SP Shared Power

[Bobsican]

Approved by in the hills and UT
Art by lydian

Shared Power​

The place where we share our power!
In this OM each time you send out a Pokémon it will share its ability with the rest of its team, so the first Pokémon you send out will have one ability and the second two, and so on up to 6 different abilities all active, obviously if you send back the first Pokémon now it will have all 6 abilities.

Clauses: Standard OMs, Sleep Moves Clause

Banlist
Pokémon:

• Arceus (Except Bug, Dragon, Ice and Fire)
• Calyrex-Ice
• Calyrex-Shadow
• Chi-Yu
• Chien-Pao
• Conkeldurr
• Deoxys-Attack
• Eternatus
• Greninja
• Kingambit
• Koraidon
• Kyogre
• Kyurem-Black
• Kyurem-White
• Lunala
• Magearna
• Mewtwo
• Miraidon
• Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
• Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
• Ogerpon-Hearthflame
• Palafin
• Rayquaza
• Regieleki
• Reshiram
• Rillaboom
• Scizor
• Shaymin-Sky
• Sneasler
• Spectrier
• Zacian
• Zacian-Crowned
• Zamazenta
• Zamazenta-Crowned
• Zekrom

Banned Abilities:

Spoiler

Arena Trap
Moody
Neutralizing Gas
Sand Veil
Shadow Tag
Snow Cloak
Speed Boost
Stench
Swift Swim

Restricted Abilities (Can be used but won't be shared with the team):

Spoiler

Armor Tail
Chlorophyll
Comatose
Contrary
Dazzling
Fur Coat
Gale Wings
Good as Gold
Huge Power
Ice Scales
Illusion
Imposter
Magic Bounce
Magic Guard
Magnet Pull
Mold Breaker
Multiscale
Poison Heal
Prankster
Protosynthesis
Psychic Surge
Pure Power
Queenly Majesty
Quark Drive
Quick Draw
Quick Feet
Regenerator
Sand Rush
Simple
Slush Rush
Stakeout
Stamina
Sturdy
Surge Surfer
Technician
Tinted Lens
Triage
Unaware
Unburden
Water Bubble

Banned Moves:

• Baton Pass
• Extreme Speed
• Last Respects

Items:

• King's Rock
• Starf Berry
• Razor Fang
• Leppa Berry

Watchlist:

Spoiler

Abilities

Pokémon
Comfey

Moves

Items

Common questions:
Q: What happens when a Pokémon faints? Does its ability continue to support the rest of the team?
A: Yes. Incineroar will still continue to share Intimidate, even after it faints. This is to avoid battles turning into snowballs once a Pokémon has been fainted.

Q: Do abilities stack? Will two Intimidate Pokémon give me two Attack drops?
A: No. However, clones or similar variants of the same ability under diferent labels (such as Moxie, As One (Glastrier) and Chilling Neigh, Filter, Prism Armor and Solid Rock, or Multiscale, Shadow Shield and Tera Shell) do stack. Redundant effects that don't directly manipulate damage multipliers or stat changes won't usually have a significant effect except when dealing with ability disruption as explained in the next question.

Q: How do Skill Swap, Entrainment, Mummy, etc. work?
A: Ability-altering effects only work with a Pokémon’s native ability. So Skill Swap would exchange their normal abilities while retaining the teammates’. The shared ability remains as the original one when the Pokémon is switched out.

Q: How does Libero interact with Protean when stacked?
A: One will trigger per switch-in, then the other one if the next move causes the user to change type again from the new one it previously got, allowing to change type twice per switch-in over just once.

Q: Why don't Imposter and Illusion work even when unrestricted?
A: Illusion at present appears to have technical limitations preventing this from working and thus is not shared, meanwhile Imposter nowadays properly shares when unrestricted, but for balancing reasons it is indeed restricted from sharing in regular Shared Power.

Q: How does Prankster work with Mycelium Might?
A: Mycelium Might doesn't reduce your priority, it makes you move last inside your priority bracket, so if both use a move with the same priority then the Mycelium Might user moves second.

Q: Does Poison Touch make your moves Sheer Force compatible?
A: Sheer Force doesn't boost the power of moves affected by Poison Touch.

Q: Berserk/Anger Shell didn't activate, is this a bug?
A: Remember that they don't get activated by self damage like Substitute and that if the opponent has Sheer Force these abilities can't activate.

Q: Does Battle Bond/Embody Aspect/Tera Shell/Poison Puppeteer share?
A: These abilities check for the corresponding Pokémon, so while they technically share, their effects won't activate outside the native species and thus are practically restricted abilities.

Q: Does Disguise/Ice Face share?
A: Similarly to the above, abilities that require the Pokémon to change formes can't activate any of their effects when shared to other species.

Q: Is X ability bugged?
A: If you believe an ability is bugged, check the guidelines of this subforum and post it there with a replay, it is recommended that you first do calculations to check if the effects are indeed gone, as visual changes aren't usually reflected, visual tips from abilities like Guts and Cloud Nine don't appear for the partners, but their effects are still present, these abilities do work as intended.

Gen 8 Thread:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/shared-power.3660877/

Council

Bobsican (Leader)
Gimlaf
vnmmv
InkyDarkBird
Byleth

Playable
On Main Server!

