CAP 13 CAP 2 - Part 5 - Ability Discussion

CAP 2's stats have been chosen by a landslide first poll victory, and with that we've got both stats and typing done. Now it's time for us to look into possible abilities for CAP 2, and discuss which we think the best choices are. Recall that we can have at most two competitive abilities, though we may not even need that many considering our concept. We are also allowed to have a single flavor ability, which—should we choose to have one—will be voted on after the art has finished up.

I'll out and list some abilities that I don't want for CAP 2 regardless. I don't want them either because they're unnecessarily crippling, blatantly overpowered, or completely unrelated or concept changing. The list is not exhaustive and may be updated during the discussion, but currently includes Arena Trap, Drizzle, Drought, Forecast, Imposter, Magnet Pull, Multitype, Sand Stream, Shadow Tag, Snow Warning, Tinted Lens, Wonder Guard, and Zen Mode.

CAP 2 thus far:

Korski said:

Concept: Sketch Artist

Description: A Pokemon that learns Sketch, once, and everything that goes along with that.

Justification:

In terms of uniqueness, I think that few existing Pokemon can match DPP Smeargle, an otherwise laughably worthless Pokemon trolling OU with access to every trick in the book (or at least 4 of them) but also affecting the metagame greatly by becoming a top threat in the lead metagame. This Pokemon will borrow some of that uniqueness by learning the move Sketch and thus having access to ONE surprise/strategic/gutshot bonus move to supplement its pre-existing movepool. Being otherwise competently built (read: usable stats), this Poke could be a top threat or specialist for reasons we can't even predict yet.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How will a Poke that has access to any one move out of all the moves in the game affect common battling tactics, namely prediction, scouting, and switching?
• Which Sketch moves will become most common on this Poke's best sets? Does Sketchmon's success rely on hiding that secret Sketch move until just the right moment or can it succeed with predictably powerful moves like Spore, Spikes, Hurricane, Shell Smash, etc.?
• Does this unique and powerful access to moves need to be counterbalanced elsewhere in the Pokemon's design? If so, then to what degree?
• What kind of impact can Sketchmon have on teambuilding in terms of being able to patch holes with common utility moves like Rapid Spin or Toxic Spikes?

Explanation: The key here is that we have a lot of freedom to construct a unique Pokemon while staying within the confines of the concept. Typing, stats, abilities, and even most of the movepool are completely fair game so long as the Poke learns Sketch only once along the way and that we keep that in mind during previous steps. Now, this doesn't mean the CAP process will be directionless; Rising Dusk is pretty well organized and good at keeping discussions focused, and the concept itself has firm grounding in Smeargle's precedent. What's really being studied with this concept is movepool diversity and effectiveness, so it should have the most effect on the movepool process, where movepool creators will have to carefully balance their Sketchmon's actual movepool with the possibility of adding any one other move to the list. In terms of the metagame, there is no doubt in my mind that throwing a wildcard like this into the mix will strongly affect the metagame.

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Focus: Bulky Offense
Typing: Grass / Ghost
Stats: 64 HP / 120 Atk / 100 Def / 85 SpA / 120 SpD / 81 Spe


tl;dr: Quack! (Abilities for Grasses and Ghosts!)

Ever since we decided on the typing, I've been thinking Flash Fire. It fits very well if we want this CAP to be bulky, it fits very well if we want this CAP to be a sweeper, and it also fits very well flavor-wise...

Bulky: One of the issues with our selected typing when it comes to trying to be bulky is that it has a lot of weaknesses. Flash Fire would turn one of those weaknesses all the way around into an immunity, improving the CAP's bulk significantly. Yes, this does alter how it plays up against Heatran and to some extent Volcarona and some others, but I've been saying for a while that we shouldn't assume that the counters discussed before would remain. Note, though, that this CAP still probably won't have much that it can do to Heatran anyway, outside of sketching a Fighting move (which it may have done anyway considering its perfect coverage with Ghost-STAB). Not to worry, we still have a lot of important types that we're weak against, so I highly doubt that this would be overpowered.

Sweeper: Flash Fire stops Will-O-Wisp, a move highly detrimental to physical sweepers. It also has the potential to give our CAP more openings to set up for a sweep if it switches into a Pokemon that relies on fire attacks. In that sense, it could encourage sketching set-up moves, but it could also encourage using Sketch to obtain a good fire-type attack (especially on a sun team, as some have suggested this CAP may be surprisingly good for). Even without a fire-type attack, though, Flash Fire still has plenty other benefits worth considering for a bulky sweeper.

