Ability Tiering Thread and General Ability Discussion (Final Check)

[Codraroll]

With Normalize, any Pokémon would be completely helpless against lvl. 1 Gastly with Toxic and Curse. You literally can't hit Ghosts with anything.

On the plus side, Normal types would get STAB on everything, though. Then again, Normal STAB isn't exactly sought-after.

 

[Acritter]

S rank needs work. Many of those abilities CAN'T simply be put on any Pokemon: for example, how would Blissey be the better for having Pure Power? Here's my view on it:

Arena Trap (would send to A, as Wobbuffet and Dugtrio show that trapping moves need to have a somewhat tailored Pokemon and can still not quite do it despite that)
Contrary (B-tier ability, you need to have a moveset specifically tailored for it and even then it's sometimes not good)
Drizzle (clear S-tier, no argument here)
Drought (see above)
Huge Power (no, it requires the Pokemon to get some benefit from attack, send to A)
Imposter (another clear S-tier, with the evidence from Ditto in DW)
Magic Mirror (debatable, I'd leave it there)
Moody (has been proven to make Bidoof broken, clear S-tier)
Prankster (really movepool-reliant, would send to A)
Pure Power (see Huge Power)
Sand Stream (see Drizzle)
Shadow Tag (see Arena Trap)
Wonder Guard (have fun with WonderTomb)
Add in Snow Warning. Autoweather is kind of unreal, as far as abilities go.

 

[voodoo pimp]

S rank needs work. Many of those abilities CAN'T simply be put on any Pokemon: for example, how would Blissey be the better for having Pure Power?

S Tier- Abilities that are so good that the ability will often make otherwise unusable Pokémon viable.

Prankster, Huge Power, etc. fit that description perfectly. I'm not sure where you got the idea that S Tier abilities have to be good on everything.

 

[VaporeonIce]

Wait, you're debating Shadow Tag? Seriously? Dugtrio and Wobbuffet are literally useless without their trapping abilities, but because they have them, they either see serious use or are considered extremely good/annoying at what they do. Give them to, oh I don't know, any sweeper ever? and you get tons of guaranteed revenge kills (or free set-up AND a revenge kill, depending on what you're up against). I think that holds true for Arena Trap as well; anything with over 100 base HP (and non-horrible speed) turns Blissey and Chansey into free set-up. And what if you give a wall a trapping ability? Congratulations, whatever Pokemon it traps that doesn't have a boosting move dies to Toxic damage.

Seriously, like 3/4 of the Pokemon in OU would go straight to Ubers if they got Shadow Tag or Arena Trap.

 

[jake]

I seem to be the only one who thinks snow warning is not an S tier ability, so I think I might be judging the ability too critically. I’ll move it up to S tier tomorrow unless there is a general outcry to keep it A tier.

The reasoning -not- to do so is really too frail in my opinion. "Not enough users" is not a really good argument when we're talking about the purely abilities themselves, not the Pokemon that have them currently. Although there's no "Chlorophyll" for hail, it has enough benefits (Blizzard, Ice Body, Snow Cloak, removing other weathers, residual damage) to be game-changing and push a Pokemon from unviable to useful.

 

[Raikaria]

I don't agree with Sand Force being A-Teir. The only user of Sand Force in OU is Landorus, who is still more than viable even without it. Sand Force isn't *that* good, IMO. B rank I think...

Flower Gift is certainly not A-Teir. It dosen't boost your own stats, it's purely for Doubles/Triples.

Multiscale should actually be lower, IMO. It's instantly broken by any damage, such as hazards. The only reason Multiscale Dragonite works is because it's Dragonite, who's bulky, has a ton of resistances, and has Roost.

TurboBlaze and Terravolt only over-ride Flash Fire, Motor Drive, Volt Absorb and Lightlingrod. This is not A-worthy IMO. They may be like Mold Breaker, but they only work for attacks of a specific type, not all attacks, for all abilities. They are FAR more restrictive.

Air Lock should be A, seeing as three weathers are S, and it's a counter.

Leaf Guard is the sun equivilent of Hydration. It should be A ranked as well.