Discord
You can discuss it in the main OM Discord: https://discord.gg/xpYZ2fdcvx

Ban History
25/11/2022 - Speed Boost, Sand Rush, Magic Bounce, Sturdy, Gholdengo, Chien-Pao, and Swift Swim banned!
01/12/2022 - Poison Heal, Ting-Lu, Slush Rush and Contrary have been banned!
04/12/2022 - Starf Berry, Unburden, Quick Feet and Anger Shell have been banned!
23/12/2022 - Purifying Salt, Prankster and Bright Powder have been banned!
16/01/2023 - Anger Shell has been freed!
30/05/2023 - HOME Releases + Ting-Lu unbanned
01/06/2023 - Psychic Surge and Dragonite banned
07/06/2023 - Dialga, Dialga-Origin and Palkia freed!
07/07/2023 - A lot of ubers unbanned plus weather changes.
14/08/2023 - Gale Wings banned
13/09/2023 - DLC 1 Dropped, many tiering changes were made
02/11/2023 - Zacian and Sturdy banned
05/11/2023 - Basculegion, Extreme Speed, Protosynthesis and Shaymin-Sky banned, some Arceus forms freed
10/11/2023 - Restrictions are added to the tier
19/11/2023 - Final pre DLC2 Slate
14/12/2023 - First DLC2 Slate
01/01/2024 - Kyurem-Black, Kyurem-White, Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, Reshiram, Zekrom and Lunala are now banned
27/01/2024 - Ice Scales restricted, Chi-Yu, Spectrier, Regieleki and Landorus-I banned
21/02/2024 - Iron Crown and Mewtwo banned
14/05/2024 - Kyogre banned
14/05/2024 - Magnet Pull was moved from banned to restricted!
07/07/2024 - Dondozo was unbanned
12/08/2024 - Clefable is now free!
05/09/2024 - Calyrex-Ice is banned, Psychic Surge is now restricted, and Chlorophyll has been unbanned and Restricted!
15/09/2024 - Scizor is now banned! And on top of that, Deoxys (base), Spectrier and Flutter Mane have been unbanned.
20/09/2024 - Technician is getting restricted, Conkeldurr, Palafin and Rillaboom banned!
29/09/2024 - Landorus-I and Terapagos are now unbanned, Regenerator and Unburden are now restricted (previously banned)!
15/11/2024 - Quark Drive restricted as result of a suspect test.
30/11/2024 - Spectrier and Sneasler banned, Iron Crown unbanned!
31/03/2025 - Purifying Salt is unrestricted.
02/09/2025 - Zamazenta is banned as result of a suspect test.

 

[Bobsican]

Viability Rankings (ordered alphabetically within each rank, last update 06/10/2025):

A+

Crawdaunt (Adaptability)
Flutter Mane (Protosynthesis)
Giratina-Origin (Levitate)
Hisuian Lilligant (Hustle, Chlorophyll)
Houndstone (Fluffy)
Quaquaval (Moxie)

A

Arceus-Dragon (Multitype)
Basculegion-M (Adaptability)
Heatran (Flash Fire)
Landorus (Sheer Force, Sand Force)
Lycanroc-Dusk (Tough Claws)
Porygon-Z (Adaptability, Download)
Solgaleo (Full Metal Body)
Ting-Lu (Vessel of Ruin)
Zangoose (Toxic Boost)

A-

Drapagult (Clear Body)
Wo-Chien (Tablets of Ruin)
Trevenant (Harvest)
Iron Crown (Quark Drive)
Basculegion-F (Adaptability)
Indeedee-M (Psychic Surge)
Groudon (Drought)
Garganacl (Purifying Salt)
Lycanroc-Midday (Sand Rush)

B+

Blissey (Natural Cure)
Bombirdier (Rocky Payload)
Ceruledge (Weak Armor)
Comfey (Triage)
Decidueye (Long Reach)
Deoxys-N (Pressure)
Flamigo (Scrappy)
Golurk (No Guard)
Galvantula (Compound Eyes)
Ho-Oh (Regenerator)
Lycanroc-Midnight (No Guard)
Maushold (Technician, Cheek Pouch)
Metagross (Clear Body)
Perrserker (Steely Spirit)
Regidrago (Dragon's Maw)
Terapagos (Tera Shift)
Toxapex (Regenerator, Merciless)

B

Alolan Muk (Poison Touch, Gluttony)
Annihilape (Defiant)
Cloyster (Skill Link)
Dragalge (Adaptability)
Dragonite (Multiscale)
Drifblim (Flare Boost)
Excadrill (Mold Breaker, Sand Rush, Sand Force)
Glimmora (Toxic Debris)
Greedent (Cheek Pouch)
Hariyama (Guts)
Hisuian Decidueye (Scrappy)
Hisuian Samurott (Sharpness)
Iron Boulder (Quark Drive)
Klawf (Anger Shell)
Kleavor (Sharpness)
Latios (Levitate)
Lokix (Tinted Lens)
Ogerpon-W (Water Absorb)
Okidogi (Toxic Chain, Guard Dog)
Paldean Tauros-Aqua (Cud Chew)
Pelipper (Drizzle)
Raging Bolt (Protosynthesis)
Salazzle (Corrosion)
Sylveon (Pixilate)
Tyranitar (Sand Stream)
Ursaluna-BM (Mind's Eye)

B-

Alcremie (Aroma Veil)
Archaludon (Stamina)
Armarouge (Weak Armor)
Baxcalibur (Thermal Exchange)
Breloom (Poison Heal)
Cinderace (Libero)
Clawitzer (Mega Launcher)
Clodsire (Unaware, Water Absorb)
Corviknight (Pressure, Unnerve, Mirror Armor)
Cresselia (Levitate)
Espathra (Opportunist)
Gallade (Sharpness)
Gastrodon (Sticky Hold, Storm Drain)
Haxorus (Mold Breaker)
Hippowdon (Sand Stream)
Hisuian Arcanine (Rock Head)
Honchkrow (Super Luck)
Hydrapple (Regenerator, Sticky Hold)
Jirachi (Serene Grace)
Iron Bundle (Quark Drive)
Latias (Levitate)
Manaphy (Hydration)
Muk (Sticky Hold)
Palkia-O (Pressure)
Polteageist (Weak Armor)
Roaring Moon (Protosynthesis)
Salamence (Intimidate)
Toxicroak (Dry Skin)
Urshifu-Single-Strike (Unseen Fist)

C+

Charizard (Solar Power)
Chesnaught (Bulletproof)
Dondozo (Unaware)
Galarian Moltres (Berserk)
Hatterene (Magic Bounce)
Hydreigon (Levitate)
Kommo-o (Bulletproof, Soundproof)
Landorus-T (Intimidate)
Munkidori (Toxic Chain)
Ogerpon (Defiant)
Ogerpon-C (Sturdy)
Paldean Tauros-Blaze (Cud Chew)
Pincurchin (Electric Surge)
Snorlax (Gluttony)
Ursaluna (Guts)
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike (Unseen Fist)

