CAP 26 - Part 4 - Primary Ability Discussion

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Quanyails

On sabbatical!
is a Top Artist Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Please pay very close attention to Jordy's posts during this thread and remain on topic. DO NOT begin by posting massive lists of abilities!

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.
  • Flavor abilities do not have any place in this thread. Do not bring up flavor reasoning. Posts that rely on flavor reasoning will be deleted.
The following abilities are banned from this discussion:
Air Lock
Arena Trap
Aura Break
Bad Dreams
Battle Bond
Color Change
Dark Aura
Defeatist
Delta Stream
Desolate Land
Disguise
Fairy Aura
Flower Gift
Forecast
Full Metal Body
Fur Coat
Huge Power
Illusion
Imposter
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
Truant
Turboblaze
Victory Star
Water Bubble
Wonder Guard
Zen Mode

Battery
Big Pecks
Friend Guard
Healer
Honey Gather
Illuminate
Pickup
Power of Alchemy
Receiver
Run Away
Symbiosis
Telepathy


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CAP 26 so far:

Concept:

Name - The Future is Bright!

Description - A Pokemon that makes usage of the 'delayed-attack' moves - Future Sight and/or Doom Desire

Justification - Given we're attempting to create a Pokemon that uses one of two specific moves, this is an Actualisation concept. Future Sight and Doom Desire are incredibly unique moves, which see limited usage in spite of their high base power, and ability to have a target Pokemon struck twice in the same turn. In using CAP26, the aim is to create a Pokemon that inspires a feeling of being able to trap opponents, to establish win-win situations.

Questions To Be Answered -
  • One Pokemon which has been seen to fairly reliably use Future Sight is Slowking. What can we learn from Slowking about what makes a viable user of Future Sight? On the same token, what has led Jirachi to not be effective at using Doom Desire, and other Pokemon to not effectively use Future Sight?
  • What is the optimum usage of Future Sight/Doom Desire, both on the turn immediately after using the move, and the turn on which the move will land?
  • Should the user of Future Sight/Doom Desire be primarily helping itself, or other teammates. If helping itself, what is the aim? If helping teammates, then what types of teammate?
  • Are Z-Future Sight and Z-Doom Desire mandatory, or just useful tools?
Explantion - Doom Desire is almost one we've done before, as people from the era of Cawmodore probably remember. Whilst little has changed since then, we have seen Future Sight get another power level increase since then.

This isn't a case of using a move which we know can't be used - we can look to Slowking (Future Sight) or Dialga (Balanced Hackmons, Doom Desire) for inspiration on what makes these moves workable. At the same time, we know that they're not automatic locks in spite of their high base power, allowing us room to explore what makes these moves often fall flat.

The beauty of Future Sight and Doom Desire as concept leads is that they don't massively restrict our ability to choose a direction right from the gate - focussing on these moves for their ability to strike twice in a single turn likely produces a Pokemon that is very different from focussing on these moves for their ability to force specific Pokemon out for a teammate to switch in. Whether we create a Pokemon that breaks walls, or pivots around, or supports a very specific partner, or something else entirely, these moves make for a concept that should be both interesting to implement, and with many avenues to explore.
Topic Leader: SHSP

Topic Leadership Team:

Typing Leader: GMars
Ability Leader: Jordy
Stats Leader: Jho
Movepool Leader: G-Luke

Typing: Steel/Ground

Threats:
Switch Ins: Mega Crucibelle, Clefable, Tapu Koko, Most Tornadus-T, Magearna lacking Focus Blast

Counters: Celesteela, Rotom-Wash, Arghonaut, Chansey

Checks: Mega Latias and Latios, Ash Greninja, Volkraken, Mega Charizard X and Y, AV Tyranitar, Landorus-T, Ferrothorn
 
With checks and counters out of the way, we now move onto abilities! In Discord, there has already been a bunch of discussion regarding abilities and many people have already thought about and discussed what they want to see. As we saw in threats assessment, CAP 26’s typing has left it weaker defensively to quite a few Pokemon that it really wants to check. With this stage I’d really like to patch up some of these holes. Considering that CAP 26 will greatly rely on its ability to act as a pivot, here is my first question for you all:

1) What abilities encourage CAP 26 to pivot? Why do they do that?

As a side note, I have decided to ban discussion on Regenerator for the time being. I've seen this ability get thrown out a bunch, and for good reason, frankly, it's the simplest decision for a pivot. However, because of this, I believe that allowing discussion on it for now would end up being toxic to the overall discussion because there is not a lot to explore with Regenerator; it's a very simple ability with a clear purpose, it'd basically just be people going around in circles saying: "Regenerator is great."
 
1) The next most obvious pivot ability is Natural Cute as a defensive ability that activates on switches out. However, our typing makes it less helpful than it normally is.

After that, we have abilities that activate on switch in. The most appropriate of these is Intimidate, as it is defensive and does not provide an advantage that is lost by switching out.

The other is Download, though it lacks the advantages mentioned for intimidate.

Magic Guard has similar advantages to intimidate, despite technically lasting longer than switch in.

Next are abilities that eliminate a weakness, or at least improve the ability to tank a hit. They allow a pivot to enter the field more easily. Of these, the most obvious is Levitate, as it grants immunity to a commonly spammed weakness and most entry hazards (which pivots hate).

Bulletproof has also been mentioned in the Discord as it grants immunity to problem moves and helps against the matchups we would really like to do better against.

The next best is Water Absorb, as it provides both immunity to a weakness and healing to pivot more often.

Thick Fat is also good for reducing a commonly spammed weakness to a neutrality, giving us a much better match up against certain Pokémon we would like to do better against, and provides a resistance to another commonly spammed attack.

Storm Drain has similar advantages, though the boost is unfortunately lost on switch out. Flash Fire is similar, and while more relevant to Mon we wish to do better against, the boost is far less helpful for our goals.
 

LucarioOfLegends

Master Procraster
is a CAP Contributor
Ability Stage Baybee!

1) What abilities encourage CAP 26 to pivot? Why do they do that?
Aside from the one-that-shant-be-named, there are a few interesting options for abilities that support the overall role of pivoting.

Bulletproof: Automatic standout and personal favorite. While it only effects a small number of Pokemon, removing Focus Blast from the equation for Tapu Lele, Magearna, Aurumoth (not like it matters for this one but eh), Tornadus-T, Mega Alakazam, and Jumbao, these Pokemon are very relevent threats that otherwise make it much more difficult for us to reliably set up a DD in their faces. Removing these threats will give CAP far more oppurtunity to do so. It also removes a lot of bad pressure matchups and makes us much more reliable checks to some of them.

