Smogon Community - View Single Post - 5th Gen Move/Ability/Item Updates Project

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Heatproof

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Taking half damage from Fire-type attacks is a situational ability, but could be a real life-saver for Pokemon that are normally weak to Fire. As it is, the only Pokemon that have access to Heatproof are Bronzor and Bronzong, both of which would much rather make use of their other ability, Levitate, which gives them an immunity to the more common,(comma) and arguably more dangerous,(comma) Ground-type moves and Spikes. ThoughHowever, Heatproof could allow them to get a surprise KO on Fire-type Pokemon that'dthat would normally easily take them out, such as Infernape or Darmanitan.</p>

Honey Gather

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Has no use in link or Wi-Fi battles.</p>

Huge Power

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Huge Power is an absolutely amazing ability. It is the sole reason that Azumarill is usable in any competitive environment, as it takes its normally meager Attack and doubles it to become one of the highest Attack stats in the game. Huge Power will normally be the only ability worth considering on any Pokemon that's lucky enough to get it.</p>

Hustle

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Hustle is a great ability, but its side effect is a total bummer. Hustle gives the user an Attack boost to all of the Pokemon's physical attacking moves,(comma) at the cost of an accuracy drop. This Attack boost is what turns Durant and Zweilous into absolute monsters. However, the accuracy drop can easily lead to an untimely miss and cost the user the battle, especially if the attack already has low accuracy, such as Stone Edge. For this reason, Hone Claws, if available, is usually used in conjunction with the ability Hustle. Overall, this ability will usually be the main choice of any Pokemon that gets the Pokemon also gets an equally great Special Attack stat and boosting moves, such as Togekiss.<i think you didn't finish one of these sentences></p>

Hydration

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Hydration is an absolutely amazing ability in the OU environment where Drizzle Politoed is available. Being basically immune to status due to the permanent rain is an absolute godsend to any defensive Pokemon that gets it, particularly Vaporeon. Hydration is also what arguably pushed Manaphy over the edge, as inflicting it with status in order to outstall or cripple it as it set up was simply out of the question, and even if it got to low health it could use Rest to reach full health and then rid itself of its sleep on the same turn. However, in any metagame where permanent rain is unavailable, Hydration will usually be left out in favor of more useful abilities in common battle conditions,(comma) especially because having only 8 turns of status immunity is far less useful than having something like the double Speed that Swift Swim brings under the same conditions.</p>

Hyper Cutter

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Hyper Cutter is a great ability for physical attacking Pokemon that wants an immunity from having its precious Attack being dropped, which could potentially be the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful sweep. However, its use is exceedingly situational, as Intimidate is not as popular as it used to be, so the residual Attack drops are not as common as they used to be in past generations. What's more, no Pokemon, outside Prankster Murkrow, uses Attack-lowering moves intentionally, such as Growl and FeatherDance, and instead favor the Attack-lowering side effect of burns, which Hyper Cutter does not bypass. Still, Kingler makes use of it, since Shell Armor is even more situational and not as useful.</p>

Ice Body

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Having an extra Leftovers-esque healing in permanent hail is fantastic for bulky Pokemon that get it, particularly Walrein. In fact, Walrein is such a fantastic user of Ice Body that it has developed into one of the most dreaded sets, if set up properly, in competitive history: Stallrein. However, Ice Body is only useful on extremely bulky Pokemon that can make use of the extra recovery like Walrein, and it has to be used on teams with permanent hail, which requires either Abomasnow or Snover as a teammate. Therefore, Walrein is really the only Pokemon that Ice Body is seen on in competitive play; the other Pokemon that receive it simply aren't bulky enough to make use of it or are in a tier where permanent hail is unavailable.</p>

Illuminate

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Has no use in link or Wi-Fi battles.</p>

Intimidate

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Intimidate is one of the best abilities in the game. It allows Pokemon such as Gyarados to switch in on normally threatening physical attackers and proceed to set up itself thanks to the buffer. The best part of the effects of Intimidate is that it works immediately as the Pokemon switches in, and doesn't require the use of a turn. This makes it so that the user can bring a +1 Attack sweeping Pokemon back down to +0, and then react in the same turn. However, Intimidate is now less common in today's metagame due to the fact that most of the users have either fallen out of favor or have received better abilities. The metagame has also become more balanced in terms of attacking prowess from the physical and special side, meaning that there are less Pokemon significantly effected by Intimidate. Finally, the opponent can remove the effects of Intimidate by simply switching.</p>