C

Alolan Ninetales (Snow Warning)
Arceus-Fire (Multitype)
Ariados (Sniper)
Carbink (Sturdy)
Chansey (Natural Cure)
Dialga (Pressure)
Dialga-O (Pressure)
Deoxys-S (Pressure)
Garchomp (Rough Skin)
Giratina (Pressure)
Gholdengo (Good as Gold)
Glastrier (Grim Neigh)
Gliscor (Poison Heal)
Heracross (Guts)
Hisuian Braviary (Tinted Lens)
Inteleon (Sniper)
Iron Valiant (Quark Drive)
Jolteon (Quick Feet)
Kilowattrel (Competitive)
Meowscarada (Protean)
Palkia (Pressure)
Shiftry (Wind Rider)
Skeledirge (Unaware)
Staraptor (Reckless)
Talonflame (Gale Wings)
Tinkaton (Mold Breaker)
Toedscruel (Mycelium Might)
Volcanion (Water Absorb)

C-

Appletun (Ripen)
Brambleghast (Wind Rider)
Dachsbun (Well-Baked Body)
Deoxys-D (Pressure)
Ditto (Imposter)
Galarian Slowking (Regenerator)
Great Tusk (Protosynthesis)
Hawlucha (Unburden)
Hisuian Goodra (Shell Armor)
Krookodile (Intimidate)
Lugia (Multiscale)
Mamoswine (Thick Fat)
Milotic (Marvel Scale)
Ninetales (Drought)
Pecharunt (Poison Puppeteer)
Sinistcha (Heatproof)
Thundurus-T (Volt Absorb)
Toxtricity (Punk Rock)
Volcarona (Flame Body)

 

[Bobsican]

Sample Teams: If you want to your team to become a sample, post it in the thread or PM it to me.

Classic Stall by Bobsican
Priority Spam by Bobsican
Regenerator Stall by InkyDarkBird
Maushold Hyper Offense by FalcoRCM

Archive

Berry Offense by Gimlaf
Intimidate Stall by InkyDarkBird
Electric Terrain by LuffyWasTaken
Electric Terrain by Gimlaf
Sitrus Berry by vnmmv

 

[Bobsican]

Ability Role Compendium

As one of the metagames where abilities are the core aspect of the tier, quite often it is ideal to look for combinations that synergize, and otherwise abusers of certain abilities. This resource should ease teambuilding when it comes to looking for specific support options and abusers of such support alike.

Offensive Abilities

These abilities are commonly considered for shared offensive multipliers and otherwise compromise the opponent's longevity, with minimal reliance on a more specific team structure.

Ability	Viable Users	Description
Adaptability	Crawdaunt Basculegion-M Basculegion-F Porygon-Z Dragalge	Virtually everything offensive runs STAB, and thus is very easy to include in any offensive team.
Libero	Cinderace	Turning any given typing into a STAB once per switch-in is a neat way to complement Adaptability, but it's a bit more niche as it does not mix up well with setup or for dual-typed Pokemon with good STABs.
Protean	Meowscarada	Often seen alongside Libero to enable changing type twice per switch-in, rather than just once.
Download	Porygon-Z	While it often demands some scouting and momentum for proper use, Download's capability to benefit physical and special attackers alike makes it easy to justify.
Tough Claws	Lycanroc-Dusk	Contact moves make up most of the physically offensive move options, and thus is a great broad damage boosting ability. A few special moves like Draining Kiss and Grass Knot can also enable certain special attackers like Comfey.
Hustle	Hisuian Lilligant	This is the strongest offensive boost the metagame has to offer for physical attackers with no specific limitations, bar demanding No Guard or Compound Eyes to complement for consistency.
No Guard	Lycanroc-Midnight Golurk	Besides enabling Hustle's reliability, No Guard also ensures that less reliable moves like Blizzard, Thunder, and Fire Blast land, indirectly also buffing the options of several offensive Pokemon at the cost of PP.
Compound Eyes	Galvantula	Quite similar to No Guard in practice, but Galvantula instead focuses on the role of a Sticky Web setter over a Stealth Rock one like the No Guard users.
Sheer Force	Landorus	While it may demand using otherwise weaker moves than normal to apply the ability, removing Life Orb recoil and adding a offensive multiplier to a decent variety of physical and special moves alike makes it more than worth it.
Long Reach	Decidueye	It's great in physical attackers reliant on contact moves as it removes the act of having to deal with Fluffy, but is rather situational otherwise. Do not use this ability and Touch Claws on the same team as they anti-synergize.
Moxie	Quaquaval	While technically not an innate boost, the capability to snowball and enable sweeps can be appreciated by physical attackers.
Chilling Neigh	Glastrier	It can stack with Moxie to overall boost Atk by 2 per KO, but it's niche beyond that, especially as its sole user is quite terrible on its own.
Sharpness	Hisuian Samurott Kleavor Gallade	Moves boosted by Sharpness are surprisingly common, and thus can benefit physical attackers like Iron Crown, Iron Boulder, Maushold, Ceruledge, and Hisuian Lilligant.
Mega Launcher	Clawitzer	While a powerful ability, the capability to mainly boost moves resisted by Fairy-types make it somewhat niche even if otherwise broadly accessible like Sharpness, especially with Technician's restriction, as well as Kyogre being banned for unsurprising reasons.
Skill Link	Cloyster	It's a great support ability to not have to run Loaded Dice on physical sweepers, and its viability is further boosted by the fact that moves like Icicle Spear, Scale Shot, Bullet Seed, and Rock Blast aren't affected by Fluffy.

Defensive Abilities

These abilities are commonly considered for shared defensive multipliers and otherwise increase longevity, with minimal reliance on a more specific team structure.

