READ ME: Forgot about Trailblaze for Luxray because I'm old and haven't used it in Gen 9 or encountered it with Trailblaze ever. Regarding other abilities: There's certainly other pretty lame abilities, but they actually have specific uses. Some good examples are Stench, Flower Gift, and Wonder Skin. They do a unique thing, and you could certainly buff them, but it might be better to make new abilities instead. Remember, pokémon is not just a competitive game, it's also a single player experience. We need trash abilities for early game. It's baby's first JRPG. It's a whole franchise. So we have to think about abilities, typings, and other mechanics from the perspective of the whole franchise. If you can't or don't want to consider the franchise, then the idea might be better off in a mod or in a new Intellectual Property.
i know slow starts a beaten horse by now but, i personally would make -the effect be 3 turns. counter reset ONLY if not depleted (like switching in the first or second turn). -after the third turn recovers 50% HP and gains +1 speed and attack instead.
Please do a series of all such trash abilities.... It is very interesting... Also add one more feature to early bird that it adds +1 Priority to all moves until the user faints or is switched out forcibly with a move (like dragon tail or u-turn) or normal switch out...
You mention Flower Gift, but its not even bad and tbh all that ability needs is to buff Sp.Atk instead of Phys.Atk to have it make sense on the pokemon who gets it.
Ive had an idea for Honey Gather, which iirc has no competitive use. In battle, the pokemon gathers honey each turn. This honey is consumed by the pokemon, and heals it by 1/16th each turn, the same as Leftovers If you wanted to add another layer to the ability, you could say that Honey Gather does not activate / does a reduced rate of healing in Rain, Snow or Sandstorm conditions. In Sun, and/or maybe when grassy terrain is active, the healing is upgraded to 1/8th. This ability at the moment is only used by 4 pokemon - Teddiursa, Combee and The Cutiefly line. So the only pokemon that would really see use would be Ribombee (which may prefer any of its other abilities anyways)
You could also give it synergy with its out of battle effect and give a buff whenever holding Honey. Something like doubling the effect to 1/8 recovery, or something to consume the honey (to do something like sitrus healing?) to make it need to do the out of battle effect constantly too.
Updated Honey: -1 Speed to those who remove this item with Knock Off, Thief, or other methods (Excluding Magician). 50% To slather and lower speed of those who make contact. Breaks after 3 Slathers Updated Honey Gather: Gathers Honey every turn, Heals 2/16ths of HP each turn via Honey but makes Honey break in one contact hit and activates it. I'm confused on that last portion but even if it breaks you get it back next turn You just need to survive but maybe it wouldn't get the heal as a Specific Leftovers I feel it could heal more but I don't want it to be too OP but maybe it won't matter because of the natural fragility of the mons who get it.
I think honey gatherer should just be like the new syrup ability on driplin. using the honey item in battle lowers evasion, so it could function the exact same way. if they don't want it to be the same (by only working once per battle), they could make it a 50% chance to work each switch in.
Illuminate: While the pokemon is in the party, you can perfectly see in dark places. In battle, illuminate pokemons are immune to electric attacks. After being hit by an electric attack, their next electric attack's power is doubled.
we have gorrila tactics already, so an ability that gives you free leftover recovery seems fair, and the association with honey should be specific enough that it shouldn't be given to anything broken.
I'd make immunity give you resistance to poison damage. I can't see any way that hurts any meta. I'd also give it to some Pokemon like Wigglytuff or Slurpuff, as a neat little defense option.
Early Bird is a funny case because on the right pokemon, it would be above the mid-tier ability line, but it’s not too useful on most pokemon that get it. Although nonetheless a niche pick since it’s competing against some of the best abilities of all time, some people have used Early Bird to solid effect in Smogon’s Almost Any Abilities format. It works on pokemon such as Dondozo or something like a defensively invested Eviolite Primeape that stacks Rage Fist boosts from taking hits. In general, when it comes to lesser abulities, there are a decent few abilities where rather than buffing, I just wish we got more pokemon that use them well.
A bit of a big change but for forewarn. Allows the pokemon to move first when being targeted by a priority move. It fits teh theme and its a much needed safegaurd against priority moves wich the games can defnitly use. but since its only a counter against 1 type of move and easily readable i dont think it will be to strong. Just realy usefull in casual play, extremly usefull in challanges or diffcult mods and while its unlikely anyone would play into it in competive play it would still mean they cant use there priority moves freely
I wish they buffed pressure. It should lower speed like intimidation lower attack. Mewtwo would go crazy but the og birds would see a cool niche as well
Forewarn should cause the singular move revealed to always miss the Pokemon with the ability (because they'll see it coming) The effect goes away if the user or target switches out and comes back in
That's cool, I like that. Maybe it should be Infiltrator + Mold Breaker. So status moves ignore Abilities and Substitutes. Sounds strong, but it's only for status, not attacks.
Since all Forewarned Pokémon are pretty weak, I would go with an actual in game effect, but a defensive one to stay in the theme "I know your best move": It completely evades the first super effective attack dealt to them. They can still be hit by neutral moves (that might be enough to still kill them), but at least it makes them into an interesting switch-in or stalling option.
@@hugomventura I mean if it's a prophetic Dream like state shouldn't they have been warned about all the Hazards and do something to avoid it they mainly all Psychic types so they have an in universe explanation.
@@zelz3011 well I'm thinking of forwarn as predicting something to happen. I guess to make it better it would be relegated to only grounded hazards. However specific hazards will still do damage because one can't prevent the inevitable. Like you can predict and dodge rocks sneaking up on you, but you can't avoid or stop damage from a sandstorm.
i had a pretty simple change in mind for abilities like Big Pecks and Hyper Cutter. As of right now they only negate the defense/attack drop from an opponent, but still allow for a drop from things like Superpower. Allowing the ability to negate that would give the pokemon using them a "deluxe version" of something like close combat to use, similar to how Lilligant can ignore the Confusion from Petal Dance when it uses Own Tempo as its ability. A lot of the pokemon with this ability would need an adjustment to their moveset to make this work, as most don't learn moves that self-inflict stat drops. Even with the change most wouldn't have the proper stat distribution. Even still, I feel like it would make the ability feel a lot more special than it does right now.
I was thinking something similar to this - clear body/flower veil prevent all stat drops from opposing moves, having Big Pecks and Hyper cutter doing it to just one stat feels off. I'd make it so Big Pecks couldn't have both defensive stats lowered (self or opposents), and Hyper Cutter couldn't have both offensive stats lowered in similar fashion. That could give them a niche that feels different enough from other generic stat related abilities, while making them feel like counterparts.
Another thing I'd change about Slow Start is that it should remember how many turns it burned when being switched out. Regigigas is only 100 base speed after all.
I'd make it worse speedboost, You gain 2 stages of speed at the end of your turn, Except for the turn you switched in, That turn you lose 6 stages of speed.
@BramLastname or when it goes in you get minus 3 attack and speed. And every turn up to plus 1 attack and speed you gain plus 1 to attack and speed. After that every 3 turns it does a boost.
I'd be ok with Forewarn being a free dodge. I mean, it can probably just work like Mimikyu's Disguise ability but only works on the first turn that it is thrown in of the entire battle.
@@Oakwin_mb dazzliiiing. But yeah you right. If anything, if Dazzling keeps its name in japanese, it should honestly boost the power of light type moves, but then Bruxfish would be pretty worse
Personally, I feel Mycelium Might could play more into the niche it wants instead of being a worse Mold Breaker. It could keep the moving last effect, but cause status moves to ALWAYS work, ignoring ability AND typing. 100% accuracy Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Screech, etc. Any status moves it uses that target itself could additionally have their effects doubled. For example, Growth would be default +2 to Attack and Special Attack, under sun it would be +4 to Attack and Special Attack.
@@brewskimckilgore6796I want to be clear that it is not something by the ability. Yes, fungi do not photosynthesize, but that does not change the pokémon move Growth - which Toedscruel has and the move changes with sunlight. I was using Growth to better explain how doubled self-inflicted stat increases would work in this scenario, explaining how it would affect that move too.
@@CammyMeeleTeaIt wouldn’t be as awful if it was on a pokémon with different stats. It wouldn’t be great, but if Toedscruel even had more average speed and higher bulk, then it’d make more sense. While not with a signature ability, Wugtrio also got screwed by its ability options. It’s a shame convergent pokémon are forced into the same stats and not just sharing the same base stat total or something.
I agree with the first part about making status moves ignore every possible thing that would stop status, but making it double stat boosts as well is a bit much. I know it's a signature ability, but usually, abilities do one thing.
Let's see... Corrosion should also let Poison-type moves hit Steel-type Pokémon. I like your change to Tangled Feet, I'd also add that instead of a Pokémon hurting itself, it uses a random move it knows (unless it's holding a Choice item, then it just hurts itself like normal) I feel Anticipation could keep its original effect, but with the addition of boosting Speed or Evasion when a "dangerous move" is detected. Finally, one that I've seen a lot and agree with is that Emergency Exit should trigger at the end of the turn. Would mean Golisopod still gets to do stuff the turn it goes below 50%, and then bail.
More pokemon should get corrosion, first of all. Ability distribution in these games is awful sometimes, Definitely agree that corrosion should still damage steel types, at neutral damage, based on the power of the move. But it should also lower Def and spef depending on what kind of attack was used But a few more mons should for sure get corrosion. Venomoth, dustox, seviper, tentacruel, toxricitry, the nidos, ariados, nagabadel, and perhaps some non poison types.
Regarding mycelium might, I don't want its lower priority to be removed, I don't think it would be healthy. I pkay VGC and the only sleeper is amoonguss, but I don't wanna risk that a fast sleeper, even less bulky, takes its place. I think that mycelium might not only should let you ignore abilities, but also items and typings, so that you can spore grass types and safety goggles mon. I think it would be better balanced this way.
I have an idea for forewarn, make it reveal the strongest move as well as making the Pokémon with forewarn impossible to be crit hit with said move it detected. Thematically it makes sense as since you foresaw the attack so to speak you'd be able to avoid being critically hit as both you & your Pokémon would be expecting the move
Here's some ability buffs I'm thinking of: -Iron Fist: Punching moves have their power boosted by 50%. -Filter/Solid Rock/Prism Armor: Halves damage from super effective moves. -Light Metal: Halves weight, boosts Speed by 20%, but lowers defenses by 10%. -Heavy Metal: Doubles weight, boosts defenses by 10%, but lowers Speed by 20%.
