Well, now that Shared Power is OMotM it's about time to post a guide I'd been working on. It's a bit outdated now, but I tried to list as many strategies as I could. I also began writing this a month ago.
Earlier, I made a list of damage altering abilities. Now I'd like to try to make a more comprehensive list of abilities, combinations, and mechanics that I have seen be used or suggested in Shared Power.
Hyper Offense
Hyper Offense strategies are often gimmicks using multiple abilities to modify damage output and sweep with a single or a couple Pokémon. They often rely on speed or priority to kill without being touched. The best part about these strategies is that they actually can work reliably, which is very different from normal gimmicks.
Examples include:
Skill Link Technician
These teams take advantage of the Skill Link Technician combo to use very powerful multi-hit attacks. These strategies are a good counter to Multiscale and can just ignore sashes and Sturdy. Most good multi-hit moves have a base power of 25 for each hit, so you effectively get a 187.5 power move that ignores Multiscale, Focus Sash, Sturdy, and Substitutes. The actually decent multi-hit moves are:
- Bone Rush
- Bullet Seed
- Icicle Spear
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Tail Slap
- Water Shuriken
Now, Bone Rush is only on 5 pokemon: Cubone, Marowak, Marowak-Alola, Lucario, and Mandibuzz. Which means that it's extremely unreliable due to the lack of STAB users. Notable users of Bullet Seed include Heracross (which gets access to Rock Blast and Pin Missile as well as Skill Link when it mega evolves), Cincinno (which gets Rock Blast and Tail Slap as well as Technician and Skill Link), and Breloom (which gets Technician and STAB). Cloyster is the most common user of Icicle Spear due to the fact that it gets Rock Blast and Skill Link (and all the Pokémon are bad apart from Mamoswine), while Heracross and Mega Beedrill are the most common users of Pin Missile. Rock Blast is usually on Heracross, Cincinno, and Cloyster. Cincinno is the best user of Tail Slap due to the fact that it has more multi-hit moves than Ambipom and similar stats. And Water Shuriken isn't used much due to only being on Greninja (which cannot share its abilities) and Accelgor (which is bad). For Skill Link, teams usually use Heracross-Mega, Cloyster, or Cincinno, and usually use Cincinno, Breloom, or Scizor for Technician. So here are, in my opinion, the best core Pokémon for these teams:
- Cloyster
- Cincinno
- Breloom
- Heracross-Mega (if you're running TR, which could potentially be viable, as Stakataka is an option with Rock Blast and Marowak could still be an option with Bone Rush)
Now, Mega Beedrill is another great Pokémon with these teams. Due to the fact that they are Hyper Offense, Adaptability is a great boost to them, and Mega Beedrill gets Pin Missile and Fell Stinger, which are boosted by Technician. If you're going for TR, Stakataka gets Rock Blast and can give Beast Boost as well, which is a terrifying ability in this metagame. Regular Heracross can also be good due to the fact that it gets Moxie, so if you have another Skill Linker on your team it functions as a better mega (due to higher speed and access to an item, as well as another mega slot).
Hustle No Guard
This isn't so much a Hyper Offense strategy in itself, but instead a great damage multiplier. I feel like No Guard is an Ability that's just generally good for all players in Shared Power due to the fact that it means that no moves are going to be missed (unless you have mold breaker or something). No Guard Hustle effectively gives every Pokémon on your team a Choice band without being locked into moves, and means you don't have to worry about missing. While it can't take advantage of Hustle, Xurkitree can take advantage of No Guard with Hypnosis and Zap Cannon. Psychium Z gives you +1 speed when you use Hypnosis, allowing you to set up with Tail Glow and then likely outspeed your opponent. This also can work with Sticky Web, but that is slightly worse now that Magic Bounce is unbanned. Durant is probably the best Hustle user, but Mega Pidgeot, Machamp, Doublade, and Lycanroc-Midnight are all equally good No Guard users. Mega Pidgeot does force you to mega and cannot take advantage of Hustle, but it is still a terrifying threat. Machamp uses No Guard itself the best, but Doublade is good without really needing to use it. Lycanroc is one of the best fast users of No Guard. Teams using this strategy can either just use it as an extra damage multiplier, or focus around it using mons like Conkeldurr and Buzzwole, which hit like a truck with a boosted Dynamic Punch. Sleep moves are also very powerful with No Guard, and any Pokémon that can take advantage of Zap Cannon is a huge threat. Inferno also exists but has less users.
Adaptability and Tough Claws
These are 2 common damage multiplying abilities that work very well on Hyper Offense. Tough Claws is a free Life Orb for physical moves, and Adaptability is extremely powerful on anything. Greninja Adaptability is a potential combo, but since Protean does not carry it is less viable. Porygon-Z, Beedrill-Mega, and Crawdaunt are some of the best users of Adaptability, while Tough Claws is usually on Lycanroc-Dusk, Charizard-X, and Aerodactyl-Mega. Personally I prefer Lycanroc because it doesn't have to mega evolve, but these are all viable.
