Name: Defective Ability
Description: This Pokemon manages to work around an ability that is generally considered harmful, and is viable, or even better for it.
Justification: Defective Ability is an
Actualization concept; aiming to create a Pokemon that works around, or works with, an ability that would be considered bad on most pokemon.
There is not a single Pokemon ranked above NU that has a generally negative ability; for good reason, while most pokemon gain a benefit from their ability, these Pokemon are held back. Golisopod, the currently highest ranked pokemon with a negative ability is also unique among its brethren in that its movepool is set up to synergize, and benefit from its ability Emergency Exit, with First Impression benefiting heavily from being switched out directly after use. A non-exhaustive list of negative abilities is Color Change, Defeatist, Emergency Exit, Klutz, Normalize, Slow Start, Stall, Truant. These abilities are yet-untouched by CAP, and I believe that exploring them with typings, movepools, and stats specifically meant to work with, and work around their shortcomings can help us to understand more about how abilities interact with CAPs, and how important the ability slot really is. I do not consider a NCA to be a defective ability as it does not specifically have to be planned around.
This concept aims to question how impactful these abilities are when their downsides are specifically planned for, their strengths, if any, are accentuated, and how viable of a CAP we can make with a handicap in the ability stage.
Questions To Be Answered:
- How much of a drawback is a negative ability? How much should a negative ability be compensated for in the typing, move, and stats stages?
- Are there some negative abilities that are more suited to exploration in a CAP process? Why or Why not?
- If a negative ability is chosen for a primary what abilities are suitable for a secondary ability slot? Purely negative ones, or is there a situation where a pokemon would prefer an ability generally thought of as negative?
- How does typing interact with a negative ability like this; slow start obviously wants a Toxic immunity due to how long it'll stay on the field, but is it needed, do other abilities have strong typing-ability interactions.
- How can movepool change the impact of a harmful ability? Golisopod shows that it is possible to leverage the early switch out, are other negative abilities something that can be leveraged or minimized with the correct movepool?
- How much do stats have to compensate for a negative ability, what are the ideal stat spreads for each negative ability?
- How can we define a "generally harmful ability"? What are some metrics to define it? Are comparisons with neutral abilities helpful?
- Which abilities can be worked with? Which abilities can only be worked around? Is it better to choose an ability that can be worked with? or only around?