Trace should be S or A ranked. It alone made Porygon2 viable in Gen 4. Sure, he's viable now, but even moreso. If SS+Drizzle wasn't banned, Gardevoir would be used a lot to counter it. Trace can fire back any ability when used right. Hell, if P2 Traces Multi-Scale it's nigh invunerable.

Skill Link should be A.

Also, Sand Stream shouldn't be S ranked. It should be A IMO. Sand just isn't as powerful as Rain and Sun. Sand Stream didn't keep Hippowdon in OU. Tyranitar is OU not just because of Sand Stream, but because it's TYRANITAR. It's not A. Let's say the the current Sand Stream users didn't have it, and... Sandslash had it for argument's sake. I highly doubt Sandslash would be OU. Sand dosen't even give any real benifit over Hail, sure, Rock types get 50% Sp.Def boost, but most of them have horrendous Sp.Def, and 100% accurate Blizzard is big too.

Storm Drain should be S. Gastrodon sucks. He was in NU. He's basically a worse Swampert [He has Recover, but worse bulk, and no utilty, like Roar, Yawn, SR]. He's OU because of Storm Drain. He's a case in point of 'useless pokemon made viable with an ability'. Water is such a powerful type, and not only nullifying it but getting a +1 Sp.Atk from it is massive. Any special attacker would kill for Storm Drain. Lightlingrod isn't *as* good because there is this little thing called the Ground type.

 

[Tetrinity]

TurboBlaze and Terravolt only over-ride Flash Fire, Motor Drive, Volt Absorb and Lightlingrod. This is not A-worthy IMO. They may be like Mold Breaker, but they only work for attacks of a specific type, not all attacks, for all abilities. They are FAR more restrictive.

Nope. Turboblaze and Teravolt are identical to Mold Breaker in every way except the message that appears when the Pokémon is sent out. This was actually brought up before in this thread, although it would seem the relevant posts were deleted. Hmm.

Leaf Guard is the sun equivilent of Hydration. It should be A ranked as well.

Again, not quite. Leaf Guard prevents status effects full-stop, which means a Pokémon with Leaf Guard cannot use Rest in sunlight (although notably, this is only the case in Gen V). Hydration does not prevent status effects, merely curing them automatically at the end of the turn, so Rest isn't prevented by it in rain. It's this difference that results in the different tiers.

 

[Nyktos]

for example, how would Blissey be the better for having Pure Power?

Maybe Blissey wouldn't get any benefit from it, but Sunkern with Pure Power has Lucario-level Attack. Anything with at least base 25 or so Attack can benefit from it. The Pokémon that can't benefit from it are the exceptions.

 

[VaporeonIce]

Maybe Blissey wouldn't get any benefit from it, but Sunkern with Pure Power has Lucario-level Attack. Anything with at least base 25 or so Attack can benefit from it. The Pokémon that can't benefit from it are the exceptions.

Going along this line, a Pure Power Gengar with a neutral nature and no investment is stronger than a fully invested Jolly Lucario. A fully invested Gengar with an attack boosting nature is almost as strong as Deoxys-A with an attack boosting nature...and Gengar's attack is horrid. Even though most sets would probably still be special, the ability to just throw Fire Punch onto the set and murder Ferrothorn without relying on the terrible Focus Blast is a huge boost. The shock value of a Deoxys-A power Sucker Punch would be pretty big as well.

Pure Power is ridiculous. Almost any Pokemon that's good at ANYTHING else would suddenly get the ability to hit with very powerful physical attacks without any investment in attack. The only reason we never see it is because the two Pokemon who get Pure Power/Huge Power aren't even remotely good at anything else.

 

[Acritter]

Prankster, Huge Power, etc. fit that description perfectly. I'm not sure where you got the idea that S Tier abilities have to be good on everything.

In that case, I have a serious problem with the tiering description, because there's no distinct difference between A and S. There are, for example, MANY nonviable Pokemon that you could put Prankster and Huge Power on that would barely shift in their tiering for it. Contrary in particular would do absolutely nothing on the vast majority of Pokemon. It is absolutely dependent on the Pokemon's movepool. Unless it has something like Leaf Storm or Overheat or (god forbid) Draco Meteor, it's going to be about as striking an ability as Keen Eye. If it's just the POTENTIAL to turn something unusable into a top-tier Pokemon, then abilities like Sand Rush and Chlorophyll need to be up there. So what does it actually mean?