I thought of Heavy Metal having the ability crush hazards upon switch in, and because I couldn't find a way to give it's brother a good enough second effect, I've thought of making it be Speed Huge Power
20:01 in fact the french translation team opted for this definition by naming the ability "Cœur de coq" "rooster heart" and that basicly mean proud and combative
The only ability change I don't like is Mycelium Might's. I feel like the main purpose of the ability was to nerf toedscruel as to make it decently fast at attacking and slow when using strong status moves and the mold breaker effect was just a slight balance for it without just giving it status move stall. So i think when changing it should still keep the nerf even if a 100 speed spore might not be that game breaking. I would just have it ignore types too.
mycelium might... i'd stay still keep it going last, but have it bypass type and item (ie rage powder/spore ignoring grass/safety goggles). maybe have other offensive powder moves bypass grass/goggles too though i'm not sure if toedscruel would benefit much from that and it may not be worth doing. either way, bypassing goggles alone is incredibly useful as it's often used to block spore/rage powder, and the ability to sleep/redirect grass types is also super useful, giving it a niche over amoonguss
What if Forewarn doesn't just trigger once upon coming in, but every single turn like Speed Boost? This would mean that you'd still be able to learn the enemy's whole moveset, but only if you don't get repeat triggers and only after you live four turns through the enemy. This could make for interesting stalling tactics where you use turns to buy yourself more chances at forewarning important enemy moves.
I really like that. Pokémon is a game about switching (way more about switching in singles) so it would be an interesting reward for positioning in a way where you don't need to switch. As for Doubles, scouting 2 moves a turn is funny.
It would be neat if Forecast could also set weather if you gave Castform one of the weather-extending rocks, giving the pretty weak weather-specific pokemon a cool niche. Nice video!
ohhhhhh I like this. Zygarde is such a cool mon but it's ability is so underwhelming and ass, this keeps the theme of the original while massively broadening it's use cases. Obv zygarde complete would need nerfs to compensate but this is a really cool idea.
While i agree with every point you made, i would personally choose some other buffs, like: Iron fist- bonus damage and immunity to contact punishers (rough skin, rock helmet, static, etc) with punches, since they have an IRON fist Anticipation- increased dodge/defense chance to super effective moves (diminishing returns to quad effective moves), since they are aware of the danger they're facing Forecast- immunity to negative effects from weather (sunny day reducing water moves dmg, for example)
One change I've always thought would be interesting is giving Oblivious immunity to move-restricting effects such as Imprison or Encore. Combining that with Choice items might be a bit much, but if we can have Sheer Force Life Orb, I think it works.
tbf life orb only boosts the power of moves by 30%, sheerforce has a downside which is to remove secondary effects from moves, which may limit SOME sets. yeah sheerforce Steelyx uses iron head because its not outspeeding anything so it doesnt matter it loses the flinch chance, but even then. im not sure if allowing oblivious users to just have free +50% boost would be very good, specially as someone else mentioned, mamoswine would be a monster.
@@unkindled6410 if mega medicham wasn't overbearing (which got a 2x boost to atk for the cost of it's item slot) I don't think that the oblivious mons would be too good but who knows
loooool making Oblivious act as an infinite mental herb would be awesome, making it negate choice items is a bit crazy because they are balanced kinda precariously, just look at G-Darmanitan
Pretty awesome video, I'm loving all theorycrafting on this channel! Regarding forewarning I'd make it evade Status moves and debuffs when swithcing it in. Unless they're caused by an attack. This still might be a bit broken, but as mentioned, all family lines with this ability are not that good, but it'll certainly make them a bit better.
Your humor is my exact cup of tea, and these reworks are very well thought out, would you mind if I borrowed them for my own Pokémon projects? As for Forewarn, I think announcing both opponents' abilities in doubles (and singles as well) is a good enough ability. Not overpowered, but not useless either.
Yeah, go ahead, I'm not a good coder, or artist, or storyteller, so it wasn't going to be me who made a game or mod to implement this. Just send people my way because I like to teach and learn with people.
My fix for early bird is replacing it with an ability called “tight schedule” which haves the amount of turns of taunt,torment,encore,attract,embargo, and other moves of the like along with sleep. I think it still keeps the theme of early birds Japanese name but makes it a better ability
I appreciate hearing them. I've always loved languages, but was too indecisive to focus on one language. Or even focus on foreign language as a hobby. At least with videos like this, I get to review Japanese (pokémon's default language) then compare that to all the other localizations. It's so interesting.
Here are my thoughts on how I would buff some of these abilities: Anticipation: In addition to triggering upon the opponent switching in, while the move itself would not be revealed, if the Pokemon shudders, it gets +1 Speed, to try to knock out the opponent before they can attack. Forewarn: Also triggers upon switch-in. The revealed move deals 33% less damage. Big Pecks: Also ignores the opponent's Attack boosts. For Slow Start, my "buff" would be more complex: I'd still have it halve Attack and Speed, but the nerf only lasts 3 turns, the turn counter persists even after switching out (so you don't have to stall 3 turns in one go), and during Slow Start turns, the user taks 20% less damage.
Early bird: to me it should heal 1/4th for every turn lost in sleep, so any time the Pokemon can't move because of sleep it gets healed to represent the power nap the Pokemon is having
Wonder guard should be immune to entry hazards, weather damage and status effects. The obvious balance to this is making any super effective status hurt shedinja. Like burn or stealth rocks.
I really like these ideas! For Early Bird, I would personally like to see you always wake up after 1 turn of sleep. I know it's pretty specific to Smogon Singles but it's to do with how the randomness of induced sleep affects Sleep Clause. Not knowing when you wake up means you don't know whether you should burn sleep turns when you have the chance or keep your pokemon asleep to block sleep from your more important pokemon. Knowing after you burn a sleep turn you'll wake back up while still blocking sleep until you decide to take that 2nd turn where you do wake up would be huge
I'll acknowledge that this is really leaning into Anticipation's inclusion on Whiscash in particular, and it works less-well from a flavor perspective when considering that Absol doesn't get it, but I had a more aggressive and offensive redesign of Anticipation in mind which I think is actually pretty fun. On the first turn in which the Anticipation user has switched in, it triggers a free activation of Future Sight. Great for building momentum, and helps give Ferrothorn a bit more bite as a pivot, rather than just sitting there and tanking hits. Keep in mind that Ferrothorn would have to give up Iron Barbs in order to use it, which is a pretty substantial commitment. I'm sure it would also be a solid contender for Hatterene's ability slot, and similar to Ferrothorn, Hatterene would have to give up a VERY good ability in Magic Bounce in order to opt for Anticipation. I would give a very straightforward, slightly boring buff to Big Pecks. However, one would need to keep in mind that any buff given to Big Pecks should also fairly be given to both Hyper Cutter and Keen Eye, as they are ability clones. With that in mind, my thought is to give the user a 1/8th boost in Defense - or a 1/8th boost to Attack for Hyper Cutter or Accuracy, for Keen Eye. Would this be relevant? It mostly wouldn't, but there'd be 2 exceptions worth mentioning. One would be Mandibuzz in higher tiers, who now acts as if it has effectively base ~125 defense. They'd still probably EV into Special Defense, considering the Dark/Flying typing, but it would now be a stronger mixed defender. The other would be Kingler. While Sheer Force gives a bigger boost, it does not give a boost to some of the moves Kingler most wants to use, such as Crabhammer, Knock Off, and Superpower. A more general 12.5% boost is much lesser than the 30% of Sheer Force, but it's worth it, when you consider that it acts upon Kingler's best moves. They'll be effectively coming off of a 152 attack stat, and it's a nice bonus that Kingler can't be Intimidated with Hyper Cutter. I wanted to convince myself that this hypothesized Big Pecks boost would be relevant on anything other than Mandibuzz, but it's just too subtle to make a make something non-viable become viable, at least by itself. The closest thing I could come up with was Eviolite Tranquil as a Wish-passer, but even that is REALLY pushing it, even for something like RU. I'd be nervous about making the boost bigger and risk outclassing other options.
Another thing that bugs me with Iron Fist is that the damage boost doesn’t stack with the new Punching Glove. So it misses out on the 10% boost that item provides, meaning there’s no reason to run that combo together when Protective Pads are a thing.
Great ideas all around! I especially love the Early Bird one! Though the way I'd impement it would by making the heal happen when the pokemon falls asleep (to keep it in line with rest) and then the speed buff is what happens when the mon wakes up. This way it stays strong but also the heal does get a bit mitigated by the fact that the pokemon will still probably take a hit off that heal before moving again. As for Anticipation, I like the ideas, though personally I think that, especially based on the name, it could be a simple thing like, the pokemon gets +1 priority on their first move after switching in, if the oponent uses a super effective attack on them. So the logic would be that the pokemon switches in and detects that its oponent has a move it is weak to, so it braces itself to act before them, a way to explain it would be that Anticipation gives the Sucker Punch effect to the users first move after switching in (so long as the oponent attacks them with the super effective move). This way it has quite a niche and becomes a pretty decent ability, but it also has counter play and isnt too broken just by the oponent ignoring the pokemon/playing around the ability.
Rattled is an ability I want to see improved but still niche, as it is super situational, I think on top of the user gaining a speed boost when they get hit by a Bug, Dark, or Ghost attack, I think they should gain a +2 speed boost if they are facing a Bug, Dark, or Ghost-type Pokemon on the battlefield, a bit niche yeah but at least its immediate and would be a nice anti-meta choice. I wonder if there are ways to improve it further though?
I feel like your anticipation buff is actually a complete rework. It's no longer feeling an intense, threatening aura, but rather scouting out the opposition. A new name like Intel Gather or Scout would be better. Personally I would make Anticipation still do the shutter thing, but on entry gain +1 Def or SpD depending on the attack type. It gives more vague information while still fitting thematically; your Pokemon is overwhelmed by the threatening aura and reflexively brings up its defenses in response.
I'm late, but... Slow Start: start with -3/4 atk/spd, gain 1 atk/spd per turn, stat changes persist on swap. Probably broken but definitely more unique.
I love the idea of Tangled feet combining Shell Armour, Super Luck, Sniper AND a speed and evasion boost on top, but only when confused. Would love to use this with thrash dodrio LOOOOOL
I got my insight Run away: guarantee escape and switch out, also gain immunity against entry hazard Forecast: 1) gain additional type according to weather instead of replacing Castform Normal-type, OR 2) replace its type and any normal moves Castform has to match weather Iron Fist: I agree with you in this Early Bird: always wake up on the next turn and regain 1/3 health Anticipation: user detects an status moves from pokemon on switch, also work on newly switched out opposing pokemon Forewarn: same as Anticipation above but for super effective moves against it Tangled Feet: Double it's evasion and speed if confused Klutz: cannot use hold item, but switch item if makes contact (work both ways, defensively and offensively) Slow start: cannot move in 2 turns, also gain 2 stage increases stats if survived Big Peck: cannot have both Defense and Sp. Defense decreased My honorable mention; Defeatist: All stats dropped one stage if got hit with crit Malice: Intimidate for Sp. Attack Trusty Keeper: holding item boost Defense Sticky Hold: hold item cannot be removed or break Earthbound: similar with Forecast, for terrain This is my opinion, waddaya think?