Typing: Some people might be scratching their head at a grass Pokemon getting Flash Fire, but when would a non-fire Pokemon getting Flash Fire be more appropriate than with a grass/ghost Pokemon? Think about it. It's dead, often dry, plant matter, very flammable. At the same time, this is a ghost Pokemon, so why should it as a plant care as much about fire? It's already dead. Even a great deal of the art submissions already reflect this perfectly (example: SoIheardyoulikeSENTRET's scarecrow).

I first considered Flash Fire when trying to figure out if there might be a way to mitigate this CAP's numerous weaknesses through its ability, and this was just the best all around idea that I could come up with. Also possibly worth considering is Rattled. This could make some potential counters think twice about going for a super-effective dark- or ghost-type move if they can't guarantee a, OHKO, and it could also make some Pokemon think twice before using some bug moves, particularly U-Turn. Flavor-wise I can also see this fitting well with some of the art submissions (example: DougJustDoug's weeping willow). Note that Ledyba and Poochyena both get the ability, so it's totally fine for a ghost-type to.

Further down my list of possibilities was Justified. It's harder to justify (pun intended) than the two above, but it could be worth considering for the same reason as Rattled, punishing users of super-effective dark-type moves, such as Sucker Punch, that fail to OHKO. I don't like it nearly as much as the other two though, especially not because another CAP has used it before. I think that if we can we should avoid abilities that have been done before, especially some of the very generically good ones (stuff like Compoundeyes, Shed Skin, Levitate, Technician, Shield Dust, etc. that some have gone on to mention). I could see the below suggestion of Trace being an exception, though, considering its special flavor significance.

Well without going in to specifics, I would avoid the exotic abilities such as Contrary, Simple and Moody - as well as absorbing/boosting abilities like Herbivore, Justified and the like - in favour of abilities such as Frisk and Forewarn which have generic utility on every set without being broken on any specific sets. Promoting diversity and all that.


EDIT: Thanks Dusk - obviously Moody would be broken on anyone, but I meant it as an example of a very uncommon ability with potentially match-breaking power.

Remember that Moody is banned, so functionally it'd just be a flavor ability on CAP 2.

Something that's been heavily discussed in #CAP is promoting abilities that support the variety of Sketch. To me, I immediately think of Skill Link, Iron Fist, and Technician fulfilling that roles offensively. Natural Cure is also an interesting option in that it would give CAP2 an edge in a supportive or a defensive role. And don't forget Compoundeyes, which makes some low accuracy moves more plausible! I'll do some more extensive write-ups on these in the future, but I just wanted to get some abilities circulating that I think have some great value to consider for CAP2.

Flower Gift would have been a fitting ability for Sketchmon. It stays true to Sketchmon's concept of being a bulky, offensive pokemon, and the 50% boost to Sacred Fire is a huge plus (Fire attackers won't mind the 50% Sp. Def boost in the sun). Note I used the words "would have been" because a Shell Smash set completely breaks Sketchmon. Sketchmon, with 252 EVs, a boosting nature and after one shell smash hits 1116 Attack in the sun while still having decent special bulk. So yeah, without Shell Smash, we would have had a great bulky pokemon, and with Shell Smash, we have a terrifying sweeper which deals 77.5% - 91.4% to Hydreigon with Shadow Claw in the sun.

Leaf Guard, Shed Skin, Natural Cure are useful (and safer) abilities which counter status, which Sketchmon is quite weak to.

I think we want to go the way of a good ability that doesnt in itself offer a whole lot more tot he Pokemon. Natural Cure is a good example of this, providing it utility without a huge attraction. Other abilities i can think of to go along with this Cursed Body, Insomnia, Levitate, and maybe to some extent Trace which i think is a great flavour ability for something with Sketch.

Wonder Skin, Shield Dust, Limber, Immunity, Burn Rampage and Insomnia also do the job of herding away status, and can potentially fit flavour-wise - while we're looking at checking or countering status.

Insomnia seem an obvious candidate, while Cursed Body or even Effect Spore would do very little to power up CAP2 while adding to its defensive aspect.

