Wake up babe, new discussion post just dropped!!!
On Cotton Down: How great is the effect of gaining a single stage in speed over the opponent? To what degree does their capability to switch their Pokemon out mitigate the strategy behind it? How can the opponent switching out after having their speed lowered be taken advantage of?
It's hard to say exactly how great of an advantage dropping the foe's Speed by one stage is because, in my opinion, the two most important factors to take into account that are the user's own Speed and ability to take hits from certain Pokemon. For example, against the standard Choice Specs Dragapult set, the slowest Pokemon according the
SS CAP Speed Tiers that can outspeed Dragapult if it was affected by Cotton Down once is Heatran, with its natural base 77 Speed alongside a Speed-boosting nature and maximum Speed EVs, bringing its raw Speed up to 278. At the same, however, we would also need to take into account how well we can take hits from it. If we get 2HKO by Choice Specs Dragapult and can't really retaliate hard enough, it won't be worth it to just hard switch in, making the application of Cotton Down a lot less useful. There's obviously a lot of other effects that can be discussed about the applications of Cotton Down that don't involve things we don't know about CAP30b and CAP30i, but I believe our own Speed stats and ability to take certain hits are definitely two of the most important attributes to keep in mind.
This may deviate a bit from the other two questions, but I think I can better explain it this way. The ability to force switches with Cotton Down has a out of applications, both offensive and defensive, giving us a lot of room to get creative with the process. Using Choice Specs Dragapult as an example, if we want to go an offensive route, we can possibly allow the forme we assign Cotton Down to take a hit and cause it to now outspeed Dragapult after one Speed drop, potentially either forcing it out and giving it an opportunity to switch or KO it in return now that we outspeed. Additionally, it we want to go another route, we can potentially use Cotton Down's potential to force switches as an opportunity to provide free utility as well, including but not limited to setting and removing entry hazards, spreading status, and Knock Off. As a whole, Cotton Down's overall ability to force switches gives us a lot of room for nearly of the attributes for CAP30b or CAP30i, depending on what we assign it to.
On Berserk: How do we incentivize the opponent to put us into the HP threshold necessary to activate this ability? How effective is a single boost to our special attack? What methods are available for us to get multiple boosts while staying in? How often might that happen?
These will be a bit tough for me to answer, since I don't really like Berserk as an option for us, but I'll try my best.
The most optimal way we can cause Berserk activate often would be to give the forme we assign it to would be to give it enough bulk for it to take most attacks to obviously get under half HP. The problem I think with that, though, is that we would need to decide what should and shouldn't allow the assigned forme to get into that threshold, making the some stages, especially the stats stage, a fairly large challenge we need to balance. The fact that this ability forces us to be at a natural disadvantage at having to force ourselves to be at low HP. Of course, there are workarounds like recovery, but I think that would add another annoyance to the process.
A single boost in Special Attack could mean a lot, the best example being how Choice Specs can make a Pokemon an even more fearsome wallbreaker (not the greatest example, but it's the one that popped into my head first). The problem I have with it though, is that I don't think a single boost in Special Attack is worth losing more than half our HP. Sure, we can use the turn the user loses half of its HP as an opportunity to set up another stat, but couldn't the opponent use that opportunity to switch out into another Pokemon that can just OHKO it outright? Again, the fact that Berserk's mechanics are contradictory towards success makes these workarounds all the more difficult.
The best way for us to get multiple boosts while staying in would be to give the user recovery, but in a similarly, that's a whole other problem we would need to think about. A Berserk user with access to reliable recovery could potentially be a really big problem in battle and in creation. In battle, if you don't have anything to OHKO it outright, you may be a bit screwed as it just recovers off that damage while it gains boosts for free. So, we could balance it by making its defenses mediocre, but then it may not be able to activate it often. If we don't give it reliable recovery, it probably would only activate once, but is that something we would want to do, considering that our goal is to optimize it?
On Tinted Lens: How do we ensure this has a lasting impact rather than reacting to popular typings in the current meta? In what situations do we run the risk of overpowering this ability? How can those risks be avoided while still ensuring the ability is used effectively?
Similar to what
Brambane said, I don't Tinted Lens has the capability to have a "lasting impact" compared to potentially capitalizing on the current metagame. Making it have a good impact for the short-term is fairly easy through picking at least one type that can take advantage of the boost on not very effective hits on certain target, but for the long-term, such a type or types could fall out of flavor in the metagame, whether it be through simple developments like what OU experiences or even as we create more CAPs. It would be really hard to optimize Tinted Lens in a way that would stand the test of time in the CAP metagame.
Obviously, if we pick a type or types that are really good offensively, then Tinted Lens can easily get out of hand, especially if we throw in coverage moves into the mix. The easiest way to avoid this risk would probably be to make sure our typing doesn't excel offensively but is still workable and making sure our movepool isn't over the top, but again, like with Berserk, are we really fulfilling the concept we chose if this is what we would call optimization?
On Steam Engine: How common are Fire and Water moves in the meta as either STABs or coverage? Can we expect the opponent to be motivated to click Fire or Water moves as often once they see this mon on team preview? Can the potential discouragement of said moves be taken advantage of while still not proc'ing the ability? How would a mon with this ability be able to function in a battle without receiving the +6 boost to speed, while still having room to take advantage of said boost?