Not only should Iron Fist be buffed to 50%, Poison Jab, Hammer Arm and Needle Arm should be added to the buffed moves. As for some other changes: - Damp should prevent all explosive moves, like say Shell Trap. - Abilities like Static and Flame Body should work both ways, i.e. when attacking and being attacked, but the % chance should be lowered from 30% to 15% - Flash Fire should increase ATK and SP.ATK by 1 stage, instead of an unviewable 50% boost. - Suction Cups and Sticky Hold should make moves like Wrap and Bind last 8 turns, on top of their current effects. - Levitate should give Pokémon the Flying Type as an extra type, with weaknesses and resistances (just like how say Forest's Curse adds the Grass type). - Chlorophyll, Solar Power, Leaf Guard and Flower Gift should reduce Fire damage taken by 50% while in sunlight. - Illuminate should allow you to hit Pokémon in the middle of Dig, Fly, Phantom Force, etc. - Magma Armor should reduce Water/Ice damage by 50%. - Water Veil should reduce Fire damage by 50% - Magnet Pull should allow you to steal items on contact. - Keen Eye should increase Accuracy every turn (Speed Boost but for Accuracy) - Plus and Minus should boost SP.ATK and ATK, so it's useful for both types of Pokémon.
Some ideas Corrosion: Can poison target regardless of typing, poison movest affect steel types Supersweet syrup should just activate every time switching in, intimidate does that as well. Honey gather could just lower evasion when the poémon uses moves on target or something. Effects with honey item also could be there? Emergerncy exit: If health drops to half or less switches out after moving, if cant move switches out anyways Defeatist could just boost attack stats when pokémon is confident, but pokémon goes to defeatist mindset when half or less and the stats are cut, could give a message of this when happens and when switching in. Archen and its evolution should in my opinion learn roost if they do not. Illuminate could maybe redirect bug moves and give immunity, or weaken ghost. Both? Too strong? Should have overworld effect it had as well. Flower veil: non-volatile status condition immunity also to fairy types, but not the stat dop immunity. Or the other way around? Water veil: burn immunity 1/3 less damage from special Magma armour: frostbite immunity 1/3 less damage from physical Curious medicine: removes negative stat changes from allies and and cures partys burn when swiching in Run away: Pokémon can always switch out or escape wild battle. Maybe frisk cold give poémon a stat boost if it finds an item, so it would be more useful if you know opponents team. Forewarn could in addion to revealing a move have immunity to hazards, and maybe pursuit. Anticipation could in addition to its revealing super effectiviness also make moves less accurate to the pokémon with the ability. The video tho had good ideas about anticipation and forevan, so? Castforms different forms could have different stats too and the ability to have sand form yeah. Mycelium might could just make the user immune to taunt and encore like aroma veil does. Stall ability could give the pokémon immunity some disruptin stuff, maybe status conditions taunt or flinch something. So it can just freely move last and take its time but not be bothered by other pokémon. Iron fist should have higher effect I agree. Early bird, the video had a really good idea. Giving speed boost and healing after waking up is nice in addition to half sleep turns. Tangled feet idea in the video was really nice. Increased, evasion, speed, crit chance and damage and crit immunity while confused.
I would give "Keen Eye" and "Compound eyes" 3 effects. 1. Make the ability holder immune to accuracy reducing effects. 2. Make the ability holder ignore it's targets evasion boosts. 3. Increase the accuracy of the ability holder's moves by 1.3 times.
ive seen good ideas, but Iron fist should be 30% Forecast gets sand forme and higher bst by like 10 in each stat Early Bird wakes up on the next turn Forewarn prevents crit on supereffective moves (adding onto what it is) anticipation can take 75/80% of dmg from attacks if it moves after the target
Forewarn I could see being either a free HDB, or autododge a damaging move once with a caveat. If it's a move with perfect accuarcy (Swift, Aerial Ace, Aura Sphere... Kowtow Cleave...) the Forewarn mon gets washed.
Big pecks needs more tweaking in my opinion. It's basically an inferior version of clear body or white smoke. Perhaps big pecks could increase defense by 1 stage upon switch-in. It's only ever on bird pokemon. Although, in the case of Pidgeot, it could be problematic as it does have a mega and is already bulkier than other birds.
The Iron Fist buff would actually give Conkeldurr a very big buff. Since Hammer Arm is counted as a punching move, same with Crabominable who also has Ice Hammer. Also a punching move.
Your rework idea for Anticipation is *really, really unnecessary, bad, & kinda useless.* (especially VGC wise bc basically, you're just cheating!) And too many +1 Speed buffs, which is annoyong at most.
10:35 i think,that this ability will work on a slightly different principle (the ability Foreyawn,or how it named,do it yet) Pokémon with Anticipation,feeling iMmInEnT DeAtH, increased his speed by 1 stage,to quickly destroy the danger,and evasion,if it have a 4x effective moves
My notes: -Forecast (Castform ability) should also just change the weather when entering the field, if castform has one of the moves that casts the weather (hail, sunny day, sandstorm, etc). (forecasting using the move in the battle, make castform much more viable, but you have to spend 1 slot) -Iron fist (and abilities that boosts move types), for that, just give another attribute to all pokemon that has strong punches: +20% on punches, (like the ability). Now, if it has also the ability, it increases the damage +30%. Same way sharpness and others. It is given an attribute to all sharp claws, slicing (kabutops, scyther, etc) gain 20% but go to 50% if has sharpness. If it has shapness but not has the attribute, just 30%. Treat all abilities equal, and also dont need to have the ability to gain boosts that are obvious the pokemon would have. Also could provide for types of moves that do not have an ability like that: kicks (tsareena, quaquaval, blaziken, hitmonlee, etc), sound(lapras, exploud family, jigglypuff, maloeta, primarina), etc. -Slow start: randomly half one of the 5 stats for the 5 turns. Would be fun not knowing which stat is halfed.
Forewarn would read as "lessens the power of opposing moves" The perks of this ability: Future Sight FAILS on it Can't be crit by auto-crit moves Secondary effects of opposing moves are halved Super effective moves can't crit the Forewarner
I admit, as a non native speaker i always thought the 'big pecks' part was due to birds having beaks and 'pecking' stuff. So the non def dropping never made sense to me. You learn new things every day.
If you're gonna go all out buffing dozens of abilities, why not give the Doubles-exclusives a purpose in singles or even in the overworld. Fun fact, are y'all aware that Stonjourner's Power Spot HAS 1 use in singles? It boosts the power of Future Sight/DOOM Desire.
Truant: A truant pokemon can use status moves (that don't do damage) in the truant turn. Recharge moves (Like Hyper beam, Roar of Time, etc.) have no extra recharge turn and is recharged in the truant turn... Two turn moves (Like Solar Beam, Dig, Dive, Meteor Beam or Fly, etc.) become single turn instead of failing... Defeatist: The poekemon gets a double omni boost when entering the field. If it has full health... When less than 1/2 health the boosts get removed automatically. Boosts can be Baton Passed onto another mon...
Castform's Forecast ability should create weather on switch-in based on the Castform's moves etc. A Sandstorm form is nice but Castform would still be bad with just the new form. Inducing a chosen weather would be like giving Ditto Impostor in Gen 5 and completely revitalize the Pokemon.
Could Forewarn perhaps reveal nature, EVs and IVs? It’s not entirely fitting, and would suck in casual play (especially if natures used the standard name instead of +[stat]/-[stat]), but would be really good in competitive and Nuzlockes (when these values aren’t set). This would also make Frisk, Anticipation and Forewarn each reveal a key part of an opponent’s set that may hint at the parts associated with the other two abilities.
Since you metioned Mycelium might's reason for making you go last, I will just say that Gamefreak really does not want fast spore users: Brute Bonnet was literally statted so that, at level 50, a Min Attack/Max Speed Brute Bonnet has one point of Attack higher than Speed so that it can never get the speed bonus from protosynthesis But yeah, I would personally set it so it keeps moving last when statusing, but It gets to ignore Abilities, Type-Based Immunities, make statuses never self-cleanse (ie, Insomnia with Sleep or Limber with paralysis, or Shed Skin entirely) while a pokemon with this ability is out
I've always liked the concept of Truant, but it does suck ass. Since it's just on Slaking (and one metal ant no one cares about), changing it won't harm much. I feel like when Slaking is "Just loafing around!", it should regain HP, since it's taking a mini rest between turns. It would still do nothing on that turn, but now gain 1/8th HP (basically a free leftovers overall), only if it stays in through its truant turn. So if you switch in, throw off a move, and switch out, you don't gain any value. I also liked the concept of letting the loafing around turn be used for non-active moves. After all, being lazy isn't the same as being asleep. I would change the message to "Slaking is loafing around! He's charged up!" and it would put Slaking into a buffed "charged" state that negates the charging of moves (both before and after, i.e. hyperbeam or solarbeam). The charged up buff would be removed upon switch out. This means its first turn it has to do a Body Slam, but after that it can throw out Giga Impacts all day. The other player has already had ample time to set up and deal with Slaking, so getting a big payoff for staying in (and then having to still waste turns afterwards) I think is fine. It functionally is no different than a regular strong normal type throwing out Giga Impacts, but now it softens the downside of Slaking. As a note, if you used a charge move turn 1, it would operate like it does now, and you'd slack in the middle before unleashing / recharging - it's only once Slaking has loafed does he become "charged up". This means going Choice Band would still be ruinous, and you still need some non-charge moves for that turn, and this really hurts coverage or STAB in general. It wouldn't effect moves like Dig, but would function as a Power Herb, so moves like Skull Bash would raise defense. Basically, I wanted the player to feel incentivized for staying in and letting Slaking waste turns. There's nearly nothing in modern gens that could overcome losing every other single turn, since he's still completely dead to Protect and functionally useless if he gets burned or slept. If it were easy implement, I'd honestly want him to learn a fifth move called "laze around" or something, which he is required to use at least every other turn (like reverse Torment). This would let players bypass the weakness of protect, since they could intentionally waste multiple turns in a row (a huge risk in general), but it's obviously not worth it in terms of complications to how the game functionally works.