Harvest could be interesting, but probably *too* interesting in terms of giving CAP2 another major gimmick to play with.

I really don't like the idea of throwing CAP2 a major immunity with Flash Fire, but dulling down the fire weakness with Heatproof could be interesting if it fit the winning art (I can't think immediately of a competing design that would justify either FF or Heatproof, though).

Generally speaking, Mold Breaker, Magic Guard, and Rattled sound like decent abilities to me. Mold Breaker allows room for sweeping with a move like V-Create and Earthquake without worries of a switch in. Magic Guard can let it be a utility or even just switch in safely to perform whatever role it has. Rattled can give it some nice boosts and otherwise help its unpredictability.

From what I've seen, flavor-wise, most of the submissions are decomposers in one way or another, so Mold Breaker would make sense there. Being of part Ghost-type, it's not too hard to imagine the spiritual security they have and thus aren't bothered by mere mortal statuses with Magic Guard. Rattled works for specific submissions, like Sentret's Scarecrow, Yilx's Maiden, and KoA's Pot Monster.

Also, I'd just want to specifically say that if we want a Fire resistance, give it Thick Fat or Heatproof instead. Flash Fire, completely absorbing and being powered up by flames, seems a bit too much flavor-wise. The thought of a plant actually gaining power from being on fire (without even having anything do to with flames in the first place) just makes me facepalm.

GRs Cousin said:

Generally speaking, Mold Breaker, Magic Guard, and Rattled sound like decent abilities to me.

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You've gotta be kidding.

I'm against Technician, since then it opens this mon up to Technician Hidden Power which isn't what we wanted really when we nerfed the SpA. I'm fine with Skill Link though.

I'd really like to see Rattled to be honest, it's a very interesting ability especially since we're fairly bulky, and will be able to take a neutral U-turn easily. Not very many Pokemon run non-STAB Dark/Ghost moves though, so that's a minus. However we don't need to give CAP2 a great ability. It just needs to do something. Maybe if we give it Rattled, it will stop Volt-Turn teams or slow them down somewhat. Or maybe it'll just stop non-STAB U-turn from being rampant. Whatever it does, it'll be competitively relevant, yet not overpowered. So yeah, go Rattled.

Natural Cure has my support because it plays CAP 2's bulk offensively - switch out of paralysis and switch back in later on a resisted hit, say. It also allows defensive sets to use a non-Sketched recovery move in Rest, allowing support sets to carry more interesting Sketch choices (or Sketched attacks to avoid being set-up bait).

Regenerator also fits into the bulky offense role when performing hit-and-run attacks such as those found on Choice sets. It allows repeated switching into hazards and resisted hits and serves to make CAP 2 very difficult to kill outside of a stand-up fight. It also makes U-Turn or Volt Switch attractive Sketch options.

Cursed Body fits extremely well with the typing and serves to augment CAP 2's defensive and boosting sets significantly. Stall sets benefit from potentially locking out the foes' most effective move, and it makes CAP 2 even more dangerous to Rotom-W and other Choiced attackers, either scaring or forcing them out and allowing CAP 2 a turn to set up, depending.

I think this pokemon should have a fairly neutral ability that helps augment its bulk without taking away from the primary focus, Sketch. So I'm in support of useful defensive abilities like Natural Cure and Insomnia which give this pokemon more defensive utility whilst not overpowering the offensive boosting sets. This'd also encourage more defensive sets like Leech Seed and hazard support since the pokemon's no longer shut down by poison, burn or paralysis.

I really don't think that this pokemon needs Fire absorbing abilities to function either, just stick it in Drizzle if you want to use it as a specially defensive tank. Otherwise, wgaf. I'm not a big fan of Cursed Body either since this would just infuriate someone who just tried to revenge the pokemon with Scizor (a check we already agreed on) only to have a 30% chance of being completely forced to switch.

On an unrelated note, this pokemon is a 100% counter to Breloom with Insomnia. Just sayin' :p

Compoundeyes is something I would love to see on Sketchy, as this would let it use lower accuracy moves more effectively, while not being too overwhelming. Most of the moves that have lower accuracy that get a relevant boost out of compoundeyes have 70% accuracy. (The 50% accuracy moves only have 65% accuracy after Compoundeyes, and most of the other below 70% accuracy moves are sleep inducting moves, which is instantly outclassed by Spore) This would add a lot of other viable moves to Sketchy's arsenal.