I'll concede on Arena Trap and Shadow Tag, though.

Oh, and if we're talking about tierings, why is Color Change in F? It has an effect in battle and isn't generally detrimental. Most types resist themselves, so it has potential use against choice users. It can backfire in some situations, so it doesn't deserve to be C-tier, but the slight amount of use it has should at least place it in D. F is restricted to abilities that have literally no effect or else have an unquestionably negative effect, and Color Change is neither. I'm not sure what to say about Zen Mode, as it functions as a Forme-changer but would theoretically have no effect on most Pokemon. You'd have to get a hacker to try sticking Zen Mode on another Pokemon and see whether it turns the Pokemon into Zenmanitan, the Pokemon's alternate Forme (if it has one), does nothing, or crashes the game. The first two stick it at LEAST at D, the third sticks it in F, and the fourth states that it simply needs to be removed from the tiering list because it doesn't function like any other ability.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Here are some suggestions I have:

Reckless to A: Reckless is a pretty great ability to be honest, yes yes, the accuracy loss, but this ability make Durant and Staraptor pretty amazing to be honest, they may not have even been banned in there respective teirs without them.

No Gaurd to A: 100% accurate moves is pretty great, Machamp would be nothing without this.

Quickfeet to B: I don't know about lower tiers, but I have never seen this ability used to great effect ever, seems like a throw out ability at most times, sure it has its uses but it isn't A tiered, I could even seen a case for making this C tier.

Rain Dish to A: Yeah Rain dish is an amazing ability that brings a pokemon like Tentacruel into its full potential. I could see it maybe in B because you do need weather, but C is no place for such an ability.

A lot of D abilities I think are misplaced and should go to C:

Anger Point: +6 when there is a crit is pretty great, yes very situational, but +6 speaks very loud
Gluttony: brings a pokemon like Linoone into a scary force that if unprepared for, can sweep you fully, even in OU, a solid C ability
Overcoat: Mailbuzz would not be viable in OU withouth this ability, being immune to sand and hail is pretty good
Soundproof: I think someone already said Mr. Mime, but yeah being immune to roar is great for a baton pass team, I mean people have come to the top of the ladder with Mr. Mime thanks to this, it might be even be worth B

Also maybe battle amor, super luck, sniper, and shell armor, I’m lumping this all together because they are luck abilities. Again they are situational, but they are still solid abilities that help me out from time to time. I know for a fact negating crits on defensive pokemon like Drapion can be great pretty good.

 

[voodoo pimp]

Also, Sand Stream shouldn't be S ranked. It should be A IMO. Sand just isn't as powerful as Rain and Sun. Sand Stream didn't keep Hippowdon in OU. Tyranitar is OU not just because of Sand Stream, but because it's TYRANITAR. It's not A. Let's say the the current Sand Stream users didn't have it, and... Sandslash had it for argument's sake. I highly doubt Sandslash would be OU. Sand dosen't even give any real benifit over Hail, sure, Rock types get 50% Sp.Def boost, but most of them have horrendous Sp.Def, and 100% accurate Blizzard is big too.

Storm Drain should be S. Gastrodon sucks. He was in NU. He's basically a worse Swampert [He has Recover, but worse bulk, and no utilty, like Roar, Yawn, SR]. He's OU because of Storm Drain. He's a case in point of 'useless pokemon made viable with an ability'. Water is such a powerful type, and not only nullifying it but getting a +1 Sp.Atk from it is massive. Any special attacker would kill for Storm Drain. Lightlingrod isn't *as* good because there is this little thing called the Ground type.

I think you underestimate the value of being able to stop other weathers without having to spend a turn on it. Especially in doubles, many people run Tyranitar or Abomasnow for the primary purpose of countering rain teams. The fact that people run Snover and Hippopotas at all pretty much proves the abilities' value.

As for Gastrodon, I think you're exaggerating a little bit. His real problem is that (without Storm Drain) he's outclassed by Swampert and Quagsire. Water/Ground is a great typing, and he's got decent stats. If Storm Drain was the only thing making him so good, then more people would be using Lumineon and Cradily.

