No! More! Levitate!

JayHankEdLyon

JayHankEdLyon

Other working titles: "I believe I can fly", "Fly me a river", "It's leviOHHsa, not levioSAHH", "We'll all float on", "Will it float?", "David Blaine-mons"

(This was approved by The Eevee General btw)

Hi all! Ever since abilities came into play in Gen 3, Levitate has given new life to all sorts of ground-weak pokemon, and a handy Earthquake and hazard resistance even to neutral or resisting mons. But I've found that it's also a very restrictive ability; of the many Levitate users, only Duskull, Bronzor, and Bronzong get an alternate ability to choose from.

Moreover, there are tons of pokemon that really ought to have Levitate that don't, for the sake of more varied abilities: Beedrill and Venomoth fly around on wings, and ghosts like Jellicent float (hell, the English species name of Jellicent is literally "The Floating Pokemon", but to be fair, Golem is the Megaton Pokemon and it doesn't weigh a million tons).

The concept of this pet mod is to make the quality of being "airborne" ingrained into Pokemon, the same way that Sky Battle eligibility is. That way, not only can the likes of Jellicent finally float, but pokemon like Weezing can have new abilities while maintaining their Ground and hazards immunity. Finally, as a bonus, Mold Breaker Earthquake won't suddenly hit pokemon in the air!

I've already thought of new abilities to replace Levitate, as well as which pokemon now gain this new airborne quality. However, I'd be happy to hear discussion about the following changes, as well as implementation. Finally, I considered giving some Flying types new typing along with an airborne quality, like Bug/Water Masquerain and Bug/Fighting Ledian, but that seems a step too far for my tastes and I can't think of any mons that would be made viable by this change anyway.

Here we go! Items that have been brought up for discussion are in red and explained at the bottom of the list.

New Abilities replacing Levitate

Gastly/Haunter/Gengar
Frisk/Infiltrator

Koffing/Weezing
Aftermath/Stench/Unaware

Misdreavus/Mismagius
Prankster/Soundproof/Insomnia

Unown
Protean

Vibrava
Compound Eyes/Sandstream/Sand Force

Flygon
Tinted Lens/Sandstream/Sand Force

Lunatone
Solid Rock/Sturdy/Wonder Skin

Solrock
Solid Rock/Sturdy/Solar Power

Duskull
Pressure/Frisk

Baltoy/Claydol
Sand Force/Sand Veil/Analytic

Chingling/Chimecho
Soundproof/Rattled

Latias
Trace

Mega Latias
Multiscale

Latios
Synchronize

Mega Latios
Adaptability

Bronzor/Bronzong
Heatproof, Heavy Metal

Carnivine
Chlorophyll/Sap Sipper

Rotom
Static/Prankster

Rotom-Fan
Static/Aerilate

Rotom-Frost
Static/Refrigerate

Rotom-Heat
Static/Flash Fire

Rotom-Mow
Static/Lightning Rod

Rotom-Wash
Static/Hydration

Uxie
Unaware/Forewarn

Azelf
Infiltrator/Anticipation

Mesprit
Analytic/Frisk

Cresselia
Regenerator

Tynamo/Eelektrik/Eelektross
Lightning Rod/Tough Claws

Cryogonal
Filter/Ice Body

Hydreigon
Mega Launcher (Deino and Zweilous only have one ability, so we'd have to add more to them if we add more to Hydreigon)

Giratina-O
Pressure

New airborne Pokemon

Mega Charizard X

Beedrill

Venomoth

Magnemite

Magneton

Mew

Dustox

Shedinja (for whatever that's worth)

Volbeat

Illumise

Mega Altaria (upon release)

Castform

Shuppet

Glalie

Beldum

Metang

Mega Metagross (upon release)

Jirachi

Magnezone

Porygon-Z

Froslass

Dusknoir

Darkrai

Solosis

Duosion

Reuniclus

Vanillite

Vanillish

Vanilluxe

Klink

Klang

Klinklang

Frillish

Jellicent

Volcarona

Honedge

Doublade

Aegislash

Inkay

Klefki

Notable New Pokemon

Right off the bat, Mega Charizard X, Volcarona, Klefki, Magnezone, and Jirachi notably appreciate immunity to Earthquake. Aegislash also gets gigantically better, but is thankfully safe in Ubers.

