Ability Exchange XY

[-Sparkbeat-]

Approved by Arcticblast and Joim
Welcome to the Ability Exchange metagame! In this metagame, you can swap around the abilities of your team in any way you like to create the best team possible. Magic Guard Kyurem-B? Its possible! Sheer Force Metagross? That too! Levitate Heatran? It could happen but only on the hub! This meta is supposed to test your teambuilding skills and creativity with swapping abilities. Here's how it works. Say you have Gengar and Heatran on a team. You can give Heatran Gengar's ability, Levitate, and give Gengar Flash Fire. You must be using each Pokemon's ability on the team. An example of this is you can't give Gengar Flash Fire and another teammate Flame Body, because you would not be using one Pokemon's ability at all. Pretty simple, right? Below you can find a banlist of abilities that through prior testing with some friends, have proven to be very broken and unhealthy for our meta.
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Standard OU banlist
Slaking
Regigigas
Adaptability
Arena Trap
Contrary
Huge Power
Imposter
Pure Power
Prankster
Serene Grace
Shadow Tag
Simple
Speed Boost
Tinted Lens
Wonder Guard

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The following list is made of legal abilities, but need more testing before they are deemed broken or not.
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Hide

Drizzle
Drought
Download
Magic Bounce
Magic Guard
Moxie
Multiscale
Regenerator
Sand Stream
Sheer Force
Snow Warning
Unburden

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With the new threats and abilities of X and Y, there are many new ability swapping combos to try out! Some abilities that may see lots of usage are Protean, Gale Wings, Bulletproof, Pixilate, Gooey, Aerilate, Refrigerate, and Tough Claws. As for Mega Evolutions, you can pass one of the original Pokemon's abilities to a teammate. When you do this, the Pokemon will keep its new ability until it Mega evolves, which will give it its normal Mega evolution ability. In addition, passing both weather and weather speed boosting abilities has been unbanned with the weather nerf.

Well, that's the tier, and I hope everyone will help make it as good as it can be by testing out strategies, keeping a healthy discussion, and keeping it an active OM. A Threatlist will definitely be added this time, hopefully sometime by New Years. It will consist of Combo's rather than Pokemon, and should provide some to build teams around if you are playing the tier for the first time. Thank you's to everyone who made this this OM a great one last generation, and lets do the same for this one!​

 

[Seraph's Fire]

I'm really looking forward to playing this. AE has always been a favorite of mine, and gen VI has some very interesting abilities to pass.
Some things I plan to try:
Gale Wings Staraptor (And Reckless Talonflame, so it won't be complete dead-weight without GW)
Refrigerate Kyurem-B (While potentially extremely good, aurorus isn't, so this is iffy.)
Regenerator Conkeldurr (With AV, of course.)

 

[PokemonMasterDebater]

I see no reason to ban Stance Change, because it only works on Aegislash. The only thing that ban does is prevent Aegislash-Shield from gaining new abilities, and I don't think that it would be so good that it would be worth banning. It would be stuck with base 60 attacking stats, and it's support movepool is kinda lacking from what I've seen.

 

[Loudo]

Can I suggest this slightly alternate rule for dealing with Mega Evolutions?

Only if a Pokémon can Mega Evolve and is carrying the appropriate Mega Stone, can it exchange the Ability of its Mega Forme.
For example, an Alakazam with Life Orb can trade either Synchronize or Magic Guard with one of its teammates. An Alakazam carrying a Mega Stone, on the other hand, can trade either Synchronize, Magic Guard, or Trace with one of its teammates.

(In any case, Mega Evolving doesn't change any of Abilities involved, neither the Mega Evolving Pokémon's nor its teammate's.)

 

[AWailOfATail]

Yea, I still think that SS/Chloro/Sand Rush(?) will be banned. I mean, although it only lasts for eight turns, a SS Kyurem-B will just eliminate everything and STILL run a CB. Looking forward to GW stuff though. That Staraptor gonna wreck. My team might be made up of all choice items.

 

[-Sparkbeat-]

I see no reason to ban Stance Change, because it only works on Aegislash. The only thing that ban does is prevent Aegislash-Shield from gaining new abilities, and I don't think that it would be so good that it would be worth banning. It would be stuck with base 60 attacking stats, and it's support movepool is kinda lacking from what I've seen.

I put it on the ban list because it isn't compatible with any Pokemon not named Aegislash. No other Pokemon has a defensive and offensive form, as well as a move allowing it to change between the two.

