AAA Almost Any Ability Old Gens Hub

[dhelmise]

Art by Bummer

Almost Any Ability is a metagame in which Pokemon can use almost any ability to replace their regular ability slot. This is aimed at giving resources and information for previous generations of Almost Any Ability, as well as a place to discuss these metagames.​

 

[dhelmise]

USUM AAA
​

Important Mechanical Changes:

• Full Pokedex and move list are usable. This includes moves like Core Enforcer, Pursuit, Return/Frustration, and many others.
• Z-Crystals and Mega Stones can be used, allowing for the use of Z-Moves and manual Mega Evolution.
• Rapid Spin is 20 BP and does not increase Speed.
• Grassy, Electric, and Psychic Terrain boost is 1.5x instead of 1.3x.
• Defog no longer removes Terrains.
• Figy Berry and its equivalents restore HP by 50% instead of 33%.
• Inner Focus, Oblivious, Scrappy, Rattled, and Own Tempo no longer have immunity to Intimidate
• Disguise does no damage to Mimikyu after activation.

Click here for a comprehensive list of changes.

How to play:
You can play USUM AAA on PS! with the following code:
/chall [user], gen7ou @@@ 2 Ability Clause, !Obtainable Abilities, -Comatose, -Contrary, -Fluffy, -Fur Coat, -Huge Power, -Illusion, -Imposter, -Innards Out, -Parental Bond, -Protean, -Pure Power, -Simple, -Stakeout, -Speed Boost, -Water Bubble, -Wonder Guard, -Archeops, -Dragonite, -Hoopa-Unbound, -Kartana, -Keldeo, -Kyurem-Black, -Terrakion, -Regigigas, -Shedinja, -Slaking, -Zygarde, -Weavile, +Genesect, +Landorus, +Metagross-Mega, +Metagrossite, +Naganadel

Banlist

Banlist:
Things that are banned from Gen 7 OverUsed in addition to:

Abilities:
Comatose
Contrary
Fluffy
Fur Coat
Huge Power
Illusion
Imposter
Innards Out
Parental Bond
Protean
Pure Power
Simple
Stakeout
Speed Boost
Water Bubble
Wonder Guard

Pokémon:
Archeops
Dragonite
Hoopa-Unbound
Kartana
Keldeo
Kyurem-Black
Terrakion
Regigigas
Shedinja
Slaking
Zygarde
Weavile

Clauses:
OU Clauses, Ability Clause-teams are limited to 2 of the same ability, this includes "variants" such as Teravolt and Turboblaze.

Unbans:
Genesect, Landorus, Mega Metagross, Nagadadel

Viability Rankings

S-Rank:

Buzzwole (Triage, Tinted Lens, Intimidate, Flash Fire, Magic Bounce, Tough Claws)

Magearna (Regenerator, Adaptability, Sheer Force, Tinted Lens, Levitate, Flash Fire)

A-Rank:
A+

Landorus-T (Aerilate, Refrigerate, Regenerator, Adaptability, Flash Fire)

Noivern (Aerilate)

Tapu Fini (Poison Heal, Regenerator, Grassy Surge)

Tapu Koko (Pixilate, Galvanize, Primordial Sea)

A

Blacephalon (Magic Guard, Sheer Force)

Chansey (Unaware, Magic Bounce, Prankster, Regenerator)

Ferrothorn (Flash Fire, Primordial Sea, Magic Bounce)

Golisopod (Triage, Mold Breaker, Primordial Sea)

Heatran (Desolate Land, Levitate, Volt Absorb, Magnet Pull, Flash Fire, Chlorophyll)

Manaphy (Regenerator, Poison Heal, Motor Drive, Beast Boost, Primordial Sea, Unaware)

Mew (Unaware, Intimidate, Magic Bounce, Sheer Force, No Guard, Poison Heal)

Muk-Alolan (Regenerator, Adaptability)

Naganadel (Adaptability, Mold Breaker, Sheer Force, Unburden)

Nihilego (Water Absorb, Regenerator)

Volcarona (Magic Guard, Desolate Land, Mold Breaker, Queenly Majesty)

A-

Celesteela (Steelworker, Volt Absorb, Flash Fire, Regenerator, Aerilate)

Charizard-Mega-X (Defiant, Magnet Pull, Magic Bounce, Magic Guard, Drought -> Tough Claws)

Doublade (Regenerator, Flash Fire, Levitate)

Gengar (No Guard, Sheer Force, Normalize, Merciless)

Hippowdon (Intimidate, Magic Bounce,, Thick Fat)

Mamoswine (Adaptability, Technician)

Mandibuzz (Unaware, Thick Fat, Poison Heal, Magic Bounce, Delta Stream, Regenerator)

Medicham-Mega (Magnet Pull, Psychic Surge, Download -> Pure Power)

Skarmory (Intimidate, Unaware, Flash Fire, Volt Absorb)

Snorlax (Poison Heal)

Stakataka (Steelworker, Water Absorb, Levitate)

Talonflame (Magic Guard, Magic Bounce)

Tapu-Bulu (Pixilate, Tinted Lens, Poison Heal, Triage)

Thundurus (Magic Guard, Sheer Force, Aerilate, Refrigerate, Galvanize)

Volcanion (Tinted Lens, Adaptability, Swift Swim, Sheer Force)

