Metagame Pokébilities

clovre said:
this guy is insane im shocked ive seen nobody talk about it

Magnezone @ Life Orb/Leftovers/Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magnet Pull/Sturdy/Analytic
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, Magnezone is great, but it's significantly worse than in prior generations. Sure, it has terastalization to increase the pool of mons it hits, but even terastalization is a double edged sword because other pokemon can also tera to escape trapping. Yes, you are forcing a very valuable resource from your opponent, and yes, you can also gain more trapping targets from pokemon that tera into a steel type, which can be potentially monumental, but there is no doubt that negatives do still exist with the addition of terastalization, which can neutralize the positives
 
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I could honestly see rain becoming one of the most prominent playstyle in this meta for the high amount of good pokemon that benefit from it. Azumarill gets an 8x fire resistance with it's phenomenal defensive profile, Kilowattrel can swap in on Defogs and potentially sweep, Gyara can possibly sweep with just one or two D Dances up, Basculin does insane damage, even if blue stripe

252 Atk Choice Band Adaptability Tera Water Basculin Wave Crash vs. 116 HP / 0 Def Azumarill in Rain: 315-371 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Breloom gains a fire neutrality from rain along with being a great revenge killer, Scizor is another amazing revenge killer that can double as an offensive Defogger, Walking Wake can be used both to abuse rain and to counter sun, and even if you want that single strictly defensive Mon outside of Pelipper, Bronzong gains a fire resistance from rain after Heatproof. Not only all of this, but you also have to keep in mind that your immunities on the top rain pokemon are quite prevalent as well. Azu immune to both dragon and grass, Pelipper immune to ground, Kilowattrel immune to both ground and electric, that's already 4 immunities to fairly common attacking types. Going to easily be some of the best teams, at least for these first few days
 
Drednaw is weird. There's a lot of moves and options for Tera, but STAB Crunch Combat is a favorite of mine.

:Drednaw: @ Life Orb
Ability: Strong Jaw
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Liquidation
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
 
Ivy said:
View attachment 474540
Magnificent (albeit outdated) banner by @hambor12 (external link)
Credit to Throbulator36 for the concept. Programming by urkerab
Co-lead by me and Rach
Approved by drampa's grandpa and in the hills ​

Premise
All of a Pokémon's obtainable abilities are active simultaneously.

Introduction
Ever wished that Salamence can have both of its abilities—Intimidate and Moxie at the same time? Have you desired that a Pokémon could use all of its abilities to their full potential? Here is the OM for you!
In this meta, a Pokémon can have all of its abilities at the same time. Here's is the original thread from when it was a Pet Mod. An example is if you use Clodsire, it will have all of its abilities: Water Absorb, Poison Point, & Unaware, at the same time. This gives it a huge buff since all of these abilities are quite useful.

FAQ
What happens if a Pokémon's Trace is activated?
Trace is implemented to copy a single ability from the foe randomly, as it would in doubles battles.

How does Rockruff work? Four abilities!
Certain abilities are exclusive to differently-obtained and tiered formes, like Ash-Greninja's Battle Bond. Rockruff's fourth ability is actually implemented as a separate forme (and breeds as such in-game), despite not being tiered separately. This means that if you select Own Tempo, it will be the special Rockruff with Own Tempo and no other abilities. Otherwise, it's a normal Rockruff and has all three other abilities. Of course, nobody in their right mind would use Rockruff, but it's the only valid example for this mechanic currently in gen 9.

What about OP abilities like Shadow Tag?
These are banned on a per-Pokémon basis, since it would be challenging and awkward to program only some of their abilities to be enabled. You can see this in the banlist below.