Ability	Viable Users	Description
Fluffy	Houndstone	As offensive multipliers can get high really quickly, Fluffy is the biggest defensive multiplier the tier has to offer that is shared, defining the defensive metagame around it, and causing offensive teams to always keep it in mind when designing wallbreakers and sweepers alike.
Flash Fire	Heatran	As Fluffy also makes the whole team twice as vulnerable to Fire-type damage, an ability slot for a Fire-type immunity patches this issue.
Well-Baked Body	Dachsbun	While the benefit granted whenever this ability triggers is far easier to use by any Pokemon than Flash Fire's, Dachsbun itself is way more limited in the roles it can perform compared to Heatran, but still has a niche by compressing as a better check to Dragon spam teams.
Aroma Veil	Alcremie	A common way to break stall involves the usage of Taunt, which this entirely prevents. It also comes with the benefit of blocking Cursed Body and the effect of more situational tools like Psychic Noise and Encore.
Tablets of Ruin	Wo-Chien	As an unconditional defensive boost, it is commonly seen in stall teams alongside Fluffy.
Vessel of Ruin	Ting-Lu	Even though running this alongside Tablets of Ruin implies running multiple Dark-types, the lack of specially defensive multiplier ability options makes it worth to consider regardless.
Purifying Salt	Garganacl	Full status immunity for the whole team plus halved damage taken from Ghost-type moves eases a lot the longevity of a team while also making it harder for sweepers like Dragapult to make progress.
Natural Cure	Blissey Chansey	Unlike Purifying Salt, Natural Cure still allows the use of Rest, which can be useful to grant longevity for Pokemon that otherwise would be limited to Leftovers for recovery like Heatran.
Levitate	Giratina-O Latios Latias Cresselia Hydreigon	A Ground-type immunity complements the main benefit of ignoring Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Sticky Web.
Sticky Hold	Gastrodon Hydrapple Muk	Brings competition to Levitate by also granting a reliable immunity to Stealth Rock alongside Heavy-Duty Boots, thus also removing the need to remove entry hazards altogether to begin with, which is neat as there's barely any defensive hazard control options in the tier.
Intimidate	Paldean Tauros-Aqua Salamence Landorus-T Krookodile	While a great way to weaken physical attackers by merely switching, especially with a Regenerator core, several teams do account it to either ignore it (Scrappy, Clear Body, Full Metal Body) or downright punish it (Mirror Armor, Defiant, Competitive).
Bulletproof	Chesnaught Kommo-o	Even though it's niche as it's more matchup dependant, this ability complements special walls to be immune to common attacks like Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Aura Sphere, and Energy Ball.
Guard Dog	Okidogi	Bulky setup sweepers can appreciate the act of no longer having to worry about phazing.
Wind Rider	Shiftry Brambleghast	While niche, a immunity to Whirlwind and to some moves like Hurricane, Heat Wave, Blizzard, and Petal Blizzard can benefit some matchups.
Toxic Chain	Munkidori Okidogi Fezandipiti	Status spreading becomes much easier for defensive teams, it can also find use in Merciless teams by nature.

Restricted Ability Users

These Pokemon have an ability that can't be shared with the rest of the team (or is otherwise technically limited to their species), yet still manage to find success, with minimal reliance on a specific team structure.

Ability	Viable Users	Description
Regenerator	Ho-Oh Toxapex Hydrapple Galarian Slowking	They often see use in defensive teams, in particular making the most of Intimidate to stall out foes and then regain momentum.
Multitype	Arceus-Dragon Arceus-Fire	Arceus's stats and wide movepool enable it to fit multiple sorts of team structures, although Arceus-Fire faces way more competition in general than its Dragon-type counterpart.
Tera Shell	Terapagos	While its ability is useless against a Tinted Lens foe, Terapagos performs nice role compression as a offensive Rapid Spin user that can generally ensure the first use thanks to its ability.
Multiscale	Dragonite Lugia	Dragonite and Lugia use Multiscale to ease coming into the field or to enable further a sweep, depending on the momentum.
Psychic Surge	Indeedee-M	Priority is often something teams spam as the high amount of offensive multiplier options can quickly compensate for their starting weak BP early-game, so the priority removal of Psychic Terrain comes in handy for these reasons, hindering that sort of teams while also enabling a sweep for the relative frail setup sweepers in offensive teams.
Protosynthesis	Flutter Mane Raging Bolt Roaring Moon Great Tusk	Sometimes paired up with Drought to then trigger their ability without consuming an item slot, they often can also afford ignoring their ability and relying on the abilities of their allies instead to perform their respective roles.
Quark Drive	Iron Crown Iron Boulder Iron Bundle Iron Valiant	Sometimes paired up with Electric Surge to then trigger their ability without consuming an item slot, they often can also afford ignoring their ability and relying on the abilities of their allies instead to perform their respective roles.
Unaware	Clodsire Dondozo Skeledirge	Fairly common in stall teams, as they provide an answer for foes reliant on setup to wallbreak.
Imposter	Ditto	With offense being fairly common, Ditto can be a direct way to punish and revenge kill setup sweepers, however, as Imposter won't copy the abilities of the opponent's allies, instead thus only having the native ability of the opponent plus the ones of the rest of Ditto's allies if they've already entered the field, it can be inconsistent at this.
Tinted Lens	Lokix Hisuian Braviary	Seen commonly in offensive teams, with Lokix often performing a priority revenge killer and late-game sweeper role, and Hisuian Braviary being underexplored.
Triage	Comfey	Holding the highest reliable offensive priority in the metagame, teams built around to maximize the potential of a Comfey sweep aren't unheard of.
Technician	Maushold	Maushold's strong sweeping potential with Population Bomb enables it to find use in most offensive teams, generally demanding the minimal support of one of No Guard, Compound Eyes, or Skill Link.
Poison Puppeteer	Pecharunt	Pecharunt's decent movepool and physical bulk enable it to find situational use in some bulky teams.
Pressure	Deoxys-N Corviknight Palkia-O Palkia Dialga-O Dialga Giratina Deoxys-S Deoxys-D	Listed here as even though it does share, Pressure is quite situational outside hard stall. Most Pressure users generally rely more on their own stats and support abilities from allies to do their niche.

Ability Teambuilding Guide

The following will go into more specific team structures that have been defined in the current metagame, covering more situational abilities that fit more dedicated structures. It's worth noting that while these teams generally will benefit or even rely on previously-mentioned abilities/users, they won't be mentioned out of redundancy unless they have a more specific/notable interaction with the given pool of abilities.