Xurkitree (No Guard, Surge Surfer, Electric Surge, Sheer Force, Mold Breaker)

Zapdos (Intimidate, Unaware, Magic Bounce, Delta Stream)

B-Rank:
B+

Alakazam-Mega (Psychic Surge, Soul Heart -> Trace)

Bisharp (Adaptability, Tough Claws)

Garchomp (Adaptability, Mold Breaker)

Genesect (Sheer Force, Refrigerate, Tough Claws, Steelworker )

Gligar (Intimidate, Unaware, Thick Fat)

Gyarados-Mega (Volt Absorb, Magic Bounce -> Mold Breaker)

Kommo-o (Adaptability, Unburden, Mold Breaker, Sheer Force)

Latios (Tinted Lens, Dazzling, Adaptability, Psychic Surge)

Lucario (Tough Claws, Adaptability, Steelworker, Sheer Force, Refrigerate)

Mawile-Mega (Download, Levitate, Defiant -> Huge Power)

Metagross-Mega (Psychic Surge, Levitate, Download, Defiant -> Tough Claws)

Suicune (Poison Heal, Stamina, Unaware)

Toxapex (Volt Absorb, Prankster, Levitate)

Tyranitar (Adaptability, Regenerator, Bulletproof)

Zeraora (Refrigerate, Tough Claws, Electric Surge, Galvanize)

Zygarde-10% (Adaptability, Hustle)

B

Azelf (Mold Breaker)

Entei (Galvanize, Refrigerate, Mold Breaker, Magnet Pull)

Excadrill (Flash Fire, Water Absorb, Refrigerate, Aerilate, Adaptability, Magnet Pull)

Greninja (Protean)

Jirachi (Regenerator)

Landorus (Sheer Force, Aerilate)

Minior (Dazzling, Adaptability)

B-

Celebi (Triage, Unaware, Magic Bounce, Grassy Surge)

Chesnaught (Flash Fire,Triage, Poison Heal, Unburden, Tough Claws)

Gliscor (Intimidate, Thick Fat, Unaware)

Gyarados (Aerilate, Adaptability)

Hydreigon (Mega Launcher, Adaptability, Trace)

Marowak-Alolan (Magic Guard, Adaptability, Regenerator)

Necrozma (Poison Heal, Magic Bounce)

Shuckle (Mold Breaker)

Sneasel (Adaptability)

Uxie (Regenerator)

C-Rank:

Conkeldurr (Triage)

Diancie (Poison Heal, Regenerator)

Goodra (Regenerator)

Infernape (Magnet Pull, Tinted Lens, Adaptability)

Meloetta (Regenerator)

Pangoro (Triage, Tough Claws)

Rotom-W (Levitate, Swift Swim, Regenerator, Primordial Sea)

Smeargle (Mold Breaker, Prankster)

Swampert-Mega (Drizzle -> Swift Swim)

Thundurus-Therian (Sheer Force)

Turtonator (Regenerator)

Umbreon (Poison Heal, Magic Bounce, Regenerator)

Salazzle (Sheer Force)

Sample Teams

Talonflame Balance by Sabella
Pivot Balance by rozes
Gligar Balance by Sylveon.
Balance by Jrdn

Resources

Gen 7 AAA Discussion Thread
AAA Resources Megathread

 

[dhelmise]

ORAS AAA ​

Important Mechanical Changes:

• Burn deals 12.5% per turn, not 6.25%.
• Prankster affects Dark-types.
• Soul Dew boosts Special Attack and Special Defense of Latios and Latias by 1.5x.
• Dark Void's accuracy is 80%, and it is not restricted to Darkrai.
• -ate abilities grant a 1.3x power boost, not 1.2x.
• Gale Wings grants +1 priority to all Flying-type attacks regardless of the user's HP.
• Base critical hit rate is 1/16 instead of 1/24.
• Normalize no longer boosts the power of affected moves.
• Mega Evolution does not increase the Pokemon's Speed nor activate its Ability on the turn of Mega Evolving.
• Destiny Bond does not fail with multiple uses

Click here for a comprehensive list of changes.

How To Play:
You can play ORAS AAA on PS! with the following code:
/chall [user], gen6ou@@@2 Ability Clause, !Obtainable Abilities, -Arena Trap, -Contrary, -Fur Coat, -Huge Power, -Illusion, -Imposter, -Parental Bond, -Protean, -Pure Power, -Simple, -Speed Boost, -Wonder Guard, -Archeops, -Bisharp, -Chatot, -Dragonite, -Keldeo, -Kyurem-black, -Mamoswine, -Regigigas, -Shedinja, -Slaking, -Smeargle, -Snorlax, -Suicune, -Terrakion, -Weavile, -Dynamic Punch, -Zap Cannon, +Aegislash, +Blaziken, +Deoxys-Defense, +Deoxys-Speed, +Genesect, +Greninja, +Landorus

Banlist

Banlist:
Things that are banned from Gen 6 OverUsed in addition to:

Abilities:
Arena Trap
Contrary
Fur Coat
Huge Power
Illusion
Imposter
Parental Bond
Protean
Pure Power
Simple
Speed Boost
Wonder Guard

Pokémon:
Archeops
Bisharp
Chatot
Dragonite
Keldeo
Kyurem-Black
Mamoswine
Regigigas
Shedinja
Slaking
Snorlax
Suicune
Terrakion
Weavile

Clauses:
OU Clauses
Ability Clause-teams are limited to 2 of the same ability, this includes "variants" such as Teravolt and Turboblaze.

