CAP 28 - Part 12 - Flavor Ability Discussion

[Quanyails]

We'll be deciding whether Miasmaw should receive a flavor ability, if any, in this thread. Remember that this ability must not have significant competitive impact! Our Ability Leader, -Voltage-, the TLT, and CAP moderators will be reviewing this thread for abilities with competitive impact.

You have 72 hours to discuss!

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CAP 28 So Far

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Some general rules for this discussion:

• Custom abilities are banned. No exceptions. Posts suggesting custom abilities will be deleted.
• There are ability banlists for the different stages of ability discussion. Posts suggesting banned abilities will be deleted.

The following abilities are banned from this discussion:

Flavor Ability banlist

Air Lock
Arena Trap
As One
Aura Break
Bad Dreams
Battle Bond
Color Change
Dark Aura
Dauntless Shield
Defeatist
Delta Stream
Desolate Land
Disguise
Dragon's Maw
Fairy Aura
Flower Gift
Forecast
Full Metal Body
Fur Coat
Gorilla Tactics
Gulp Missile
Huge Power
Hunger Switch
Ice Face
Ice Scales
Illusion
Imposter
Intrepid Sword
Libero
Mimicry
Moody
Multitype
Neuroforce
Parental Bond
Power Construct
Primordial Sea
Prism Armor
Protean
Pure Power
RKS System
Schooling
Shadow Shield
Shadow Tag
Shields Down
Slow Start
Soul Heart
Stance Change
Teravolt
Transistor
Truant
Turboblaze
Victory Star
Water Bubble
Wonder Guard
Zen Mode

Beast Boost
Comatose
Drizzle
Drought
Electric Surge
Fluffy
Grassy Surge
Innards Out
Magic Bounce
Magic Guard
Misty Surge
Prankster
Psychic Surge
Sand Spit
Sand Stream
Snow Warning
Speed Boost
Stamina
Steam Engine
Triage

 

[Voltage]

Hello everyone! Since we're starting out with our last step of the abilities on Miasmaw, I'd like to thank you all for some incredibly interesting and fun discussions and choices regard our abilities. Neutralizing Gas and Compound Eyes are both fun and fascinating choices for Miasmaw, making it a very exciting CAP to use and build with.

Now we move into the FLAVOR (flavour) aspect of the process where we give Miasmaw one final ability. These abilities should be chosen based on flavor and should avoid having any competitive implications whatsoever if possible. Based on this, I will start with an initial restriction that, in both my and Mx's opinions needs to be done. I am banning Strong Jaw due to the fact that the moves Crunch and the three elemental fangs are all present in the movepool. These moves allow Miasmaw to get strong coverage from a third ability, therein giving it a technically third competitive ability.

I encourage you all to think outside the box and determine some of the flavor abilities that would fit for Miasmaw here. One question in particular is as simple as: "What are some flavor aspects of Miasmaw, that could translate to an ability?"

Happy trails!

 

[LowenCraft]

The art has 2 heads, so the ability Frisk kinda fits

 

[SunMYSER]

I think a fun choice would be White Smoke for obvious reasons. Other than that we could go other more generic Bug abilities: Swarm, or Shell Armor/Battle Armor. None of the abilities are overtly competitive, easily being overshadowed by either of Miasmaw's current abilities

 

[Yuelia]

Hyper Cutter seems a fairly obvious choice, since most mons with very noticeable jaws or "snapping" appendages (Trapinch, Mawile, Pinsir, Kingler, etc etc) have this ability. It could be competitive, since Intimidate immunity is a thing, but realistically I don't see it being used over its current abilities; they just do so much more. [EDIT: I forgot Neutralizing Gas also gives Intimidate immunity, I'm a silly. Gonna leave Stench up though, since I still think it's an option worth considering.]

If that's too much, then how about Stench? With gas like that, I imagine the smell is pretty nasty, so I think it fits flavor-wise - and no one in their right mind is going to use it competitively.

 

[Quanyails]

(Speaking as a CAP contributor, not as a mod:)

The defining feature of Miasmaw is its tail-mouth, so I think a flavor ability that brings attention to that rounds out the flavor for this Pokemon. Dragon's Maw is cool, but in addition to being blatantly competitive, it's banned from flavor discussion. Mega Launcher is cool, too, but it has clear competitive implications.

The next best option, I think, is Hyper Cutter. This ability is on Pokemon with big claws or pincers, including fellow fake-head Pokemon Mawile, Pinsir, a Bug with a grippy set of pincers, and Trapinch, which, while not a bug, is based on a real-life bug. Hyper Cutter blocks attack drops, but the primary source of attack drops in the competitive metagame, Intimidate, is also blocked by Neutralizing Gas, making the ability largely outclassed. Overall, Hyper Cutter stands as a very flavorful and mostly-irrelevant competitive ability.