Berry Teams

Berry teams are a branch of stall structures in the tier that heavily punish passive play as they quickly snowball with setup opportunities granted by making the most of berries.

These following abilities are mandatory for berry teams:

Ability	Viable Users	Description
Harvest	Trevenant	A core aspect of these sort of teams is reusing berries without dedicating momentum and a moveslot for Recycle.
Cud Chew	Paldean Tauros-Aqua Paldean Tauros-Blaze	It doubles the effect of each consumed berry while also synergizing with Cheek Pouch.
Cheek Pouch	Maushold Greedent	Ensures that the user can't be 2HKOed if a Kee / Maranga / healing berry is consumed, while also heavily increasing longevity by nature.

The following abilities aren't mandatory, but are often/only seen in berry teams:

Ability	Viable Users	Description
Sticky Hold	Gastrodon Hydrapple Muk	The heavy reliance on berries is compromised if they are Knocked Off, and thus Sticky Hold enables the typical bulky setup sweepers found in these structures to not be forced out as easily.
Ripen	Appletun	Virtually outclassed by Cud Chew, especially as Appletun isn't too strong on its own, but stacking such abilities can be beneficial in heavily dedicated teams.
Gluttony	Alolan Muk Snorlax	Only to be used if the team is not using the Sitrus / Kee / Maranga / Jacoba / Rowap Berry, which is uncommon as Cud Chew + Cheek Pouch already heals plenty to use much else berry-wise.
Drought	Groudon Ninetales	Minimizing Harvest RNG can be beneficial if a strategy in mind requires a held berry multiple turns in a row, but given the constrained ability slots for berry teams, it's not seen often in these structures.
Sturdy	Carbink Nosepass	Enabled by berries for FEAR-like strategies, these Sturdy users are capable of stalling out some of the strongest wallbreakers the tier has to offer as they restore Sturdy with Oran Berry + Harvest + Cheek Pouch + Cud Chew or Ripen.

Weather Teams

Teams built around a given field effect aren't unheard of in general, but in any case, one of these is ran in a weather team:

Ability	Viable Users	Description
Drought	Groudon Ninetales	Sun teams generally rely on restricted abilities for abusers, and so they compensate their linear approach with versatility by having the capability to blend with more standard structures.
Drizzle	Pelipper	As Swift Swim is banned, rain teams lean into balance structures, using the semi-permaweather in a manner almost not too different from Gen 5.
Sand Stream	Tyranitar Hippowdon	Even though there's barely any sand abusers, their capability to outspeed the entire metagame enables some of the scariest late-game sweepers in the tier, especially with the support of other abilities to patch some of their common flaws.
Snow Warning	Alolan Ninetales	It's the most niche of the bunch, and it's limited to the typical usage of Aurora Veil to enable setup opportunities, otherwise facing heavy competition with Sand Stream for similar purposes. No Guard outclasses this if the intent is to ensure that Blizzard always lands.

The following abilities are commonly seen in weather teams:

Ability	Viable Users	Applicable Weather	Description
Dry Skin	Toxicroak	Rain	While it may turn the matchup against sun teams harder, it does provide neat longevity for the entire team, and a Water-type immunity to ease the matchup against Water-type wallbreakers.
Hydration	Manaphy	Rain	Status immunity can be really helpful against stall teams, especially when complemented with the extra longevity from Dry Skin. Unlike Purifying Salt, Rest also can still be used, so it also provides a semi-reliable recovery alternative for any Pokemon that learns universal TMs.
Solar Power	Charizard	Sun	While niche as it provides longevity issues, especially for an ability that does not universally benefit every team member without then easily struggling against special walls, Solar Power gives great wallbreaking potential.
Protosynthesis	Flutter Mane Raging Bolt Roaring Moon Great Tusk	Sun	Even though this ability is restricted, all of its users already shine without using it as is, and thus is a flexible benefit to consider.
Chlorophyll	Hisuian Lilligant	Sun	While it's normally more known for its Hustle support, Hisuian Lilligant is the only viable Chlorophyll sweeper in the tier so far.
Rocky Payload	Bombirdier	Sand	As Rock-types are commonly seen in these structures, a large x1.5 boost to such moves is pretty noticeable, especially as it's still a good offensive type, potentially even overwhelming resists.
Sand Rush	Lycanroc-Midday Excadrill	Sand	As alluded to previously, one of the main reasons to run sand is to enable sweepers that can outspeed the entire metagame while under their weather.
Sand Force	Landorus Excadrill	Sand	An overall x2 multiplier for Rock-type moves when combined with Rocky Payload is immediately noticeable, and the boost provided for Ground- and Steel-type moves can be further appreciated with other offensive abilities.
Steely Spirit	Perrserker	Sand	Even though it's mainly seen in structures dedicated just to this ability, it can also find use in sand teams for similar reasons as Rocky Payload, potentially even overwhelming resists on certain users of the ability, such as Solgaleo.
Slush Rush	Cetitan Alolan Sandslash	Snow	Technically the listed users aren't even ranked, but that's because snow teams so far are rather underexplored and barely lingering on viability, with snow teams currently leaning more into semi-weather teams at most in practice.

STAB Spam Teams

Teams making the most of a certain ability or two that considerably boost moves of a certain type are a fairly common offensive structure in the tier, it's recommended to also refer back to the general list of offensive abilities to complement this sort of teams, to avoid redundancy, most notably Libero and/or Protean commonly see use in these structures to considerably increase the teambuilding options.

Ability	Viable Users	Common Partners	Description
Steely Spirit	Perrserker	Solgaleo Iron Crown Metagross Excadrill Dialga-O Gholdengo	Sometimes overlapping with sand teams as the pool of Pokemon has some similarities, Steely Spirit provides an immediately noticeable boost that dedicated teams can take advantage of.
Dragon's Maw	Regidrago	Dragapult Dragonite Dragalge Raging Bolt Palkia-O Archaludon Salamence Roaring Moon Hydreigon Kommo-o Garchomp Dialga-O Flapple Cloyster	Often combined with Mega Launcher for a really strong Dragon Pulse, teams built around Dragon spam shine in the variety of options alongside the capability to hit most of the metagame for at least neutral damage.
Pixilate	Sylveon	Maushold	Often overlapping with Guts teams, these teams make the most of Normal-type moves no longer having immunities to then deal a surprising amount of damage on resists.
Grassy Surge	Thwackey	Hisuian Lilligant Ogerpon	Thwackey is a enabler of offensive priority spam teams that have a good matchup against Psychic Surge teams, compensating the seemingly lacking damage output of Grassy Glide with standard offensive abilities that turn it into a legitimate sweeping tool late-game.