Rattled is also an interesting choice, since Sketchy has a weakness to Dark, Ghost, and Bug, which are the types of attacks that activate Rattled. That means that the only reliable SE attacks you can get on Sketchy without boosting it is Poison (lol), Fire, and Ice. This also makes Thick Fat a nice ability to pair up with Rattled, since it remove the Fire and Ice weaknesses, making Dark, Ghost, and Bug the reliable attacks. Poison is still reliable for both abilities, but loloffensivepoison.

The Reptile said:

Sketchy has a weakness to Dark, Ghost, and Bug, which are the types of attacks that activate Rattled. That means that the only reliable SE attacks you can get on Sketchy without boosting it is Poison (lol), Fire, and Ice. This also makes Thick Fat a nice ability to pair up with Rattled, since it remove the Fire and Ice weaknesses, making Dark, Ghost, and Bug the reliable attacks. Poison is still reliable for both abilities, but loloffensivepoison.

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Sketchy is weak to neither Bug nor Poison. Ghost typing offers resistances to those types, canceling out Grass's weaknesses to them.

It's very early in the morning where I am so apologise if I've overlooked something, but how about Adaptability? Doubling the STAB boost essentially turns resisted hits into neutral hits, improving CAP's coverage without occupying the Sketch slot, whilst still leaving gaps in the coverage that will need to be patched up elsewhere. It also allows defensive builds of CAP to remain offensively threatening without having an opportunity to set up.

I think if anyone is considering Flash Fire, then Trace is a very viable option as well. (Personally, I don't like either, but adding to the discussion anyway.)

I think that attempts to protect from status, such as Natural Cure, Wonder Skin, Shed Skin, and even Magic Guard (please no one seriously suggest this!) are a bit extreme.

People have proposed Insomnia/Vital Spirit, but I think that Limber or Immunity are much more important to this CAP. An alternative measure towards combatting status would be Guts or Quick Feet a la Ursaring.

Clear Body or Defiant would be excellent measures to protect CAP2's stats from enemy lowering.

Another option I particularly like is Soundproof for defensive boosters. Suction Cups feels broken to me, but CAP2 being immune to Roaring seems like it could be important. CAP2 would still be vulnerable to Skarm's Whirlwind and numerous Poke's Dragon Tail.

NTT said:

It's very early in the morning where I am so apologise if I've overlooked something, but how about Adaptability? Doubling the STAB boost essentially turns resisted hits into neutral hits, improving CAP's coverage without occupying the Sketch slot, whilst still leaving gaps in the coverage that will need to be patched up elsewhere. It also allows defensive builds of CAP to remain offensively threatening without having an opportunity to set up.

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Adaptability makes your STAB attacks hit 33% harder in comparison, so that does not turn resisted hits into neutral ones. And if we wanted this pokemon to have more power, we'd have given it better attacking stats in the last stage, which was entirely unnecessary.

I think this cap should get an ability that's nice but not game changing. We should also lean towards abilities that increase sketch options, but be careful not to go for anything that goes beyond the scope of what we intended. For instance, Technician seems cool at first until you realise that it grants 90 BP hidden power which allows coverage way beyond what we intended for boosting sets. I also like options that increase survivability, since in a sense these make support sets more viable.

Skill Link is a cool idea that gives us the option of a 125 BP Ice move in Icicle Spear, and perhaps more importantly, a 125 BP Ground move in Bone Rush.

Compound Eyes is cool too, raising the accuracy of Power Whip, Leech Seed, Bolt Strike, and Hi Jump Kick to 100%. It also grants access to perfectly accurate Toxic and Glare as well as nearly perfect Stun Spore and Will-o-wisp. It increases the accuracy of a bunch of special moves as well but most interesting to me by far is Heatran's Magma Storm, which is like a 120 BP Fire Spin. This could be great fun on, for instance, a subseed set. Moves like Zap Cannon and Dynamic Punch still have shit accuracy which is probably for the best. What I like about this ability is that it mostly helps out support options that might not see much use otherwise.

On the defensive side, Overcoat is a subtle ability that could augment sketchmon's bulk and would be really nice for sets using status or leech seed.