I think Forewarn should have the buffed Anticipation ability and Anticipation should have some effect that let's it deal with super effective moves, either reducing the damage taken or slightly lowering the accuracy. Mycelium Might should still make it move last, but only affect Powder moves and also let's them hit Grass Types
For Forewarn, what you can do is that if it detects the enemy’s move then it could receive 25% reduced damage from said move but only if it’s used on the turn Forewarn announces. This isn’t really super helpful as the Pokémon that have it aren’t super bulky aside from Musharna, though it does help with specific setups against matchups. It’s not an immediate advantage but it does give you a slight edge, plus if you have a premonition of the future chances are you would be more prepared to handle it whether it’d be bracing yourself for it or avoiding it outright (which the opponent can do by just not using that move on the same turn). It helps against Choice’d Pokémon but it can also mess you up against people playing Balance teams as you’d see stuff like “Jynx foresaw the enemy Kommo-O’s Close Combat!” but the enemy could have used iron head on the same turn. It gives a niche advantage but it’s to expected since you do reveal part of a Moveset and I feel anything more would make it overtuned
I want to fix Truant to be an interesting downside, after using an Attacking Move not a Status Move, the user slacks off the next turn. While Slacking off, it heals small amount of HP (maybe around 1/8 or 1/4 of HP) & get rid of Status Effects. Also I want Slaking to have unique animation of when it is its Slacking turn it lays down as usual & when it is Active it would stand up like a Gorilla, for indication that it will be ready to use any move. This will make so that after using an attack, it will force the user to have like a 5th move that always activate. You can also use a regular Status Move as you want to not be forced to use its Ability every other turn, since that exploit is gone, you never know when it will hit you hard. Stat changes will not be healed back to normal when Slacking off, that means the user either want to stay in or switches out just by Stat changes purely.
Early Bird just giving speed I think would be fine and in line with what GameFreak would make. With the health gain however, I feel like it gets too complicated. Pokemon is targeted at the most casual playerbase. So things should be easy to parse/understand on the first read.
the klutz you made would be completely insane, free knock off without damage, while eating your berry, imagine the effect that would have combined with the speed boosting berry, or attack boosting if there is one. also, switching in with a klutz pokemon would be insane against choice item mons who you resist. they lose the banded effect before the attack hits since switches always go first in a turn. volt turning with a klutzer would also be completely insane
With big pecks I think it would be fair to make it so if the Pokémon’s attack OR defense are attempted to be lowered, it’s attack AND defense are raised instead. I think it fits thematically and even with the buff of not lowering attack it’s still just worse clear body, and only on Pokémon that aren’t very good so it wouldn’t be too broken to give it a significant improvement . It could also give the Pokémon that get it a niche meta use as counter intimidate Pokémon (not like that’s anything new, we already have defiant and competitive, but big pecks has a different enough effect.)
Anticipation, I think, should increase evasion upon sensing a super effective move. The "Danger Sense" would make sense because sensing danger would make anyone paranoid to evade. For Forwarn, it could make the pokemon immune to entry hazards in addition to knowing the highest base power move.
Klutz actually doesn't prevent negative effects of held items for some reason (at least prior to gen 7). Not sure if this is fixed by now, but It's been a thing as recent as gen 6. Haven't seen it past gen 6 though. you won't believe how many times I've seen a Lopunny holding a Toxic orb in a battle facility, only to get poisoned despite it having the klutz ability
You could just make Anticipation raise Evasion or speed by 1 or 2 stages on trigger. If you know something is dangerous, you'd want to avoid it, right?
Normal abilities I would gave a few changes. Defeatist - The stats are reduced by 30-40% instead of 50 % Normalise - Instead of making attacks all normal type, the user (aka Delcatty) gets a stab for any attack plus a unique x2 stab for normal type attacks. Flash Fire - Make it a fire type equivalent of Motor Drive and increase speed Pure Power and Huge Power - Either make them one ability or make Pure Power multiply both attack stats by 1,5 (PP specifically as is original name is "Yoga Power" while Huge Power is "Muscle Man") Sticky Hold - The next attack of the user will land no matter what if he goes second and is hit by a contact move Plus, Minus, Battery and any abilities that can only work in doubles- In a solo match, if the user is switched out for another pokemon, the one switched in gets the effect of the ability for 3 turns (turns he switched in included). Pick Up & Ball Fetch: just add the effect of the former to the latter and give up on ball fetch. Cute Charm - For it doesn't need a buff in itself but would be better if the attract status condition was buffed instead, like give the pokemon in love a 20% nerf to both attack stats. New abilities make out of 2 other. Vital Spirit & Inner Focus - Add the effect of the latter to the former and give this rework vital spirit to all Inner Focus user. (and to give purpose to Insomnia, make it so both VT & In. users can use rest, but while VT's rest is normal, insomnia make it so they only get 75% of their HP back but wake up immediately, PS: i don't know the PP of rest from the top of my head, so nerf if we have a lot just in case). Damp & Water veil - Fuse them into one ability. Magma Armor & Flame Body - This reworked "Magma Armor" can still burn the foe if they uses a contact move, and make the body so hot it halves attack from water moves. And to end it all in a different note: There are also a lot of other abilities that have redundant effects, but if some are legendary exclusive and thus I wouldn't change anything (legendary can have a personnal flair afterall) those who don't I don't know what i would change them. For examples: solid rock/filter: make the former give a 10% boost in physical defense, while the later give a 10% in special defense ? Shell armor/Battle armor, maybe the later retain its function while the former make defense buffing moving raise it by one stage higher than normal ? These are the only contenders I know from the top of my head so I stop here.
I’d like Forewarn to tell you 2 moves this Pokémon knows and two moves this Pokémon is capable of knowing. In no particular order. So you most likely got half the move set but you could also have less because of duplicates, or you could have conceivably gotten the whole moveset at the other extreme
Considering Tangled Feet is still used for some mons (Flamigo) that might be a bit much, a simple evasion boost should be fine. And like you said Klutz already gets use as is, maybe the baked in knock off being on contact with/from the mon would be enough.
Let Forewarn be the new Anticipation, revealing one random move the opponent has. And let Anticipation automatically dodge the first super effective move used by an opponent that targets it. You could still have the flavor text of it shuttering. I think this better aligns with the naming schemes of both abilities. If you're anticipating something, that means you're highly expecting said thing to happen are more than likely prepared to deal with it. Whereas forewarning something is a general warning that a certain thing exists and could happen. Edit: Or you could make them have the same effect but Forewarn is when you switch in, and Anticipation happens when the opponent switches in or vice versa.
Castform's forecast should initiate the weather for whatever weather rock they're holding. Heat rock for drought, damp rock for drizzle, It's got awful stats to begin with, icy rock for snow warning, smooth rock for sandstorm. Just give the ability this effect to free up a moveslot. Being able to set up any weather, based on an item slot, doesn't seem op to me. Other pokemon with other utility to offer are better weather setters. Just give castform something.
I think it would be cool if Anticipation reduced damage from the first super effective attack by 25%. It makes sense that if you know an attack is coming that you’d be prepared for it.
Castform should be the Eevee of the weather and field changes So i agree rock during sandstorm but also Psychic on psychic terrain, grass on grassy terrain, etc etc. And it should receive a corresponding stat boost based on its new form like how Ogrepon works
Castform really needs to go all out, having type dependent on both terrain and weather. Maybe it could be his potential evolution's ability and maybe a move that changes type based on both as well(having two attack types like flying press).
The mycelium might change would be broken, your change is the equivalent of replacing any of the 3 negative abilities (traunt, slowstart, defeatist) with neutral or even postive abilities. The relavent change mycelium might actually needs is that the speed modification should work dynamically like speed so if the ablity is remove before toadscruel has a turn it then gets to use its high speed to act normally. The alternative is keep it as you always act last, but your status move cannot miss or fail, so you can spore grass types, poison steel and poison types and also you status goes through substitute and protect. Now the abilities effect justifies being forced to go last with the truely mighty status effects.
Forewarn might work as it does now (tell the enemy's strongest move) but, if the opponent tries to use that specific move againts our Pokémon with Forewarn, it will fail the first turn it's used. Just once
Personally I believe all abilities even clones should be different in mechanics in someway besides just being called something different, like I think Huge and Pure Power should do something different from each other even if one is a signature ability, he’ll especially if it’s a signature ability
Idea for Defeatist: instead of halving the stats, it should reduce two random (not accuracy or evasion) stats by 1 stage every turn the mon ends at below 50% HP, but also have a positive effect at high HP (raise a random stat by 1 stage? something else?)
READ ME:
Forgot about Trailblaze for Luxray because I'm old and haven't used it in Gen 9 or encountered it with Trailblaze ever.
Regarding other abilities:
There's certainly other pretty lame abilities, but they actually have specific uses. Some good examples are Stench, Flower Gift, and Wonder Skin. They do a unique thing, and you could certainly buff them, but it might be better to make new abilities instead. Remember, pokémon is not just a competitive game, it's also a single player experience. We need trash abilities for early game. It's baby's first JRPG. It's a whole franchise. So we have to think about abilities, typings, and other mechanics from the perspective of the whole franchise. If you can't or don't want to consider the franchise, then the idea might be better off in a mod or in a new Intellectual Property.
i know slow starts a beaten horse by now but, i personally would make
-the effect be 3 turns. counter reset ONLY if not depleted (like switching in the first or second turn).
-after the third turn recovers 50% HP and gains +1 speed and attack instead.
Please do a series of all such trash abilities.... It is very interesting...
Also add one more feature to early bird that it adds +1 Priority to all moves until the user faints or is switched out forcibly with a move (like dragon tail or u-turn) or normal switch out...
I like the idea of klutz boosting throwing moves like fling.
You mention Flower Gift, but its not even bad and tbh all that ability needs is to buff Sp.Atk instead of Phys.Atk to have it make sense on the pokemon who gets it.
Ive had an idea for Honey Gather, which iirc has no competitive use.
In battle, the pokemon gathers honey each turn. This honey is consumed by the pokemon, and heals it by 1/16th each turn, the same as Leftovers
If you wanted to add another layer to the ability, you could say that Honey Gather does not activate / does a reduced rate of healing in Rain, Snow or Sandstorm conditions. In Sun, and/or maybe when grassy terrain is active, the healing is upgraded to 1/8th.