Dedicated Multiplier Teams

The following abilities rely on a core of 2 or more specific abilities and oriented teambuilding, limiting them into more dedicated team structures.

Ability	Viable Users	Complementary Abilities	Restricted/Niche Ability Users	Description
Guts	Gurdurr Hariyama Ursaluna Heracross	Toxic Boost Marvel Scale Scrappy Mind's Eye Pixilate	Gliscor Breloom	While they often don't have longevity by nature, teams reliant on this sort of abilities can hit surprisingly hazard with Facade and priority, often quickly overwhelming the other team if not played around carefully.
Flare Boost	Drifblim	None specific (refer to the standard offensive ability list)	Jolteon	Listed here out of limiting the item slot of most/all team members to Flame Orb, "FlareFeet" teams can make for a decent variety of offense with Sticky Web support.
Sniper	Ariados Inteleon	Merciless Corrosion Super Luck Toxic Debris Toxic Chain	Urshifu-SS Urshifu-RS Meowscarada	While it has some teambuilding variety, Sniper teams at the same time are rather limited, as they can struggle against teams with abilities such as Shell Armor and Purifying Salt.
Rock Head	Hisuian Arcanine	Reckless Rocky Payload	Talonflame	Often matchup fishy out of the ability pool often causing role overlap, this is also its strength to overwhelm checks.
Anger Shell	Klawf	Weak Armor	Dragonite Terapagos	As Focus Sash is fairly common in the tier, Anger Shell + Weak Armor can be used to make sweepers harder to revenge kill, appreciating the decent variety of offensive hazard control options in the tier.
Punk Rock	Toxtricity	Pixilate	Kommo-o Scream Tail Skeledirge	Rather niche as sound moves are quite limited in terms of coverage without being made linear with another ability like Pixilate, it can still be something to build around.

 

[FiboDoesPokemon]

In b4 Maushold teams take over tier

we've got
Poison Touch + Merciless = Crit every hit
No guard - Guarenteed 10 hit
Technician - 1.5x boost
Sharpness - Another 1.5x boost
Adaptability - Yet another 1.5x boost
Long reach- No longer makes contact, iron barbs/rocky helm invalidated
Refrigerate/pixelate/areilate/scrappy - your choice of 1.2x power boost, Ghosts be crying
Tough claws/sword-of-ruin- just the extra 1.3x boost for funsies

 

[lolgod3]

quickban flutter and maushold pls

 

[Billybobman]

Some rough ideas:
Prankster Dbond

Prankster+Shapness+Hustle+No Guard+Flash Fire+Magic Bounce
https://pokepast.es/41f3345d673662a9
Set up Dbond then attack. Anti berry options: (unnerve)
Berry Multiscale

Drought+Cheek Pouch+Harvest+Cud Chew+Prankster+Multiscale
https://pokepast.es/decb7778e047ed4e
Heal off some damage, then heal off even more damage on the next turn.
Snow Heal

https://pokepast.es/6fb1555da18fd44a
Poison Heal + Ice body to heal a bunch

seems like an interesting mon to use against stat boosters. (Contrary, Speed Boost, Weak Armor, Stamina, etc.)
can offer Prankster, and may be able to use Magic Room to hurt Toxic Orb and Berry teams
lets you set up hazards and use slow parting shots for pivoting
Seems important for defensive teams

 

[KaenSoul]

In b4 Maushold teams take over tier

we've got
Poison Touch + Merciless = Crit every hit
No guard - Guarenteed 10 hit
Technician - 1.5x boost
Sharpness - Another 1.5x boost
Adaptability - Yet another 1.5x boost
Long reach- No longer makes contact, iron barbs/rocky helm invalidated
Refrigerate/pixelate/areilate/scrappy - your choice of 1.2x power boost, Ghosts be crying
Tough claws/sword-of-ruin- just the extra 1.3x boost for funsies

Long Reach won't be a thing until HOME, so you better carry Protective Pads.
Maushold hasn't been that impressive, I see it a lot, but is just one of many nukes enabled by the format, and if you only go for damage abilities then you lose to anything with Speed control (speed boosting abilities/priority), and stamina just farms you without crit support.

quickban flutter and maushold pls

No.

Some rough ideas:
Prankster Dbond

Prankster+Shapness+Hustle+No Guard+Flash Fire+Magic Bounce
https://pokepast.es/41f3345d673662a9
Set up Dbond then attack. Anti berry options: (unnerve)
Berry Multiscale

Drought+Cheek Pouch+Harvest+Cud Chew+Prankster+Multiscale
https://pokepast.es/decb7778e047ed4e
Heal off some damage, then heal off even more damage on the next turn.
Snow Heal

https://pokepast.es/6fb1555da18fd44a
Poison Heal + Ice body to heal a bunch

seems like an interesting mon to use against stat boosters. (Contrary, Speed Boost, Weak Armor, Stamina, etc.)
can offer Prankster, and may be able to use Magic Room to hurt Toxic Orb and Berry teams
lets you set up hazards and use slow parting shots for pivoting
Seems important for defensive teams

Nice ideas, but Drought is part of the initial banlist so you will need something different on that berry team, Rippen should help a lot.

 

[KaenSoul]

Speed Boost, Sand Rush and Magic Bounce go back to being banned, Sturdy, Gholdengo, Chien-Pao, and Swift Swim have been banned!