Levitate: Similar in approach to the above, but with more generalized elimination of Ground-type moves in general. Its something that works great as it eliminates a very common form of coverage, making it much easier to setup on and eliminate them. I personally think that the scope of this is too large and while the Threats List does need to be trimmed down I think that it would eliminate too many good checks. But hey, opinions.

Magic Guard: This is one of the more interesting ones. It doesn't really help against status, but its main utility is to avoid possible hazard damage that may inflict CAP26. Most important of these is Spikes, aka the only hazard we aren't super resistant/immune to, meaning that CAP doesn't have to worry about Spikes damage wearing it down. I would say that it also helps with setting up DD against Spikes setter, but the most prominent ones actually check us :/. Its not the most amazing ability choice, but I would still consider it a viable option.

Intimidate: This one could be fun. It helps out against some physical attackers that threaten CAP, most likely helping edge out certain pressure matchups and probably forcing more switches in the case, helping us set up DD and so forth. Also has great synergy with teammates, as CAP can pivot out and help get teammates in against a weaker foe. I don't think its as strong as all the above, but still an interesting route to go with some good benefits from it.

And before I would go any further, I would like to say that Flash Fire is useless. Every Fire-type Pokemon in the metagame (with the exception of Volcarona and the niche Victini) has some form of coverage to get past the boundary of not being able to use fire coverage: Heatran has Earth Power, Volkraken has Water STAB, and Smokomodo has Ground STAB. And those who use Fire Coverage usually have other coverage that is able to successfully hit us super-effectively regardless (Jumbao has STAB and Focus Blast). Its a personal judgement, but the practical effects of Flash Fire cover too small of a pool to actually address the issues that CAP currently has about being a good DD pivot.
 

sister

Banned deucer.
How about Wimp Out/Emergency Exit?

Generally regarded as a bad ability for most Pokemon, but there is potential for interesting pivoting strategies with it. Wimpod in LC likes to throw done Spikes then immediately get momentum from Wimp Out. A fun strategy even if it's a little gimmicky. If this CAPmon's goal is to get in, utilize a delayed-attack move and then get out, then you can't get much more straightforward than Emergency Exit.
 
Best abilities for CAP 26 imo:

1. Magic Guard- Very simple reasoning here. CAP 26 wants to pivot to set up DDs, and more than once would be nice. Ducking all hazard damage on switch in is massively helpful to that.

2. Bulletproof- As has been stated, this ability is great for CAP 26 and its matchups against Psychic types like Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele that love Focus Blast. And added bonus, it’d certainly be explorative to have a Pokemon that actually benefits a lot from Bulletproof for once.

3. Intimidate- Intimidate is self explanatory as a pivoting ability. Come in on a physical attackers like Kitsunoh, Kartana, or Mega Crucibelle, DD on their switch out, and pivot right back out for later use. This one’s lower than Bulletproof because frankly it doesn’t help as much against the things CAP 26 wants to deal with like the prevalent Psychic types.

4. Levitate- Levitate in my eyes is like a watered down Magic Guard on this Pokemon. Still avoid spikes damage, but susceptible to other indirect forms of harm, no matter how resisted they may be. However this also gives an immunity to a very common weakness that CAP 26 has, so it definitely warrants consideration.

5. Water Absorb- I like this idea, but it’s definitely the weakest of the relevant suggestions. Eliminates a weakness, can give nice healing on a correct predicted switch in, etc. But the CAP focused on Doom Desire does not need to take Water types. It’s meant to pivot and set up DD attacks, and this is the least helpful directly. More of an honorable mention.

These five abilities are what best suit CAP 26 and help it with its given purpose.
 
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I think Water Absorb mess with our C&C list. Specifically Rotom-W (how could it counter us if Rotom can't damage us at all?) and Ash Greninja. I don't think we need a Water immunity Ability.

Regarding Bulletproof, the problem is that Focus Blast can be enhanced with ZCristal. We are still susceptible to get wrecked by an AoP.

dragoon244 has touched what I think is the difference between Magic guard and Levitate. Since hail is not relevant at all, Magic guard protects us from Life Orb recoil, Burn damage and Spikes (Stealth Rock damage is minimal due to our typing), while Levitate grants us a Ground immunity (and therefore, a Spikes immunity) The question is: Is Burn status something we should be really aware of? I mean, the only way we will get burned is via Will-O-Wisp, since the damaging moves that burn us are SE, so we won't be switching into them. My first thought is that Levitate outclasses Magic Guard.
 
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1) What abilities encourage CAP 26 to pivot? Why do they do that?

Bulletproof would be interesting. Immunity to Focus blast and other Ball/bomb moves could be fun. However, i feel as though we should be wary of this ability as it removes any check and counters that rely on said moves.

Intimidate would be a good choice i feel, as it allows us to pivot in on a bunch of physical threats. Seeing as most of our checks/counters are special attackers, intimidate would only allow us to check switch into more physical mons.

Tangling Hair could be a interesting alternative to intimidate, allowing us to switch into Physical attacks and slow them down, potentially crippling them

Filter/Solid rock both are pretty self explanatory as a pivot abilty
 
1) What abilities encourage CAP 26 to pivot? Why do they do that?

Bulletproof would be interesting. Immunity to Focus blast and other Ball/bomb moves could be fun. However, i feel as though we should be wary of this ability as it removes any check and counters that rely on said moves.
Which checks and counters would rely on that move though? All the ‘mons on that list seem to have other ways of threatening CAP26. Meanwhile being immune to Focus Blast would help a ton with the Lele and Mega Zam matchups.
 
1) What abilities encourage CAP 26 to pivot? Why do they do that?

Fluffy: this has the potential to be very powerful for 26. Halved contact damage is an amazing perk for a pivot, allowing it to bulk through moves it otherwise couldn't; it essentially will make super effective contact moves no longer super effective. However, a huge downside is the double fire damage. This leaves it wide open to mons like the mega charizards and volkraken.

Magic Bounce: While not directly contributing to setting DD, it's still a great ability for a pivot to have. Switching in on hazards, will-o-wisp, taunts, and more can really make it easier to find an opportunity to pivot in. Sadly, it doesn't do much once it's in battle. It's left a bit open defensively, but I think more opportunities to switch in could make up for it.