As for Mega Evolutions, I thought that was implied, but I'll re-word it.

 

[PokemonMasterDebater]

I put it on the ban list because it isn't compatible with any Pokemon not named Aegislash. No other Pokemon has a defensive and offensive form, as well as a move allowing it to change between the two.

That was my point as to why it shouldn't be banned, so I still don't get why you think it should be. If you really want to ban it, then we should also ban Forecast, Flower Gift, and Zen Mode from swapping, because they all have no effect when the ability is Traced or Skill Swapped onto a Pokemon of a different species.

 

[-Sparkbeat-]

That was my point as to why it shouldn't be banned, so I still don't get why you think it should be. If you really want to ban it, then we should also ban Forecast, Flower Gift, and Zen Mode from swapping, because they all have no effect when the ability is Traced or Skill Swapped onto a Pokemon of a different species.

Fair enough, I'll unban it. Tbh, I don't know why I was thinking it simply couldn't work on other Pokemon instead of it being just a dud ability like Pickup. Updated OP

 

[Pikachuun]

Refrigerate Kyurem-B (While potentially extremely good, aurorus isn't, so this is iffy.)

With Refridgerate, you have a 91 BP Physical Ice move in Slash, and a 117 BP Special Ice move in Hyper Voice if you don't want to run Ice Beam (not counting STAB for both). Not ground-breaking, but still pretty good.

When you do this, the Mega Pokemon's new ability will remain the same in both normal and Mega forms.

That isn't how it works... When a Pokemon Mega-evolves, its normal ability is overwritten by the mega-evo's ability. Otherwise, it would need a lot of coding to change that just for this OM. Additionally, you start with the ordinary Pokemon, not the mega, so why would you exchange an ability of a Pokemon that technically isn't in your party at the beginning of the battle?

 

[Seraph's Fire]

With Refridgerate, you have a 91 BP Physical Ice move in Slash, and a 117 BP Special Ice move in Hyper Voice if you don't want to run Ice Beam (not counting STAB for both). Not ground-breaking, but still pretty good.

I was thinking of using Return. Unless I'm missing something and it doesn't work with Refrigerate for some odd reason?

And while we're on the topic of bans, why is Serene Grace banned? I get all of the others, but I don't think I'm understanding what sort of broken combination Serene Grace could create to rival the likes of Huge Power, Shadow Tag, Prankster, and co.

 

[Pikachuun]

I was thinking of using Return. Unless I'm missing something and it doesn't work with Refrigerate for some odd reason?

Hello, I'm Pikachuun, and I'm an idiot for forgetting that almost every Pokemon learns Return. It's very nice to meet you. In that case, it becomes a 133 BP Physical Ice move (not counting STAB). But what to give Aurorus... Magic Bounce from someone else maybe? On the topic of Serene Grace, I'm not sure myself why it's banned.

 

[Cshadow]

No one's mentioned any movesets yet?

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator / Magic Guard
248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature / Quiet Nature
~ Draco Meteor
~ Fire Blast
~ Thunderbolt
~ Focus Blast / Dragon Tail

• Goodra's biggest weakness as an Assault Vest user was the fact that he was prone to being quickly warn down, as one of his primary functions was switching into Rotom-W's Volt Switch. This also made switching into hazards more of a problem.
• Regenerator alleviates this burden, making Goodra a much more effective offensive pivot.
• Goodra has 3 great abilities to pass on in Sap Sipper, Gooey, and Hydration.
• Unfortunately, a lot of Regenerator Pokemon are sub-par without Regenerator.
• Tornadus-T, Reuiniclus, Slowbro, and Amoongus are still strong candidates. Tornadus-T in particular, as he may find himself more comfortable with Gale Wings or Magic Guard.

Goodra @ Toxic Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Poison Heal / Magic Guard
248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature / Sassy Nature
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Flamethrower
~ Toxic / Thunderbolt
~ Protect / Dragon Tail

• Goodra's weaknesses as a special sponge included status and no reliable means of recovery, both of which inhibited his longevity.
• Poison Heal fixes this entirely by giving Goodra the ability to absorb status and restore health, letting him wall Special Attackers more reliably.
• Gliscor is the only Pokemon able to pass him Poison Heal.
• This is not a bad thing, though, as Gliscor will appreciate being able to slow faster threats down with Gooey, and has Roost to heal reliably. Their typing and stat distribution also complement each other really well.
• They're both weak to Ice, though, so be careful!