	KaenSoul	Chrome8	ponchlake	Clefable	kennukem	Result
Sturdy	BAN	BAN	Abstain	Do Not Ban	BAN	BAN
Ice Scales	BAN	BAN	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	No Action
Magic Bounce	BAN	Abstain	BAN	BAN	BAN	BAN
Gholdengo	BAN	Abstain	BAN	BAN	Do Not Ban	BAN
Ting-Lu	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	BAN	Do Not Ban	Abstain	No Action
Chien-Pao	BAN	BAN	BAN	Do Not Ban	BAN	BAN
Wo-Chien	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	BAN	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	No Action
Chi-Yu	Do Not Ban	BAN	BAN	Do Not Ban	Abstain	No Action
Sand	BAN Sand Rush	BAN Sand Rush	BAN Sand Rush	BAN Sand Rush	BAN Sand Rush	BAN (SR)
Rain	BAN Swift Swim	BAN Swift Swim	BAN Swift Swim	BAN Swift Swim	BAN Swift Swim	BAN (SS)
Speed Boost	BAN	Abstain	BAN	BAN	Abstain	BAN
Fluffy	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	No Action

(The following is my opinion)

Sturdy was already a centralizing force last generation and that didn't improve now, the combination of Sturdy + HDB allowed pretty much all Pokémon found in HO teams to fight back their checks becoming extremely difficult to even revenge kill without multi hit moves (mostly limited to Technician-Skill Link teams, popular sturdy abusers), sand damage (if they aren't immune because of other ability or their type), Rough Skin or Rocky Helmet (these last two assuming they are even physical attackers and using contact moves).


Magic Bounce was originally unbanned as there is a new ability that in theory should help against it, but it turns out, surprising few, that Mycelium Might is not worth running as reducing the priority of your status moves isn't really helping you as you will Taunt after they defog/set hazards/sub/etc or your toxic will be blocked by their regular priority sub/taunt, among other problems the ability has, like being forced to run Toedscruel. Another of the reason to unban it was that there is another similar ability to Magic Bounce in Good as Gold, and it was only fair to allow Magic Bounce to see how it compares. But in the end, Magic Bounce is banned once again.


Good as Gold is just as effective at shutting down status moves as Magic Bounce, even if it doesn't reflect them, from turn one you know all your status moves that target the opponent have been removed from the game. GaG is exclusive to Gholdengo, and not only that but it is also its only ability, so Gholdengo is the one getting banned.


This creature has stellar stats, great movepool that let it fit on any physical oriented team as Ice Shard is strong priority it can use with Tech, Night Slash works with Super Luck+Sniper, and it can also be used with Sharpness that also boost Sacred Sword, but more importantly is the sole user of Sword of Ruin that is effectively an Adaptability boost on all physical moves your team has, no conditions unlike Tough Claws and Adapt itself.


Sand Rush was allowed as the restriction on Drizzle+Swift Swim and Snow Warning+Slush Rush was removed this gen and was worth checking if all 3 existing together could balance things out, but they didn't, is an easy-to-access form of speed control with two good Pokémon as users, in the slate there was also the option to take action on Sand Storm instead but everyone decided to go for the Sand Rush.


We moved away from complex bans so the combination of Drizzle+Swift Swim was allowed until we could decide which one to ban. Most of what was said about Sand Rush still applies, but Swift Swim had more possible users, allowing it to fit on more team archetypes.


Speed Boost was allowed because it now has fewer users, but it was still seen as a problem, while the option of banning Espathra and Flittle exists, Speed Boost already has a history of being too much for the tier, so we prefer to only ban the ability for this one.

 

[G-Luke]

Sorry for the one liner, but where is Gen 9 Shared Power currently playable?

 

[KaenSoul]

Sorry for the one liner, but where is Gen 9 Shared Power currently playable?

We have been using a chall code to play on main, all the relevant abilities seem to work properly (it does have the "Using SP as an added rule doesnt pass Levitate", but it hasn't been relevant on any room tour game I have seen at least).
/challenge gen9anythinggoes @@@ gen8sharedpower, -drought, -electric surge, +contrary, +harvest, -pure power, -Armor Tail, -Dazzling, +snow warning ++ slush rush, -swift swim, -Sturdy, -Chien-Pao, -Gholdengo, -koraidon, -komala, -miraidon, sleep moves clause

 

[ponchlake]

Speed Boost, Sand Rush and Magic Bounce go back to being banned, Sturdy, Gholdengo, Chien-Pao, and Swift Swim have been banned!

As to not sound redundant, I'll share my opinions on what didn't get hit, as well as my votes for Ting-Lu and Wo-Chien.



Ice Scales and Fluffy are very strong abilities, but I don't think either are particularly broken by any means. They can be annoying to deal with, especially when running an all special attacking or all physical attacking team, but I do believe that the metagame is healthier with both being free. Special attacking teams would run absolutely rampant without Ice Scales, and physical attacking teams are already incredibly powerful even when faced with Fluffy. Offensive teams are fully capable of out-scaling Ice Scales and Fluffy, so I don't believe that either are all that overwhelming or worth banning. I think that removing them would have the opposite effect even.



I know I just said that Ice Scales and Fluffy aren't too overwhelming defensively, but I was potentially worried that the combination of either Ting Lu or Wo-Chien along with Ice Scales and Fluffy could potentially be too bulky for the meta, especially with Chien-Pao's ban. Though in hindsight, I believe that it is a lot safer to keep both of them around and decide tiering action on it at a later time rather than right now. I think Vessel of Ruin and Tablet of Ruin being around could help rein in the overall power level of the meta, and if it ends up being too much of a boon for fat and stall teams, we could simply take a look at it again.

 

[poker210]

looks like poison heal + quick feet + toxic boost is back on the menu baby

 

[ponchlake]

looks like poison heal + quick feet + toxic boost is back on the menu baby

On the menu and on the council's watchlist

 

[fratelli bc]

The Flash Fire + Fluffy combo got an upgrade with Well-Baked Body. And it can be upgraded with Ting-Lu's Vessel of Ruin, the same way Ice Scales can be with Wo-Chien's Tablets of Ruin.

Levitate has an upgrade with Earth Eater, on a pokemon that learns Shed Tail and can receive Prankster.

Stamina + Steels + Fire/Ground Immunity will probably shut down any Moushold and/or Skill Link thing.

Speeking of Skill Link, Rocky Payload looks like a fun ability to boost it's Rock Blast spam, together with Technician.