For newly-minted abilities, Flygon gets three fantastic boosts in Tinted Lens, Sandstream, and Sand Force (although its Earthquake is a bit less potent in this ground-nerfing meta). Infiltrator is a lovely ability for Gengar, and Unaware Uxie and Regenerator Cresselia are both wonderful bulky Psychic types. Refrigerate Rotom-Frost gets a more accurate alternative to Blizzard in Ice-type Uproar that, despite being locked, breaks through subs and doesn't cause confusion when done. Bronzong is now only weak to Dark and Ghost. Protean Unown gets STAB on all its hidden powers!!!

But yeah, feel free to suggest changes or give advice.

Feel free to discuss any of the following (I'll add to this as suggestions to other mons are made)

New Abilities

Rotom-Mow: more flavorful ability, like, Leaf Guard or Sap Sipper? (other suggestions welcome)

Rotom-Fan: more flavorful ability, like Cloud Nine or Motor Drive? (other suggestions welcome)

Bronzor/Bronzong: another ability beyond Heatproof and Heavy Metal? Suggestions include Rattled, Magic Guard, Bulletproof, and Light Metal.

Lati@s: ability reflecting intellect, like Analytic or Technician?

Potential airborne mon

Celebi?
Electrode?
Probopass?
Celebi?
Phione?
Manaphy?
Victini?
Diancie?
Banette?
Mega Banette?
Wormadam?
Porygon?
Porygon2?
 
Last edited:
Throbulator36

Throbulator36

I'd say compound eyes has no flavor on hydriegon being that compound eyes are an actual type of eyes that only some types of bugs get(aka no flavor). This is compounded by SF being a better ability competitively for it.
 

EV

Banned deucer.
To me:
  • Leaf Guard makes more sense than Lightning Rod on Rotom-Mow.
  • Serene Grace makes little sense for Rotom-Fan. Maybe Static, Cloud Nine, or Motor Drive instead?
  • Why not give Bronzor/Bronzong another ability? A metal ability makes sense like Light or Heavy Metal. Rattled would be funny because it's a bell. Those aren't very good competitively, though, so maybe Magic Guard or even Bulletproof could be added.
All in all, the changes look very good so far!
 
Valmanway

Valmanway

My jimmies remain unrustled
is a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Maybe we should give Latios Analytic or Technician instead, since he's supposed to be a highly intelligent Pokemon.
 
JayHankEdLyon

JayHankEdLyon

Definitely was going more for competitive use than just flavor for the Rotom squad; Leaf Guard is terrible. But then again, they all get Static for their electric side, so Lightning Rod

I didn't give Zong another ability because it's the only levitate user that already has another ability, but Rattled is way too funny not to put in. Light Metal would probably be better than Heavy Metal considering Gyro Ball proibably outdamages Heavy Slam even with more weight, and Light Metal lets it take a bit less from Low Kick and lolGrass Knot. Still, Bulletproof would also be great to stop Shadow Ball; it would be a great Gengar counter with it, immune to both STABs, resisting Fairy coverage and neutral to Focus Miss, all while doing crazy damage with Gyro Ball.

I'm putting input like this under the Discussion tab of the OP, so that we can actually discuss/vote on them instead of me just executive decisioning everything. The points I do want to make here, though, are:

Abilities are not necessarily competitive, particularly as we can make up to three; see Stench Weezing for flavor overcoming competitive use.
Let's tread lightly with viable mons; we don't want to make Gengar or the Latis too OP here, and moreover it's more fun to make less viable mons viable.
 
Last edited:

Berry Juice

Just a nitpick, but Duskull(and its family) got Frisk as a hidden ability this gen. And Bronzor/Bronzong already get Heavy Metal, as a hidden ability(not sure if it's released though)
Also, why is Porygon-Z airborne now, but Porygon/Porygon2 aren't?