Bans
  • Standard OMs, Sleep Clause Mod
  • Baton Pass, King's Rock
  • Chi-Yu, Flutter Mane, Houndstone, Iron Bundle, Koraidon, Miraidon, Palafin
  • Moody/Shadow Tag/Arena Trap users: Diglett, Dugtrio, Glalie, Gothita, Gothitelle, Gothorita, Scovillain, Snorunt
Watchlist
  • None yet

Strategy
The activation of all abilities is a great boon to nearly everything that has multiple abilities. Some exemplary changes include:
Buffed
  • :clodsire: Gaining both Water Absorb and Unaware is appreciated. Poison Point isn't that useful, but it might come handy.
  • :hippowdon::torkoal: Most weather setters are improved with access to overlooked abilities.
  • :salamence::gyarados::krookodile::perrserker: :kingambit: Some select physical attackers get the motherlode with all of their abilities active at once. Salamence, Krookodile, and Gyarados have Moxie + Intimidate, Perrserker gets Steely Spirit with Tough Claws, and Kingambit gets Defiant and Supreme Overlord.
  • :dragapult: It no longer has to choose one of three mildly adequate abilities.
  • :glimmora: The opponents have to fear Corrosion as well!
  • :azumarill: Thick Fat, Sap Sipper, AND Huge Power? Enjoy wacky Terastelization surprises.
  • :grafaiai: Prankster Unburden can open up some exciting setups.
Nerfed
  • :sableye: Stall... at least Prankster still elevates priority.
  • :luxray::haxorus: Rivalry is pretty annoying.

Gen 8
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/trashchannel-gen8pokebilities-3488 Rather scintillating game especially considering it was done long after the metagame was off rotation. Demonstrates the current quirky G-Weezing interactions decently.
Gen 7
[1] - This one is good
[2] - Another good one
[3] - Shows a team which uses TR

Gen 8 Pokébilities is playable on ROM!
You can search for Pokébilities replays on replay.pokemonshowdown.com by typing in "gen8pokebilities".
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I just wanted to say that the match between me and Typhlosion was a draft match, thus the unusual picks. If anyone who plays draft would be down for Gen 9 Pokebilities, I'll think about redoing the league for Gen 9.
 
So, some thoughts on specifically Annihilape, Espathra, and Chien-Pao. I haven't tested Cyclizar yet, but I got to top 10 on the latter (specifically 8th) mostly with a team that has all of the former 3 on it. So far, it seems like these pokemon are just as strong.

Ape- I left some room open for Ape when I said I did think it should be tested, but now that I've actually tested it, it's still banworthy imo. While slightly worse due to no Rest sets or Intimidate proccing Defiant, but the Substitute set ends up plowing through teams just as easily. Yes, it is true that you don't get a Rage Fist boost due to the move hitting the Substitute and not Ape, but you also get easier setup with Bulk Up after the sub goes up. This also means you could potentially get a free hit. Ape's ability to heal off passive damage from Drain Punch as well makes it even more difficult. Let's not forget that alongside that, both Taunt and Lum Berry sets exist to fight off Status, one of which frees up a move slot and weakens Knock once you initially get hazards. Without a doubt, its ability to take over games wasn't harmed close to enough to make it unable to rampage nearly effortlessly.

Chien-Pao- Chien has effectively the same reasons to support a ban as in base OU. There's no new set or innovation needed to break through indirect nerfs like Annihilape and there's not really any increased bulk level to combat a slightly higher power level. Every single game I've played with that team, the hardest pokemon for my opponents to maneuver around wasn't Ape or Espathra, but rather Chien. Chien can't clean a game from one free move like Annihilape can, but it has definitely shown to be overcentralizing in battle at the least. Along with that, the combination of it's stabs and Sacred Sword/Psychic Fangs is almost unresisted. Chien's set versatility doesn't help at all when trying to get around it's deadly stab and coverage combination. Band, Scarf, Black Glasses, SD Boots, 4 attack Boots, all with all sets you have to dance around in different ways. So far the base OU bans look like they aren't any less overwhelming in pokebilities.

Espathra- And same goes for Espathra. Just as overwhelming and generally annoying in pokebilities, if not moreso, in comparison to base OU because Opportunist copying opponent stat boosts and boosting its own Stored Power. Along with this, it forces a handful of specific pokemon to run tera types they otherwise would never run just for Espathra, making them worse at countering other major threats. An example of this is Clodsire going from resisting Hariyama's, Azumarill's, and Breloom's stabs with it's regular typing to being weak to them after terastalizing into a dark type. Yes, Clod wouldn't be completely walling them, but even simply staving off a pokemon temporarily is huge and losing the ability to do that just to beat one very specific pokemon goes to show how there are way too few answers for one specific threat, which makes me have the opinion that Espathra, along with the other two pokemon mentioned, is no healthier for the meta than it was in base OU
 