Steelworker
Steelworker is a very powerful ability, but you can only use it on specific Pokémon. Scizor and Dhelmise can combo quite nicely, with Scizor getting a 90 power STAB Bullet Punch. Stakataka TR teams also work very nicely due to the fact that Dhelmise is already a slow mon. Mega Mawile does quite well, and I suppose that the newly introduced Aegislash could be very good. Doublade + Durant + Dhelmise is another potential combo, giving 2 separate 1.5x boosts, one to the base power of moves and one to the attack stat.
Gale Wings
An ability that gives priority if you're at full health is bound to be used on HO. After all, the entire point of the strategy is to use fast attacks to kill without taking damage. Personally, I've found this to be very good when there isn't a Bruxish or Tapu Lele on my opponent's team. Banded Staraptor works very nice, getting 144 power STAB Banded Brave Birds off without any recoil due to Magic Guard. This benefits Talonflame itself due to it relying on Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. Add some Hustle No Guard in there and you're bound to pack a punch (it OHKOs Clefable and Dragonite through Multiscale).
The "Ate" Abilities
Pixilate, Aerilate, Galvanize, and Refrigerate are all great abilities and can be used with moves such as Extreme Speed and Boomburst to hit super hard. So guess what, this is another metagame where Noivern gets STAB Boomburst! Unfortunately, the users of Galvanize and Refrigerate are kind of bad. Golem-Alola is trash, and Glalie-Mega isn't anything special. And neither is Aurorus. So Pixilate and Aerilate are the only ones that are really used. Pinsir can work quite well with Dragonite, giving it STAB Extreme Speed. Pixilate could be harder to use. I could see physical Diancie-Mega with Sylveon, or Tapu Bulu with Gardevoir/Altaria Mega or Sylveon. And physical Tapu Koko could be good too, especially with Magic Guard. On the special side there's not much. I could only really see Primarina or Togekiss being used, and they wouldn't be very good. Now, if you use Normalize with an "Ate" ability then all moves will have the type of the "Ate" ability and have 1.44x power. However, only having one type of move doesn't really help your coverage. If you use more than one "Ate" ability it's a random chance for the type of your move. Which is fun to use but completely impractical. Now, I have run a Galvanize Pikachu (which sweeps with Extreme Speed before it runs into a ground type) and a Hustle Extreme Speed Pixilate Togekiss (which somehow did well but 50 base attack isn't much to brag about), but neither team was reliable and they were complete gimmicks. And of course Noivern + Mega Pinsir could work some magic. And unfortunately Aerilate and Gale Wings cannot work together due to how Aerilate works.
Komala
Now, I'm not saying this strategy is good, but it sure is fun. Despite the fact that Comatose is banned from sharing, Komala can still use a fun Sleep Talk Prankster Last Resort set to hit hard. Komala actually has a base 115 attack stat, so with a 140 power STAB move and a Choice Band it hits very hard. Add some Adaptability/Tough Claws/Hustle No Guard to it with Prankster, and you just use Sleep Talk to get some priority attacks. It's also good to add a Scrappy mon since you only have one move.
Beast Boost, Moxie, and Soul Heart
Another strategy utilized by HO and balance teams is Beast Boost, Soul Heart, and/or Moxie. This allows you to gain momentum as the battle goes on, and with more balanced teams it ensures that whenever you get a kill you get a boost. Which is very dangerous. Beast Boost is probably the best of these abilities because it gives a boost to your highest stat, allowing it to work on all mons, whether they be a physical or special attacker.
Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Sand Rush, Slush Rush, and Surge Surfer
Despite the fact that these abilities are now banned from sharing, they can still be used effectively on a single mon. Not much more needs to be said. Rain teams get Dry Skin, Rain Dish, and Hydration, as well as 2 great Swift Swim users in Mega Swampert and Kingdra. They also get 100% accuracy Thunders and Hurricanes. They can easily use a Volt Absorb/Lightning Rod/Motor Drive mon to remove their weakness to electric. I would recommend Thundurus-Therian due to the fact that it gets a nice 100% Thunder and is already generally very good. Sun gets Solar Power (which works well with Magic Guard), Harvest, and Leaf Guard (which is just bad tbh), as well as Solar Beam with no recharge. Weather Ball probably works the best on these teams, although unfortunately Venusaur cannot have Chlorophyll and Weather Ball at the same time. Sand teams get Sand Force, but not much more. Hail teams get Ice Body and a 100% accurate Blizzard. So overall if you're going to use weather, use Rain or Sun.
Magic Guard Blacephalon
This combo was originally almost always used on sun teams, and while that's still an option it is potentially better on its own. Mind Blown is a 150 power move, and Magic Guard removes the recoil from it. If you're running sun, Solar Power will not have an HP loss and will act like specs. The damage multipliers are crazy: 150x1.5(sun)x1.5(Solar Power)x1.5(STAB)x1.5(If you're running specs)≃759 (some of these are changes to SpA while some are changes to the base power of the move) on Blacephalon, which has 151 base special attack. This is an extremely viable combo.