In that case, I have a serious problem with the tiering description, because there's no distinct difference between A and S. There are, for example, MANY nonviable Pokemon that you could put Prankster and Huge Power on that would barely shift in their tiering for it. Contrary in particular would do absolutely nothing on the vast majority of Pokemon. It is absolutely dependent on the Pokemon's movepool. Unless it has something like Leaf Storm or Overheat or (god forbid) Draco Meteor, it's going to be about as striking an ability as Keen Eye. If it's just the POTENTIAL to turn something unusable into a top-tier Pokemon, then abilities like Sand Rush and Chlorophyll need to be up there. So what does it actually mean?

I'll concede on Arena Trap and Shadow Tag, though.

Oh, and if we're talking about tierings, why is Color Change in F? It has an effect in battle and isn't generally detrimental. Most types resist themselves, so it has potential use against choice users. It can backfire in some situations, so it doesn't deserve to be C-tier, but the slight amount of use it has should at least place it in D. F is restricted to abilities that have literally no effect or else have an unquestionably negative effect, and Color Change is neither. I'm not sure what to say about Zen Mode, as it functions as a Forme-changer but would theoretically have no effect on most Pokemon. You'd have to get a hacker to try sticking Zen Mode on another Pokemon and see whether it turns the Pokemon into Zenmanitan, the Pokemon's alternate Forme (if it has one), does nothing, or crashes the game. The first two stick it at LEAST at D, the third sticks it in F, and the fourth states that it simply needs to be removed from the tiering list because it doesn't function like any other ability.

There is a difference, you're just not seeing it. A Tier is abilities that are good and make a Pokémon noticeably more powerful, but that current users would still be functional without. Good Pokémon are still good without it, and bad Pokémon are still bad with it. S Tier, on the other hand, means the ability itself can be the sole reason for using a Pokémon. Bad Pokémon become good (or broken, e.g. Moody), and good Pokémon become top threats. Chlorophyll isn't really a good example because all of the abusers are still potentially threatening outside of sun (outclassed, perhaps, but not useless).

The biggest problem with Color Change is that it's entirely in your opponent's control. Not being able to control your own Pokémon is a very bad thing, even if it can occasionally work out in your favor. As for Zen Mode, I think it should just be off the list entirely (or perhaps in its own Z Tier), just because it's entirely specific to one single Pokémon, whereas other form-changers like Forecast and Multitype could be logically extrapolated to other Pokémon.

Reckless to A: Reckless is a pretty great ability to be honest, yes yes, the accuracy loss, but this ability make Durant and Staraptor pretty amazing to be honest, they may not have even been banned in there respective teirs without them.

You seem to be confusing Reckless and Hustle.

 

[forestflamerunner]

@ raikaria

Flower gift does boost your own stats in singles. It just has greater affect in doubles. Sand Force and Flower Gift have been subjects for debate and i might change their tiering in the future.
Multiscale is like a better version of sturdy for most pokemon (except the really brittle ones). Porygon2 is nigh unbeatable when it has the ability under its belt and Terakion could probablyy set up rock polish and sword dance if it had the ability under its belt. its solid A tier.
Trace- I've addressed this in an earlier post. To summarize it for you, almost any pokemon that has trace would rather have one of the A or S tier abilities. that is why its B tier.

I think that addresses your major concerns that haven't been addressed yet.

CHANGES MADE TO OP

First and Foremost, Snow Warning was moved to S tier. The B tier definition was cleaned up some for clarity. be sure to check it out. Also, I noticed I called the "Tiers" ranks by accident in the OP so that was fixed for consistencies sake. That's about it. Keep the great discussion going

 

[tehy]

I have to agree with above posters that color change isn't a terrible move. There are a lot of powerful offensive pokemon that have trouble dealing with their own type, and so changing to it is helpful. Not always (See Dragon and Ghost types), but still.

 

[Twins]

Storm Drain should be S. Gastrodon sucks. He was in NU. He's basically a worse Swampert [He has Recover, but worse bulk, and no utilty, like Roar, Yawn, SR]. He's OU because of Storm Drain. He's a case in point of 'useless pokemon made viable with an ability'. Water is such a powerful type, and not only nullifying it but getting a +1 Sp.Atk from it is massive. Any special attacker would kill for Storm Drain. Lightlingrod isn't *as* good because there is this little thing called the Ground type.