Steelworker: Most of the abilities suggested have been defensive, and for good reason. However, I think steelworker is steel worth considering. A boosted DD has the potential to do absurd damage, since steelworker boosts steel moves by 50%. It might have trouble defensively, but steelworker is too powerful to overlook it entirely.

Edit: removed water compaction because I was wrong about some of its effects
 
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Pyritie

TAMAGO
is an Artist
Water Compaction: Water absorb and storm drain have already been suggested, but I think water compaction holds some potential as well. Firstly, water immunity is an obvious plus, since it negates a would-be weakness.
Water compaction does not give immunity.
 
And before I would go any further, I would like to say that Flash Fire is useless. Every Fire-type Pokemon in the metagame (with the exception of Volcarona and the niche Victini) has some form of coverage to get past the boundary of not being able to use fire coverage: Heatran has Earth Power, Volkraken has Water STAB, and Smokomodo has Ground STAB. And those who use Fire Coverage usually have other coverage that is able to successfully hit us super-effectively regardless (Jumbao has STAB and Focus Blast). Its a personal judgement, but the practical effects of Flash Fire cover too small of a pool to actually address the issues that CAP currently has about being a good DD pivot.
I find this statement more than a bit flawed.

Volcarona is a solid threat in the metagame and a relevant special attacker to check/counter, especially presuming that CAP will have some phasing capabilities. With a fire immunity, CAP 26 would wall all common variants of Volcarona thanks to its resistance to Bug and Psychic attacks and its lack of Heatran's crippling x4 weakness to HP Ground. In fact, a Steel-type that could also serve as a Volcarona check would offer marvelous role compression to nearly any CAP team.

Victini is rare but it is definitely viable, and V-Create switch-ins are always valuable on a team.

Heatran likes to spam Magma Storm and Lava Plume for more than just damage. These moves provide important utility for defensive and support variants of Heatran, trapping enemies for toxic-stalling and crippling switch-ins with burns. Earth Power is a weaker and much less spammable attack with virtually no utility that many common Pokemon are immune to, making it a very poor mid-ground play during early game prediction. Also, considering a non-STAB Earth Power with 2x effectiveness vs a STAB Earth Power with 4x effectiveness is not exactly an even matchup, the pressure relationship between Heatran and a Flash Fire CAP 26 would tilt heavily in favor of the CAP, making it a solid check to the Heatran (reasonably assuming CAP will have the bulk to not be OHKOd by Earth Power).

Volkraken is usually choice-locked, and the pressure that a fire immunity puts on its prediction game is not irrelevant. Choice Scarf Volkraken is especially annoyed by Flash Fire, for as long as CAP 26 is alive Volkraken could not hope to sweep with one of its two primary STABs.

Jumbao that run Flame Burst do not run Focus Blast, although a super-effective Flame Burst in the sun is going to hit us only a bit harder than a neutral Solar Beam would anyway (210 power vs 180 power). When it comes to non-Fire-types, a fire immunity would actually be more relevant against Zapdos and Cyclohm, enabling us to wall even offensive variants of the two.

Flash Fire would add quite a bit of defensive value against common Fire-types and should not be dismissed as an option.
 
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Zetalz

Expect nothing, deliver less
is a Pre-Contributor
1) What abilities encourage CAP 26 to pivot? Why do they do that?

Bulletproof: I don't want to super regurge what others have stated on this ability's positives, Psychic-type match up aswell as others like Mage are big boons to this mon's ability to switch in. What I do want to address however are the concerns on this ability's downsides. One of the largest concerns of course is that although it provides the excellent immunity to Focus Blast, it doesn't let us deal with AoP any better. I feel this issue is a bit exaggerated, Z moves are only usable one per game and are capable of being baited and played around. Lele and Z-fight Mage can't use their AoP on every mon they want to per match. I'd also like to make the bold claim that Filter/Solid rock are strictly inferior to Bulletproof. A minor reduction in SE damage from Focus Blast hardly helps us switch in to the match up we'd like to beat. For reference, here are some calc's utilizing Heatran's stat spread as a vague guideline

252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 234-276 (60.6 - 71.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Tapu Lele Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 186-220 (48.1 - 56.9%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 205-243 (53.1 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Tapu Lele All-Out Pummeling (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 324-382 (83.9 - 98.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Magearna Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 186-220 (48.1 - 56.9%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Magearna All-Out Pummeling (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 297-349 (76.9 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Tornadus-Therian Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 166-196 (43 - 50.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Tornadus-Therian All-Out Pummeling (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Heatran: 262-310 (67.8 - 80.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

These are only a few I could think of but we still take very hefty chunks even from unboosted damage. AoP still destroys us only after a little chip in most cases so they don't address that concern either. Filter/Solid Rock try to fulfill the same kind of role we want from Bulletproof, but I feel they simply can't alleviate as much pressure from us as Bulletproof can.


With that rant over, I also support Magic Guard/Levitate. I group these together personally as I feel they fulfill the same primary function of reducing hazard chip but offer helpful differences. I find myself more drawn to Levitate personally, our type isn't super discouraged by status which Magic Guard would help with and the ground immunity is quite attractive.
 
I want to talk about Trace.

Trace let's us do a few things that combines some of the ideas above. First, it let's us pivot in and out of Heatran thanks to tracing Flash Fire. This prevents Magma Storm from hugely damaging us and trapping us, allowing us to more freely pivot. Second, it prevents M-Alakazam from coming in and tracing our ability, potentially using it against us, further deterring M-Alakazam from switching in to us, and allowing us to more freely pivot out of it, not having given it a powerful ability. Third, it let's us trace Tornadus-T's Regenerator without having to carry it ourself, letting us pivot out of T-T if we need to and regaining some health. Fourth, copying MegaCrucibelle's and Clefable's Magic Guard could prove beneficial against either of these mons or whatever they switch out to. We could feasibly combo that with Life Orb to boost our own power without repercussion. Finally, copying Magearna's Soul Heart puts a ton of pressure on the opponent, forcing them to choose a way to eliminate CAP26 without letting it get a KO and boosting itself, giving CAP26 a chance to set up DD and pivot out of whatever comes in.

I know we just had Trace on Jumbao, but I think it's an awesome ability for our CAP26 pivot. The only problem it doesn't solve for our checks is handling Focus Blast, but being able to switch in and out of Heatran is a huge boon, and we don't have to waste an ability on Flash Fire itself.