Triage
Triage is an extremely powerful ability. +3 priority on healing/draining moves is extremely good when there's no Bruxish/Lele in sight. Here are some Pokémon that can take advantage of this:
- Buzzwole: Leech Life and Drain Punch
- Trevenant: Drain Punch and Horn Leech (and Harvest is generally good)
- Conkeldurr: Drain Punch
- Heliolisk: Parabolic Charge is fun
There are far more, but these are some of the best for their respective moves.
Mega Launcher
Mega Launcher is a very cool ability. Unfortunately, only 3 Pokémon have it. Clawitzer and Clauncher suck, so all you really have is Mega Blastoise. But you can still take advantage of it. Technician and Mega Launcher stack on Water Pulse, which is very good. Greninja takes advantage of this a lot, using Dark Pulse, Water Pulse, and Water Shuriken. This could also be used in a rain team, as Kingdra works nicely with a Mega Launcher Dragon Pulse. Lucario also gets all of the boosted moves (apart from Origin Pulse of course).
Contrary
This is less Hyper Offense, but still kind of relies on all out attack. Shuckle is often used due to the fact that Sticky Web is a no risk move since if it gets bounced you get +1 speed. Shuckle also balances the team more. If you don't want to use Shuckle, Serperior is your next best option. To take advantage of contrary you need moves that drop your stats. Which means:
- Overheat
- Psycho Boost
- Leaf Storm
- Draco Meteor
- V-Create
- Dragon Ascent
- Hyperspace Fury (Magician is bad and defense boosts aren't great)
- Close Combat
- Superpower
- Hammer Arm
- Ice Hammer (Crabominable is bad)
- Fleur Cannon (Only Magearna gets it, and you'll be dealing with Contrary Soul Hearts)
Psycho Boost is only on Deoxys-Defense, which means that it is often used on Contrary teams. However, I prefer Victini due to Stored Power. Victini is the only Pokémon with V-Create, and also gets access to Overheat and Stored Power. This allows you to boost your speed and defenses with V-Create, boost your special attack with Overheat, and then do massive damage with Stored Power, even against Unaware teams. Latios is also often used due to its ability to provide support for Victini with Levitate and to use Draco Meteor to raise its stats and then use Stored Power. There are far more Pokémon that can work well with Contrary, but these are the primary components. Simple is often run as well for extra Contrary Boosts.
Unburden
Unburden is comparable to the weather abilities, but with the key difference that it requires an item and does not work if you switch. However, it is still extremely powerful when coupled with an anti priority ability. Tapu Lele is the best Pokémon for this due to the fact that it protects you from priority while allowing you to use a Psychic Seed, but any of the Tapus can be used. For Unburden you typically want Hawlucha, but you can use Hitmonlee, Sceptile, or Accelgor among others. Hitmonlee is just fun to use, Sceptile takes advantage of Grassy Terrain and can actually use Acrobatics, and Accelgor allows you to outspeed almost anything. Kyurem-Black works well on these teams due to its slower speed and the fact that it’s good almost anywhere. However, if you can be forced to switch then you lose the speed boost. Also, there is often no room for Magic Guard on these teams, allowing you to potentially break any Sturdies or Multiscales, which are commonly used.
Other Gimmicks
These are less Hyper Offense but more gimmicky teams that can actually work quite well.
Harvest Cheek Pouch
This strategy relies on using Harvest + Cheek Pouch + Gluttony + Starf Berry + Prankster, often with Simple and Stored Power/Power Trip, making Swoobat extremely useful. If you don't know, Starf Berry raises a random stat other than evasion or accuracy when the holder reaches 1/4 or less health. Because of Gluttony, it will be eaten at 1/2 or less health. Cheek Pouch restores 1/3 health after eating a berry, allowing the user to continue to use Substitute with Prankster to lower their health, then eat a Starf Berry and recover health. Harvest will recycle the berry, and Protect can also be run to make sure that the berry is recycled. Using a Pokémon with Drought is less useful because the sun will wear off. This strategy does lose to multihit moves, sound moves, and Infiltrator, but is surprisingly reliable and can beat Unaware with Stored Power/Power Trip.
Defiant/Competitive Weak Armor
Another surprisingly decent gimmick, this strategy allows the user to effectively get a free Shell Smash every time they are hit by a physical move. Add Stamina and you're never going to get a defense drop, or add Simple to make it even crazier. However, this strategy obviously suffers against non physical moves, but it's still surprisingly decent and fun to use.
Guts Toxic Boost etc
These teams rely on Poison Heal + Toxic Boost + Guts + Quick Feet and sometimes Marvel Scale to get all kind of crazy boosts from being poisoned. While Toxic Boost does change the power of moves as opposed to the attack stat, it's fair to say that all Pokémon get x2.25 attack and x1.5 speed as well as double Leftovers and potentially 1.5x defense, as well as a 140 power Facade. These teams actually hit extremely hard, and can utilize Bruxish to allow them to outspeed with Quick Feet and not worry about Priority.