100th post yay
 
JayHankEdLyon

JayHankEdLyon

Berry Juice said:
Just a nitpick, but Duskull(and its family) got Frisk as a hidden ability this gen. And Bronzor/Bronzong already get Heavy Metal, as a hidden ability(not sure if it's released though)
Also, why is Porygon-Z airborne now, but Porygon/Porygon2 aren't?

100th post yay
Click to expand...
Interesting points, I missed that.

While Porygon and Porygon2 can use Magnet Rise to levitate, they also have feet of sorts to ground themselves, whereas Porygon-Z does not. Still, putting it on the discussion plate.
 
Gerard

Gerard

Bronzong actually has Heavy Metal already. I think Bulletproof would be the best ability for Bronzong. It lets it chose what to be weak against just like it could with levitate (either lose to Ghosts or to Fire types) whie he's still pursuit weak as to nt be overpowered.

I think Lightngroad would be a better competitive ability for Rotom Fan.

Ps: Levitate Shedinja is immune to Spikes and Toxic Pikes so it's not totally useless
 
Wishy

Wishy

...! I've always wanted this!! Most of your changes look good, except a few nitpicks:

- Hydreigon getting Compound Eyes makes as much sense as giving Bronzong Tangled Feet. I'm not even sure why you did that. You should give it something that is similar to Hustle or ties into the fact it has 3 heads. Sheer Force (it is the Brutal Pokemon), Intimidate (again, Brutal Pokemon. Dex entries talk about how scary he is), by the same token Unnerve, or Skill Link (get it, 3 heads? but he has no attacks to make use of it).

- Rotom formes: Refrigerate and Flash Fire are too perfect for a fridge and oven Pokemon, but Flame Body could also work for Rotom-H (and being able to burn without WoW is cool) and possibly Ice Body for Rotom-Fr. What about Aerilate for Rotom-F? Or even Lightning Rod. Rotom-M... Hmm... Only thing I can think of is Leaf Guard. In the realm of useless but flavourful, Hyper Cutter! Yes to Hydration Rotom-W.

- Why does Malamar get auto-levitate? Its feet are planted on the ground in its model.

- I'd suggest Wonder Skin for Latias. Some of her dex entries make reference to "glass like down", reflecting light from her skin to become invisible, etc. Follows the same train of thought of giving Mega Latias Multiscale. Trace is still cool though. Analytic Latios would be good flavourwise, but on a base 110 speed Pokemon, it's kinda terrible. Telepathy could also work for either one of them. Even Illusion or Marvel Scale (scales? feathers? same difference) at a stretch, again in reference to Latias' light-reflecting feathers and Latios creating mirages.
 
JayHankEdLyon

JayHankEdLyon

I'm making a conscious choice not to use Pokedex entries as flavor, considering they're often absurd (for instance, Magcargo's hotter than the surface of the sun) and are simply English translations. Also, I wouldn't call Analytic useless, given the boost comes into effect on switches as well and Latios forces a lot of switches.

Regardless, good points! What y'all call nitpicks, I call incredibly useful. I hadn't noticed Malamar being weighed down. As per Hydreigon, for some reason I thought the original name was something like "Many Eyes", but as it isn't, and two people suggested Sheer Force, I'm making that the default ability.
 
Last edited:
Cobalt314

Cobalt314

Shouldn't the Klink line also be airborne? They can't spin if they're grounded, after all.
Edit: Thanks :)
 
Last edited:

EV

Banned deucer.
Dilasc said:
Would Mega Launcher Hydreigon work? It is kinda an artillery dragon after all and it powers up both of its STAB moves. Plus it was originally going to be conceived as a tank.
Click to expand...
Thirding.