Moves:
Dynamic Punch
Zap Cannon

Unbans:
Aegislash
Blaziken
Deoxys-Defense
Deoxys-Speed
Genesect
Greninja
Landorus-I

Viability Rankings

S Rank:

Skarmory - Gale Wings, Unaware, Intimidate, Flash Fire, Prankster

Tyranitar - Adaptability, Regenerator, Defiant

Manaphy - Poison Heal, Motor Drive, Regenerator, Sheer Force, Unaware, Volt Absorb

A Rank:
High A Rank

Braviary - Gale Wings, Poison Heal

Deoxys-S - Mold Breaker, Download, Sheer Force

Doublade - Regenerator, Flash Fire, Levitate

Entei - Refrigerate, Tinted Lens, Desolate Land

Heatran - Desolate Land, Chlorophyll, Magnet Pull, Levitate, Turboblaze

Honchkrow - Adaptability, Gale Wings

Latios - Adaptability, Tinted Lens

Lucario - Tough Claws, Refrigerate, Scrappy, Sheer Force, Adaptability

Mega Gyarados - Magic Bounce, Volt Absorb, Motor Drive -> Mold Breaker.

Thundurus - Sheer Force, Refrigerate, Magic Guard

Victini - Desolate Land, Tough Claws, Tinted Lens, No Guard, Sheer Force, Turboblaze

Volcanion - Tinted Lens, Adaptability, Motor Drive, Magnet Pull, Swift Swim

Zapdos - Intimidate, Unaware, Drizzle, Delta Stream, Magic Guard, Magic Bounce, Primordial Sea, No Guard

Mid A Rank

Alakazam - Sheer Force, Adaptability

Chansey - Magic Bounce, Unaware, Regenerator, Flash Fire

Diancie - Regenerator, Poison Heal

Genesect - Sheer Force, Refrigerate, Tough Claws, Regenerator

Gengar - Sheer Force, No Guard, Normalize

Heracross - Tough Claws

Kyurem - Adaptability, Refrigerate, Sheer Force, Tinted Lens

Mandibuzz - Poison Heal, Unaware, Volt Absorb, Delta Stream, Intimidate, Regenerator, Magic Guard

Mew - Unaware, No Guard, Prankster, Magic Bounce

Volcorona - Magic Guard, Desolate Land, Sheer Force

Low A Rank

Ferrothorn - Flash Fire, Primordial Sea, Regenerator, Prankster, Tough Claws, Bulletproof, Magic Bounce

Garchomp - Adaptability, Poison Heal, Magic Bounce

Greninja - Protean, Sheer Force

Hippowdon - Intimidate, Unaware, Poison Heal, Magic Bounce.

Jirachi - Regenerator, Tinted Lens, Sheer Force, Serene Grace

Krookodile - Bulletproof, Adaptability

Staraptor - Gale Wings, Tinted Lens, Guts

Zygarde - Poison Heal, Magic Bounce, Refrigerate

Meloetta - Regenerator

Mega Metagross - Defiant / Flash Fire -> Tough Claws

B Rank:
High B Rank

Azumarill - Poison Heal, Huge Power

Blastoise - Poison Heal

Goodra - Regenerator

Hydreigon - Mega Launcher, Sniper, Sheer Force, Tough Claws

Infernape - Magnet Pull, Sheer Force, Adaptability, Drought, Mold Breaker, Download

Landorus-T - Aerilate, Refrigerate, Regenerator, Adaptability, Mold Breaker, Flash Fire

Rotom-Wash - Swift Swim, Regenerator, Primordial Sea, Poison Heal, Magnet Pull

Swampert - Poison Heal, Regenerator, Sap Sipper

Tentacruel - Regenerator, Unaware

Vaporeon - Poison Heal

Mega Lopunny - Download -> Scrappy

Mega Swampert - Drizzle -> Swift Swim

Mega Tyranitar - Defiant, Magic Bounce, Prankster -> Sand Stream

Togekiss - Delta Stream, Magic Guard, Pixilate, Gale Wings

Mid B Rank

Azelf - Sheer Force, Download

Blaziken - Speed Boost, Tough Claws, Magic Guard

Breloom - Prankster, Technician

Chesnaught - Poison Heal, Tough Claws,Flash Fire, Unburden

Landorus-I - Sheer Force, Refrigerate

Mega Diancie - Download, Magic Bounce -> Magic Bounce

Deoxys-D - Mold Breaker, Prankster

Escavalier - Regenerator

Gliscor - Intimidate, Gale Wings, Unaware

Moltres - Magic Guard, Gale Wings, Primordial Sea, Desolate Land

Raikou - Teravolt, Adaptability, Magnet Pull, Regenerator

Sylveon - Regenerator, Poison Heal

Tyrantrum - Magic Guard, Tough Claws, Adaptability

Mega Charizard X - Drought, Magic Guard, Download, Magic Bounce, Multiscale -> Tough Claws