Iron Fist

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Iron Fist is a good ability for Pokemon that rely a lot on punching moves, particularly Hitmonchan and Golurk, as it boosts the power of Focus Punch to obscene levels. It also gives the elemental punches and Mach Punch some neat utility as coverage moves. However, if a better ability is available, or if the Pokemon does not have to or cannot rely on punching moves, Iron Fist serves little purpose, such as on Ledian and Conkeldurr. All in all, Iron Fist is a decent ability, but relies heavily on the Pokemon's movepool.<maybe something about infernape?></p>

Justified

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Getting a free Attack boost by simply switching into a Dark-type attack seems like an awesome ability to have at first glance. However, the conditions are extremely situational, not to mention the fact that Dark-type attacks are relatively rare in most of the tiers (with the exception of Pursuit, but your Pokemon with Justified can't switch into that). Luckily, most of the Pokemon that receive Justified can make good use of a free Attack boost and have little problem switching in on most Dark-type attacks. Justified should really only be used if no better or consistent ability is available.</p>

Keen Eye

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Keen Eye is a poor ability as nobody uses accuracy reducing moves competitively. Therefore, the times that Keen Eye would even see use are very few. Always use a more consistent or reliable ability over Keen Eye.</p>

Klutz

<h2>Competitive Use</h2>
<p>Klutz is a pretty poor ability with only a few gimmicky strategies that can be used alongside it. The only Pokemon that receives Klutz that can really make use of it is Lopunny, as it has no other useful ability available to it. What's more, Lopunny has access to one major move that makes Klutz somewhat usable: Switcheroo. With Switcheroo, Lopunny is able to keep whatever normally crippling item hidden, such as Flame Orb or Lagging Tail, until it's ready to Switcheroo it onto the opponent.</p>