Lando-T still destroys us even with an Intimidate cutting its attack, and gaining Levitate from Rotom-W/Lati@s isn't as beneficial since CAP26 is designed to pivot and will likely be switching out against these foes anyways. No other ability of an opponent on our checks/counters list is messed up through receiving their ability through Trace.
 
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Just now jumping into the CAP26 discussion, but I’ve read all the background materials.

So, pivoting abilities!

Bulletproof sounds pretty solid, as it lets CAP switch in to all number of Psychic types who rely on Focus Blast to hit steels, as well as allowing switch ins for Shadow Ball.

Magic Guard would also be good on a pivot, not just by eliminating SR/Spikes damage, but also allowing CAP to absorb burns for its physical attacking teammates, and utilize Life Orb recoil free, giving its special attacking stat some wiggle room. Or, it could even run a Focus Sash reliably, making it impossible to OHKO. One thing that does need to be considered about Magic Guard however, Leech Seed no longer affects it, meaning it does tamper with Celesteela and Ferrothorn as checks, to some degree. This does make MG a bit less desirable than Levitate, as least in my mind. Food for thought.

Edit: Dogfish pointed out Life Orb does not affect Doom Desire’s damage output. The Leech seed aspect was already offputting, but I’m no long supporting Magic Guard. Levitate is my preferred if we want to avoid Spikes damage.

Levitate I could really get behind, as a Steel with a ground immunity has lovely defensive switch in utility, especially for the ubiquitous Landorus, while also still giving us the blessed Spikes immunity. The SR damage isn’t an issue as we 4x resist Rock anyway. Also, unlike giving CAP a water or fire immunity, those types resist Steel, so setting up a Doom Desire in their face isn’t going to happen. Alternatively Ground does not resist Steel, making Levitate the ideal immunity ability.

Natural Cure I find really lame and bland, since we are already immune to Toxic and Thunder Wave, and are a special attacking pivot, burns aren’t so much and issue either. Ultimately, status is already a non-issue for this mon, and Natural Cure is a waste as a result.

I’m against water and fire immunity abilities. Water resists Doom Desire and forces out CAP26, and I think water types should be maintained as a counterplay. Regarding Fire types, I think we should reward players daring enough to switch in their Heatran or Smokomodo on a Doom Desire, in the event they manage to predict right.

Solid Rock/Filter are just lazy to me, making our checks STABs less effective at checking us, and doing little to benefit Doom Desire. Definitely a no for me.
 
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I'd like to state some of the barriers to pivoting we currently have, and what abilities can help to temper those.

The first barrier is chip damage. It's important for a pivot to be able to stay healthy over the course of a game and not succumb to hazards and incidental damage. Unlike other types of pokemon, recovery moves aren't that helpful here, especially given Doom Desire; they're a momentum sink.

The second barrier is our pressures list - and to a lesser extent, checks and counters. The conclusion of that stage of discussion - which was based primarily on type - was essentially that steel/ground is pressured by too many good pokemon to adequately set up our checkmate scenarios. For this typing to work as a Doom Desire pivot, we have to fix it.

Outside of the ability which shall not be named, here's some abilities that help us overcome one or both of these obstacles, starting with the most effective and ending with the least.

Levitate - This ability gives us spikes immunity, which is huge. It also pares down our pressures list by a considerable margin - and although there are more important pokemon to beat than those that use ground type pressure us, it also negates a few of our offensive checks and counters, such as Garchomp - another list which is rather too high for my liking.

Bulletproof - This ability would essentially negate a single move; focus blast. But that immunity is a MASSIVE deal. While it's true that Lele could still situationally beat us via fightinium Z and this ability does not negate chip damage, I feel that the upsides far outweigh the down. Lele and megazam are hugely relevant pokemon in the current meta, and being able to come in and force them out reliably would be massive.

Grassy Surge - This ability is more cute here than it is good. It removes two semi-relevant pressures from our inflated list (excadrill and ttar, namely), it provides some incidental lifegain to help with chip damage (double leftovers isn't two shabby) and encourages building a team that wants CAP 26 to switch out frequently, so as to keep grassy terrain up. If we went with this option, building CAP 26 to support powerful users of grass type moves would be a compelling option.

Water Absorb - This ability has the same upsides as Grassy Surge, but a little sparser. It's situational regen, and deals with one-and-a-half pressures (ie, deals with naviathan and gives us counterplay options to volkraken). It doesn't encourage pivoting quite as well as any of the other three options here, but it does patch a few holes in the mon. Somewhat. The biggest issue here is removing rotom-w as a counter - it's a solid defensive counter to us atm, which is what we want.
 
How about Wimp Out/Emergency Exit?

Generally regarded as a bad ability for most Pokemon, but there is potential for interesting pivoting strategies with it. Wimpod in LC likes to throw done Spikes then immediately get momentum from Wimp Out. A fun strategy even if it's a little gimmicky. If this CAPmon's goal is to get in, utilize a delayed-attack move and then get out, then you can't get much more straightforward than Emergency Exit.
Emergency exit is a really bad ability in general so we shouldn't give it this ability, the thing why Wimpod utilize it is because it is not weak to common coverage such as Focus Blast, Fire Blast, Ground-type moves, where our Steel/Ground cap is. Also wimpod have a high speed stat and our Cap might not have that or rather outspeed things like lando-T or Tapu Lele. Our opponents controlling our pivot isn't the pivot we need
 

Dogfish44

You can call me Jiggly
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributor
Moderator
Quick thoughts!

Magic Guard and Steelworker are both bad for the concept/approach in my opinion.

Magic Guard as an ability really encourages Life Orb. This is bad for us, as Doom Desire does not benefit from the boost of Life Orb, and as such I think this actively pushes us away from using Doom Desire. Yes it's a good pivot ability, but it's conceptually *meh*. If we want an immunity to our primary source of hazard damage, then I prefer Levitate as the choice for that.

Steelworker gets to encounter mechanics issues that prevent it working as a pivot. Steelworker will only effect Doom Desire if CAP26 is still in when DD hits, which disincentivises switching (very *bleh*, and makes checkmate scenarios less likely). I have similar concerns with other abilities such as Storm Drain - but those abilities at very least do increase the pressure we apply to an opponent, increasing the number of opportunities to DD and checkmate we have.