 

[Magic Mayhem Maiden]

I think Hyper Cutter is a possible flavor ability for Miasmaw, highlighting it's offensive powers, and it does have a large maw to show for it.

I don't think any armor-related abilities make sense since Miasmaw's Defense is so low, and its maw doesn't have any protection other than the spikes on the back. I am also open to any smoke related abilities.

 

[G-Luke]

Hyper Cutter imo is definitely the go to flavor ability for something like Miasmaw. It hits all of the major points, having a relatively high attack stat, having a large fake jaw / pincers as apart of its prominent physical features, and all while already being completely outclassed as an Intimidate blocker from the likes of Neutralizing Gas. 100% behind this.

 

[Mova]

Hyper Cutter is my preferred choice for Ability as well. It has a pretty high attack stat and tail-pincers, and you'd be better off using Neutralizing Gas to block Intimidate if you so chose. I support it, and I can't think of much else.

 

[Jewvia]

Hyper Cutter is the best option for reasons that pretty much everyone else covered. And it has no competitive use thanks to Neutralizing Gas already neutralizing Intimidate. The only time it would ever be relevant is Parting Shot, but that is such a small niche for an ability (and Kerfluffle will just Moonblast Miasmaw instead)

 

[MrDollSteak]

Agreed with Hyper Cutter being pretty perfect on this!

 

[20Yelram02]

Hyper Cutter seems pretty perfect

 

[sun_dew]

Shed Skin, Battle Armor, Stench, and Dry Skin are some flavor abilities not many have mentioned that I find interesting.

Shed Skin
Shed skin is a staple on a large amount of bug types, especially among those who evolve/have evolved. It’s pretty generic, but I still think it deserves a mention.

Battle Armor
Battle armor seems like a fairly obvious pick for an ability, and (IMO) it fits a lot better than hyper cutter does. Not only does it fit into exoskeletons in bugs, it is clearly represented by the design, which is literally wearing armor. Also, battle armor could refer to the mental state of the Pokémon: trying to make itself seem bigger and stronger with it’s dragon tail could be considered a type of mental “battle armor.”

Stench
Pretty much self-explanitory. Poisonous gasses likely don’t smell too great.

Dry Skin
I’m not 100% sold on Dry Skin, but I feel it deserved a mention. Lots of reptilian Pokémon have this ability, and bugs are also relatively dry-skinned in the real world. Also, Miasmaw just looks... crunchy?

 

[DianaNicole]

Hyper cutter is quite a good choice and makes a lot of sense. Going beyond that rivalry could also be fun and is easy to work around with making sure gender of a team is factored in to reduce attack. If the concept is to shut down U-Turn+Volt Switch, then having an ability that works well in 1v1 situations could be good for flavor.

 

[dex]

I think most of what’s been said has been good, but I want to suggest nixing Dry Skin. Immunity abilities are quite strong, especially for a flavor ability.

 

[Zephyri]

I think Hyper Cutter is the most obvious and probably the best option, but I just want to mention Rivalry and Mold Breaker as possible abilities that haven't been brought up yet. Both abilities are given to mainly territorial and aggressive Pokemon, and most Pokemon that have these abilities share a similarly "spiky" aesthetic. Neither of these abilities have any serious competitive implications i think.

 

[Magic Mayhem Maiden]

I feel inclined to disagree with Stench. Sure, Miasmaw has gas coming out from its mouth, but that's definitely Neutralizing Gas, which feels like an opposite gas compared to poison gas. I believe CAP28 would use this gas to neutralize prey, rather than repulse predators.

 

[G-Luke]

Shed Skin, Battle Armor, Stench, and Dry Skin are some flavor abilities not many have mentioned that I find interesting.

Shed Skin
Shed skin is a staple on a large amount of bug types, especially among those who evolve/have evolved. It’s pretty generic, but I still think it deserves a mention.

Battle Armor
Battle armor seems like a fairly obvious pick for an ability, and (IMO) it fits a lot better than hyper cutter does. Not only does it fit into exoskeletons in bugs, it is clearly represented by the design, which is literally wearing armor. Also, battle armor could refer to the mental state of the Pokémon: trying to make itself seem bigger and stronger with it’s dragon tail could be considered a type of mental “battle armor.”

Stench
Pretty much self-explanitory. Poisonous gasses likely don’t smell too great.

Dry Skin
I’m not 100% sold on Dry Skin, but I feel it deserved a mention. Lots of reptilian Pokémon have this ability, and bugs are also relatively dry-skinned in the real world. Also, Miasmaw just looks... crunchy?