Low B Rank
Cresselia - Unaware, Poison Heal

Jellicent - Adaptability, Prankster, Poison Heal

Magnezone - Regenerator,Swift Swim,Primordial Sea

Pangoro - Tough Claws, Adaptability

Scizor - Flash Fire, Regenerator

Shuckle - Mold Breaker, Prankster

Sneasel - Refridgerate, Adaptability

Tornadus - Gale Wings, Sheer Force, No Guard, Drizzle / Primordial Sea, Tinted Lens

Zoroark - Illusion, Adaptability, Tough Claws, Sheer Force

Mega Slowbro - Volt Absorb, Intimidate, Unaware, Magic Bounce, Magnet Pull, Regenerator -> Shell Armor

C Rank:
High C Rank

Absol - Tough Claws, Adaptability

Aromatisse - Unaware,Poison Heal

Arcanine - Tough Claws, Refrigerate

Celebi - Unaware, Poison Heal

Crobat - Magic Guard

Excadrill - Adaptability, Flash Fire, Bulletproof, Refrigerate

Gastrodon - Thick Fat, Primordial Sea

Metagross - Regenerator

Porygon2 - Prankster

Rampardos - Magic Guard, Sand Rush, Tough Claws

Rhydon - Regenerator

Rhyperior - Adaptabiliity, Poison Heal

Shaymin - Tinted Lens, Poison Heal, Sheer Force

Shiftry - Adaptability

Starmie - Intimidate, No Guard, Primordial Sea, Sheer Force, Adaptability

Talonflame - Magic Guard

Mega Manectric - Magnet Pull / Intimidate -> Intimidate

Tornadus-T - Tinted Lens, Drizzle, Download, Sheer Force

Umbreon - Poison Heal

Virizion - Poison Heal

Mid C Rank

Chandelure - Desolate Land, Magic Guard, Adaptability, Sheer Force

Conkeldurr - Tough Claws

Darmanitan - Tough Claws, Unburden

Diggersby - Huge Power

Haxorus - Tough Claws, Tinted Lens

Omastar - Regenerator, Levitate, Swift Swim, Poison Heal

Rotom-Frost - Adaptability

Thundurus-T - Swift Swim, Sheer Force, No Guard

Mega Altaria - Magic Bounce / Multiscale / Intimidate -> Pixilate

Mega Blastoise - Drizzle / Magnet Pull / Lightning Rod-> Mega Launcher

Mega Gardevoir - Competitive, Download -> Pixilate

Mega Houndoom - Drought -> Solar Power.


Low C Rank

Crawdaunt - Adaptability, Swift Swim

Ditto - Imposter

Hoopa-C - Adaptability, Chlorophyll, Swift Swim, Tinted Lens

Klefki - Regenerator, Prankster

Sample Teams

Garchomp Balance by aesf
Deoxys-Speed Bulky Offense by xavgb
Refrigerate Zygarde Offense by aesf
Noivern Offense by aesf

Resources

Gen 6 AAA Discussion Thread
Gen 6 AAA Resource Thread

 

[dhelmise]

BW AAA ​

Important Mechanical Changes:.

• Fairy type does not exist.
• Steel resists Ghost and Dark.
• Terrains do not exist.
• Critical hit damage is 2x instead of 1.5x.
• Knock Off's base power is 20.
• Infiltrator and sound-based moves no longer go through Substitute.
• Weather summoned by Drought and similar abilities lasts indefinitely.
• The sleep counter resets if the sleeping Pokemon switches out.
• Defog does not remove hazards on the user's side.
• Some special moves like Draco Meteor, Hurricane, and Fire Blast have a slightly higher base power. Click here for a full list.
• Grass-types are no longer immune to powder moves.
• Electric Pokemon can be paralyzed.

Click here for the research thread. It's a bit less organized than more modern ones, so this RoA thread is also recommended.

How To Play:
You can play BW AAA on PS! with the following code:
/chall [user], gen5ou @@@ 2 Ability Clause, !Obtainable Abilities, -Arena Trap, -Contrary, -Huge Power, -Illusion, -Imposter, -No Guard, -Pure Power, -Simple, -Speed Boost, -Wonder Guard, -Archeops, -Bisharp, -Keldeo, -Kyurem-Black, -Mamoswine, -Regigigas, -Shedinja, -Slaking, -Snorlax, -Suicune, -Terrakion, +deoxys-defense, +deoxys-speed, +landorus-base

Banlist

Banlist:
Things that are banned from Gen 5 OverUsed in addition to:

Abilities:
Arena Trap
Contrary
Huge Power
Illusion
Imposter
No Guard
Pure Power
Simple
Speed Boost
Wonder Guard

Pokémon:
Archeops
Bisharp
Keldeo
Kyurem-Black
Mamoswine
Regigigas
Shedinja
Slaking
Snorlax
Suicune
Terrakion

Clauses:
OU Clauses
Ability Clause-teams are limited to 2 of the same ability, this includes "variants" such as Teravolt and Turboblaze.