Firstly, I am 100% against ANY ability that gives this CAP an immunity. The last thing we want a CAP, with the ability to have any setup move, and that already has 2 immunities, is to give it ANOTHER immunity.

This writes out:
Flash Fire, Levitate, Storm Drain, Water Absorb, Dry Skin, Lightlingrod, Sap Sipper, Motor Drive, Volt Absorb

Special mention to Flash Fire. We want Heatran to be a hard counter, last time I checked. Flash Fire ruins this, as Heatran's most common coverage move, Earth Power, is resisted by Sketchy.

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I am also highly against any of the following abilities:

Chlorophill, Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, Magnet Pull, Intimidate, Thick Fat, Solar Power, Swift Swim, Sand Rush, Snow Cloak, Sand Veil, Leaf Guard, Hydration, Harvest, Huge Power, Hustle, Moody, Adaptability, Download, Heatproof, Magic Bounce, Moxie, MultiScale, Regenerator, Prankster, Sheer Force, Speed Boost, Sturdy, Tinted Lens, Wonder Guard, Technician

Chlorophill should be obvious, as should Sand Rush and Swift Swim.

Solar Power... we're already giving this thing Base 120 Atk, and a passable Sp.Atk, and access to Shell Smash. Solar Power is overkill.

Leaf Guard could make Sketchy pull a sun-version of Manaphy. Hydration is for the same reason.

Harvest is in the same vein with a Lum Berry.

Shadow Tag, Arena Trap and Magnet Pull are for obvious reasons, although the last is mainly because Sketchy has no business with Steels anyway.

Intimidate is for a similar reason to the immunity abilities, we don't need to make switchins and setup easier.

Thick Fat removes two of our weaknesses. Heatproof removes one, but it's Fire.

The evasion abilities are obvious [And, as Cacnea shows us, gives an immunity to said weather]

Huge Power and Hustle should be obvious with Gear Shift and Base 120 Atk. Hell, Hone Claws and Base 120 Atk with Hustle is dangerous!

Moody is Moody.

Adaptability gives a boost to an already impressive Base 120 Atk, with some decent STABs, and the ability to set up. PorygonZ wrecks stuff with STAB Normal with this ability...

Download can be very threatening if the right stat is boosted.

Magic Bounce giving us immunity to all status-induceing attacks, Taunt, Phazing, ect, ect is obviously too much.

Moxie can turn a sacrificed pokemon into a ticket for a free sweep.

Multiscale + Shell Smash shouldn't even need explaination.

Regenerator would allow you to scout, or lure, Sketchy's checks and counters with minimal fear of hazards and the like. Considering a lot of Skethy's checks are Steels...

Prankster we've only just explored, and I don't like the idea of Priority whatever we feel like.

Sheer Force could give certain attacks too much power. Luckily, a lot of high power Grass and Ghost attacks don't have a secondary effect, but I don't want Quicer Dance + Sheer Force Shadow Balls...

Speed Boost should be obvious.

Sturdy + Shell smash + a speed stat that actually outspeeds stuff at +2. No.

Tented Lens + Setup attacks? Yanmega does good enough without any form of setup, and Venomoth isn't a slouch despite horrible STABs, and Stats with Quiver Dance.

Do I even need to mention Wonder Guard?

Technician Hidden Powers are Base 90. Not Base 70. That's a whole new ball game.
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I am also opposed to Limber and Immunity, although not to the degree of above abilities. Paralaysis and Poision are both useful tools for crippling possible Shell Smash sets.
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Now that we've wrote out what I don't like:

Abilities I would like to consider:

Effect Spore: Personally, I like the idea of Sketchy being able to cripple physical attackers. Scizor BP's you to death? Well, it'll have to risk the chance of Paralysis. Things like that as a deterrent to contact attacks might encourage things like Scarfed Heatran to check Sketchy. Effect Spore could also cripple Dragonite or something. It's not too good, it's not going to give us free setups everywhere, but it's useful.

Cursed Body: Again, similar to Effect Spore, something that lingers after Sketchy's possible demise. Except this dosen't just require contact.

Aftermath is another 'after death' ability. I personally think these are very good flavor-wise for Sketchy, and generally that don't have a direct effect on Sketchy itself, not allowing it to set up easier, ect.

Analytic could encourage slower, bulkier sets. I actually think this one could be worth a look, as it encourages a defensive spread that uses Swords Dance/Tail Glow.