You're approaching this incorrectly. Tiers reflect usage, not viability, and should not be factored here. Storm Drain putting Gastrodon in OU is not a valid reason for making it S. It's a great ability, sure, but nothing gamebreaking. Gastrodon was always a decent pokemon (it's not horrible, it has decent bulk and typing), it was just outclassed by Swampert, until 5th gen came around. Now Gastrodon, for the most part, outclasses Swampert, being a hard counter to rain teams. But that doesn't make it an S rank ability. S Rank abilities should make nearly any pokemon insantly viable. And judging from Maractus and Cradily to a lesser extent, Storm Drain doesn't. A Rank for sure.

 

[alexwolf]

@Jimera

I know that the post that i am quoting is a bit old but still... You said in your first post in the thread that:

Prankster This move is so S rank. It singlehandedly moved Sableye from the bottom of NU right up to mid UU. Hell, it sees 2% usage in OU because of it. It was a major factor contributing to Thundurus' ban too. Prankster is GOLD and every Pokemon that uses status moves wants it.

, while a bit after you mention:

Speed Boost No people, this isn't S tier. Constant speed boosting is great and all, but you need the tools to take advantage of it in order to be successful. If it was S tier, Ninjask wouldn't be in NU.

So you are telling that Prankster should be S tier, because it made a NU poke UU, and OU viable, and later you contradict yourself saying that Speed Boost can't be S rank if one of it's users is in NU, which is also true for some Prankster users, such as Murkrow, Volbeat and Illumise.

Anyway on to the point...

Arena Trap is definitely not S tier material. It is a wonderful ability, but a poke must still have the tools to abuse it, especially since you can't trap anything, like you can with Shadow Tag.

Also i don't think that Prankster is S tier material... While it has certainly influenced a lot some pokes (Sableye being the number one example), it cannot make good any poke on it's own. My point is that since Prankster gives priority only to non-attacking moves, support pokes mostly are the ones that benefit from this ability. This means that most offensive pokes wouldn't really care about this abilty, since the only non-attacking moves that offensive pokes usually carry are a set-up move and Sub. Bypassing a faster Taunt or subing in front of faster pokes is nice, but not game breaking at all, imo, and as such Prankster should be in the A tier.

Finally, while Contrary is a godlike ability to anything that has a stat reducing move (Leaf Strom, Overheat, Superpower etc), if it doesn't have one, not only it is useless, but is is negative for the user as it can't use any stat up moves... Imo this should be A rank.

 

[tehy]

With arena trap you can trap 90% of the metagame. Really, name me a type of pokemon that doesn't appreciate this? Scarfers want the revenge-kill. Choice banders want the free kill. Walls don't want you to switch to a wall-breaker and want to stall you out. Bulky pivots would prefer to heal in your face or just kill you, thus meaning they won't take any more damage from you. The only thing i can think of is setup mons that like to force you out, but even they appreciate free setup on a poke that can't hurt them. So really, what class of pokemon doesn't want to trap things? Not many.

Speed boost should completely be S tier. Outspeeding things is good for almost everyone. Let's say you're a wall, like skarmory. Now if you have enough turns, you can outspeed things like latios, so they can't come in and force you out that easily(Although if it's not at half health it can take a BB.) Sweepers love it a whole lot more, but i still think everyone likes to be fast-prime example being lugia. Prankster should be A, because it relies on you having non-attacking moves, and needing to use them faster than other people. I guess sweepers want to outspeed taunt users with boosting moves, but that's such a thin excuse. And most walls can catch other pokemon on the switch-in anyhow, so for stall teams it matters only if you've lost whatever walls that pokemon. (E.G., you have problems with infernape, your team has skarm/bliss/tenta. If tenta's not dead and he'll be bringing in nape, just t-wave him on the switch-in. It only matters if tenta is dead and it's a suicide t-wave). It also stops sweepers, but lum berry is common and makes you its bitch, and it's still a suicide stop-which is not great for any stall team. So i really don't think prankster is all that effective, despite my love for prankster sableye(Which only works because it has WoW and bulk, not a combination found often).