Sheer Force is nice, but maybe too good. Mega Launcher is also really good, but retains some predictability imo even though it gets very strong STAB moves.
 
canno

canno

formerly The Reptile
Dilasc said:
Would Mega Launcher Hydreigon work? It is kinda an artillery dragon after all and it powers up both of its STAB moves. Plus it was originally going to be conceived as a tank.
Click to expand...
This is a fantastic addition, and isn't potentially too good like Sheer Force (although that one is good too - I just like Mega Launcher better). Another possibility is Intimidate as an ability, as it is a very intimidating Pokemon.

Also, I know this is a bit controversial due to giving Rotom-Wash a really big boost, but Motor Drive > Static is a cuter idea imo due to Rotom being Motor backwards. Again though, I can understand it not being used due to Rotom-W having essentially no weaknesses outside of Grass (and not even x4 like Water/Ground!!!). At the very least though I feel that Storm Drain is better than Hydrate, since it fits flavor-wise with the other rotoms being immune to their secondary STABs, but I can see why you wouldn't want that. I think its worth it though.

Other comments:

Porygon2 / Porygon should definitely gain the ground immunity if Porygon-Z since they both have the same sort of levitation.
Probopass should also get it imo.
Rotom-Mow with Sap Sipper is almost perfect flavor (imo), since its a lawnmower. Rotom-Fan meanwhile should get Aerilate to go with Rotom-Fridge's Refrigerate. It wouldn't be too broken since it's only special Normal-type move is Uproar.
Lati@s getting Speed Boost because jets Telepathy is very flavorful but not very good competitively, so idk. Trace could work too as an ability for both and not just Latias - lets them do some fun things like be immune to Heatran's Lava Plume (so no burn chance ;) ).
 

Dilasc

The Reptile said:
This is a fantastic addition, and isn't potentially too good like Sheer Force (although that one is good too - I just like Mega Launcher better).
Click to expand...
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Hydreigon Focus Blast vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Blissey: 304-359 (46.6 - 55%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Sheer Force Hydra might enable too much wall break powers.


Anyways, where's Geodude on the list? I mean, yea, it's just Geodude, but... NML Little Cup?
 
JayHankEdLyon

JayHankEdLyon

Switching to Mega Launcher, it's too perfect, particularly as it makes Hydreigon way better without making it too good, given every fairy worth its salt is a dead stop to it.
The Reptile said:
This is a fantastic addition, and isn't potentially too good like Sheer Force (although that one is good too - I just like Mega Launcher better). Another possibility is Intimidate as an ability, as it is a very intimidating Pokemon.

Also, I know this is a bit controversial due to giving Rotom-Wash a really big boost, but Motor Drive > Static is a cuter idea imo due to Rotom being Motor backwards. Again though, I can understand it not being used due to Rotom-W having essentially no weaknesses outside of Grass (and not even x4 like Water/Ground!!!). At the very least though I feel that Storm Drain is better than Hydrate, since it fits flavor-wise with the other rotoms being immune to their secondary STABs, but I can see why you wouldn't want that. I think its worth it though.
Click to expand...
The entire point is to not give Rotom Wash that boost. Motor Drive is great for flavor (the Japanese name for Motor Drive is something like Electric Engine so totally works for a poltergeist that controls machinery) but Rotom W is already marvelous and Static works pretty much just as well for flavor without being amazing for Wash. Same for Hydration versus Storm Drain.
Other comments:
Porygon2 / Porygon should definitely gain the ground immunity if Porygon-Z since they both have the same sort of levitation.
Probopass should also get it imo.
Click to expand...
My rationale is that these pokemon don't seem to be floating by default, which Porygon-Z does given it has no legs. Magnet Rise allows them to float, but they aren't always floating. If enough people disagree then I may change my mind, but I'm pretty set on this.
Rotom-Mow with Sap Sipper is almost perfect flavor (imo), since its a lawnmower. Rotom-Fan meanwhile should get Aerilate to go with Rotom-Fridge's Refrigerate. It wouldn't be too broken since it's only special Normal-type move is Uproar.
Click to expand...
Fan already has Aerilate now; Sap Sipper may be the one, but it's a shame it isn't very good. Wanna make the less viable Rotoms just a bit better.
Lati@s getting Speed Boost because jets Telepathy is very flavorful but not very good competitively, so idk. Trace could work too as an ability for both and not just Latias - lets them do some fun things like be immune to Heatran's Lava Plume (so no burn chance ;) ).
Click to expand...
As I've said in the thread, competitiveness isn't a priority when other abilities are good, and/or when a pokemon is as viable as Lati@s.
 