Battle Armor is always a decent consideration. Everything is prone to Criticals. It could also help encourage Cosmic Power/Cotton Guard/Bulk Up/Calm Mind sets.

Compoundeyes could be useful for stall/status sets. Thsi would allow them to use the Powders, and have something like Recover as a Sketched move.

Infilatrator could be useful. This ability hasn't seen much light, as the distribution is awful, however, with Bulky, Duel Screen Offense taking the limelight, it could be a good time to test this ability!

Cloud Nine and AirLock can help against sun and Hail teams in particular, but also Rain teams [SpecsToad dosen't 2HKO], and Sand Teams [Passive damage is reduced]

Pressure could be interesting for SubSeeding.

Insomnia/Wild Spirit: An immunity to sleep seems appropriate, and could work as a flavor ability. It also happens to make Sketchy a hard counter to Breloom.

Note that by and large the abilities I like either encourage a different playstyle, or effect the foe after Sketchy has been hit.

I particually like the idea of Analytic. The only thing with even half decent stats that gets it is... Starmie. Sketchy has middleing speed, and could easily not invest in Speed, and invest in offense and defense, to see how Viable Analytic is.

Alright folks, I'll be the first police officer here:

DO NOT throw abilities up against the wall.

I'm not going to select a maximum number, but I'd say you should stick to three or less, and provide good reasoning.

Asylum_Rhapsody's post is a decent starting point.

That said, I have an additional word of advice: explain how your choices help our CAP utilize Sketch. Immunity abilities are nice, but they don't really help us utilize Sketch. Technician does give us a lot of Sketch options, but it also opens up 90 BAP Hidden Power. In any case, at least its relevant to the concept.

- - - - - - - - -

For my own thoughts, I'll start with Sniper. Now, some might say this makes it a bit too offensive, or its a "hax-based" ability. There's some truth to that, however there are a few moves Sniper also helps out specifically. Leaf Blade and Shadow Claw of course get more relevant as high crit moves, but there's also potential for any high crit move, from Stone Edge to Spacial Rend and Aeroblast. The key reason though are two specific moves: Moutain Storm and Frost Breath. Since these two moves always score a critical hit, Sniper gives them the same power boost as Technician, without opening up 90 BP Hidden Powers.

Sniper also helps our CAP break through stat-upping Pokemon by making the crit occurence do much more damage. Because of the Sketch concept, we have an opportunity that would otherwise rarely present itself.

Some interesting abilities that Grass and Ghost Pokemon have:

Overgrow, Effect Spore, Dry Skin, Gluttony, Harvest, Regenerator, Natural Cure, Infiltrator, Early Bird, Unburden, Own Tempo, Pickpocket, Suction Cups, Storm Drain, Water Absorb, Anticipation, Overcoat, Levitate, Serene Grace, Prankster, Keen Eye, Insomnia, Frisk, Cursed Body, Pressure, Aftermath, Telepathy, Mummy, Klutz, No Guard.

Personally I'd love to see something like Early Bird, Mummy or Klutz. Abilities that are very subtle and most of the time won't be noticed. However they are useful enough that strategies can develop around them and we may discover unique sets or niches that CAP2 may fill, instead of giving it something great like Levitate or Natural Cure. I don't like Cursed Body either because it relies on chance and the advantage it gives is quite significant for all sets. I would rather see the ability be something subtle to force the player to work with it or else forgo its benefits.

Deck Knight said:

Alright folks, I'll be the first police officer here:

DO NOT throw abilities up against the wall.

I'm not going to select a maximum number, but I'd say you should stick to three or less, and provide good reasoning.

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I guess that's directed mainly at my wall of text.

I was attempting to start discussion on various abilities, my apologies, I guess I got a little carried away.

Anyway, I'll go into more detail about Analytic because I think it could be an interesting ability.

If the pokemon with this ability goes 2nd, it's moves gain an extra 30% power. That's not a massive amount, to be honest, so it shouldn't be *too* powerful.

However, use of Analytic encourages something that is currently not encouraged, bulky offense in the style of Conkeldurr, or Renkulus. Analytic rewards players for going second, and, as such, forsakeing speed in favor of defense, and forsakeing things like Gear Shift for Swords Dance.