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I've never played this format before today (lol) but I was playing around with some initial ideas and one that I've had some success with (unless there is a clodsire) is this Kilowattrel set:

this (Kilowattrel) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wind Power
Tera Type: Water (for anything besides Clod) / Ground (for Clod)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Air Slash
- Tera Blast

I tried tera Water initially for Garg, but that set gets completely walled by Clod, so Ground is a decent alternative but is still walled by Clod. Decent for momentum thanks to Volt Switch. I've been pairing it with mixed Pult for more momentum and a decent answer to Clod, but it's kinda risky. I've also been thinking about a rain team featuring Floatzel and Basculin as well, but I have yet to actually make that team lmao. Overall, probably not too worth using since Clod exists and is fucking broken in this format but I like Kilowattrel, so sue me.
 
:SV/Farigiraf:
Farigiraf @ Salac Berry
Ability: Cud Chew / Armor Tail / Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Tera Blast

I have a funny set. It's your average looking Stored Power sweeper set, except now Farigriaf has Chud Chew for +2 Speed and Sap Sipper for Grass immunity and the occasional +1 Atk raise. Of course you're not gonna be using any physical moves, but an extra 20 BP onto Stored Power is always appreciated. Armor Tail means you're protected from Azu and Kingambit's priority (or priority in general), meaning it's smooth sailing as long as you get to +2 Speed. Psychic/Fighting coverage is near perfect, but it does mean you need to reserve your Tera for Farigriaf. The EV's could be a lot more optimized, but I just slapped in max HP/Speed to maximize bulk and Salac Berry.
 
I was playing around with this metagame and analyzing the many mons here. I have quite a few that take some massive W's.

azumarill.gif

My god this thing took such a massive W. Do you know how STRONG this thing is? Huge Power combined with a Grass Immunity that raises it's Attack by 1? That is so god damn insane, and while Thick Fat isn't as impactful, being a big wall to Fire and Ice types is nice. It has an immunity to Meowscarada's Flower Trick and Breloom's Seed Bomb/Bullet Seed. It completely shuts down Cinderace with no Gunk Shot and Baxcalibur + Chien-Pao. Overall? A force to be reckoned with.

Clodsire sprite from Scarlet & Violet

STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPLEEE. Great defensive staple with 3 amazing abilities. You want to setup? Unaware stops you in your tracks. You want to get rid of Clodsire with a water move? Water Absorb. You hit this thing on its physical side? Now you're poisoned and your physical attacker gets worn down by poison and Stealth Rock + Spikes Stack. Clodsire takes on opposing Azumarill quite well, but watch out for that banded Ice Spinner! Boy you gone after that. Greninja and Walking Wake fold to Tera Fairy Clodsire, and nobody will dare set up.

toxapex.gif

This one is an interesting case because it's probably not worth mentioning at all. But analyze its ability and movepool, and Toxapex is 10X worse than its normal counterpart. Regenerator is usually there for longevity and so that Pex can stay healthy throughout a game. Limber is probably not worth mentioning but being immune to paralysis is nice. And Merciless? OH FUCKING BOY. Guaranteed crits if poisoned? Toxapex gets Toxic AND Baneful Bunker, so with this ability Pex can actually do some damage while being a wall. Better watch out, Pex is coming for you.
basculin.gif
basculin-bluestriped.gif

These two are a very interesting case, as you would probably not even think about them normally. But just look at their abilities! Both gets access to Adaptability and Mold Breaker, which are VERY good abilities as a whole. But their 3rd ability depends on their color. Red-Basculin gets Reckless, and its Banded Wave Crash has an increased damage output. Blue-Basculin gets Rock Head, which gives it increased durability when using its Wave Crash, but which you think is better depends on you. Wave Crash, as I said, does so much, and Tera Water increases it tenfold when boosted by Adaptability.
ursaring.gif

Another unusual case, but trust me, it's super good. Guts and Quick Feet on the same Pokemon is super good, as its strong and fast as well. Guts boosted Facade hits super hard, and you're also fast while using it. Holding a Flame Orb is the easiest way to use this strong combo, and Tera Normal Facade? Now that's a nuke.
breloom.gif

Last on my list that I noticed that is really good is Breloom. Breloom gets Effect Spore, Technician, and Poison Heal. Technician boosts Bullet Seed and Mach Punch and Poison Heal along with a Toxic Orb gives it increased longevity. Effect Spore is basically like Clodsire's Poison Heal, but it can either poison, paralyze, or make a Pokemon sleep. Now don't get me wrong, it's completely shut down by Azumarill, but it also gets Gunk Shot and Poison Jab, so you can run those options without being completely demolished by Azu.