Unbans:
Deoxys-Defense
Deoxys-Speed
Landorus-Incarnate

 

[dhelmise]

DPP AAA ​

Important Mechanical Changes:

• Team Preview does not exist.
• Magic Coat does not block hazards, Taunt, or Torment.
• The moves Explosion and Self-Destruct temporarily halves the opponent's Defense, effectively doubling their Base Power.
• Encore lasts for 3 to 7 turns.
• Sturdy does not have its Focus Sash effect and only works as an immunity to OHKO moves like Sheer Cold.
• Magic Guard makes a Pokemon unable to be fully paralyzed.
• Lightning Rod and Storm Drain don't grant immunities or raise Special Attack.
• Wish restores 50% of the recipient's HP, regardless of what the user's max HP is.
• All of Rotom's forms are Ghost/Electric-type.

Click here for more detailed information.

How To Play:
You can play DPP AAA on PS! with the following code:
/chall [user], gen4ou @@@ 2 Ability Clause, !Obtainable Abilities, -Arena Trap, -Chlorophyll, -Huge Power, -No Guard, -Poison Heal, -Pure Power, -Simple, -Speed Boost, -Swift Swim, -Wonder Guard, -Mamoswine, -Regigigas,-Slaking, +Deoxys-Defense, +Deoxys-Speed

Banlist

Banlist:
Things that are banned from Gen 4 OverUsed in addition to:

Abilities:
Arena Trap
Chlorophyll
Huge Power
No Guard
Poison Heal
Pure Power
Simple
Speed Boost
Swift Swim
Wonder Guard

Pokémon:
Mamoswine
Regigigas
Slaking

Clauses:
OU Clauses
Ability Clause-teams are limited to 2 of the same ability, this includes "variants" such as Teravolt and Turboblaze.

Unbans:
Deoxys-Defense
Deoxys-Speed

 

[dhelmise]

ADV AAA ​

Important Mechanical Changes:

• All Dark, Dragon, Electric, Fire, Grass, Ice, Psychic, and Water moves are special moves. All Bug, Fighting, Flying, Ghost, Ground, Normal, Poison, Rock, and Steel moves are physical moves.
• Sleep lasts for 1 to 6 turns. Sleep Talk will not always advance the sleep counter, as detailed here.
• When the faster Pokemon faints, the opposing Pokemon does not get to move.
• Taunt only lasts for 2 turns.
• Encore lasts for 2 to 6 turns.
• Counter and Mirror Coat treat Hidden Power as physical, regardless of type.
• When a Pokemon faints, it gets replaced before the next Pokemon moves. If all non-fainted Pokemon have already moved, then the fainted Pokemon gets replaced before the end of the turn.
• Thunder Wave does not activate Volt Absorb.
• Rough Skin damage is 1/16.
• Volt Absorb causes this Pokemon to be immune to damaging Electric-type moves and restores its health by 1/4 of its maximum HP, rounded down.
• Flash Fire still lets this Pokemon get hit by Fire-type moves if it is frozen, and Will-O-Wisp doesn't trigger this ability if this Pokemon is a Fire-type, has a major status condition, or is behind a substitute.

Click here for more detailed information.

How To Play:
You can play ADV AAA on PS! with the following code:
/chall [user], gen3ou @@@ 2 Ability Clause, !Obtainable Abilities, -Arena Trap, -Chlorophyll, -Huge Power, -Pure Power, -Speed Boost, -Swift Swim, -Wonder Guard, -Slaking, +Deoxys-Defense, +Deoxys-Speed

Banlist

Banlist:
Things that are banned from Gen 3 OverUsed in addition to:

Abilities:
Arena Trap
Chlorophyll
Huge Power
Pure Power
Speed Boost
Swift Swim
Wonder Guard

Pokémon:
Slaking

Clauses:
OU Clauses
Ability Clause-teams are limited to 2 of the same ability, this includes "variants" such as Teravolt and Turboblaze.

Unbans:
Deoxys-Defense
Deoxys-Speed

 

[Sectonia]

hello hello

there was a bw aaa tour in one of the RoA tour nights (thanks to Links for including it!), and I build a quick team to play in it. But afterwards, I had fun trying to build a second team to make up for the fact that the first team was semistall ._. The teams I made were p quick, and can very likely be improved, but I like the sight of them right now! I very much enjoyed making them.

Click me for the team!

So my thoughts after finishing this team is just how much easier it is to build any sort of rain team now. So many pokemon appreciate drizzle support, and so many are willing to be the one to set drizzle - skarmory was my choice here, but it could easily be any water type, scizor, ferrothorn, forretress, etc. Heck, you even have other niche options like Zapdos and the classic Mew, but you could also just go looking for offensive rain setters, like Thundurus-T, Starmie, and more. I think as a result, abilities that try to answer rain is definitely much more viable- water absorb, storm drain, other weathers, and more are definitely options to use. Latias and Garchomp are very nice to work together as PHeal breakers for this team, easily handling a lot of weather setters - Latias even takes full advantage by having Thunder easily available to use. Tentacruel has Dry Skin over Rain Dish for better recovery through rain, a water immunity, and because the fire damage doesn't matter when it resists it, and it's in rain. Jirachi is very cool as a regenerator pokemon, since it has the tools to use it effectively! (rip assault vest, though, my first set idea had to be hastily changed when i got told it didn't exist in gen 5 )


Click me for the team as well!