Aggron @ Aggronite
Ability: Regenerator
252 HP / 4 DEF / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
~ Stealth Rock
~ Iron Head / Heavy Slam
~ Earthquake / Superpower
~ Ice Punch

• Aggron's biggest shortcoming as a bulky pivot is no instant recovery, no Leftovers, and a vulnerability to hazards, which had made him reliant on Wish support to check / counter multiple physically offensive Pokemon on the opponent's team.
• Regenerator fixes this problem entirely, and is even a better ability than Filter is, as few un-boosted Pokemon are capable of OHKO'ing Mega Aggron through his titanic 230 base Defense anyways.
• Few Pokemon can appreciate Filter, Rock Head, or Sturdy, meaning some ability hopping is needed to find a good Pokemon to swap with.

Others that I don't want to write out right now but I want to theorymon about later:
Gooey / Rough Skin Skarmory
Unaware Blissey
Sap Sipper / Water Absorb Rhyperior
Magic Guard Volcarona
Snow Warning Kyurem / Kyurem-B
Magic Bounce Deoxys-D
Magic Guard / Gale Wings Tornadus-T
Protean Genesect
No Guard Starmie
Unaware / Magic Bounce Cresselia
Multiscale Milotic
Marvel Scale (Rest / Sleep Talk) Mega Aggron

I think this is a really neat basis for a fun meta game and I look forward to its development and also playing under it. The constraints placed by it should produce a wide variety of interesting and unique teams.

I also think it might be a good idea to provide an explanation for the choices on the ban list, even if some might seem really obvious (like Huge / Pure Power), so people aren't constantly asking "why was x banned" etc.

EDIT: I seem to have missed the thing about Mega Evolution abilities in the OP while writing my post. My mistake! Mentions of Mega Aggron possibilities have been stricken out.

 

[Halliday]

Staraptor does GW well. Honchkrow does it better. Honchkrow is completely capable of bypassing it's low speed by having both it's main stab moves being prioritized, which potentially turns it into a terror, while passing a great ability in moxie.

 

[EJ190]

I think there are a few abilities introduced this gen that might be overwhelming for the metagame.
1-Gale wings: A permanent speed boost/swift swim for flying types
2-Protean: Stab on everything? Nuff said.
3-Tough claws: Superior adaptability for all contact moves....when adaptability itself is banned
4-Fur coat: Unsure if it would be healthy or not. But this ability+assault vest=nightmare
Gale wings & protean seem too good since both talonflame & greninja are useable without their abilities.

 

[Loudo]

Bulletproof looks like a neat ability to pass to a Steel-type that's meant to be used as a special wall.
Most special attackers rely on Aura Sphere or Focus Blast to get past Steel-types and Bulletproof provides complete immunity to those moves. Immunity to Shadow Ball is also useful, considering Steel lost its resistance to Ghost.

Aerilate looks golden on Noivern. Flying-type STAB boosted Boomburst for the lols.

 

[Anty]

Bulletproof looks like a neat ability to pass to a Steel-type that's meant to be used as a special wall.
Most special attackers rely on Aura Sphere or Focus Blast to get past Steel-types and Bulletproof provides complete immunity to those moves. Immunity to Shadow Ball is also useful, considering Steel lost its resistance to Ghost.

Aerilate looks golden on Noivern. Flying-type STAB boosted Boomburst for the lols.

Too bad nothing can pass aerilate, pinsir has to go mega first.

What i remember about gen5 was basically running poison heal cress, that will still be a thing.
I also noticed that unburden isnt banned, this is an amazing ability, i can see weakness policy unburden metagrosses/goodras, if they get the boost, they will be nearly impossible to deal with and can wreck most of the opponents team.

 

[Fluze3]

This was so fun back in Gen V. Would love to see more of this soon.

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

Pokemon / Cores I think will be good.

Talonflame / Magnezone / Staraptor
Pretty simple to understand Talonflame passes Gale Wings to Staraptor who cleans up late game or punches holes early on. Staraptors Intimidate goes to Magnezone so that it can utilize it's Steel typing, perhaps with a Specs Volt Switch set. Talonflame takes Magnet Pull from Magnezone to trap and KO steel types with Flare Blitz.

Doublade / Tyranitar
Thanks to it's typing and stats, Doublade is a strong physical wall who can also utilize Eviolite. Notably, it puts a stop to Gale Wings abusers like Staraptor. Unfortunately it's support movepool is fairly limited. I picked Tyranitar as the receiver of No Guard, a MixTar that can run Dynamic Punch, Stone Edge, Blizzard and Rock Polish or a Dark STAB sounds really fun and interesting to me.