GP Approved

Jun 21st, 2012, 11:16:53 PM	#255
Harsha Moderator Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 936 Houston, TX Mentor	Placeholder add / replace with remove <quick comment> Heatproof <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Taking half damage from Fire-type attacks is a situational ability, but could be a real life-saver for Pokemon that are normally weak to Fire. As it is, the only Pokemon that have access to Heatproof are Bronzor and Bronzong, both of which would much rather make use of their other ability, Levitate, which gives them an immunity to the more common,(comma) and arguably more dangerous,(comma) Ground-type moves and Spikes. ThoughHowever, Heatproof could allow them to get a surprise KO on Fire-type Pokemon that'dthat would normally easily take them out, such as Infernape or Darmanitan.</p> Honey Gather <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Has no use in link or Wi-Fi battles.</p> Huge Power <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Huge Power is an absolutely amazing ability. It is the sole reason that Azumarill is usable in any competitive environment, as it takes its normally meager Attack and doubles it to become one of the highest Attack stats in the game. Huge Power will normally be the only ability worth considering on any Pokemon that's lucky enough to get it.</p> Hustle <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Hustle is a great ability, but its side effect is a total bummer. Hustle gives the user an Attack boost to all of the Pokemon's physical attacking moves,(comma) at the cost of an accuracy drop. This Attack boost is what turns Durant and Zweilous into absolute monsters. However, the accuracy drop can easily lead to an untimely miss and cost the user the battle, especially if the attack already has low accuracy, such as Stone Edge. For this reason, Hone Claws, if available, is usually used in conjunction with the ability Hustle. Overall, this ability will usually be the main choice of any Pokemon that gets the Pokemon also gets an equally great Special Attack stat and boosting moves, such as Togekiss.<i think you didn't finish one of these sentences></p> Hydration <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Hydration is an absolutely amazing ability in the OU environment where Drizzle Politoed is available. Being basically immune to status due to the permanent rain is an absolute godsend to any defensive Pokemon that gets it, particularly Vaporeon. Hydration is also what arguably pushed Manaphy over the edge, as inflicting it with status in order to outstall or cripple it as it set up was simply out of the question, and even if it got to low health it could use Rest to reach full health and then rid itself of its sleep on the same turn. However, in any metagame where permanent rain is unavailable, Hydration will usually be left out in favor of more useful abilities in common battle conditions,(comma) especially because having only 8 turns of status immunity is far less useful than having something like the double Speed that Swift Swim brings under the same conditions.</p> Hyper Cutter <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Hyper Cutter is a great ability for physical attacking Pokemon that wants an immunity from having its precious Attack being dropped, which could potentially be the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful sweep. However, its use is exceedingly situational, as Intimidate is not as popular as it used to be, so the residual Attack drops are not as common as they used to be in past generations. What's more, no Pokemon, outside Prankster Murkrow, uses Attack-lowering moves intentionally, such as Growl and FeatherDance, and instead favor the Attack-lowering side effect of burns, which Hyper Cutter does not bypass. Still, Kingler makes use of it, since Shell Armor is even more situational and not as useful.</p> Ice Body <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Having an extra Leftovers-esque healing in permanent hail is fantastic for bulky Pokemon that get it, particularly Walrein. In fact, Walrein is such a fantastic user of Ice Body that it has developed into one of the most dreaded sets, if set up properly, in competitive history: Stallrein. However, Ice Body is only useful on extremely bulky Pokemon that can make use of the extra recovery like Walrein, and it has to be used on teams with permanent hail, which requires either Abomasnow or Snover as a teammate. Therefore, Walrein is really the only Pokemon that Ice Body is seen on in competitive play; the other Pokemon that receive it simply aren't bulky enough to make use of it or are in a tier where permanent hail is unavailable.</p> Illuminate <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Has no use in link or Wi-Fi battles.</p> Intimidate <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Intimidate is one of the best abilities in the game. It allows Pokemon such as Gyarados to switch in on normally threatening physical attackers and proceed to set up itself thanks to the buffer. The best part of the effects of Intimidate is that it works immediately as the Pokemon switches in, and doesn't require the use of a turn. This makes it so that the user can bring a +1 Attack sweeping Pokemon back down to +0, and then react in the same turn. However, Intimidate is now less common in today's metagame due to the fact that most of the users have either fallen out of favor or have received better abilities. The metagame has also become more balanced in terms of attacking prowess from the physical and special side, meaning that there are less Pokemon significantly effected by Intimidate. Finally, the opponent can remove the effects of Intimidate by simply switching.</p> Iron Fist <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Iron Fist is a good ability for Pokemon that rely a lot on punching moves, particularly Hitmonchan and Golurk, as it boosts the power of Focus Punch to obscene levels. It also gives the elemental punches and Mach Punch some neat utility as coverage moves. However, if a better ability is available, or if the Pokemon does not have to or cannot rely on punching moves, Iron Fist serves little purpose, such as on Ledian and Conkeldurr. All in all, Iron Fist is a decent ability, but relies heavily on the Pokemon's movepool.<maybe something about infernape?></p> Justified <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Getting a free Attack boost by simply switching into a Dark-type attack seems like an awesome ability to have at first glance. However, the conditions are extremely situational, not to mention the fact that Dark-type attacks are relatively rare in most of the tiers (with the exception of Pursuit, but your Pokemon with Justified can't switch into that). Luckily, most of the Pokemon that receive Justified can make good use of a free Attack boost and have little problem switching in on most Dark-type attacks. Justified should really only be used if no better or consistent ability is available.</p> Keen Eye <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Keen Eye is a poor ability as nobody uses accuracy reducing moves competitively. Therefore, the times that Keen Eye would even see use are very few. Always use a more consistent or reliable ability over Keen Eye.</p> Klutz <h2>Competitive Use</h2> <p>Klutz is a pretty poor ability with only a few gimmicky strategies that can be used alongside it. The only Pokemon that receives Klutz that can really make use of it is Lopunny, as it has no other useful ability available to it. What's more, Lopunny has access to one major move that makes Klutz somewhat usable: Switcheroo. With Switcheroo, Lopunny is able to keep whatever normally crippling item hidden, such as Flame Orb or Lagging Tail, until it's ready to Switcheroo it onto the opponent.</p> GP Approved Last edited by Harsha; Jun 21st, 2012 at 11:35:38 PM.