And yeah, contrary either wrecks or does nothing, but mostly does nothing.

Edit:Someone please counter my response to prankster, so i can unleash all of my counter-arguments. I don't feel like arguing both sides but do feel like countering these arguments, so help a brother out?

 

[alexwolf]

@tehy

Yeah you are right about Arena Trap it is clearly S rank, don't know what i was thinking when i posted it should be A.

Also wtf are Pickpocket, Normalize, and Shield Dust doing in the C tier? Pickpocket and Normalize are almost entirely useless, and they will only be useful once in 20 games or so... This is definitely D tier.

And honestly wtf is Shield Dust doing in C rank? It is clearly a B tier ability. Imagine immunity to Scald Burns, Iron Head Flinches, Body Slam paralyze, generic hax from the elemental moves, Lava Plume burns, Waterfall flinches, Hurricane confusions, Def and SpD drops from moves such as Crunch, Focus Blast and Shadow Ball and Earth Power and Icicle Crash flinches. The sole fact that with this ability any poke with decent special bulk and neutrality to water can take Scalds all day means something, and would be very nice for many pokes in OU to have.

Imagine Ferrothorn for example with it instead of Iron Barbs, which is another B tier ability. Which one would you chose on Ferro? Immunity to Scald burns, no para/freeze hax from electric/ice moves, no annoying stat drops from Crunch etc, and no possibility for Tornadus to confuse you with Hurricane or the extra damage to physical attackers? I would pick Shield Dust.

Or what about Metagross that gets another B tier ability, Clear Body? Shield Dust does pretty much what Clear Body does, except it doesn't block Intimidate, while also preventing all the things said before, meaning you don't have to worry about getting confused when trying to counter Tornadus, and that you don't have to worry about freeze hax when tanking ice attacks, or even avoiding a possible burn from a Scald in order to set-up and sweep with Agility...

 

[Deck Knight]

My take on this as a long time CAP Contributor:

1. Abilities should be considered in a vacuum from existing Pokemon for this listing.

2. Abilities should be considered with the understanding that other Abilities will be used.

To point 1. It's true that Blissey with Pure Power would be used just for the lulz. Pure Power was so ridiculous on Slaking it got banned from Balanced Hackmons FFS.

To point 2. Shadow Tag is an ability that gets ignored if an opponent has the same ability. Shadow Tag should still rank high on the list, because even though it would be useless in a metagame where Shadow Tag was the only possible ability, such a metagame could not and will not exist, and even if it did, it'd make Gastro Acid, Worry Seed, and trapping moves have the same effect.

So basically you have to go into this assuming that each ability could be matched with a perfect Pokemon, not an existing one. In that sense:

S-Tier:
Arena Trap
Contrary
Drizzle
Drought
Huge Power
Imposter
Magic Bounce
Moody
Prankster
Pure Power
Sand Stream
Shadow Tag
Simple
Snow Warning
Wonder Guard

A-Tier:
Arena Trap
Adaptability
Chlorophyll
Download
Dry Skin
Flash Fire
Flower Gift
Guts
Hydration
Intimidate
Imposter
Levitate
Lightningrod
Magic Guard
Mold Breaker
Magnet Pull
Motor Drive
Moxie
Multiscale
Natural Cure
Poison Heal
Quick Feet
Regenerator
Sand Force
Sand Rush
Sap Sipper
Serene Grace
Sheer Force
Shield Dust
Simple
Speed Boost
Storm Drain
Sturdy
Swift Swim
Technician
Terravolt
Tinted Lens
Thick Fat
Turboblaze
Water Absorb
Volt Absorb
Unaware

For S-Rank I've stricken Arena Trap and Imposter here, moving them down to A-Rank and moved Simple up to S-Rank.

Simply put, Shadow Tag completely outclasses Arena Trap in its entirety. One typing (Flying), two items (Shed Shell and Balloon), one attack (Magnet Rise), and one ability (Levitate) can nullify Arena Trap's effect, whereas only Shed Shell, Baton Pass, U-turn, and Volt-Switch can escape Shadow Tag, save another Shadow Tag user. As far as Arena Trap and Magnet Pull being in the same league, that's debatable, but since Steel types are unique in their defensive abilities and a theoretical Dragon/Fighting Pokemon could utterly obliterate them on its way to a sweep, I'd say it has plenty of merit.

