Something that I don't recall being elaborated on is Mold Breaker
My concern would be that the situation you speak of seems a bit too niche.
A discussion in which Regenerator and Prankster are panned for being too strong then brings up Magic Bounce...
Yeah, all I need to say on that.
No, that isn't all you need to say. Please elaborate, because there is something that I and all other potential Magic Bounce supporters aren't understanding about your position.
That said since we've been talking about damage boosting abilities, here's one we haven't discussed yet: Mega Launcher. Mega Launcher Aura Sphere is as strong as Focus Blast without the miss chance. Dark and Dragon coverage don't interfere with our threatlist too much, and in fact ML Dark Pulse heavily threatens Mega Metagross, Jirachi, and Kitsunoh. Most of the Fire-types we discussed are unaffected - calculation-wise anyway - because we could have run Focus Blast, but Poison types become an even more reliable switchin because it boosts Special Fighting STAB. Yeah Dark and Dragon Pulse do more than they would otherwise, but clicking Aura Sphere is the easiest solution and ML Dark/Dragon Pulse still isn't SE.
While I would think the threat of being struck with a Focus Blast (should that hypothetically be the direction we take CAP 22 in in later stages), inaccurate though it may be, would still be enough to force a switch, I can still see the benefits of an ability like Mega Launcher. It's more offensive than utility, but it certainly contributes to CAP 22's offensive pivot role, especially enabling it to reliably hurt foes or switch-ins the previous discussion determined CAP 22 should be able to threaten.
The point is people are mostly talking about abilities that are generically very good abilities and have very little to do specifically with this concept or the typing. People are talking about Magic Bounce, for god's sake.
People are talking about Magic Bounce because they think that the ability makes sense for a pivoting Mon. If there's a problem with it,
say what the problem is. The fact that Magic Bounce has support clearly means other people aren't seeing the problem you're seeing.
Tell us what's wrong with Magic Bounce - don't assume that others already know because I and others clearly don't.
Pixilate actually does something relevant specifically for this CAP.
It... enables us to give it lower offensive stats while still being functional? Is that what you're getting at?
Why not just give it better offensive stats? There are two reasons for why one might want Pixilate over simply higher offensive stats:
- We want to use Hyper Voice to bust through substitutes, which is a reason you haven't mentioned and is a reason I don't see as super relevant to CAP 22 being a pivot because it hasn't come up in the discussion.
- We want to use Return and its perfect accuracy instead of Play Rough, which is something you also haven't mentioned and is something I don't see as sufficiently relevant to CAP 22's potential pivot role because it hasn't come up in the discussion.
Beyond that, does Pixilate do much of anything that better offensive stats couldn't do? Giving CAP 22 Pixilate effectively means not giving it another ability that could do more for it.
I feel like if we really wanted to lean on offensive items so bad, then we sort of shot ourselves in the foot by picking a typing that is designed foremost to switch into Darkmons. I won't belabor the point too much on Poison Heal (maybe I should have put in a disclaimer like DarkSlay did with Serene Grace about not immediately dismissing it out of hand simply because another Pokemon exists that uses the ability in a way we don't want CAP to use it), but we should probably keep in mind we are on our way to creating a contradictory set of expectations for this CAP: requiring it to be a consistent offensive threat AND a consistent Dark-type check/counter with no insurance against having its offensive item removed by Knock Off (one of easiest moves to throw around in the whole game, the STAB move every Dark-type in the tier primarily uses, early and often, and the main reason Dark spam is so difficult to truly punish in any sort of meaningful way).
Personally, I don't think pure offense is the right approach to this build, if only because Knock Off users are at the top of the list of things we want to switch into and because of how hard it is to be a top-tier offensemon without either a boosting item or Mega stats. A utility approach that offensively threatens Fighting- and Fairy-weak Pokemon but uses fast utility moves (like Parting Shot!) to challenge the rest of the tier, on the other hand, would avoid confusing the direction we've already started on. Also, if we actually give this Pokemon enough power and/or movepool diversity to muscle through all the Pokemon that are only used because they can't just be muscled through (bulky passives), as well as the sort of speed it takes to take advantage of offensive teams with Parting Shot, then we will end up with more of a breaker of worlds and than an actual pivot (as far as I understand the term).
We can threaten passive Pokemon during any of the ability, stats, or movepool stages; we can even deal with status during movepool (although I'd rather not); but we can only prevent being greatly diminished by Knock Off via ability. I like Poison Heal because it deals with status and deals with Knock Off and partially deals with passivemons and does all three of those things without really touching the threatlist (CAP's defensive typing and most likely its defensive stats are not even remotely as good as Gliscor's, and it is already walled by Poison-types and immediately threatened by Clefable and Fighting-neutral Steels, so idk how SubToxic would add anything substantial enough to warrant two moveslots). But I understand it's not a popular choice, which makes Natural Cure an obvious choice for primary ability, as it at least addresses an issue that is best addressesd by ability.
For what it's worth, I think that plenty of Magic Bounce/Natural Cure supporters (myself included) have
not been focusing heavily on depending on offensive items. You're definitely right that we want to switch into Knock Off, but that doesn't necessarily mean we need to be Knock Off proof. The list of Mons the previous discussion determined CAP 22 should be able to threaten largely focused on Mons weak to CAP 22's STAB combo - it didn't address coverage much at all. If CAP 22 has to rely on super-effective hits to dole out lots of damage in the event it loses an item, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. CAP 22's focus is on being a pivot more than a sweeper or wall breaker.
Aside from that, I find myself in agreement with DarkSlay - Poison heal is certainly good, and I was unwise not to recognize it as viable earlier, but I find myself still favoring the nigh-upon status immunity granted by Magic Bounce and Natural Cure.
One word: Scald. That alone is why people still consider Natural Cure and not dismiss it and completely bandwagon on Magic Bounce. Both Keldeo and Naviathan, two Pokemon that our CAP threatens, carry it, and any form of status is detrimental to our CAP.
Hm... I hadn't considered Scald before, and it'd make sense for that to be a move CAP 22 could end up switching into if one wanted to use CAP 22 to force Keldeo out. How drastically it affects CAP 22 is dependent on what sort of offensive stats we give it, but chip damage would still harm CAP 22's longevity. With this in mind, I find myself much more torn regarding which I would support first: Magic Bounce or Natural Cure.
Magic Bounce provides immunity to status moves as well as Taunt, which would otherwise stop a Parting Shot in its tracks. Additionally, bouncing back status moves pressures passive Mons such as walls. However, CAP 22 remains vulnerable to Toxic Spikes and Scald burns.
Natural Cure enables CAP 22 to heal itself of status,
including from Toxic Spikes and Scald burns. However, it doesn't stop Taunt and the chip damage from the status will still occur until CAP 22 switches out.
With Magic Bounce, CAP 22 can safely escape Thundurus (and any other such Mons) with Parting Shot. With Natural Cure, CAP 22 can safely switch into Keldeo (and any other such Mons). I'm... not sure which would be more important for CAP 22 to do.