CAP 18 CAP 18 - Part 12 - Flavor Ability Discussion

[mcFlareon]

Actually I think White Smoke would be an interesting choice, just to leave options other than the obvious Illuminate. Best sums up the typing and it's a nice irony versus the usual octopus/squid using black ink. Also I can imagine the false face appearing within the white smoke to be an interesting image as well. Also it can go with those underwater volcanoes and emphasise the Volcano part of its name.

On that note, Magma Armour and Heatproof are also good options as well. I don't think Volkraken is fiery enough for Flame Body so if you wawnt another heat-bases ability I'm up for this.

Other options could be Limber for flexible body, Pressure for living in deep, high pressure environments (going along with how Wailord can have it) and Unnerve for using it's false face to make prey nervous (similar to how Arbok has it).

 

[finnaggann]

illuminate seems like it calls on a minor aspect of volkraken so I do not like it. Flame Body seems wrong because we do not look very fiery*. I might suggest flash fire if it weren't so useful and didn't encourage pairings with ferrothorn over lucario. really limber seems quite fitting as squid have very little in their bodies that are hard other than the beak and I would argue the competitive use of this would be minuscule-to-infinitesimal compared to infiltrator or especially analytic.

*I have no idea how to spell this word.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

What about Inner Focus? It has a nice flavour feeling to it, with a good amount of sinsiter pokemon learning it like the Zubat line, Sneasal, Bisharp, and Hypno. Plus, its Japanese name is Force of Will, so it makes sense on a Vampire to. Also its quite inferior to both Analytic and Infiltrator and flinching is really not that common anyways.

 

[Phione]

Liquid Ooze I like. Fits nicely with the flavor, but doesn't have very much competitive use. I'm also leaning towards Pressure, since it's outclassed easily by Analytic and I'm pretty sure by Infiltrator and makes some sense with the flavor (Volkraken pressuring its prey by holding them with its tentacles).

 

[Max Carvalho]

Liquid Ooze fits very well, since volkraken is a squid and is easily outclassed by Analytic or Infiltrator. Suction Cups looks good, and there is no reason you should run it.

 

[darkie]

what about SYMBIOSIS because it does nothing in singles and fits flavorwise with the concept!!

 

[TordenOfItami]

I didn't think I saw this earlier, so I might as well bring up Sticky Hold or Tangled Feet.

 

[heartofgold]

The only reason I'd argue against Illuminate (which otherwise is a pretty perfect flavor ability) is that Volkraken is already very reminiscent of Mollux, and tossing it the same flavor ability feels vaguely wrong.

As far as other options, Anticipation feels like it goes with the general flavor of an intelligent, devious Octopus. Both Analytic and Infiltrator imply an ability to read opponents and a certain step-ahead, underhanded style - a style that I think Anticipation also carries. Besides, if it spends so much time watching its prey and sneaking up on them, why wouldn't it know their moves? And I guess it could be used to pick out SE moves as they come, but frankly BOTH other abilities are miles better, and you generally now when bad stuff's coming with Volkraken. Hell, it doesn't even pick out Hidden Powers, which is about all I could see it truly being useful for.

Magma Armor seems like a good fit as well.

Also, just throwing it out there No Flavor Ability seems like a valid option. Frankly, both Analytic and Infiltrator provide a lot of flavor and character to Volkraken that make sense with the general Octopus vibe. It speaks to both the intelligence of the creature (a general characteristic of Octopi, and represented by Analytic and it's high Special stats) and to the general fact that Cephalopods are experts at infiltration both in their propensity for escaping their tanks and their remarkable ability to open containers (seriously, go look up video of Octopi open jars on youtube, it's fascinating). What I'm saying is, flavor is pretty much already covered. No need to complicate things.

 

[canno]

We could give it something like Insomnia or something to better fit the vampire lore. Insomnia might be slightly too competitively relevant, but I feel that Infiltrator and definitely Analytic outclass it in most cases.

 

[FMD]

Liquid Ooze does NOT fit from a flavor perspective. First, the ability is currently exclusive to Poison types and has been since the introduction of abilities in Gen III. Second, the Pokemon that do have this ability currently have a legitimate reason for it. Gulpin and Swalot are living stomachs filled with incredibly powerful acids and Tentacool and Tentacruel have a substantial portion of their body made of stinging cells. Based on what the latter two are based on (Portuguese man-o-war), we can also assume that they are filled with carbon monoxide. Third, the argument of its ink being the justification for Liquid Ooze falls flat when you consider that Octillery (A Pokemon themed almost entirely around shooting ink) does not have this ability.

 

[Ahhhhhh......Clefable.]

I have a couple ideas.
We could take the COMPLETE troll route and give it Flare Boost. Rotom-S and Volkraken could cry together about having redundant, useless abilities. It does nothing for it competitively since, you know, it can't be burned, but it still seems to fit flavor-wise.

Also, what about Defiant? I could see Volkraken showing some umph in battle after something tries to lower it's stats, and no one in their right mind will EVER use physical moves on Volkraken (besides U-Turn, which still isn't going to hurt anything.)