This ability at the moment is only used by 4 pokemon - Teddiursa, Combee and The Cutiefly line. So the only pokemon that would really see use would be Ribombee (which may prefer any of its other abilities anyways)
You could also give it synergy with its out of battle effect and give a buff whenever holding Honey. Something like doubling the effect to 1/8 recovery, or something to consume the honey (to do something like sitrus healing?) to make it need to do the out of battle effect constantly too.
Updated Honey: -1 Speed to those who remove this item with Knock Off, Thief, or other methods (Excluding Magician).
50% To slather and lower speed of those who make contact.
Breaks after 3 Slathers
Updated Honey Gather: Gathers Honey every turn, Heals 2/16ths of HP each turn via Honey but makes Honey break in one contact hit and activates it.
I'm confused on that last portion but even if it breaks you get it back next turn You just need to survive but maybe it wouldn't get the heal as a Specific Leftovers I feel it could heal more but I don't want it to be too OP but maybe it won't matter because of the natural fragility of the mons who get it.
I think honey gatherer should just be like the new syrup ability on driplin. using the honey item in battle lowers evasion, so it could function the exact same way. if they don't want it to be the same (by only working once per battle), they could make it a 50% chance to work each switch in.
Illuminate:
While the pokemon is in the party, you can perfectly see in dark places.
In battle, illuminate pokemons are immune to electric attacks. After being hit by an electric attack, their next electric attack's power is doubled.
we have gorrila tactics already, so an ability that gives you free leftover recovery seems fair, and the association with honey should be specific enough that it shouldn't be given to anything broken.
I'd make immunity give you resistance to poison damage. I can't see any way that hurts any meta.
I'd also give it to some Pokemon like Wigglytuff or Slurpuff, as a neat little defense option.
Early Bird is a funny case because on the right pokemon, it would be above the mid-tier ability line, but it’s not too useful on most pokemon that get it.
Although nonetheless a niche pick since it’s competing against some of the best abilities of all time, some people have used Early Bird to solid effect in Smogon’s Almost Any Abilities format. It works on pokemon such as Dondozo or something like a defensively invested Eviolite Primeape that stacks Rage Fist boosts from taking hits.
In general, when it comes to lesser abulities, there are a decent few abilities where rather than buffing, I just wish we got more pokemon that use them well.
A bit of a big change but for forewarn. Allows the pokemon to move first when being targeted by a priority move. It fits teh theme and its a much needed safegaurd against priority moves wich the games can defnitly use. but since its only a counter against 1 type of move and easily readable i dont think it will be to strong. Just realy usefull in casual play, extremly usefull in challanges or diffcult mods and while its unlikely anyone would play into it in competive play it would still mean they cant use there priority moves freely
I wish they buffed pressure. It should lower speed like intimidation lower attack. Mewtwo would go crazy but the og birds would see a cool niche as well
Forewarn should cause the singular move revealed to always miss the Pokemon with the ability (because they'll see it coming)
The effect goes away if the user or target switches out and comes back in
Maybe mycelium might could also ignore substitute like infiltrator, but only for status moves
That's cool, I like that. Maybe it should be Infiltrator + Mold Breaker. So status moves ignore Abilities and Substitutes. Sounds strong, but it's only for status, not attacks.
@@CammyMeeleTea exactly! And a fast unstoppable sporer sounds amazing!
Since all Forewarned Pokémon are pretty weak, I would go with an actual in game effect, but a defensive one to stay in the theme "I know your best move":
It completely evades the first super effective attack dealt to them.
They can still be hit by neutral moves (that might be enough to still kill them), but at least it makes them into an interesting switch-in or stalling option.
Make forwarn immune to entry hazards if you want to differentiate it from anticipation. The less accuracy reducing abilities the better
I get the feeling you play Smogon
I feel like forwarn should only work on rocks. Mostly because of naming. Like stealth becomes obsolete in front of warning.
I like that
@@hugomventura I mean if it's a prophetic Dream like state shouldn't they have been warned about all the Hazards and do something to avoid it they mainly all Psychic types so they have an in universe explanation.
@@zelz3011 well I'm thinking of forwarn as predicting something to happen. I guess to make it better it would be relegated to only grounded hazards. However specific hazards will still do damage because one can't prevent the inevitable. Like you can predict and dodge rocks sneaking up on you, but you can't avoid or stop damage from a sandstorm.
i had a pretty simple change in mind for abilities like Big Pecks and Hyper Cutter. As of right now they only negate the defense/attack drop from an opponent, but still allow for a drop from things like Superpower. Allowing the ability to negate that would give the pokemon using them a "deluxe version" of something like close combat to use, similar to how Lilligant can ignore the Confusion from Petal Dance when it uses Own Tempo as its ability. A lot of the pokemon with this ability would need an adjustment to their moveset to make this work, as most don't learn moves that self-inflict stat drops. Even with the change most wouldn't have the proper stat distribution. Even still, I feel like it would make the ability feel a lot more special than it does right now.
Love this idea! I forgot about how some abilities don't stop your own "recoil/stat drops."
I was thinking something similar to this - clear body/flower veil prevent all stat drops from opposing moves, having Big Pecks and Hyper cutter doing it to just one stat feels off. I'd make it so Big Pecks couldn't have both defensive stats lowered (self or opposents), and Hyper Cutter couldn't have both offensive stats lowered in similar fashion. That could give them a niche that feels different enough from other generic stat related abilities, while making them feel like counterparts.
Another thing I'd change about Slow Start is that it should remember how many turns it burned when being switched out. Regigigas is only 100 base speed after all.
I'd make it worse speedboost,
You gain 2 stages of speed at the end of your turn,
Except for the turn you switched in,
That turn you lose 6 stages of speed.
@BramLastname or when it goes in you get minus 3 attack and speed. And every turn up to plus 1 attack and speed you gain plus 1 to attack and speed. After that every 3 turns it does a boost.
@@Robin_hsr12 the funny thing is that it's probably still not quite good enough.
I'd be ok with Forewarn being a free dodge. I mean, it can probably just work like Mimikyu's Disguise ability but only works on the first turn that it is thrown in of the entire battle.
what if its a high evasion chance? or simply the ability gives the pokemon +1 evasion by default? would this be too broken?
@@unkindled6410Smogon would torch it immediately.
I say it should grant specific immunity to Fake Out, Feint, and ExtremeSpeed.
@@a-s-greig Wait a sec, you might be cooking something, make Forewarn immune to priority moves
@@Whodjathink there's already two abilities that do that.
@@Oakwin_mb dazzliiiing. But yeah you right. If anything, if Dazzling keeps its name in japanese, it should honestly boost the power of light type moves, but then Bruxfish would be pretty worse
Personally, I feel Mycelium Might could play more into the niche it wants instead of being a worse Mold Breaker. It could keep the moving last effect, but cause status moves to ALWAYS work, ignoring ability AND typing. 100% accuracy Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Screech, etc.
Any status moves it uses that target itself could additionally have their effects doubled. For example, Growth would be default +2 to Attack and Special Attack, under sun it would be +4 to Attack and Special Attack.
That would be great too. There's so much wrong with the ability. It's a signature ability and you have no choice and have to use it.
i fw the vision and i think its good and flavorful BUT fungi does not photosynthesize so i would drop the sun boost
@@brewskimckilgore6796I want to be clear that it is not something by the ability. Yes, fungi do not photosynthesize, but that does not change the pokémon move Growth - which Toedscruel has and the move changes with sunlight. I was using Growth to better explain how doubled self-inflicted stat increases would work in this scenario, explaining how it would affect that move too.
@@CammyMeeleTeaIt wouldn’t be as awful if it was on a pokémon with different stats. It wouldn’t be great, but if Toedscruel even had more average speed and higher bulk, then it’d make more sense. While not with a signature ability, Wugtrio also got screwed by its ability options. It’s a shame convergent pokémon are forced into the same stats and not just sharing the same base stat total or something.
I agree with the first part about making status moves ignore every possible thing that would stop status, but making it double stat boosts as well is a bit much. I know it's a signature ability, but usually, abilities do one thing.
Let's see... Corrosion should also let Poison-type moves hit Steel-type Pokémon.
I like your change to Tangled Feet, I'd also add that instead of a Pokémon hurting itself, it uses a random move it knows (unless it's holding a Choice item, then it just hurts itself like normal)
I feel Anticipation could keep its original effect, but with the addition of boosting Speed or Evasion when a "dangerous move" is detected.
Finally, one that I've seen a lot and agree with is that Emergency Exit should trigger at the end of the turn. Would mean Golisopod still gets to do stuff the turn it goes below 50%, and then bail.
For Emergency Exit if in a double battle it could trigger before the other Foe's move is brought down to 50% or less by the first
More pokemon should get corrosion, first of all. Ability distribution in these games is awful sometimes,
Definitely agree that corrosion should still damage steel types, at neutral damage, based on the power of the move. But it should also lower Def and spef depending on what kind of attack was used
But a few more mons should for sure get corrosion. Venomoth, dustox, seviper, tentacruel, toxricitry, the nidos, ariados, nagabadel, and perhaps some non poison types.
@@enkidudemuk and weezing as well.
@@victory8928Swallot would also be a good fit.
Corrosion should make Corrosive Toxic Spikes which can be Absorbed by Poison types but will also Poison them upon Absorption.
Regarding mycelium might, I don't want its lower priority to be removed, I don't think it would be healthy. I pkay VGC and the only sleeper is amoonguss, but I don't wanna risk that a fast sleeper, even less bulky, takes its place. I think that mycelium might not only should let you ignore abilities, but also items and typings, so that you can spore grass types and safety goggles mon. I think it would be better balanced this way.
I have an idea for forewarn, make it reveal the strongest move as well as making the Pokémon with forewarn impossible to be crit hit with said move it detected. Thematically it makes sense as since you foresaw the attack so to speak you'd be able to avoid being critically hit as both you & your Pokémon would be expecting the move
Here's some ability buffs I'm thinking of:
-Iron Fist: Punching moves have their power boosted by 50%.
-Filter/Solid Rock/Prism Armor: Halves damage from super effective moves.
-Light Metal: Halves weight, boosts Speed by 20%, but lowers defenses by 10%.
-Heavy Metal: Doubles weight, boosts defenses by 10%, but lowers Speed by 20%.
I thought of Heavy Metal having the ability crush hazards upon switch in, and because I couldn't find a way to give it's brother a good enough second effect, I've thought of making it be Speed Huge Power
@@torterra1826 I'd probably have for auto entry hazard removal the ability Minesweeper.
Heavy metal should prevent being forced switch like Roar and Whirlwind.
There's a situational, hidden advantage in Mycelium Might: being able to hide your speed.
Wait, how?