Beyond just being negative about certain abilities in this post, I think that Bulletproof is standing out so far as a good option. Not only is it very good conceptually, to give us opportunities to use Doom Desire, it also functions well within the context of the current metagame.
 
In my mind, Pivoting is inherently a momentum sink - you are giving up a turn without gaining any forward momentum. People switch anyways because losing a 'mon or wasting a ton of health for minimal gains in a bad match-up is even worse, but any time you click "switch" you are losing out on a turn of forward progress in the hopes of later progress. CAP 26 will be doubling down on this momentum sink by (hopefully) actualizing Doom Desire, another enormous momentum sink. It is theoretically possible to take three turns with CAP 26 (switch in, set DD, switch out) without having *technically* accomplished anything.

So, what takes the sting out of this enormous momentum sacrifice? Broadly speaking, successful pivots do so in one of two ways - the ability to "accomplish something" on a switch in or out or a broad spectrum of immunities and resistances, which effectively allow us to null the momentum loss by baiting opponents into also effectively "passing a turn" by blocking their moves. As far as I can tell, there is only one Pivot in the metagame currently who does not have access to one or both of these things (Zapdos pivots purely on the power of its typing and stats), and given the concept of CAP 26 I think it is absolutely crucial that our ability offer one of those two things in an extremely powerful way.

Category 1: "Doing Something" On Switch
Jordy has wisely forbidden discussion of the huge obvious button here that defines several notable pivots in the metgame such as Tornadus-T, Tangrowth, Amoongus, and the Slows. Several of the other tools for this are actually in movepool, not abilities, and thus don't need to be discussed just yet. I wanted to glance on a few other abilities that are notable in this arena, in rough order of how "Good" I think they may be at remedying CAP 26's weaknesses and pressure list. Spoiler warning - most of these options outside of the big obvious one are quite poor imo.

  • Intimidate: Most of our focus has been on CAP 26 as a pivot into special-attackers; 4 of our 5 switch-in opportunities are special attackers and the vast majority (28/38 by my quick counting) of the top-ranked 'mons in the meta are capable of and typically attack on the Special axis. Of the 10 'mons who are more commonly physical, several of them are on our C&C list and several more hit so hard with their STABs which we are weak too that Intimidate is unlikely to save us or give us any switch-in opportunities. Still, it's hard to deny that this is a powerful, successful ability. While it doesn't hit a lot of our most pressing threats, it would improve our match-up versus Caribolt, Weavile, Tyranitar, M-Pinsir, M-Mawile and Ferrothorn. I consider this to be net positive, but not the strongest ability we could give CAP 26.

  • Trace: Is the pivoting "claim to fame" of CAP's very own Jumbao. It's hard for me to wrap my head around what exactly this does for us; mostly it's very interesting in our Heatran match-up (which is I believe the reason Jumbao got it as well). I overall think it is a bad choice for CAP 26 and that if we want to improve our Heatran match-up we should pull the trigger on something with a little more firepower

  • Terrain and Weather Setting Abilities (Drought, Snow Warning, Grassy Surge, etc): I mention these out of a sense of completeness, and because technically one could argue we have a few pivots who utilize these such as some of the Tapus and Jumbao. Grassy Terrain in particular has been mentioned as a way to give CAP 26 some passive recovery and to neutralize its Earthquake (and Bulldoze in the case of some Smokomodo) weakness. The issue with that is that most of the Ground attacks that we're really worried about are actually Earth Power, and most utilizers of Earthquake carry a secondary attack either as their STAB (Smokomodo, Arghonaught, the 'Zards) or as an option they can adapt into (Tyranitar runs Fire coverage or extremely powerful Dark STAB; The Latis can run other coverage, etc). Even Garchomp is likely still 2HKOing us instead of straight-up OHKOing us which isn't great. The only matchups Grassy Surge would noticeably swing on our C&C or pressure list are Excadrill and Landorus-T, which feels like too small a gain to make a huge exception to our normal processes and practices.

  • Competitive: I thought this was intriguing as well since we're supposed to matchup well against the games premier Defogger, but in truth I think it's bad. Because the boost only affects Doom Desire if we stay in, it does the opposite of encouraging us to Pivot.

  • Gooey/Tangling Hair: This is intriguing and under-explored, but sadly a lot of our pressures and checks blow us straight to hell without ever making contact - Volkraken, Landorus-T, anything with Focus Blast. Some of them are also not really counter-pressured if we drop their speed unless we heavily invest in speed. I think these are poor choices.

  • Natural Cure: Because we are immune to Poison and Thunder Wave, this ability isn't that exciting for us. It does help us laugh off burns and abuse Rest, but that's a very small gain given that we take a boatload from water and fire STAB attacks and we're already a momentum sink. While this is an interesting and underexplored ability, it seems like a bad choice for CAP 26.

Category 2: Switching in "For Free":
This category seems MUUUUUCHH more powerful and intriguing to me. Again I'll go in rough order of how powerful and useful these things seem to be.

Amazing Abilities:

  • Bulletproof: This ability is a clear frontrunner to me. While the things it stops are quite narrow, they are also quite powerful and crucial in the metagame. It helps us more reliably switch into Tornadus-T and Magearna, two 'mons we'd LOVE to be reliable switch-ins too. It also allows us to wall standard M-Alakazam (as it hilariously also blocks his Shadow Ball to prevent neutral damage) and Tapu Lele. If we weight pressure matchups based on VR scores, Bulletproof probably swings the greatest number of those matchups. The one thing holding it back is that it doesn't stop All-out Pummeling (and Torn-T and Tapu Lele quite commonly run Fightinium-Z), meaning we'll need to bait those attacks. But it's still very very good.

  • Levitate: I originally scoffed at this, but Levitate has a lot of pros. Everything we want to do with Grassy Surge, Levitate does better since it ALSO blocks Earth Power from Diancie, SpA Syclant, Fidgit, Heatran, and ourselves. It additionally blocks Spikes damage, making us very resistant to hazards which is a huge deal for a pivot. Those 'mons are less omnipresent that those with Focus Blast, but this is still very good.
Fine Abilities:

  • Flash Fire: While this is reasonable versus a few 'mons, it is a definite step down from the first two abilities because as noted, almost every 'mon that pressures us with Fire has an alternative STAB or coverage move that is also quite threatening to CAP 26. As far as I can see, only Victini and Volcarona are incapapable of running a move that threatens us as far as fire-based threats go. Volkraken and Smokomdo carry equally deadly secondary STABs, while Heatran, Jumbao, Cyclohm, Aurumoth, M-Mawile, and the 'Zards commonly carry Fighting or Ground coverage (or are fully capable of doing so). While we can switch in a bit more, we can't reliably set Doom Desire against a lot of these 'mons which isn't ideal. Flash Fire does make Zapdos and Celesteela a bit miserable against us, but I'm not convinced that's a good thing. This ability is just okay for CAP 26.