And that's it. Let me know what you guys think!
 
Hello, here's a really niche but somewhat fun pokemon, Sawsbuck.

Chlorophyll + Serene Grace is just kind of trolling. Plus stab Body Slam and Headbutt, and you've got a decently ok pokemon. Plus you can switch in for free on grass moves.

Is it extremely niche? Yes. Practical? Meh. But maybe someone can do something cool with it.
 
Bean Man said:
Hello, here's a really niche but somewhat fun pokemon, Sawsbuck.

Chlorophyll + Serene Grace is just kind of trolling. Plus stab Body Slam and Headbutt, and you've got a decently ok pokemon. Plus you can switch in for free on grass moves.

Is it extremely niche? Yes. Practical? Meh. But maybe someone can do something cool with it.
Click to expand...
Sun abusers that are Protosynthesis mons are already niche, but Sawsbuck is probably the best available one with SD Horn Leech, Body Slam, and Zen Headbutt/Wild Charge. At least until Hisuian Lilligant releases
 
Bean Man said:
Hello, here's a really niche but somewhat fun pokemon, Sawsbuck.

Chlorophyll + Serene Grace is just kind of trolling. Plus stab Body Slam and Headbutt, and you've got a decently ok pokemon. Plus you can switch in for free on grass moves.

Is it extremely niche? Yes. Practical? Meh. But maybe someone can do something cool with it.
Click to expand...

Actually that's pretty good. As a Chlorophyll sweeper, you do not want to use Scovillain. Sawsbuck gives a Grass immunity (which isn't really needed but good for raising it's attack), and as a fast Headbutt flincher, that is annoying.
 
:sv/Squawkabilly:
Squawkabilly @ Flame Orb
Ability: Intimidate/Hustle/Guts
Tera Type: Normal/Flying/Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Facade
- U-turn/Tera Blast
- Aerial Ace/Brave Bird
I assume many people are going to overlook this mon, but while looking for Guts users, I saw Squawkabilly having combination of Intimidate, Hustle, and Guts for the Green and Blue variants. What's interesting about this is that Squawkabilly has an astonishing effective Attack stat of base 248 after Hustle and Guts with Jolly and 278 Atk with Adamant. For reference, Mega Mawile's effective Atk is about 259. That's actually really insane how much damage this thing can do.
One noticeable problem is Squawkabilly's movepool. Besides Tera Blast, only thing Squawkabilly can even hit Steel/Rock is with Reversal. So Tera Blast Fighting is definitely an option for Squawkabilly. Although Squawkabilly hits so hard that even things like defensive Gholdengo and Corviknight are massively chunked by it.
+1 252+ Atk Guts Tera Flying Squawkabilly Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 195-230 (51.5 - 60.8%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Squawkabilly Facade (140 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 213-251 (53.3 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Guts Tera Flying Squawkabilly Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 183-216 (45.8 - 54.1%) -- 4.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Intimidate is also a good addition, letting its poor physical bulk be not as trash at least. 82/85 physical bulk is decent enough considering its Atk stat eclipses Mega Mawile.
 
Sandy Master said:
Tropius @ Life Orb
Ability: Solar Power
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 40 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Growth
- Giga Drain \ Solar Beam
- Tera Blast
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This gave me an idea and lo and behold it's actually somewhat decent? not entirely sure, sometimes it crashes and burns and sometimes it utterly destroys, so idk.

POWERRRRR (Tropius) @ Petaya Berry / Starf Berry / Salac Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Tera Blast
- Synthesis
- Growth

You can run boost berries really easily thanks to Harvest, and it also has decent enough bulk, so if it gets low it can Synthesis off the damage. Petaya is for nuking your opponents, Salac is for Modest nature and sort of relies of Growth to output damage but is really fast, and Starf is if you want to be a little bitch and effectively become Moody Tropius. I've tried Petaya and Salac so far, and I prefer Petaya since it requires less setup, but both work.
 