20:01 in fact the french translation team opted for this definition by naming the ability "Cœur de coq" "rooster heart" and that basicly mean proud and combative
Love this lore!
The only ability change I don't like is Mycelium Might's. I feel like the main purpose of the ability was to nerf toedscruel as to make it decently fast at attacking and slow when using strong status moves and the mold breaker effect was just a slight balance for it without just giving it status move stall.
So i think when changing it should still keep the nerf even if a 100 speed spore might not be that game breaking. I would just have it ignore types too.
mycelium might... i'd stay still keep it going last, but have it bypass type and item (ie rage powder/spore ignoring grass/safety goggles). maybe have other offensive powder moves bypass grass/goggles too though i'm not sure if toedscruel would benefit much from that and it may not be worth doing. either way, bypassing goggles alone is incredibly useful as it's often used to block spore/rage powder, and the ability to sleep/redirect grass types is also super useful, giving it a niche over amoonguss
What if Forewarn doesn't just trigger once upon coming in, but every single turn like Speed Boost? This would mean that you'd still be able to learn the enemy's whole moveset, but only if you don't get repeat triggers and only after you live four turns through the enemy. This could make for interesting stalling tactics where you use turns to buy yourself more chances at forewarning important enemy moves.
I really like that. Pokémon is a game about switching (way more about switching in singles) so it would be an interesting reward for positioning in a way where you don't need to switch.
As for Doubles, scouting 2 moves a turn is funny.
It would be neat if Forecast could also set weather if you gave Castform one of the weather-extending rocks, giving the pretty weak weather-specific pokemon a cool niche.
Nice video!
Give Aura Break to Lucario and change its function to be removing STAB from the opposing Pokemon's moves
ohhhhhh I like this. Zygarde is such a cool mon but it's ability is so underwhelming and ass, this keeps the theme of the original while massively broadening it's use cases. Obv zygarde complete would need nerfs to compensate but this is a really cool idea.
While i agree with every point you made, i would personally choose some other buffs, like:
Iron fist- bonus damage and immunity to contact punishers (rough skin, rock helmet, static, etc) with punches, since they have an IRON fist
Anticipation- increased dodge/defense chance to super effective moves (diminishing returns to quad effective moves), since they are aware of the danger they're facing
Forecast- immunity to negative effects from weather (sunny day reducing water moves dmg, for example)
One change I've always thought would be interesting is giving Oblivious immunity to move-restricting effects such as Imprison or Encore. Combining that with Choice items might be a bit much, but if we can have Sheer Force Life Orb, I think it works.
Looking at what mons get it I don't think anything would be too overbearing. I would like mamoswine to get a boost to ou tho.
That would be really fun to try!
tbf life orb only boosts the power of moves by 30%, sheerforce has a downside which is to remove secondary effects from moves, which may limit SOME sets. yeah sheerforce Steelyx uses iron head because its not outspeeding anything so it doesnt matter it loses the flinch chance, but even then.
im not sure if allowing oblivious users to just have free +50% boost would be very good, specially as someone else mentioned, mamoswine would be a monster.
@@unkindled6410 if mega medicham wasn't overbearing (which got a 2x boost to atk for the cost of it's item slot) I don't think that the oblivious mons would be too good but who knows
loooool making Oblivious act as an infinite mental herb would be awesome, making it negate choice items is a bit crazy because they are balanced kinda precariously, just look at G-Darmanitan
Pretty awesome video, I'm loving all theorycrafting on this channel! Regarding forewarning I'd make it evade Status moves and debuffs when swithcing it in. Unless they're caused by an attack. This still might be a bit broken, but as mentioned, all family lines with this ability are not that good, but it'll certainly make them a bit better.
Your humor is my exact cup of tea, and these reworks are very well thought out, would you mind if I borrowed them for my own Pokémon projects?
As for Forewarn, I think announcing both opponents' abilities in doubles (and singles as well) is a good enough ability. Not overpowered, but not useless either.
Yeah, go ahead, I'm not a good coder, or artist, or storyteller, so it wasn't going to be me who made a game or mod to implement this.
Just send people my way because I like to teach and learn with people.
My fix for early bird is replacing it with an ability called “tight schedule” which haves the amount of turns of taunt,torment,encore,attract,embargo, and other moves of the like along with sleep. I think it still keeps the theme of early birds Japanese name but makes it a better ability
That's good enough to be its own ability. We have like 300, why not add more?
good point
Thanks for keeping me company on my walk! I love how you use the Japanese names in your reasoning
I appreciate hearing them. I've always loved languages, but was too indecisive to focus on one language. Or even focus on foreign language as a hobby.
At least with videos like this, I get to review Japanese (pokémon's default language) then compare that to all the other localizations. It's so interesting.
Here are my thoughts on how I would buff some of these abilities:
Anticipation: In addition to triggering upon the opponent switching in, while the move itself would not be revealed, if the Pokemon shudders, it gets +1 Speed, to try to knock out the opponent before they can attack.
Forewarn: Also triggers upon switch-in. The revealed move deals 33% less damage.
Big Pecks: Also ignores the opponent's Attack boosts.
For Slow Start, my "buff" would be more complex: I'd still have it halve Attack and Speed, but the nerf only lasts 3 turns, the turn counter persists even after switching out (so you don't have to stall 3 turns in one go), and during Slow Start turns, the user taks 20% less damage.
Early bird: to me it should heal 1/4th for every turn lost in sleep, so any time the Pokemon can't move because of sleep it gets healed to represent the power nap the Pokemon is having
Love the localization talk! Definitely keep it up
Absolutely, it's my only form of practice these days.
Wonder guard should be immune to entry hazards, weather damage and status effects.
The obvious balance to this is making any super effective status hurt shedinja. Like burn or stealth rocks.
I would make mycelium might always hit status moves through types and abilities,
But you still have a lowered priority
Early Bird is handy with Rest if it was on more tanky pokemon. Eviolite Girafarig can kinda use this
Early bird could be buffed greatly if it doubles speed until switched out like unburdened
I really like these ideas! For Early Bird, I would personally like to see you always wake up after 1 turn of sleep. I know it's pretty specific to Smogon Singles but it's to do with how the randomness of induced sleep affects Sleep Clause. Not knowing when you wake up means you don't know whether you should burn sleep turns when you have the chance or keep your pokemon asleep to block sleep from your more important pokemon. Knowing after you burn a sleep turn you'll wake back up while still blocking sleep until you decide to take that 2nd turn where you do wake up would be huge
0:20 Intimidate from gen 3, Chlorophyll from gen 3.
I would also say give forecast a built in weather extender for ones it sets up
Don't be a coward. Show us Castform's bazookas.
I'll acknowledge that this is really leaning into Anticipation's inclusion on Whiscash in particular, and it works less-well from a flavor perspective when considering that Absol doesn't get it, but I had a more aggressive and offensive redesign of Anticipation in mind which I think is actually pretty fun.
On the first turn in which the Anticipation user has switched in, it triggers a free activation of Future Sight.
Great for building momentum, and helps give Ferrothorn a bit more bite as a pivot, rather than just sitting there and tanking hits. Keep in mind that Ferrothorn would have to give up Iron Barbs in order to use it, which is a pretty substantial commitment. I'm sure it would also be a solid contender for Hatterene's ability slot, and similar to Ferrothorn, Hatterene would have to give up a VERY good ability in Magic Bounce in order to opt for Anticipation.
I would give a very straightforward, slightly boring buff to Big Pecks. However, one would need to keep in mind that any buff given to Big Pecks should also fairly be given to both Hyper Cutter and Keen Eye, as they are ability clones. With that in mind, my thought is to give the user a 1/8th boost in Defense - or a 1/8th boost to Attack for Hyper Cutter or Accuracy, for Keen Eye.
Would this be relevant? It mostly wouldn't, but there'd be 2 exceptions worth mentioning.
One would be Mandibuzz in higher tiers, who now acts as if it has effectively base ~125 defense. They'd still probably EV into Special Defense, considering the Dark/Flying typing, but it would now be a stronger mixed defender.
The other would be Kingler. While Sheer Force gives a bigger boost, it does not give a boost to some of the moves Kingler most wants to use, such as Crabhammer, Knock Off, and Superpower. A more general 12.5% boost is much lesser than the 30% of Sheer Force, but it's worth it, when you consider that it acts upon Kingler's best moves. They'll be effectively coming off of a 152 attack stat, and it's a nice bonus that Kingler can't be Intimidated with Hyper Cutter.
I wanted to convince myself that this hypothesized Big Pecks boost would be relevant on anything other than Mandibuzz, but it's just too subtle to make a make something non-viable become viable, at least by itself. The closest thing I could come up with was Eviolite Tranquil as a Wish-passer, but even that is REALLY pushing it, even for something like RU. I'd be nervous about making the boost bigger and risk outclassing other options.
Another thing that bugs me with Iron Fist is that the damage boost doesn’t stack with the new Punching Glove. So it misses out on the 10% boost that item provides, meaning there’s no reason to run that combo together when Protective Pads are a thing.
Great ideas all around! I especially love the Early Bird one!
Though the way I'd impement it would by making the heal happen when the pokemon falls asleep (to keep it in line with rest) and then the speed buff is what happens when the mon wakes up. This way it stays strong but also the heal does get a bit mitigated by the fact that the pokemon will still probably take a hit off that heal before moving again.
As for Anticipation, I like the ideas, though personally I think that, especially based on the name, it could be a simple thing like, the pokemon gets +1 priority on their first move after switching in, if the oponent uses a super effective attack on them. So the logic would be that the pokemon switches in and detects that its oponent has a move it is weak to, so it braces itself to act before them, a way to explain it would be that Anticipation gives the Sucker Punch effect to the users first move after switching in (so long as the oponent attacks them with the super effective move). This way it has quite a niche and becomes a pretty decent ability, but it also has counter play and isnt too broken just by the oponent ignoring the pokemon/playing around the ability.
That is an interesting Anticipation change!
bro how did castform’s design get approved like they clearly some yitties
At least they were very inclusive about the design. So it can be test****** or chest******, depending on the Castform.
Rattled is an ability I want to see improved but still niche, as it is super situational, I think on top of the user gaining a speed boost when they get hit by a Bug, Dark, or Ghost attack, I think they should gain a +2 speed boost if they are facing a Bug, Dark, or Ghost-type Pokemon on the battlefield, a bit niche yeah but at least its immediate and would be a nice anti-meta choice. I wonder if there are ways to improve it further though?
I'm ace, chill 😂
Based
I feel like your anticipation buff is actually a complete rework. It's no longer feeling an intense, threatening aura, but rather scouting out the opposition.