  • Magic Guard: I initially scoffed at this, since we're already resistant to Rocks, immune to Sandstorm damage, and immune to Poison, but this would allow us to abuse Life Orb for some extra oomph and would make us Burn-immune in a more useful way. We've mentioned in other threads that we'd like CAP 26 to "be long-lived" and "not be allergic to knock-off" and "not be crippled by burns". This would do some of that. Again though, most 'mons aren't burning with Will-o-Wisp, they're burning us with Lava Plume or Scald which are going to hurt real bad with our typing. I think it's lower-tier than Levitate (which also buys Spikes immunity), but worth discussion.

Poor Abilities:
  • Water Absorb/Storm Drain/Dry Skin: This helps us against only one pressure (Naviathan), since Gyarados can just Earthquake us and Volkraken still has its Fire STAB. It also messes with our C&C list in an uncomfortable way, leaving Rotom-W unable to deal with us and messing with specially-biased Greninja. While this does technically give us a "free switch-in", I believe we can do better.
  • Dazzling/Queenly Majesty: I originally thought these were interesting since they're underexplored in the metagame, but given that we already are immune to Caribolt's priority and resistant to M-Pinsirs' priority, this helps very little and mostly in niche scenarios against 'mons we'd still lose to (M-Mawile, Colossoil) or 'mons we already handle well (M-Scizor) or 'mons that just aren't super relevant (Tomohawk, Revenankh).
  • Solid Rock/Filter/Prism Armor: These help us come in a little often, but in practice don't turn enough key OHKOs into 2HKOs or 2HKOs in 3HKOs for my liking. We need to "go big" with an outright immunity, or "go home" and look at Intimidate, that-which-shall-not-be-named, or a totally different angle.
  • Fluffy: Again, it isn't an outright immunity so it may not buy us enough safety against huge damage dealers like Kartana and Hawlucha. It also doesn't stop Earth Power, Earthquake, Focus Blast, or any fire-type coverage meaning it fails against the vast majority of moves our pressure list are pressuring us with. While it's an underexplored ability that would have promise on some mons, is feels like a horrible idea for CAP 26.
  • Disguise: Ultimate safety...once. While this would help a few match-ups, the temporary nature of it makes it a poor fit for a pivot.
Finally, as a word on Steelworker - I'll just say again that we have very few examples of succesful pivots that don't boast a way to either switch-in or switch-out "for free", and our typing more or less requires us to fix that problem and fix our pressure list. Steelworker also only works on DD if we stay in, so like Competitive it actively discourages us from pivoting.

I tried to cover everything that has A) been mentioned or B) seemed interesting to me. If I didn't mention something, assume I think it is so poor as to be unworthy of discussion on CAP 26 (see: Soundproof, Sap Sipper, Insomnia, Water Veil, and many more).
 
I've already let my opinions on Flash Fire be known, but I want to give my thoughts on some other abilities I like even more:

I think Bulletproof has been a really standout ability in this discussion, and it has grown on me as a way to specifically improve our match-up versus Tapu Lele and Mega Alazakam. I'm still slightly concerned that the ability is too laser-focused for the CAP we are trying to make, as blocking one coverage move from 2 or 3 relevant users means that in many games the ability will be... useless? :<

Early on in this process I was a big fan of Intimidate, because most of the defensive Steel-types in the tier run specially defensive and I thought a Steel-type with built in physical resilience could find a niche as a pivot. While discussion has trended toward CAP 26 checking special attackers, I still see some support for Intimidate and I think it warrants further exploration. It would certainly give us better tanking ability vs. physical attackers like Kartana, Tyranitar, Necturna, Weavile, Jirachi, Kitsunoh, Tapu Bulu, Syclant, Caribolt, Mimikyu, Mega Scizor, and Mega Latios. As I look at this list I can't help but think that there would be benefit to a more broadly useful ability. More relevance in more games might be good for the longevity of CAP 26 as the metagame continues to evolve.

And finally, Levitate is an interesting ability that turns one of our biggest weaknesses into an immunity. This would vastly improve our match-up versus Garchomp, Fidgit, Gliscor, Excadrill, Mega Diancie, Mega Pinsir, and Landorus-Therian. Most of these mons would turn from checks into switch-ins and become easy fodder for setting up Doom Desire. Levitate brings with it the added bonus of immunity to Spikes and Sticky Web, which in conjunction with CAP 26's x4 resistance to Stealth Rock means that it would essentially be immune to all entry hazards.

One ability I'm not a fan of is Magic Guard, for the same reason that Dogfish44 explained. It's interaction with Life Orb is not ideal. Almost any ability that boosts our moves or encourages us to use an boosting item is anti-concept; these boosts will not apply to Doom Desire and therefore make it weaker in comparison to our other moves. I really want to make a CAP that actually uses Doom Desire and I think it's an achievable goal if we don't lose focus during this process.
 
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I agree on Magic Guard not being great here, because in addition to incentivizing Life Orb in an anti-concept way, the fact that we're immune to toxic and don't really care about burn means that Magic Guard's ability to dodge status is inconsequential; so the only real benefit from Magic Guard then is in blocking trapping damage, weather damage and hazard damage. Trapping damage is only really relevant from Heatran's Magma Storm, which is an attack we really don't like taking anyways; and since we're immune to sand and hail isn't really a thing, the weather immunity isn't particularly relevant either. This leaves hazard immunity as the benefit to Magic Guard, but then Levitate does that better for us- we keep the spikes immunity and gain a very useful ground immunity in addition to that, and the only real tradeoff is an immunity to rocks, which we're already resistant to.
 
I am going to echo the sentiments of many folks regarding abilities, apart from that one ability, and declare Bulletproof my first choice for an ability CAP 26 would want to use because it obviously blocks out ball and bomb based moves (Focus Blast is definitely one of them, as is Aura Sphere, though the former is the stronger of the two, and Shadow Ball funnily enough), which should grant CAP 26 the ability to shrug off would be checks in Tornadus-T, Megazam, and Tapu Lele sets (barring Fightinium-Z sets, effectively forcing these aforementioned pokemon to take up a Z-move slot just to beat CAP 26, especially when it could easily have gone elsewhere) very easily.