Greninja / Genesect
Wanna go HAM? This is the core for you. Protean Genesect now has STAB BoltBeam with other coverage options to boot. It also has access to boosting moves like Rock Polish or Shift Gear. With a Life Orb or Expert Belt this robobug is gonna be a real threat. Meanwhile, Greninja picks up Download to take Genesect's old role of U-turn / Special Attack spam. A special attack boost is essentially the same as the STAB modifier from protean so Greninja stays just as powerful.

Obviously we'll have to watch out for all those old threats from gen 5 AE like Rock Head Archeops, Sheer Force Alakazam and the plethora of Poison Heal Pokemon.

 

[GarchompPit]

Charizard/Slurpuff

Switch Unburden to Charizard and then try a Bellyzard set with Sub and Sitrus (Also Quick Attack I guess). It might sound stupid, I dunno tbh :P (I tried it in 5th gen with Sceptle's unburden and it did decently)

 

[Loudo]

Too bad nothing can pass aerilate, pinsir has to go mega first.

Last time I asked that was allowed, but the treatment of Mega Evolutions has changed like 3 times in the last 24 hours already, so I'm pretty confused right now.

Anyway, the current way to deal with Mega Evolutions looks perfect for dumping bad abilities.

 

[escarlata]

Lucario seems particularly good with many of the new abilities it can get this gen. Besides the extremely obvious Tough Claws set which is basically an Adaptability boost(though you need Babaracle), there are 2 more useful ability it gained this gen in the form of Protean and Mega Launcher.

ExtremeKiller Skywalker
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP or even 252 HP / 252 Atk or something in between
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
- Shadow Claw / Coverage Move

This is basically standard Lucario except with Protean. Thanks to Protean, Lucario effectively gains STAB on Extreme Speed, which makes it almost as powerful as that of ExtremeKiller Arceus (110 Atk vs 120). Shadow Claw is used over Crunch because it turns you into Ghost type, which removes your Fighting weakness after you use Extreme Speed. Close Combat makes you resistant to Dark types after you turn into Ghost type, or you can always use Extreme Speed for a temporary immunity against faster Ghost, which regaining the STAB Shadow Claw next turn if they choose to stay in. Close Combat remains your most powerful attack, but Extreme Speed becomes you most spammable attacks.

Imma Firing Mah Pulse
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Timid/Naive Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
- Dragon Pulse / Close Combat

From Clawritzer you get Mega Launcher onto Lucario. Compared to Clawritzer, Lucario has a way better attack boosted by Mega Launcher in the form of Aura Sphere, which becomes as powerful as Focus Blast. Its Dark Pulse also becomes very powerful and provides great coverage alongside with Aura Sphere. The last moveslot is mostly filler. Dragon Pulse rounds off the coverage against stuff like Dragonite who thinks he can tank a Dark Pulse and the likes, while providing perfect coverage alongside the other 2 moves. On the other hand, Close Combat allows you to smash special walls much harder.

The only problem with using Lucario is that it does not really have any good ability to pass to other Pokemon. Justified is obviously the best ability to pass to something else using if using Lucario. For the Protean set, you are obviously using Greninja, so you might as well make good use of it, so you can pair Lucario with Intiminate users, or weather abilities to make use of that fast U-turn. For that reason, you can give Justified to something like Mawile, Gyarados or Tyranitar, considering you can possibly bait a Dark type attack by Shadow Claw-ing into a Ghost type. As for the Mega Launcher variant, Clawritzer appreciate Sheer Force with Scald/Ice Beam/Sludge Wave on LO, or Intimidate for Assault Vest, so again, Mawile and Gyarados seem decent options, perhaps Braviary too.


Another threat I'm considering is giving Moltres Regenerator from Slowking or Reuniclus, while passing Flame Body in return to allow them tank physical attacks better. This allows Moltres to be a Pseudo Ho-oh with its great defensive typing.