A new name like Intel Gather or Scout would be better.
Personally I would make Anticipation still do the shutter thing, but on entry gain +1 Def or SpD depending on the attack type. It gives more vague information while still fitting thematically; your Pokemon is overwhelmed by the threatening aura and reflexively brings up its defenses in response.
I'm late, but...
Slow Start: start with -3/4 atk/spd, gain 1 atk/spd per turn, stat changes persist on swap.
Probably broken but definitely more unique.
I love the idea of Tangled feet combining Shell Armour, Super Luck, Sniper AND a speed and evasion boost on top, but only when confused. Would love to use this with thrash dodrio LOOOOOL
I got my insight
Run away: guarantee escape and switch out, also gain immunity against entry hazard
Forecast: 1) gain additional type according to weather instead of replacing Castform Normal-type, OR 2) replace its type and any normal moves Castform has to match weather
Iron Fist: I agree with you in this
Early Bird: always wake up on the next turn and regain 1/3 health
Anticipation: user detects an status moves from pokemon on switch, also work on newly switched out opposing pokemon
Forewarn: same as Anticipation above but for super effective moves against it
Tangled Feet: Double it's evasion and speed if confused
Klutz: cannot use hold item, but switch item if makes contact (work both ways, defensively and offensively)
Slow start: cannot move in 2 turns, also gain 2 stage increases stats if survived
Big Peck: cannot have both Defense and Sp. Defense decreased
My honorable mention;
Defeatist: All stats dropped one stage if got hit with crit
Malice: Intimidate for Sp. Attack
Trusty Keeper: holding item boost Defense
Sticky Hold: hold item cannot be removed or break
Earthbound: similar with Forecast, for terrain
This is my opinion, waddaya think?
Not only should Iron Fist be buffed to 50%, Poison Jab, Hammer Arm and Needle Arm should be added to the buffed moves. As for some other changes:
- Damp should prevent all explosive moves, like say Shell Trap.
- Abilities like Static and Flame Body should work both ways, i.e. when attacking and being attacked, but the % chance should be lowered from 30% to 15%
- Flash Fire should increase ATK and SP.ATK by 1 stage, instead of an unviewable 50% boost.
- Suction Cups and Sticky Hold should make moves like Wrap and Bind last 8 turns, on top of their current effects.
- Levitate should give Pokémon the Flying Type as an extra type, with weaknesses and resistances (just like how say Forest's Curse adds the Grass type).
- Chlorophyll, Solar Power, Leaf Guard and Flower Gift should reduce Fire damage taken by 50% while in sunlight.
- Illuminate should allow you to hit Pokémon in the middle of Dig, Fly, Phantom Force, etc.
- Magma Armor should reduce Water/Ice damage by 50%.
- Water Veil should reduce Fire damage by 50%
- Magnet Pull should allow you to steal items on contact.
- Keen Eye should increase Accuracy every turn (Speed Boost but for Accuracy)
- Plus and Minus should boost SP.ATK and ATK, so it's useful for both types of Pokémon.
Some ideas
Corrosion: Can poison target regardless of typing, poison movest affect steel types
Supersweet syrup should just activate every time switching in, intimidate does that as well.
Honey gather could just lower evasion when the poémon uses moves on target or something. Effects with honey item also could be there?
Emergerncy exit: If health drops to half or less switches out after moving, if cant move switches out anyways
Defeatist could just boost attack stats when pokémon is confident, but pokémon goes to defeatist mindset when half or less and the stats are cut, could give a message of this when happens and when switching in. Archen and its evolution should in my opinion learn roost if they do not.
Illuminate could maybe redirect bug moves and give immunity, or weaken ghost. Both? Too strong? Should have overworld effect it had as well.
Flower veil: non-volatile status condition immunity also to fairy types, but not the stat dop immunity. Or the other way around?
Water veil: burn immunity 1/3 less damage from special
Magma armour: frostbite immunity 1/3 less damage from physical
Curious medicine: removes negative stat changes from allies and and cures partys burn when swiching in
Run away: Pokémon can always switch out or escape wild battle.
Maybe frisk cold give poémon a stat boost if it finds an item, so it would be more useful if you know opponents team.
Forewarn could in addion to revealing a move have immunity to hazards, and maybe pursuit.
Anticipation could in addition to its revealing super effectiviness also make moves less accurate to the pokémon with the ability.
The video tho had good ideas about anticipation and forevan, so?
Castforms different forms could have different stats too and the ability to have sand form yeah.
Mycelium might could just make the user immune to taunt and encore like aroma veil does.
Stall ability could give the pokémon immunity some disruptin stuff, maybe status conditions taunt or flinch something. So it can just freely move last and take its time but not be bothered by other pokémon.
Iron fist should have higher effect I agree.
Early bird, the video had a really good idea. Giving speed boost and healing after waking up is nice in addition to half sleep turns.
Tangled feet idea in the video was really nice. Increased, evasion, speed, crit chance and damage and crit immunity while confused.
I would give "Keen Eye" and "Compound eyes" 3 effects. 1. Make the ability holder immune to accuracy reducing effects. 2. Make the ability holder ignore it's targets evasion boosts. 3. Increase the accuracy of the ability holder's moves by 1.3 times.
ive seen good ideas, but
Iron fist should be 30%
Forecast gets sand forme and higher bst by like 10 in each stat
Early Bird wakes up on the next turn
Forewarn prevents crit on supereffective moves (adding onto what it is)
anticipation can take 75/80% of dmg from attacks if it moves after the target
Forewarn I could see being either a free HDB, or autododge a damaging move once with a caveat. If it's a move with perfect accuarcy (Swift, Aerial Ace, Aura Sphere... Kowtow Cleave...) the Forewarn mon gets washed.
Disagree with Myc Might. I think keep moving last, but make it work regardless of typing so it can spore grass types.
Big pecks needs more tweaking in my opinion. It's basically an inferior version of clear body or white smoke. Perhaps big pecks could increase defense by 1 stage upon switch-in. It's only ever on bird pokemon. Although, in the case of Pidgeot, it could be problematic as it does have a mega and is already bulkier than other birds.
The Iron Fist buff would actually give Conkeldurr a very big buff. Since Hammer Arm is counted as a punching move, same with Crabominable who also has Ice Hammer. Also a punching move.
Your rework idea for Anticipation is *really, really unnecessary, bad, & kinda useless.* (especially VGC wise bc basically, you're just cheating!)
And too many +1 Speed buffs, which is annoyong at most.
10:35 i think,that this ability will work on a slightly different principle (the ability Foreyawn,or how it named,do it yet)
Pokémon with Anticipation,feeling iMmInEnT DeAtH, increased his speed by 1 stage,to quickly destroy the danger,and evasion,if it have a 4x effective moves
My notes:
-Forecast (Castform ability) should also just change the weather when entering the field, if castform has one of the moves that casts the weather (hail, sunny day, sandstorm, etc).
(forecasting using the move in the battle, make castform much more viable, but you have to spend 1 slot)
-Iron fist (and abilities that boosts move types), for that, just give another attribute to all pokemon that has strong punches: +20% on punches, (like the ability). Now, if it has also the ability, it increases the damage +30%. Same way sharpness and others. It is given an attribute to all sharp claws, slicing (kabutops, scyther, etc) gain 20% but go to 50% if has sharpness. If it has shapness but not has the attribute, just 30%. Treat all abilities equal, and also dont need to have the ability to gain boosts that are obvious the pokemon would have. Also could provide for types of moves that do not have an ability like that: kicks (tsareena, quaquaval, blaziken, hitmonlee, etc), sound(lapras, exploud family, jigglypuff, maloeta, primarina), etc.
-Slow start: randomly half one of the 5 stats for the 5 turns. Would be fun not knowing which stat is halfed.
Forewarn would read as "lessens the power of opposing moves"
The perks of this ability:
Future Sight FAILS on it
Can't be crit by auto-crit moves
Secondary effects of opposing moves are halved
Super effective moves can't crit the Forewarner
I admit, as a non native speaker i always thought the 'big pecks' part was due to birds having beaks and 'pecking' stuff. So the non def dropping never made sense to me.
You learn new things every day.
If you're gonna go all out buffing dozens of abilities, why not give the Doubles-exclusives a purpose in singles or even in the overworld. Fun fact, are y'all aware that Stonjourner's Power Spot HAS 1 use in singles? It boosts the power of Future Sight/DOOM Desire.
Truant: A truant pokemon can use status moves (that don't do damage) in the truant turn. Recharge moves (Like Hyper beam, Roar of Time, etc.) have no extra recharge turn and is recharged in the truant turn... Two turn moves (Like Solar Beam, Dig, Dive, Meteor Beam or Fly, etc.) become single turn instead of failing...
Defeatist: The poekemon gets a double omni boost when entering the field. If it has full health... When less than 1/2 health the boosts get removed automatically. Boosts can be Baton Passed onto another mon...
Castform's Forecast ability should create weather on switch-in based on the Castform's moves etc. A Sandstorm form is nice but Castform would still be bad with just the new form. Inducing a chosen weather would be like giving Ditto Impostor in Gen 5 and completely revitalize the Pokemon.
Could Forewarn perhaps reveal nature, EVs and IVs?
It’s not entirely fitting, and would suck in casual play (especially if natures used the standard name instead of +[stat]/-[stat]), but would be really good in competitive and Nuzlockes (when these values aren’t set).
This would also make Frisk, Anticipation and Forewarn each reveal a key part of an opponent’s set that may hint at the parts associated with the other two abilities.
Since you metioned Mycelium might's reason for making you go last, I will just say that Gamefreak really does not want fast spore users: Brute Bonnet was literally statted so that, at level 50, a Min Attack/Max Speed Brute Bonnet has one point of Attack higher than Speed so that it can never get the speed bonus from protosynthesis
But yeah, I would personally set it so it keeps moving last when statusing, but It gets to ignore Abilities, Type-Based Immunities, make statuses never self-cleanse (ie, Insomnia with Sleep or Limber with paralysis, or Shed Skin entirely) while a pokemon with this ability is out
I've always liked the concept of Truant, but it does suck ass. Since it's just on Slaking (and one metal ant no one cares about), changing it won't harm much. I feel like when Slaking is "Just loafing around!", it should regain HP, since it's taking a mini rest between turns. It would still do nothing on that turn, but now gain 1/8th HP (basically a free leftovers overall), only if it stays in through its truant turn. So if you switch in, throw off a move, and switch out, you don't gain any value.