Dry Skin is a competitive Ability. And what flavor is there for Battle Armor? All Insects have exoskeletons but i can't name 5 bug types with this ability. Also this mon not only has no actual armor in its design, it has 60 Defense people. 60. Battle Armor makes no sense on a frail armorless Pokémon.

I'm not 100% against Shed Skin, but its also fair to point out its usually seen on pupae stage insects, which Miasmaw is not.

 

[Zephyri]

And what flavor is there for Battle Armor? All Insects have exoskeletons but i can't name 5 bug types with this ability. Also this mon not only has no actual armor in its design, it has 60 Defense people. 60. Battle Armor makes no sense on a frail armorless Pokémon.

Of the 11 pokemon that have Battle Armor, 3 are bugs (skorupi, anorith, armaldo). 3 others are arthropods that are basically bugs (kabuto, kabutops, drapion). An argument could be made for Falinks having battle armor due to it's caterpillar-like appearance, but even ignoring that, half the pokes with battle armor are bugs/bug-like. Also uh, Miasmaw... does have armor (a chestplate and a "helmet"). This armor-like exo-skeleton was actually a concept used for some prevo designs that didn't make it (mine and shadowshocker's immediately come to mind). I do agree with the defense point, but even so an exception to this rule exists in Anorith, who has drastically lower defense in comparison to the other Battle Armor mons (even for prevo standards) , and I think Battle Armor fits enough to the point where we can make an exception for it. I do want to say that Hyper Cutter feels like a better ability overall, but I def think Battle armor fits and should be slated.

 

[G-Luke]

Of the 11 pokemon that have Battle Armor, 3 are bugs (skorupi, anorith, armaldo). 3 others are arthropods that are basically bugs (kabuto, kabutops, drapion). An argument could be made for Falinks having battle armor due to it's caterpillar-like appearance, but even ignoring that, half the pokes with battle armor are bugs/bug-like. Also uh, Miasmaw... does have armor (a chestplate and a "helmet"). This armor-like exo-skeleton was actually a concept used for some prevo designs that didn't make it (mine and shadowshocker's immediately come to mind). I do agree with the defense point, but even so an exception to this rule exists in Anorith, who has drastically lower defense in comparison to the other Battle Armor mons (even for prevo standards) , and I think Battle Armor fits enough to the point where we can make an exception for it. I do want to say that Hyper Cutter feels like a better ability overall, but I def think Battle armor fits and should be slated.

So 3 bug types? I was right.

 

[sun_dew]

So 3 bug types? I was right.

In comparison, hyper cutter is given to only one bug type, Pinsir. Additionally, no dragon types are given hyper cutter. In only two Pokémon does hyper cutter apply to teeth rather than claws (over half of all hyper cutter users are crabs). One of these two lose the ability upon evolving (Trapinch). This means there is only one analogous hyper cutter user, Mawile. To top it off, hyper cutter is seen exclusively as a primary ability. So, I feel Battle Armor, if anything, is more justified than Hyper Cutter is.

 

[G-Luke]

In comparison, hyper cutter is given to only one bug type, Pinsir. Additionally, no dragon types are given hyper cutter. In only two Pokémon does hyper cutter apply to teeth rather than claws (over half of all hyper cutter users are crabs). One of these two lose the ability upon evolving (Trapinch). This means there is only one analogous hyper cutter user, Mawile. To top it off, hyper cutter is seen exclusively as a primary ability. So, I feel Battle Armor, if anything, is more justified than Hyper Cutter is.

I didnt relay Hyper Cutter with typing at all, so what is the point here?

 

[Quanyails]

Just a heads up, but we can order Miasmaw's abilities to whatever makes most sense for flavor. Primary and secondary abilities in CAP are ordered for competitive discussion--they don't need to match "ability slot 1" and "ability slot 2".

 

[Lectrys]

I feel inclined to disagree with Stench. Sure, Miasmaw has gas coming out from its mouth, but that's definitely Neutralizing Gas, which feels like an opposite gas compared to poison gas. I believe CAP28 would use this gas to neutralize prey, rather than repulse predators.

I actually think Stench is in the top 2 abilities suggested so far (IMO). I cannot imagine a Neutralizing Gas being chemically potent enough to work to be odourless to all Pokemon.

 

[Zephyri]

I didnt relay Hyper Cutter with typing at all, so what is the point here?

I think JAGFL was trying to point out that the other most discussed option, Hyper Cutter, has some significant issues with it's distribution, yet it's very much a viable option for the flav abil, gaining lots of support over the course of this thread.