Funny_here said:
I made an account just to talk about this meta. I've been laddering for like 2 hours and I have been pretty consistently hovering around 4th on the leaderboard and I think espathra needs to be banned from this tier. The power level is not high enough to deal with the silly bird and it just wins with the right hazard support and mediocre plays

Team I've been using:
https://pokepast.es/d1809c7ec89e52cf
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So some quick questions related to your team. Why is the Amoongus Sassy? It won't lower your damage output from Foul Play if you run Calm because it uses the opponents exact attack stat, not just applying their base attack to your attack. So if, for example, you Foul Play an Adamant max attack Ursaring, you'd be hitting with a 394 attack stat regardless of nature. Also, why is your Bisharp minus speed? Sure, it's speed isn't great and it can work in an opponent's Trick Room, but you also share the same speed tier as Azu, which often runs max HP max Attack, so even if you're a neutral nature with no investment, you'd at least tie it. However, with a minus speed nature, you guarantee yourself to be slower, which is huge with Azumarill being unquestionably top 3 in the meta right now
 
 
alsoni said:
rain has been pretty fun for me
https://pokepast.es/1c280823fa6b869c

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pokebilities-1838219430
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pokebilities-1838222562
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pokebilities-1838227063
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pokebilities-1838246777
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pokebilities-1838249004
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pokebilities-1838254786

please give me some feedback on the team, it's definitely still a work in progress
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You should consider running Aqua Jet on Basculin, I've seen many situations where you could have picked something off with that but never a situation where you clicked Final Gambit, although I haven't watched all your replays.
 
Talpr0ne said:
You should consider running Aqua Jet on Basculin, I've seen many situations where you could have picked something off with that but never a situation where you clicked Final Gambit, although I haven't watched all your replays.
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Aqua Jet is definitely more useful than Final Gambit, but it can also be difficult to fit. Head Smash destroys opposing Pelipper, Azu, Baxcalibur, Rotom Wash, and the Slowtwins, Ice Fang for harder hors on Dragonite and Garchomp, and especially Psychic Fangs for Toxapex and Amoongus. Priority is really nice, but most of the time I've ran rain, I've found it better to run priority on other rain abusers like Breloom, Scizor, or Azumarill
 
typhlosion787 said:
Aqua Jet is definitely more useful than Final Gambit, but it can also be difficult to fit. Head Smash destroys opposing Pelipper, Azu, Baxcalibur, Rotom Wash, and the Slowtwins, Ice Fang for harder hors on Dragonite and Garchomp, and especially Psychic Fangs for Toxapex and Amoongus. Priority is really nice, but most of the time I've ran rain, I've found it better to run priority on other rain abusers like Breloom, Scizor, or Azumarill
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I don't think Aqua Jet is hard to fit at all. Ice Fang is a completely pointless move, Head Smash hits Dragonite and Salamence harder, Wave Crash hits Garchomp almost as hard (without factoring in any of Reckless, Tera or rain, which make it hit harder). Double-Edge is also mostly outclassed and doesn't hit anything that Water-Rock-Psychic coverage already wouldn't, its power on a neutral hit is in fact on par with resisted Wave Crash. Psychic Fangs is actually a somewhat useful move to have, its power against the targets it's supposed to hit isn't overshadowed by Head Smash or Wave Crash, so no objections against that.
So with three coverage slots filled and no viable alternatives you can slot in Aqua Jet pretty comfortably. And since Basculin is often used on Rain and/or runs Tera Water, that will heighten the power of Aqua Jet considerably and as such its relative utility compared to the aforementioned options competing for its move slot (which as I've already said are borderline useless).

The point isn't so much if Basculin is a better priority user than Azumarill or Breloom, which is arguable, but more so if it has better options than Aqua Jet and the answer is clearly no, but that's more of a testament to how effective Wave Crash becomes with its combination of abilities. In fact options such as Ice Fang and Double-Edge are so useless that I would argue Final Gambit, as risky and situational as it is, still ends up being a notch above them, despite being still clearly overshadowed by Aqua Jet.
 
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