NOT BE USED in ANY USEFUL WAY.
If there is a halfway useful gimmick you can think of for it that you might have used in this playtest, it's not appropriate.

 

[FireArrow]

What's the rule on unreleased abilities? Protean, Imposter, and Illusion would all be wonderful flavor options if they weren't so damned good.

 

[darkie]

illuminate looks like a perfect fit to me