My second choice would have to go to Levitate on account of granting CAP 26 hazard immunity, as well as to ground type moves, thus making for a potentially pretty good hazard removal set, as its typing already renders SR too minor an issue to be worth worrying about. Therefore, I think it's safe to assume that my second choice for Abilities would open up team-building options with CAP 26, as well as opportunities to turn its Doom Desire loose on its opponents.

Edit; In light of what Jordy said, Trace would be my third choice for an ability as it would lend itself to CAP 26 effectively turning its enemies' own abilities against them, therefore increasing its survivability as a defensive pivot even further.

My fourth choice would go to Magic Bounce of all things, mostly because CAP 26 would be able to send all sorts of non-damaging moves back at their enemies, which unlike Magic Guard, wouldn't at all discourage Doom Desire's usage as the latter would go against Dogfish44's concept in its entirety.

Other than what I've mentioned before, and that one ability, I could call things like Competitive, Dazzling/Queenly Majesty, Solid Rock/Filter, and Water Absorb/Storm Drain/Dry Skin bad for our concept because they either discourage the use of Doom Desire, too laser focused on checking what CAP 26 should do fairly well against, or make CAP 26 very over-centralizing, which is very toxic to the CAP metagame as a whole.
 
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I'm really liking the discussion so far, keep it up everyone! It's been about a day and a half since my original post so I figure that it's about time to post my thoughts on the current suggestions.

I'd like to preface this post by saying that we should not stick to CAP 26's threatlist too closely; it's just a guideline that we can use for reference. We do not have to precisely stick to it. As it stands currently, CAP 26's threatlist is decently sized, which many people have expressed concerns about. I think that the ability stage could be the perfect opportunity to patch up some of this issue.

Intimidate: Intimidate seems to be received pretty well. Intimidate is a pretty generic ability that softens up physical hits for CAP 26. This is especially notable when facing Pokemon like Mega Mawile, Weavile, and certain Tyranitar sets. However, when looking further into it, I find that, despite the fact that it's a good catch-all ability, it really doesn't do that much when considering the overall metagame. I find this to become especially apparent when considering that Intimidate will not *really* save it from anything on our C&C list, it really only improves the matchup against Pokemon that CAP 26 already has a good enough matchup against.

Download: Download was brought up because of the similarities between it and Intimidate at their core. However, Download does not give CAP 26 an incentiveto pivot rather than just stay in and break walls if it does happen to get the Special Attack boost, which it'd probably do poorly anyway considering the Pokemon on our C&C list. I believe that, if anything, it lands in a similar boat as Magic Guard and Steelworker.

Magic Guard: While having an immunity to Spikes damage is great, especially for a Steel-type pivot, the concern that it may enable CAP 26 to function more like a wallbreaker is valid, especially because it most likely wouldn't run Doom Desire, because it wants more direct damage output. However, considering the role of most Steel-types in the current metagame, I do believe that CAP 26 would much rather use Magic Guard for its defensive than offensive capabilities. My question for this ability would be: are we confident enough to "risk" the possibility of turning CAP 26 into a more offensively geared Pokemon to unlock Magic Guard's defensive potential? Additionally, I'd like to hear as many thoughts about Magic Guard vs Levitate.

Levitate: Similarly to Magic Guard, Levitate grants CAP 26 an immunity to Spikes. However, more notable than that, it also helps CAP 26 deal with Pokemon like Garchomp, Mega Latios, and certain Landorus-T sets, which are currently on our C&C list. Combined, this could go a long way for CAP 26 and its opportunities to switch into play to force checkmate situations. I've seen very little, if any, counter arguments to Levitate right now because it seems to be received extremely well, as such, I think it has a high chance to get slated.

Bulletproof: Bulletproof has been received really well so far, similarly to Levitate, I believe that it has a high chance to get slated if discussion about it stays roughly the same. Bulletproof is a very notable ability for a Steel-type pivot, especially if our objective is to handle Psychic-types like Mega Alakazam, Tapu Lele, and maybe even Aurumoth. This is a plausible idea considering that CAP 26 is shaping up to be a Steel-type pivot. It also helps out against Focus Blast Magearna, which does not run Fightinium Z very often, if at all. No downsides of this ability besides All-Out Pummeling existing have been brought up, are there any other downsides that we should be wary of?

Water Absorb
/ Storm Drain / Dry Skin: While none of Water Absorb, Storm Drain, or Dry Skin have been received particularly well, I do see potential in them. While I realize that these abilities will allow CAP 26 to come in on more defensive Pokemon like Toxapex rather than offensive Pokemon like what was assessed in CA to be optimal, I don't think that this is bad; after all, concepts do evolve after CA. The assessment that Storm Drain is anti-concept is very fair, so it'll probably come down to Water Absorb or Dry Skin if one of these abilities were to get slated. I'd like everyone to think about whether it's okay for CAP 26 to counter Toxapex, Rotom-W, and even check Ash-Greninja. When thinking about this, you should consider the size of CAP 26's C&C list, how this'd affect how CAP 26 is played, and whether this makes CAP 26 overbearing.

Thick Fat: Thick Fat was brought up only once. I really doubt that it improves CAP 26's matchup against relevant Fire- and Ice-types enough for it to be worth it, but I'd really like to see more discussion on it before considering it at all.

Flash Fire: With being a bit more controversial, Flash Fire has been discussed a decent amount. While some people consider Flash Fire to be useless considering that Fire-types like Heatran and, albeit niche, Mega Charizard X will still overwhelm CAP 26 regardless of Flash Fire or not, others have expressed their interest in CAP 26 being able to handle other Fire-types like Volcarona and the niche Victini. Additionally, it also helps out with some Jumbao and can be very useful when trying to pivot around Choice-locked Volkraken. Flash Fire really comes down to whether people think the range that this ability covers for CAP 26 is relevant enough.

Wimp Out / Emergency Exit: While this is literally pivoting the ability, it seems like an extremely poor choice for CAP 26. When looking at it from a metagame standpoint, you come to realize that you basically have to sack your Steel-type's ability to check Psychic-types to bring its pivoting aspect into play at all.