Imposter is actually pretty situational because it relies on your opponent's moveset, and it only gives you 5 PP in each move. Imposter is good against offensive Pokemon and boosters, especially with Choice Scarf, but worthless against stall, and if your Imposter Pokemon gets trapped, they're going to end up Struggling. Imposter is a Trace that changes your whole moveset as well as your Ability, and even if you have a high HP Pokemon, I have a team in Balanced Hackmons that deliberately plays around those weaknesses. This isn't to say Imposter is bad, just that it's not nearly S-Rank.

Simple was added because it enhances stat-boosters, one of the most common strategies, and there are enough of them that the effects can be devastating. Balanced Hackmons has its share of Quiver Dance and Shell Smashing Simple Pokemon, and the synergy of Simple with Stored Power is marvelous.

Mold Breaker and co. are great in A-Rank. Nullifying all immunity abilities up to and including Clear Body, Magic Bounce, and Wonder Guard completely destroys the defensive viability of a ton of Pokemon. Mold Breaker Dialga is one of my Balanced Hackmons staples, being able to stomp all over Sturdy Shedinja and Toxic *bulkyMBouncemon* is great.

I added Shield Dust to Rank A. Cyclohm is a case study in "A good mon with Shield Dust." Shield Dust is an automatic immunity to freeze and flinch, since there's no direct freezing or flinching move. It's an immunity to Burn from every attack except Will-O-Wisp, It's an immunity to Toxic except via Toxic itself. Basically speaking: Shield Dust + Taunt makes a Pokemon immune to everything except damage and critical hits. It's the counter-ability to Serene Grace, and it adds in Magma Armor and Inner Focus at no charge.

I'd move Moxie down a rank because it's a conditional you can't control. Guts and Speed Boost can always be activated via Protect, Moxie requires you to be able to KO whatever is in front of you, which is not a guarantee.

 

[v]

imposter is transform-on-entry

 

[Honus]

I honestly don't see why Sand Stream and Snow Warning are S Tier; they're good but really don't carry the same benefits as Drought and Drizzle. I mean, Ninetales is a terrible Pokemon and is only really used for Drought, which provides amazing team support. If Ninetales were to summon Sand or Hail, however, I don't think it would see as much usage in the current OU Meta. Tyranitar and Hippowdon are already good Pokemon and you aren't 'playing with 5 mons' if you use them while Abomasnow at least has decent defensive merit and can mess up a team with some of its sets.

 

[tehy]

For S-Rank I've stricken Arena Trap and Imposter here, moving them down to A-Rank and moved Simple up to S-Rank.

Simply put, Shadow Tag completely outclasses Arena Trap in its entirety. One typing (Flying), two items (Shed Shell and Balloon), one attack (Magnet Rise), and one ability (Levitate) can nullify Arena Trap's effect, whereas only Shed Shell, Baton Pass, U-turn, and Volt-Switch can escape Shadow Tag, save another Shadow Tag user. As far as Arena Trap and Magnet Pull being in the same league, that's debatable, but since Steel types are unique in their defensive abilities and a theoretical Dragon/Fighting Pokemon could utterly obliterate them on its way to a sweep, I'd say it has plenty of merit.

Imposter is actually pretty situational because it relies on your opponent's moveset, and it only gives you 5 PP in each move. Imposter is good against offensive Pokemon and boosters, especially with Choice Scarf, but worthless against stall, and if your Imposter Pokemon gets trapped, they're going to end up Struggling. Imposter is a Trace that changes your whole moveset as well as your Ability, and even if you have a high HP Pokemon, I have a team in Balanced Hackmons that deliberately plays around those weaknesses. This isn't to say Imposter is bad, just that it's not nearly S-Rank.

Simple was added because it enhances stat-boosters, one of the most common strategies, and there are enough of them that the effects can be devastating. Balanced Hackmons has its share of Quiver Dance and Shell Smashing Simple Pokemon, and the synergy of Simple with Stored Power is marvelous.