Analytic encourages a whole new dimension, in a way. Whereas without analytic, no-one would consider Bulk Up sets, it has it's advantages with Analytic.

Analytic also encourages bulkier, wallbreaking sets, using Sketch for coverage, or a bulkier set that can revenge kill certain set-up sweepers.

Finally, Analytic is unexplored. Amoung viable pokemon who get the ability are Starmie, who has Base 115 Speed, Porygon-Z, who prefers Adaptabilty or Download, and may sport a Choice Scarf, and Magnezone, who uses Magnet Pull to trap Steels. Giving Sketchy Analytic, especially with the alternative of frailer, faster sets, will hopefully allow us to really explore Analytic.

Tl;dr:

Analytic encourages a different play of Bulky Offense
Analytic encourages use of different setup moves, such as Bulk Up
Analytic can encourage wallbreaking sets, using Sketch for coverage rather than setup
Analytic is a realtivly unexplored ability.
A secondary ability can be used for people who wish to use speedier Sketchies.

I don't really want any abilities that cheat the stats we've already decided on. The base power of things like Shadow Ball and Hidden Power, as well as things like speed tiers, were counted-upon standards when designing stat spreads, and skewing any of these things would significantly affect the effectiveness of the stat spread we chose. Whilst I would definitely rule out things like Sheer Force or Speed Boost because of this, I do still think Technician has some value; it greatly increases the number of viable Sketch moves, and doesn't cheat the stats too much, as abusing something like Tech HP Fire means missing speed tiers and refusing stuff like Grass Knot or Shadow Punch is always a possibility at the movepool stage. That base 90 Hidden Power is still a worry though, and definitely needs calculations to prove that certain special attacking sets won't become too dominant

If I'm honest I'd probably like to go the route of a flavour or fairly inconsequential ability, just because the ability shouldn't be defining the role of CAP2 at all really - it's the Sketch move that should be doing that. This is why I would shy away from anything that raises any stat, anything that lowers an opponent's stat, anything that boosts attacking moves significantly, anything that cuts damage from opposing SE attacks significantly, anything weather related (that isn't something relatively harmless like Overcoat, but weather vulnerability needs to be thought about seriously too), or anything that, on its own, allows it to outright counter a specific group of pokemon for whatever reason.

I would say, however, that there could be an opportunity here to boost CAP2's support or defensive role somewhat, as its offensive inclination means it is not significantly helped by a defensive ability - but then, stuff like Regenerator and Natural Cure, or even Immunity, helps offensive roles a lot more than they probably should. Shell Armor and Shield Dust are good, underpowered abilities in this sense, solely because any role that has to brave attacks is incredibly vulnerable to hax, and they do not help offensive roles at all.

@Sniper: I don't think the arguments considering Leaf Blade, Shadow Claw, or breaking through stuff like Sigilyph is particularly relevant, since Super Luck is a significantly better ability in that sense (and a x2 Shadow Claw of Leaf Blade is usually more than enough to break through defensive boosters anyway), but I do somewhat like the idea that it comes across as an underpowered technician. That said, I don't know how relevant Frost Breath and Storm Throw really are. They have equivalents with equal base power already, and I know that crits are relevant for the very rare defensive booster or intimidator, but it doesn't really help expand our Sketch options at all. Anyway, I think that Technician is a double-edged sword, and Sniper is barely a sword at all, but I don't mind it too much because i'm pondering abilities that are somewhat ineffectual anyway.

@Analytic: This hardly encourages wallbreaking at all actually, since base 81 is a pretty high tier and outspeeds nearly all walls, and thanks to what lies at around 80 speed, we really don't want to be much slower anyway. I agree that, with the special defence stat we have, analytic can help to further combat the myriad special attackers that outspeed us. I don't really know if Analytic is that relevant at all though, because our weaknesses kinda prevent us from real defensive sets.

Compound Eyes allows for an exploitation of the 75% accuracy moves that Grass types tend to carry like Sleep Powder and Stun Spore, while compliment Sketch by giving more reliability to things that hover in the 75-95% accuracy range. Maybe this is arbitrary, but V-Create does only have 95% accuracy.

Rock Head Allows for the exploitation of Volt Tackle, Brave Bird, Head Charge, and a few other moves, also complimenting Sketch. We'd just have to be really careful if we give this Poke Wood Hammer in its movepool if we do.