Tangling Hair / Gooey: Tangling Hair and Gooey were brought up twice and I have to agree with hawk1113 that it seems mostly useless. While it's interesting to cripple Pokemon that make contact on paper, many Pokemon just won't to begin with, often rendering these abilities useless.

Filter / Solid Rock: Filter and Solid Rock have been brought up for their ability to toughen up CAP 26's ability to take on super effective hits, with the most notable being Focus Blast from Psychic-types. However, they're often not enough to push significant OHKOes into anything more than a chance to OHKO because of how small a 1/4 damage reduction actually is. I'm also inclined to agree with Zetasniper that they're generally inferior to Bulletproof for the primary reason why they're being considered.

Fluffy: Fluffy, I feel, is very similar to Intimidate. While it helps with certain threats like Mega Mawile, Weavile, and certain Tyranitar sets, just like Intimidate, it has the added benefit that its effect lasts forever. I'm not sure if it's actually worth it, though, because, similarly to why I'm not so sure about Intimidate, we already have a pretty good matchup against most Pokemon that this ability aims to tackle. The added susceptibility to Fire-type attacks probably doesn't matter much because CAP 26 is likely to be weak to it anyway. This ability has gone relatively unexplored so far, though, so I'd love to see some more discussion on it if anyone has anything of value to add.

Magic Bounce: Magic Bounce is undeniably a great ability for a pivot and to generate momentum. However, I'm not convinced that this is the momentum that CAP 26 actually wants, it actually leaves you guessing more often than the opponent because CAP 26 is weak to the most common hazard setters. I'd really like to see more discussion on Magic Bounce when taking this into account.

Steelworker: Steelworker is an extremely limiting ability because it only applies if CAP 26 stays in, ultimately discouraging pivoting. Because of this, it's an underwhelming option.

Trace: Trace is a very interesting ability in my opinion that has many different sides of it, which can ultimately make CAP 26 quite versatile. Like Ahhhhhh......Clefable. pointed out, CAP 26 can trace many interesting abilities such as Regenerator, Flash Fire, and Soul-Heart, which could lead to very interesting situations. Right now, I think Trace is a really under explored ability, and I want to see more discussion on it.

Natural Cure: While Natural Cure is an obvious choice for a pivot according to most people that have discussed it so far, it has been pointed out that CAP 26 does not benefit from it at all, at most curing burns and paralysis from Glare, which is relatively underwhelming when compared to the many other options available.

Grassy Surge: While I have an admittedly hard time warming up to the idea of having Grassy Surge on not-Tapu Bulu, it does have some notable positives. The free Leftovers can be very useful, additionally, the fact that it neutralizes Earthquake can be very handy. However, some people have expressed concerns with the overlap between Grassy Surge and Levitate; is the free Leftovers truly enough to consider it over Levitate, which has an immunity to Ground-type attacks altogether? I'd like some more discussion on this.

Competitive: While CAP 26 has a positive matchup against Tornadus-T, the most common Defogger, people have brought up that it is bad for CAP 26. This is because of the fact that it discourages pivoting.

Dazzling / Queenly Majesty: This ability was briefly brought up and when it was, it seemed to be agreed upon that it's bad because CAP 26 will most likely have a positive matchup against Pokemon that would want to use priority.

Also, Disguise is a banned ability. Even if it wasn't, it wouldn't work because it's hard coded on the cartridge to only work with Mimikyu.
 
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Bulletproof: Bulletproof has been received really well so far, similarly to Levitate, I believe that it has a high chance to get slated if discussion about it stays roughly the same. Bulletproof is a very notable ability for a Steel-type pivot, especially if our objective is to handle Psychic-types like Mega Alakazam, Tapu Lele, and maybe even Aurumoth. This is a plausible idea considering that CAP 26 is shaping up to be a Steel-type pivot. It also helps out against Focus Blast Magearna, which does not run Fightinium Z very often, if at all. No downsides of this ability besides All-Out Pummeling existing have been brought up, are there any other downsides that we should be wary of?
I can't immediately think of any. The only one raised so far in thread by Roland is that Bulletproof is so specific in its targets and its niche that we run the risk of making a useless 'mon if the meta shifts away from M-Alakazam and friends either this generation or next. I can understand that fear, given that we just developed a super cool cap to help kill a 'mon that immediately got banished to ubers, thus sinking the CAP to unranked (see Snaelstrom versus Zygarde). But that feels like an impossible criteria to consider - sure, yes, M-Alakazam could get suspect tested or fall out of favor in the next two years. Sure, some of these targets can just adapt (like Aurumoth running fire coverage instead) and still beat us. But we could also see some other metashift cause the return of Gengar and Thundurus (both have been ranked in the meta before) and suddenly bam we have even more stuff to counter! Or Gen 8 could release some crazy-powerful new users of Aura Sphere, Focus Blast, Searing Shot, Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, etc, and CAP 26's stock could rise.

The point is we can't know, and if we try to build a 'mon for some theoretical future meta instead of the meta that exists today we don't actually learn anything.

An unstated and related concern is that Bulletproof has been competitively niche and irrelevant so far, but I'd argue that's because its two users don't carry a Fighting weakness for Bulletproof to neutralize. It's a big deal for us because at this time there are very few other relevant Special Fighting moves (zero in the meta, and only Keldeo's Secret Sword in theory), so it's as good as losing a weakness and gaining an immunity to Fighting on the special side.

As Chesnaught and Komm-o are Fighting 'mons they are thus totally unable to realistically "come in" on the likes of Torn-T, M-Alakazam, Tapu Lele, or Magearna. Komm-o and Chesnaught are additionally neutral or resistant to most other common bullet and ball moves so it isn't a huge deal to ignore those hits instead. Bulletproof was sad for Chesnaught because most things that can learn Sludge Bomb can also learn Sludge Wave and tend to favor it, so in practice it didn't actually neutralize Chessy's weakness. Komm-o seems better with its amazing stats and unique typing, but as we're noticing most things that run Focus Blast or Aura Sphere are Psychic, Flying, and Fairy types that can OHKO him with their STABs. Also note that even with these limitations, both of these 'mons still favor Bulletproof over their other abilities so clearly Bulletproof isn't doing nothing for them.

Finally, don't sleep on the fact that while they're low-ranked and uncommon Bulletproof also stops Searing Shot (seen on Z-Celebrate Victini) and Aura Sphere (seen on the occasional Tomohawk and Nasty Plot Mew) and Shadow Ball (so that we straight-up wall M-Alakazam).
 
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