Mold Breaker and co. are great in A-Rank. Nullifying all immunity abilities up to and including Clear Body, Magic Bounce, and Wonder Guard completely destroys the defensive viability of a ton of Pokemon. Mold Breaker Dialga is one of my Balanced Hackmons staples, being able to stomp all over Sturdy Shedinja and Toxic *bulkyMBouncemon* is great.

I added Shield Dust to Rank A. Cyclohm is a case study in "A good mon with Shield Dust." Shield Dust is an automatic immunity to freeze and flinch, since there's no direct freezing or flinching move. It's an immunity to Burn from every attack except Will-O-Wisp, It's an immunity to Toxic except via Toxic itself. Basically speaking: Shield Dust + Taunt makes a Pokemon immune to everything except damage and critical hits. It's the counter-ability to Serene Grace, and it adds in Magma Armor and Inner Focus at no charge.

I'd move Moxie down a rank because it's a conditional you can't control. Guts and Speed Boost can always be activated via Protect, Moxie requires you to be able to KO whatever is in front of you, which is not a guarantee.

I hate to quote the entire thing, so i'll take out a good bit of it.

Just because arena trap is outclassed doesn't mean there's an S rank ability. If there was an ability that multiplied all stats by 3, would we move an ability that multiplied all stats by 2 down to A tier? And it's not in the same league, especially since it traps most steel types anyhow. Just because skarmory and bronzong have a huge significance in our metagame, ou, doesn't really make up for it.

Imposter is rather situational. There are plenty of pokemon that really don't mind you switching into them with impostor, or even like it, so i might put it in B. Moxie is good, true, but having to KO things may be a problem. Still, the whole snowball thing is useful-speed doesn't really need to be higher than a boost or two often, and guts is a one-time thing.

 

[Acritter]

@Deck Knight:

I think you're making a critical mistake. We're not talking about how these abilities would fare in some magical metagame where every Pokemon could have access to them (Balanced Hackmons). We're talking about how strong these abilities pan out being in the standard game. For example, Drizzle is a REALLY GOOD ABILITY, but only because it's so limited. If it were available to every Pokemon, it would be kinda meh. A or B-tier: you get it on a Pokemon because you want the ability on your team, not because you want that Pokemon to be overpowering.

 

[VaporeonIce]

@Deck Knight:

I think you're making a critical mistake. We're not talking about how these abilities would fare in some magical metagame where every Pokemon could have access to them (Balanced Hackmons). We're talking about how strong these abilities pan out being in the standard game. For example, Drizzle is a REALLY GOOD ABILITY, but only because it's so limited. If it were available to every Pokemon, it would be kinda meh. A or B-tier: you get it on a Pokemon because you want the ability on your team, not because you want that Pokemon to be overpowering.

The best examples of ability tiering being based on how well they work in the current OU metagame are weather-specific abilities (Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, and Flower Gift, especially). These probably would have been B tier in 4th Gen OU; they can be useful, but because there was no auto-weather inducer for sun and rain in OU, they weren't the sort of ability that most Pokemon would be at least somewhat happy with. But now that there are sun and rain inducers in OU, those abilities can benefit pretty much any Pokemon. Even Swift Swim, which isn't allowed in OU with Drizzle, is still good, because you can exploit your opponent's rain. What were once highly situational abilities which required a very specialized team (or wasting a moveslot on Sunny Day/Rain Dance, and possibly your item slot on a weather rock) are now very useful, given the new face of the metagame.

 

[I Am]

I think that Imposter definitely deserves its S-Ranking.

The simple fact that it can turn ANY pokemon (prime example is one as useless as Ditto) into a near perfect check all revenge killer is simply phenomenal, and blows some other S-rank abilities out of the water (Sand Stream is nothing compared to this IMO).

Most Dragon Dance/Swords Dance/Nasty Plot/Work Up users are completely stopped dead, and you can easily let people set up to +6 and reverse the sweep completely. Even some Calm Mind/Quiver Dance users are still checked effectively.

Sure, there are some select pokes that can prevent an imposter reversal, and some substitute users, but that doesn't mean it isn't an amazing ability. It single handedly stops most setup sweepers (a significant part of pretty much all pokemon metagames) on ANY Pokemon, and that's what firmly cements it as an S-Rank IMO.