Ghoul King

Ghoul King

Porygon and Porygon2 absolutely float. This isn't necessarily evident in 2D spritework like it is for Porygon-Z, but back in Stadium/Stadium 2/Colosseum/Battle Revolution they're floating, and I would assume this is true in X and Y given they seem to be recycling existing 3D assets, just with a more cartoon-y effect layered on.

What about Mega Alakazam? It is constantly floating. (And it would make Mega Alakazam less terrible)

I'm assuming that most floating Water types are going to be ignored as an animation convention such that we don't have innate flight on Tentacruel etc. Similarly I'm assuming that Forretress isn't going to be interpreted as a floating Pokemon either. (That's always struck me as probably being a failure on the animator's part, given the anime and other materials never depict it floating, even though Forretress does get Magnet Rise and stuff like that)

Celebi is a floating thing with little fairy wings. It would mostly benefit from reduced vulnerability to hazards, but if this is chiefly about flavor I would agree that Celebi should absolutely get innate floating.

Probopass is another Pokemon that is consistently depicted as floating, and this includes that the mini-noses are separate pieces it manipulates separately, so I don't think that's just limitations on the animator's part, I think that's a deliberate commentary on its abilities.

Volbeat and Illumise are sort of odd in that they are actually never animated as using their wings to fly, only to use them as an assist to hopping about. I'm not sure it's really flavor-correct for them to float, even though they sure could use some boosts to their utility.

Grumpig/Spoink doesn't really float per se, but they do spend a lot of their time off the ground. Just something worth mentioning.

Banette is odd. Unlike Shuppet, it doesn't have to float, but it holds itself up in a way that suggests it's actually levitating. It's odd. I could see an argument either way for it to be floating or not.

If I were behind this I'd interpret Spiritomb as non-floaty, given the keystone is stuck to the ground and in 3D animations Spiritomb is quite obviously hampered by the thing, but an argument could be made that Spiritomb itself is floating up off the ground and is not the keystone.

If Carnivine had more Fang moves I would totally argue Strong Jaw for it.

Musharna? It is floating, strictly speaking. Not Munna though.

Yamask floats, and so does Cofafrigus, even though Cofafrigus could easily be imagined as just sitting there on its coffin.

Ferrothorn is weird, given that its Gen V spritework depicted it as hanging from the ceiling. You could argue that as a kind of 'floating', but most open environments wouldn't support that, and it starts raising questions about all the other critters that can climb walls and stuff and ugh...

Chandelure and Lampent (Though not Litwick) are floating. It's already a good Pokemon, but if this is about flavor, I would argue Chandelure before I'd argue Gengar getting innate floating. Gengar's 3D animations actually depict it as super un-floaty, with it recoiling from damage as if attached to the ground! (Which makes sense given that it's a shadow-thing)

Accelgor is another odd case. There is absolutely no way to make sense of it except to say that it floats, but as far as I'm aware nothing within Pokemon really acknowledges this point. I'd personally make it float, though.

Golett and Golurk's ability to learn Fly is worth commentary too.

Florges' entire line is visibly floating, particularly Floette. (The other two stages could be argued as simply planted into the ground and light. Floette is floating, full stop)

Malamar can float, but it isn't constantly floating, so either end could be argued. Gengar is consistently depicted in media as being able to float too, even though its default stance is standing on the ground, and it gets Levitate. (And you're planning on keeping it having innate floating)

Carbink and Diancie are visibly floating.

Phantump, though not Trevenant, is also visibly floating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

  • ... and 1 more.
    • Top