I had to make this team after I made semistall, to redeem myself for thinking of such a stally idea. That being said, it was MUCH harder to work with drought overall - most fire types do NOT like that rain is much easier to pull off, and most fire types dislike Stealth Rocks overall. That being said, Victini definitely loves the fact that drought exists, and how it doesn't necessarily have to run drought itself - In The Hills brought up the idea of Gliscor, Landorus-T, or Mew as drought setters, but I personally think Heatran is a very good option - neutrality to rocks, and strong utility outside of being a drought setter means it can do a lot in several match-ups. You may have noticed that there's an Excadrill with Water Absorb, and that's because i think offensive abilities for Excadrill aren't as good as they might be for later gens. Rain is also a potent threat to worry about, so an immunity to water attacks that was also coincidentally immune to electric options was very nice to have here. I think SpDef Excadrill is very cool, and will probably mess around more with ideas.


Now I think it's time to move onto the metagame observations I've made since building - I think two of the BW OU titans aren't as potent as they can be in BW AAA - Steel types are so much stronger here, with massive utility options to use, and even regenerator on top of those options - magnet pull is also much harder to pull off, imo. They're just very hard to fit into teams, especially with the prevalent problem of mag pull just not giving any offensive support other than removing steels - I think Magnet Pull is actually p bad. Rain is permanent, half of them could be running immunity abilities, and some of them could be pivoters or shed shell already. what the hell does magnet pull do here??? you could trap the occasional poor heatran / exca, i guess? Speaking of BW OU titans, though, I think Latios is just simply too much for BW AAA. It benefits very hugely from the chance to change abilities. Adaptability is hard to switch into already, and then we run into the trouble of Tinted Lens sets just running through those possible check ins. The only true switch in is Chansey, but even that gets tricked and loses eventually. I think, to ensure that BW AAA is competitive, Latios should be banned. Latias is a much healthier version of Latios, and doesn't hit as hard. We would still have someone that could just drop strong Dracos in the meta, but Latias is much easier to deal with, imo. Latios is just far too much.

 

[dhelmise]

I would like to form a community poll and discussion regarding how restricted abilities are handled in Gen 5-7 AAA. Currently, validation for those abilities is handled by disallowing them on non-native users, similar to how restrictions in Mix and Mega work. However, in Gen 8, it was decided to flat-out ban abilities.

Basically, what I'm proposing is to make all old gens AAA validate just like Gen 8 AAA; as far as I can tell, the only thing this changes is stuff like Protean Greninja and Imposter Ditto, though I could be wrong. I'd like to hear some people's thoughts on this though.

e: to clarify, this probably won't go into effect until after OM Classic.

 

[Isaiah]

I think making the bans uniform across all gens is a good idea. To me, having abilities flat out banned makes the most sense anyway because of how I like to think of the meta: AAA is independent from standards and as such doesn't need to worry about catering to "native users" to begin with; after all, the format is literally designed with the intent that from the start, every pokemon gets access to every ability [before bans], so it only stands to reason that if an ability is banned, no Pokemon can legally have it. The promise of native abilities isn't exactly one that's ever made and doesn't obstruct this change from going through. While there are and always will be the example of STABmons which allows both native learnsets and the extra STAB moves, I don't think it takes much explanation to arrive at the conclusion that a meta where Pokemon can only use STAB moves and nothing else would certainly be unpalatable, whereas in AAA's case the lack of restricted abilities makes for a unique meta where the teambuilding style and gameplay is completely different from what one would expect in more "standard" formats like OU.

I also think that the entire native ability thing opens a can of worms that [as a TL for Gen 8 AAA] I don't find very attractive, anyway. If we allow Pokemon to run native abilities, then that opens up a line of issues with banned Pokemon who may or may not be "balanced" with said abilities. Take Buzzwole for example. It was banned this gen because of several sets using abilities like Triage, Tinted Lens, and Magic Bounce, but in theory it could justifiably be freed if it only had access to Beast Boost. My issue with this is that it's not really unbanning Buzzwole so much as it is banning every ability on Buzzwole except for Beast Boost, and to me that's a bit of a stretch: if something is too broken when given access to "Almost Any Ability," then it shouldn't be allowed period—otherwise, the meta becomes less about giving all pokemon almost any ability and more about allowing some pokemon to run just one, or two, or three abilities. That being said, one could also argue that the basis of AAA could or should be changed so that Pokemon can have their "natural" learnsets, but that just begs the question of what exactly a "native user" even is. To me, OMs are meant to be independent and thought of as their own individual metas (and as such I resonate with a lot of the reasoning here). Thus, every pokemon in AAA already starts out with every ability as a "natural" ability. What this means is that when an ability is banned, it's removed from every native user—which in the context of AAA is every Pokemon anyway. Going by that understanding of how the meta works, I don't see room for restricting Pokemon to only have certain abilities. We would consider something like allowing specific Pokemon (e.g. Huge Power Shuckle) to run typically broken abilities as unnecessarily complex, so as far as I can see restricting Pokemon to abilities they get "normally" is complex, too. It just doesn't make any logical sense to me that in a meta literally called Almost Any Ability, would-be banned Pokemon could ever be allowed so long as they only use Barely Any Abilities—it just wouldn't be consistent with the theme of the meta and thus shouldn't exist.