Armarouge is the only pokemon atm that has access to Expanding Force, so running it with Psychic Surge can be viable.

And finally, Supreme Overlord looks boosted on paper.

Let's see how this meta evolves!

 

[Iodyne]

Levitate has an upgrade with Earth Eater, on a pokemon that learns Shed Tail and can receive Prankster.

There is a drawback insofar that Earth Eater is still affected by ground hazards like spikes, toxic spikes, and sticky web. It could also be a drawback (or benefit) to be grounded for terrains.

 

[RoFnA]

small reminder, that the not so overpowered ability CONTRARY is still not banned.

 

[Dedede Devious]

I feel that merciless is extremely valuable now that toxic heal breloom is on 90% of teams ive seen so far, it beats stamina spam, and defiant/competitive is also good for intimidate/sticky web

 

[fratelli bc]

I feel that merciless is extremely valuable now that toxic heal breloom is on 90% of teams ive seen so far, it beats stamina spam, and defiant/competitive is also good for intimidate/sticky web

I would say that, but i saw many Poison Heal based teams using Shell Armor (Torkal, Dreadnow, even Cloyster) to completly deny crits.

The few games I played, everyone was using SubPunch poison heal breloom. Whatever the style, Stall, HO, Bulky Offense... Everyone and their mothers are using Poison Heal.

Even beeing too early, I guess Posion Heal is just too good and too centralizing and needs to go.

 

[KaenSoul]

Poison Heal, Ting-Lu, Slush Rush and Contrary have been banned!

	KaenSoul	ponchlake	kennukem	Clefable	Chrome8	Result
Poison Heal	BAN	BAN	BAN	BAN	BAN	Banned
Quick Feet	Do Not Ban	Abstain	Do Not Ban	BAN	Do Not Ban	No Action
Houndstone	BAN	Abstain	Do Not Ban	Abstain	Do Not Ban	No Action
Wo-Chien	BAN	BAN	Abstain	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	No Action
Ting-Lu	BAN	BAN	BAN	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Banned
Slush Rush	Do Not Ban	BAN	BAN	Do Not Ban	BAN	Banned
Contrary	BAN	BAN	BAN	BAN	BAN	Banned

Poison Heal quickly become a centralizing force with very few answers still being legal like Merciless. It turned Quick Feet+Toxic Boost into an even deadliest combo and made defensive teams too hard to kill.


The combination of Vessel of Ruin + Ice Scales made special attackers unable to deal any damage, Ting-Lu also packs an absurd bulk (155/125/80) that in combination with other defensive abilities made it pretty much immune to damage while setting hazards and spamming Ruination/Whirlwind. It pushed the defense stack teams from last gen over the edge.


The last remaining weather has been nerfed, Slush Rush has been banned for similar reasons as Swift Swim and Sand Rush last time.


Mon so bad you could replace it with the preevo and nothing would change. Contrary will be the one leaving here, even without Victini there are still multiple abusers like Chi-Yu and Dragapult, as turning the cost of their strongest moves into a NP is too much.

Now let's wait until my pull request gets approved.

 

[ControlCoreAngel]

Snow Heal

https://pokepast.es/6fb1555da18fd44a
Poison Heal + Ice body to heal a bunch

worked on this team a little shortly before the poison heal + slush rush bans, replacing cerulegde with dachsbun to get even MORE defense boosts for avalugg while keeping the same fire immunity. also a few other tweaks in order to get walled a little less (still happens a lot).
will no longer work after the poison heal + slush rush bans fully go into effect, but i think worth to post anyway.

Snow Dog Heal (pre-Poison Heal + Slush Rush bans)

https://pokepast.es/7bbaf4d5e2e9511b

downsides? this team REALLY needed more toxic users or burn-capable mons, but toxic is not in as many pokemons movepools as i think it used to be... this team gets walled pretty easily, but its still pretty powerful.
be wary of steel types, avalugg and dachsbun are decent dispatchers for these. other stall-capable teams can wall you pretty hard, but avalugg can out-stall quite a bit! keep breloom alive as long as you can to get toxic off on stall mons.

 

[subgenio]

please ban unburden + Protosynthesis/Quark Drive

 

[blastablasta]

mycelium might does not work as stated, it goes through purifying salts which is great, but when you use will o wisp it does not go through well baked body, or thermal exchange

unsure if bug, intentional

also, if you have tspikes down and you use roar, I was able to poison purifying salts pokemon like this, and also levitate pokemon, lel

 

[Yveltal for PU]

thogujts:

Ting-Lu wasn't that big. I only tot a few matches in, but even with Vessel of Ruin and Ice Scales, special attackers can still be threatening especially since Chi-Yu is added to their arsenal of offensive options. Poison Heal was also incredible with Ting-Lu and arguably necessary, imo. Without it, you rely either on weather or Wish to heal, and without healing you're not nearly as threatening. Don't really mind the ban but I don't think it is necessary either. He was also a good check to Houndstone, another guy offered up to ban. Now to something incredibly fun:
https://pokepast.es/cbdba139b9762bd7


Haven't gotten too far, granted haven't played a ton either. This struggles with special attacking focused teams, but if it is just a stray special attacker it can be dealt with. Also struggles with setup, and teams with 5-6 boosting abilities. It can only hold so much.
Berry spam is eh, I haven't fought against a lot of it yet. Try to get Knock Offs if and when you can, Roar the hell out of their Starf berry abusers.

But vs most other things you are set for life. Fluffy + Tablets of Ruin ensure physical attackers have a tough time, though they still can break past you so be wary. Pressure ensures their attacking moves get nerfed the same amount as Roost does which goes a long way when you spam Protect every other turn. Shoutout to Garganacl for being the mvp with Block + Salt Cure as it seems pivoting is not as common as it was in gen 8. Especially when you are trying to pp stall, catching opponents with Block or Mean Look can easily mean they lose their mon instantly.

Ignore the tera water that was for when Poison Heal was real and I haven't bothered to find a better one since lol.

 

[blastablasta]

after testing a team without mycelium might, I believe that mycelium might was allowing my roar to poison purifying salt pokemon with tspikes