Edit: Found some more more synergistic 2 Pokemon comboes new to this gen:

• Charizard can give away Solar Power, while turning into Mega Zard Y, which creates the deadly Drought + Solar Power combo with just 1 Pokemon
• Bulletproof Celebi/Tyranitar are almost impossibly to kill from the special side
• Gooey Skarmory is the ultimate stop to most physical sweeps
• We got a better passer of Harvest in Trevenant, and makes a good core with Snorlax who gives it Thick Fat
• Mamoswine gets Pixilate Return for good coverage in exchange for Oblivious to make Sylveon untauntable, or Thick Fat to make it the ultimate stop to Dragons, by resisting their common coverage options
• Giving away Protean hurts its damage output a lot, but Greninja can still be useful with Intimidate/Technician/Regenerator, and Protean is good on pretty much everything fast
• Tyranitar and Salamence look like they enjoy Strong Jaw either for extra coverage, or simply for better damage on its STAB

 

[Albacore]

Doublade / Tyranitar
Thanks to it's typing and stats, Doublade is a strong physical wall who can also utilize Eviolite. Notably, it puts a stop to Gale Wings abusers like Staraptor. Unfortunately it's support movepool is fairly limited. I picked Tyranitar as the receiver of No Guard, a MixTar that can run Dynamic Punch, Stone Edge, Blizzard and Rock Polish or a Dark STAB sounds really fun and interesting to me.

Doublade seems like a very useful Pokemon with No Guard. How about a Doublade/Chandelure core? Chandelure could inherit No Guard Inferno, while Doublade can troll physical attackers with Flame Body, or even take Fire-type hits with Flash Fire (although it loses the offensive aspect).

Doublade/Magnezone might also work, since few Steel Types can really deal with Doublade who can set up in their faces (the only ones I can think of are Heatran, Bisharp and Excadrill. Come think of it, these are pretty much the best Steel-Types. Probably a good idea to pack a fast Ground-Type. Like Dugtrio. Trap Team anyone?), while Magnezone can receive No Guard to hit Zap Cannons. Or it could get Levitate and give No Guard to something else, like Rotom-W which can have perfect accuracy Thunders and Hydro Pumps and Will-O-Wisps, or even Gengar to cover up Focus Miss...

Smeargle will be pretty great, able to get Sturdy or Prankster while passing Technician to something else

Shouldn't No Guard be tested for brokenness? Also, Drizzle/Drought may seem broken, but remember that you need to have a Politoed/Ninetales on your team. Sand Stream might be broken though, since Tyranitar can hold its own quite well.

You might also want to mention that all abilities hardcoded for only one Pokemon (Stance Change, Flower Gift) and their respective Pokemon are unusable. So no Stance Change Shuckle :(

This is going to be a fun metagame indeed...

 

[Nauris]

Fur coat is really strong ability, especially on pokemon like Chansey

252 Atk Mega Mewtwo X Focus Punch vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fur Coat Chansey: 433-511 (67.4 - 79.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Victini V-create vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fur Coat Chansey in Sun: 243-286 (37.8 - 44.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fur Coat Chansey: 367-432 (57.1 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fur Coat Chansey: 468-552 (72.8 - 85.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+6 252 Atk Salamence Outrage vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fur Coat Chansey: 533-627 (83 - 97.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fur Coat Chansey: 376-444 (58.5 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Those are all the one the most powerful moves you can see in XY, Salamence is there just to show how tanky it is. You can do some other calcs to see how bulky Eviolite Chansey gets with Fur Coat.
You all should know how tanky chansey is from special side, so no need to calc those.

 

[Albacore]

Fur coat is really strong ability, especially on pokemon like Chansey

Great idea, but I can see 3 minor problems with this :

• Earthquake and Stone Edge still hit normally (although Chansey really only fears fighting attacks, and those get cut down)
• Fur Coat Chansey is more vunerable to status (although you can easily bypass that with Aromatherapy)
• You have to use Furfrou (there's no real way to get around that. You have to sacrifice one of your teamslots for a garbagemon)

Prankster seems really fun, especially on Skarmory. Thanks to it, it can finally use Taunt while setting up all kinds of hazards AND have that priority Roost. The only problem is that if you want Whirlwind, you have to forgo Taunt, Roost, or one type of hazards. Still, Skarmory is the perfect prankster user.

Nevermind, it's banned. Oh well.

 

[Loudo]

Earthquake and Stone Edge still hit normally (although Chansey really only fears fighting attacks, and those get cut down)

As far as I know, Fur Coat halves damage from physical attacks, not contact ones.

You have to use Furfrou (there's no real way to get around that. You have to sacrifice one of your teamslots for a garbagemon)

That's the main drawback. Furfrou is already mediocre with Fur Coat. Without it, what can it accomplish?


There is another important problem: Mold Breaker. Exchanging Mold Breaker is even easier than it was in Gen 5: Pinsir can renounce to Mold Breaker and it doesn't care much about what Ability it receives in exchange once it Mega Evolves.