 

[LBDC]

This seem really unnecessary and intrusive. Beside the fact that from a metagame perspective Ditto and Greninja are perfectly fine, I don't really agree with the reasoning behind a such change; it's very much fine to have some difference in our rules across the gens, and constancy is kinda a subjective notion anyway. I feel also to see how exactly allowing native abilities would allow banned Pokémon to be legal with their native abilities either: it isn't the case currently, as far I know no one has ever argued to make this change in SM/XY, and since native abilities doesn't exists in SS, this would be a very strange proposal, easy to reject. Finally, I'm worrying about other OM. With a similar reasoning (changing old rules to make them constant with CG rules), someone could justify to change MnM's Aggronite behaviour in XY/SM, and it's something that I'm sure the playerbase doesn't want.

Just leave it alone imo.

 

[The Number Man]

Now that the cup is done (grats andy!) can we please ban Noivern and PH in ORAS AAA?

1) Noivern has very limited switchins as is (basically jirachi, zapdos, diancie, av mana, av meloetta, av raikou), add rocks into the equation and only dia, rachi and av raikou (which is an unset anyway) switch into it. When you consider the fact that Noivern is often run with CB TTar to pursuit trap its counters and can provide uturn momentum to get TTar in, Noivern counterplay is now limited to solely Diancie.
2) PH exacerbates the role of bad MUs. Its basically the same thing as in gen8 except its even more unhealthy because burns are broken and ability manipulation has a much more limited distribution. Manaphy sits on anything besides Desoland or a Skill Swapper, even something like unaware Zap will eat a Scald and get burnt, then it will get Knocked and then it will die on the 4th switchin. There's also stuff like Pert, Zygarde, Florges etc. Just ban this ability and the meta will be healthier imo.
3) It's possible that banning PH will make MMeta even stronger than it already is. I found myself running Scarf Magpull Tran on half my teams, not because I wanted to break defensive cores but because offensive steel types are insane in this meta and this was the best way to not lose to them. If PH goes, MMeta loses its best check in PH Pert so it might become banworthy since imo its kinda borderline already.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I don't want to necropost in the Old Gens hub, so...

I noticed that there's a Gen 3 version of AAA, but what's actually good in it? There's no Magic Guard, no Technician, no Tough Claws, Sturdy only works against four moves... I'm not trying to be snide, I'm legitimately curious.

 

[Quantum Tesseract]

I don't want to necropost in the Old Gens hub, so...

I noticed that there's a Gen 3 version of AAA, but what's actually good in it? There's no Magic Guard, no Technician, no Tough Claws, Sturdy only works against four moves... I'm not trying to be snide, I'm legitimately curious.

There's immunity abilities, like Volt Absorb, Levitate, Flash Fire, Water Absorb, as well as other defensive options like natural cure, marvel scale, intimidate, thick fat, sheild dust, and immunity.
Offensively, you have serene grace, weather, guts, clear body, hustle, as well as any defensive ability used to help set up.

There's also contact abilities like static, poison point, flame body, and rough skin, although those are a bit weaker than you'd think because uturn is gen 4.

 

[drampa's grandpa]

It had been an age and a half since I played ORAS AAA, and then I played some recently.

It's broken as hell. Things we would laugh at allowing today are just running free there.

The tl;dr of things I call for in this post:
Ban Noivern
Ban Poison Heal
Discuss Gale Wings for a ban
Ban Magnet Pull

Ban Chatter free Chatot
Ban native users from using restricted abilities
Put Noivern on the VR if it doesn't get banned. High A maybe.

Noivern, which is better and MORE POWERFUL than in the current generation isn't even on the VR.


Noivern @ Choice Specs
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Switcheroo
- U-turn
- Flamethrower / Focus Blast

In Gen 6 Aerilate (along with all other -ate abilities) was a 1.3x damage boost instead of the lesser 1.2x boost we know today. Otherwise this is just a classic Noivern set, the same thing it ran when it was in Gen 8. It does way too much damage to every Pokemon in the meta not specifically designed to deal with it from too high a speed tier.

The legal, viable (according to the VR) Pokemon which can outspeed it without a boost are as follows.

Which is to say very limited.

252 SpA Choice Specs Aerilate Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 198-234 (51.5 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Aerilate Noivern Boomburst vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar: 182-214 (53.3 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Aerilate Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory: 242-285 (72.4 - 85.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Aerilate Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Manaphy: 175-207 (43.3 - 51.2%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Aerilate Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Meloetta: 147-174 (36.3 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

There are ways to play around it, but almost none of them are reliable. Blobs can switch in easily, but both fear Switcheroo and are very passive (reminder no pivoting this gen). Some Tyranitar can come in on Boomburst, but gets mauled by Focus Blast, chipped by U-Turn, and has to play a 50/50 between Pursuit and Stone Edge and if it guesses wrong, offensive sets get 2HKO'd by Boomburst. Soundproof anything can wall Boomburst but then you're using Soundproof and that sucks. Certain Regenvesters can tank Boomburst and do enough back (as I recall this is the main point of DIancie). But overall you're limited to very specific resists which are easily overwhelmed or abused.

I would also like to point out that other sets are very much possible

Stallbreaker

Noivern @ Sky Plate
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Taunt
- Roost
- Super Fang / Focus Blast

Choice Scarf

Noivern @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- U-turn
- Focus Blast
- Switcheroo

RestSnore

So relying on it being that one, best set isn't going to work.
What I'm basically saying is I agree with The Number Man. Ban Noivern.