I'm also a real fan of Heatproof. Having 1/8 resistance to Fire attacks is great, but certainly wouldn't merit any use over Analytic or Infiltrator. I think flavor-wise, Heatproof is my favorite that has been suggested so far, and it makes so much sense. You've got this fiery kraken who probably makes its home near volcanic vents on the bottom of the ocean, so Heatproof would let some of the Volkraken clan actually live down inside the lava to escape danger....or something like that.

I really disagree with Illuminate, Suction Cups, and Liquid Ooze. Illuminate fits best flavor-wise of the three, but we already have Mollux with Illuminate, and I know that as a community we are more creative than that. Volkraken doesn't have suction cups, so that doesn't make any sense. And I liked the idea of Liquid Ooze at first, but people have made some great arguments against it, and I agree with them.

 

[Mova]

Now that I had the time to think about the flavor behind Illuminate, Clefable brings up a pretty good point about the 'kraken already being reminiscent of Mollux. Flare Boost would be pretty good for trolling.

Also, I've noticed a pattern with official Pokemon and Abilities: It's either "only one Ability," "one Standard and a Hidden," or "two Standards and a Hidden." We've possibly made an exception with Malaconda, though.

 

[Chaco]

Just chipping in - flavor abilities are never useless, they are just not competitive. The only pokemon to have a literally useless (save in very specific cases) ability is Rotom-F.

With that in mind, I'd vote for Illuminate considering the natural Vampire Squid bioluminescence.

 

[Ranger Mike]

Sticky hold:
An octopus is sticky and fuck knock off. Lgi (best reasoning ever)

 

[Birkal]

This is y'all's 24 hour warning to finish up this thread. The moderators try to make a slate that is based off of the community consensus. Your posts and ideas in this thread are gathered up and considered for the final slate. Tentatively, it looks like this. Feel free to argue for any that you do not currently see on the list.

Illuminate
Suction Cups
Liquid Ooze
White Smoke
Magma Armor
Heatproof
Limber
Sticky Hold
No Flavor Ability

 

[Toast++]

I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in this place...

I do think Shed Skin might be good for what you guys are looking for, though. It's not completely useless but it's overshadowed by the others. And squids molt, iirc, so there's your flavor.

 

[Empress]

Much appreciated, Birkal! Now on to more arguments:
I still think Pressure and Unnerve fit Volkraken's menacing appearance. Can't be Intimidate because it's a very usable ability.
How about Overcoat? Real vampire squids have a webbing between their tentacles, thus creating somewhat of a protective coating. Or is Overcoat too good? I don't know.
Sniper still works even though I recently learned that vampire squids lack ink sacs. Instead, they shoot bioluminescent mucus the same way.
It will shoot that mucus only when agitated, so Anger Point works here. Too ineffective for my tastes, but still throwing it out there.
Since octopi are sticky (props to Ranger Mike) perhaps Gooey would make sense. But again, that is likely too good of an ability.
Deck Knight's previous suggestion of Hydration is a common token ability on Water-types. Usable but very inferior to Analytic and Infiltrator.

 

[Phione]

I'm still going for Pressure. I think it fits nicely and has no significant competitive use.

 

[Expulso]

Cloud Nine could make this a pseudo-counter to Charizard Y and is otherwise kinda cool :o

 

[FMD]

Guys, stop trying to claim that octopi are sticky. They are not... at all. They are somewhere between fleshy and leathery while being kind of slick.

 

[V4LOVER]

Guys, stop trying to claim that octopi are sticky. They are not... at all. They are somewhere between fleshy and leathery while being kind of slick.

Volkraken isn't even an octopus, either.

 

[Goldwing777]

Cloud Nine could make this a pseudo-counter to Charizard Y and is otherwise kinda cool :o

Except for the fact that this is flavor ability we are choosing, and should be outclassed by Analytic and Infiltrator in almost every way. I dont think having an ability that cancels weather (which, although nerfed, is still decent/good in the right hands) works for a worst ability, especially with threats like TTar and Char-Y running around.

On that note, I think Heatproof works quite well with the flavor (living underwater near volcanic vents) and grants it an almost useless 8x (!) resistance to Fire attacks, still definitely overshadowed by Analytic and Infiltrator though.

Edit: Now that I really think about it, i'm going to jump on the Unnerve bandwagon. It just fits so well. Definitely should make the slate, imo.

 

[FierceDeity1]

My favorites are definitely Heatproof and Unnerve. That should really be added to the slate. I mean, I would be super creeped out fighting a glowing volcanic vampire squid!

 

[Feskit]

Unnerve is my personal favorite along with Intimidate (Which is way too good for flavor) or really any other ability that points out Volkraken's scary aspects. This thing is a vampire squid from the bottom of the ocean. It's spooky. I feel that a spooky/intimidating feel is the best way to go for a flavor ability.

 

[dwarfstar]

I'm liking Pressure for this one. The overpowering presence of a vampire and the in-game precedent in another deep-sea Pokemon (Wailord) seem like a good fit.

I'm also definitely good with not having a flavor ability at all. Both of our competitive abilities fit very well flavor-wise with a cephalopod.