I would say that as a whole, most teams are going to be running at least one Water-type move, most likely in the form of Scald for most balance teams. Fire-type moves aren't as common, but they still have a good presence in the metagame. Our opponent would definitely have to take into account that they can't use their Water- and Fire-type moves as freely anymore, though that is still someone dependent on what Pokemon we choose for whatever forme we assign Steam Engine to can and cannot face. For example, depending on if we want it to have a good or bad matchup against it, Toxapex can potentially activate it with Scald, which could force it out and give the user a free switch. On the contrary, it could very well just eat up an attack or wait next turn for it to set up with another move to use Haze. I know I'm thinking pretty ahead here, but I would like to point out the consequences if we were to choose Steam Engine, as well as other abilities that have a similar explanation.
The discouragement of not wanting to use Water- and Fire-type moves straight from Team Preview can definitely help the user be able to provide additional utility similarly to Cotton Down. For example, once again, if it's up against Toxapex and it can only really use Scald against it, the user may use the opportunity of Toxapex most likely switching out to provide extra utility, from removing the Toxic Spikes Toxapex might've set to setting its own entry hazards. Again, there are many other applications we could have, but I thought this would be the best example to understand clearly.
Another more interesting example is the potential matchup against Heatran, where it may be discouraged to trap the Steam Engine user with Magma Storm. Sure, Heatran can trap it and take advantage of that by inflicting Toxic on it or setting Stealth Rock, but would that be worth it if it's able to outspeed it after the Steam Engine boost? Again, this is entirely based on the other undecided attributes of CAP30b and CAP30i, but is just to showcase what Steam Engine can potentially do to the forme we assign it to.
On Filter/Solid Rock: In what ways can this be optimized for an offensively functioning mon? Is there much room to explore with this ability on a defensive mon?
My answer to the question doesn't really deviate from what I've said before about these abilities
here, but I'll just paste them here to stress how I feel about them even more (and for your convenience).
While this is true, Solid Rock, Filter, and Prism Armor's effect and impact on all of those archetypes is basically the same: take overall less damage in order to perform their role better. Sure, it's probably gives us the most freedom with role creation, but when it comes to actually optimizing it, is it possible that we can go beyond the utility of purely beefing up the user? I just personally think that choosing such an ability sacrifices a lot of freedom room for one part of the process in order to give another part a huge boost in creative room, but that's something that I think we shouldn't aim for.
My response was mostly aiming towards offensive archetypes, but the same thing applies to defensive archetypes. The only difference is that since Filter, Solid Rock, and Prism Armor are all defensive abilities on the surface, it would restrict our creative freedom in what ways we can optimize it. It's an unnecessary sacrificing for an uninteresting reward, no matter what direction we go.
On Poison Touch: What routes are open to us to most effectively proc this ability? How do we take advantage of spreading the poisoned status across the opposing team? What counterplay is available to the typings/mons with immunity to poison, and to what degree should we account for that in order to expect this mon to function well?
The only route we can take with Poison Touch guaranteed is to make primarily a physical attacker, since most contact moves it can take advantage of with Poison Touch are physical moves. Is that an unfortunate restriction? Yes, but I don't think it's as restrictive as the other abilities mentioned, since we can still do a lot with just a physical movepool plus all of the potentially additional utility we can give it.
Poison may not provide the amount of utility other status like burns, paralysis, and even Toxic poison do, but the consistent damage reduction notably prevents certain Pokemon from staying in even for a short time, because unlike Toxic poison, the damage can rack up in only two or three turns. And what can you do as the Pokemon switches out? That's right, attack the switch-in and poison it. This may sound a bit overwhelming, but I think there's enough counterplay to definitely justify us choosing Poison Touch, from the handful of Steel- and Poison-types to Pokemon that don't really care like Magic Guard Clefable. That is assuming that the user doesn't have counterplay to them, though, so we do need to be a bit cautious picking and choosing our checks and counters. Such Pokemon have potential counterplay as well; Heatran can trap it with Magma Storm and wear it down, Toxapex can try to fish for a Scald burn, and Clefable can cripple it with Knock Off (if it's assigned to CAP30b, obviously). We should take into account cleric support with Heal Bell and the like, which may not be popular now, but the metagame can potentially shift into its favor if our Poison Touch deems that teams need it to ease the matchup against it.
In terms of counterplay in terms of coverage, one of the easiest ways is to give our Poison Touch some sort of way to force it out; Ground-type coverage comes to mind, since it's super effective against Steel- and Poison-types, but that's definitely too overbearing for one Pokemon. I don't really think we should devote a lot of work into giving whichever forme we assign Poison Touch a lot of counterplay for Pokemon that may not care for Poison Touch, since Poison Touch already would potentially impact a good chunk of the metagame, and I think there is just enough counterplay for it to be healthy in the metagame as well. If we give our Poison Touch user potential counterplay to such Pokemon, it would definitely be pretty overwhelming to handle properly.
If I'm really feeling it later, then I'll try to make another post about the other abilities mentioned.