Possible fallout:
Special walls have more flexibility and variety.
This insane Boombat isn't legal for whatever crazy reason.


Poison Heal is a toxic influence on the metagame. It not only effortlessly prevents progress against mons with it and slows the pace of games down to a crawl but it exacerbates setup sweeper showdowns the matchup issues they cause. Besides the omnipresent Tail Glow Manaphy (broken in its own right) bulky Poison Heal sweepers often find themselves the only possible check to other setup sweepers on the other team. It then becomes a matter of either waiting for RNG or sufficient coinflips to decide the matchup or the base matchup between the two Pokemon. This is, again, exacerbated by the frequency with which Poison Heal abusers run moves which other Poison Heal users are needed to tank, such as Scald, Knock Off, or Scald.

Poison Heal dominates the metagame, sets the pace, and is essentially mandatory on any team with any kind of defensive backbone. It is insanely centralizing. I am saying once again that I agree with TNM's post above. BAN Poison Heal.

Possible fallout:
Snorlax is primarily banned for its Poison Heal set and could be unbanned, giving the meta a new tank.
Suicune is also primarily banned for Poison Heal, and could likely be unbanned. What role it would play I'm not sure but I'm sure its bulk would let it do something.
Bulky setup sweepers lose out on the main tool that makes them so potent in this generation. Without Poison Heal, chip damage, status, and Knock Off are all significantly more threatening.
Many walls lose their preferred ability as well. While many will find others, like Regenerator, and appreciate the lack of unchippable sweepers, some may fall off completely.


How on earth is Magnet Pull still legal? I'm genuinely curious how this was ever thought to be healthy. I will be posting one set but the ability to slap a trapping ability on anything as a lure is incredibly overpowered.

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Trick

Kills or Tricks Ferrothorn, reliably beats Skarmory, leaves AV Jirachi seriously wounded as it U-Turns out. OHKOs Tran in Sun or DesoLand, but watch out for Scarf or Chlorophyll.
Might just be worse Heatran honestly, but that's not the point I'm driving at. Major threats, defensive or offensive, removed or crippled beyond hope at walling the threats they're supposed to, without being able to go to a team member that can wall them. And Magnet Pull is not necessarily obvious from team preview.

This ability is super uncompetitive as all trapping abilities are, and I'm beyond shocked it's still legal. Any counterargument to this cannot just be about how good it is, because the main issue is the inherently uncompetitive nature of trapping.

Possible fallout:
Without Magnet Pull Steel types universally become significantly safer to run.
Heatran can notably more safely run Choiced sets, and especially click Earth Power without fear of being trapped.
Anything that hates Steel types is going to be somewhat nerfed.

UT
Time for some more controversial stuff
Gale Wings is an excessively centralizing revenge killing and sweeping tool with too little counterplay and far too limiting an influence on the metagame.


Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Taunt

I'm not actually sure what the standard Skarmory set looks/looked like, but this is what I've been using.

I'm willing to agree this is a harder sell than the ones above because I don't think it's nearly as broken in the current meta... although compared to what was mentioned above that's not saying much. The meta has molded around Gale Wings, to the point where nearly every team uses it, and every single team keeps it very specifically in mind when building with it. Other priority has very little room in the metagame. It reminds me more of STABmons Tapu Bulu than anything, where if an offensive Pokemon was weak to Grass it could not be an effective sweeper while Bulu was in the metagame. The same has been made true here, where a Pokemons weakness, neutrality, or resistance to flying (or just sufficient / insufficient bulk) is an excessive part of what labels it viable or unviable. Part of this, especially for defensive Pokemon, is of course the existence of Noivern, but it would be a hard sell to say that's the entire or even main reason when Gale Wings Skarmory is possibly the best Pokemon in the metagame, with Braviary and Honchkrow also being top tier.

I cannot believe the degree to which Gale Wings has centralized the metagame to be healthy. It limits variance in sweepers. It restricts choice in revenge killers. Because of how potent and powerful it is, and the lack of counterplay in this generation (no real anti-priority exists) it allows for teamslot compression that is difficult to pass up.

My main qualm is removing such a key, meta-defining, and emblematic ability from a metagame two full generations later when it is not overwhelmingly broken to the point of making the meta unplayable is rather... hasty. I would say that this should either not be done or should be discussed over a long period of time. I am for it for now, but not for any hasty action, especially since I do believe the tiering actions I mentioned above should occur and they would change the metagame.

Possible fallout:
Volcarona is good with Gale Wings in the meta. It may be broken if its main offensive checks are lost, especially if Noivern also goes.
Chatot can be unbanned. It may even have a niche with Aerilate, presuming Noivern gets banned.
In general non-flying set-up sweepers have both less competition and a less potent revenge killer. Some may be too much.


Some nitpicks about the banlist that I don't care about that much:
Chatot seems to be banned from Gale Wings Chatter. I feel like Chatter should be banned because it is uncompetitive, rather than the Pokemon. If we ban Gale Wings Chatot can be freed with no conditions attached.
It goes against our current tiering policy to allow Pokemon to use their restricted native abilities such as Huge Power Azumarill. But it is allowed here for some reason.
Even if nothing else gets done put Noivern on the damn VR My gut says high A, but that's not well thought out. Unless it's banned of course.