I also liked the concept of letting the loafing around turn be used for non-active moves. After all, being lazy isn't the same as being asleep. I would change the message to "Slaking is loafing around! He's charged up!" and it would put Slaking into a buffed "charged" state that negates the charging of moves (both before and after, i.e. hyperbeam or solarbeam). The charged up buff would be removed upon switch out. This means its first turn it has to do a Body Slam, but after that it can throw out Giga Impacts all day. The other player has already had ample time to set up and deal with Slaking, so getting a big payoff for staying in (and then having to still waste turns afterwards) I think is fine. It functionally is no different than a regular strong normal type throwing out Giga Impacts, but now it softens the downside of Slaking. As a note, if you used a charge move turn 1, it would operate like it does now, and you'd slack in the middle before unleashing / recharging - it's only once Slaking has loafed does he become "charged up". This means going Choice Band would still be ruinous, and you still need some non-charge moves for that turn, and this really hurts coverage or STAB in general. It wouldn't effect moves like Dig, but would function as a Power Herb, so moves like Skull Bash would raise defense.
Basically, I wanted the player to feel incentivized for staying in and letting Slaking waste turns. There's nearly nothing in modern gens that could overcome losing every other single turn, since he's still completely dead to Protect and functionally useless if he gets burned or slept. If it were easy implement, I'd honestly want him to learn a fifth move called "laze around" or something, which he is required to use at least every other turn (like reverse Torment). This would let players bypass the weakness of protect, since they could intentionally waste multiple turns in a row (a huge risk in general), but it's obviously not worth it in terms of complications to how the game functionally works.
I think Forewarn should have the buffed Anticipation ability and Anticipation should have some effect that let's it deal with super effective moves, either reducing the damage taken or slightly lowering the accuracy.
Mycelium Might should still make it move last, but only affect Powder moves and also let's them hit Grass Types
For Forewarn, what you can do is that if it detects the enemy’s move then it could receive 25% reduced damage from said move but only if it’s used on the turn Forewarn announces. This isn’t really super helpful as the Pokémon that have it aren’t super bulky aside from Musharna, though it does help with specific setups against matchups. It’s not an immediate advantage but it does give you a slight edge, plus if you have a premonition of the future chances are you would be more prepared to handle it whether it’d be bracing yourself for it or avoiding it outright (which the opponent can do by just not using that move on the same turn). It helps against Choice’d Pokémon but it can also mess you up against people playing Balance teams as you’d see stuff like “Jynx foresaw the enemy Kommo-O’s Close Combat!” but the enemy could have used iron head on the same turn. It gives a niche advantage but it’s to expected since you do reveal part of a Moveset and I feel anything more would make it overtuned
I don’t think Run Away should negate Shadow Tag, but I think it should escape trapping moves yeah.
I want to fix Truant to be an interesting downside, after using an Attacking Move not a Status Move, the user slacks off the next turn.
While Slacking off, it heals small amount of HP (maybe around 1/8 or 1/4 of HP) & get rid of Status Effects.
Also I want Slaking to have unique animation of when it is its Slacking turn it lays down as usual & when it is Active it would stand up like a Gorilla, for indication that it will be ready to use any move.
This will make so that after using an attack, it will force the user to have like a 5th move that always activate.
You can also use a regular Status Move as you want to not be forced to use its Ability every other turn, since that exploit is gone, you never know when it will hit you hard.
Stat changes will not be healed back to normal when Slacking off, that means the user either want to stay in or switches out just by Stat changes purely.
For an specific pokemon i thought so about:
Shedinja's Wonder Guard now also blocks status effects and ignores hazards.
Early Bird just giving speed I think would be fine and in line with what GameFreak would make. With the health gain however, I feel like it gets too complicated. Pokemon is targeted at the most casual playerbase. So things should be easy to parse/understand on the first read.
the klutz you made would be completely insane, free knock off without damage, while eating your berry, imagine the effect that would have combined with the speed boosting berry, or attack boosting if there is one. also, switching in with a klutz pokemon would be insane against choice item mons who you resist. they lose the banded effect before the attack hits since switches always go first in a turn. volt turning with a klutzer would also be completely insane
With big pecks I think it would be fair to make it so if the Pokémon’s attack OR defense are attempted to be lowered, it’s attack AND defense are raised instead. I think it fits thematically and even with the buff of not lowering attack it’s still just worse clear body, and only on Pokémon that aren’t very good so it wouldn’t be too broken to give it a significant improvement . It could also give the Pokémon that get it a niche meta use as counter intimidate Pokémon (not like that’s anything new, we already have defiant and competitive, but big pecks has a different enough effect.)
Ledian would get SUCH a buff from Iron Fist, esp if it got sucker punch/mach punch
Anticipation, I think, should increase evasion upon sensing a super effective move. The "Danger Sense" would make sense because sensing danger would make anyone paranoid to evade. For Forwarn, it could make the pokemon immune to entry hazards in addition to knowing the highest base power move.
Klutz actually doesn't prevent negative effects of held items for some reason (at least prior to gen 7). Not sure if this is fixed by now, but It's been a thing as recent as gen 6. Haven't seen it past gen 6 though.
you won't believe how many times I've seen a Lopunny holding a Toxic orb in a battle facility, only to get poisoned despite it having the klutz ability
I believe iron fist is only 20% for drain punch. Just thinking about drain punch conkeldurr 😂😂
You could just make Anticipation raise Evasion or speed by 1 or 2 stages on trigger. If you know something is dangerous, you'd want to avoid it, right?
Normal abilities I would gave a few changes.
Defeatist - The stats are reduced by 30-40% instead of 50 %
Normalise - Instead of making attacks all normal type, the user (aka Delcatty) gets a stab for any attack plus a unique x2 stab for normal type attacks.
Flash Fire - Make it a fire type equivalent of Motor Drive and increase speed
Pure Power and Huge Power - Either make them one ability or make Pure Power multiply both attack stats by 1,5 (PP specifically as is original name is "Yoga Power" while Huge Power is "Muscle Man")
Sticky Hold - The next attack of the user will land no matter what if he goes second and is hit by a contact move
Plus, Minus, Battery and any abilities that can only work in doubles- In a solo match, if the user is switched out for another pokemon, the one switched in gets the effect of the ability for 3 turns (turns he switched in included).
Pick Up & Ball Fetch: just add the effect of the former to the latter and give up on ball fetch.
Cute Charm - For it doesn't need a buff in itself but would be better if the attract status condition was buffed instead, like give the pokemon in love a 20% nerf to both attack stats.
New abilities make out of 2 other.
Vital Spirit & Inner Focus - Add the effect of the latter to the former and give this rework vital spirit to all Inner Focus user. (and to give purpose to Insomnia, make it so both VT & In. users can use rest, but while VT's rest is normal, insomnia make it so they only get 75% of their HP back but wake up immediately, PS: i don't know the PP of rest from the top of my head, so nerf if we have a lot just in case).
Damp & Water veil - Fuse them into one ability.
Magma Armor & Flame Body - This reworked "Magma Armor" can still burn the foe if they uses a contact move, and make the body so hot it halves attack from water moves.
And to end it all in a different note:
There are also a lot of other abilities that have redundant effects, but if some are legendary exclusive and thus I wouldn't change anything (legendary can have a personnal flair afterall) those who don't I don't know what i would change them. For examples:
solid rock/filter: make the former give a 10% boost in physical defense, while the later give a 10% in special defense ?
Shell armor/Battle armor, maybe the later retain its function while the former make defense buffing moving raise it by one stage higher than normal ?
These are the only contenders I know from the top of my head so I stop here.
I’d like Forewarn to tell you 2 moves this Pokémon knows and two moves this Pokémon is capable of knowing. In no particular order. So you most likely got half the move set but you could also have less because of duplicates, or you could have conceivably gotten the whole moveset at the other extreme
Considering Tangled Feet is still used for some mons (Flamigo) that might be a bit much, a simple evasion boost should be fine. And like you said Klutz already gets use as is, maybe the baked in knock off being on contact with/from the mon would be enough.
Let Forewarn be the new Anticipation, revealing one random move the opponent has.
And let Anticipation automatically dodge the first super effective move used by an opponent that targets it. You could still have the flavor text of it shuttering.
I think this better aligns with the naming schemes of both abilities. If you're anticipating something, that means you're highly expecting said thing to happen are more than likely prepared to deal with it.
Whereas forewarning something is a general warning that a certain thing exists and could happen.
Edit: Or you could make them have the same effect but Forewarn is when you switch in, and Anticipation happens when the opponent switches in or vice versa.
Castform's forecast should initiate the weather for whatever weather rock they're holding. Heat rock for drought, damp rock for drizzle, It's got awful stats to begin with, icy rock for snow warning, smooth rock for sandstorm. Just give the ability this effect to free up a moveslot.
Being able to set up any weather, based on an item slot, doesn't seem op to me. Other pokemon with other utility to offer are better weather setters. Just give castform something.
I think it would be cool if Anticipation reduced damage from the first super effective attack by 25%. It makes sense that if you know an attack is coming that you’d be prepared for it.
Anticipation should halve damage from the first super-effective hit, while Forewarn should provide a constant 33% damage debuff.
Castform should be the Eevee of the weather and field changes
So i agree rock during sandstorm but also Psychic on psychic terrain, grass on grassy terrain, etc etc. And it should receive a corresponding stat boost based on its new form like how Ogrepon works
Castform really needs to go all out, having type dependent on both terrain and weather. Maybe it could be his potential evolution's ability and maybe a move that changes type based on both as well(having two attack types like flying press).
The mycelium might change would be broken, your change is the equivalent of replacing any of the 3 negative abilities (traunt, slowstart, defeatist) with neutral or even postive abilities.
The relavent change mycelium might actually needs is that the speed modification should work dynamically like speed so if the ablity is remove before toadscruel has a turn it then gets to use its high speed to act normally.
The alternative is keep it as you always act last, but your status move cannot miss or fail, so you can spore grass types, poison steel and poison types and also you status goes through substitute and protect.
Now the abilities effect justifies being forced to go last with the truely mighty status effects.
Forewarn might work as it does now (tell the enemy's strongest move) but, if the opponent tries to use that specific move againts our Pokémon with Forewarn, it will fail the first turn it's used. Just once
Personally I believe all abilities even clones should be different in mechanics in someway besides just being called something different, like I think Huge and Pure Power should do something different from each other even if one is a signature ability, he’ll especially if it’s a signature ability
When you said “What if it completely doxxed your opponent,” I thought you were going to suggest something much different lol.
Forewarm could yet be evasion boost at switching in but like +1 Evasion only when Switching In not 100%
Idea for Defeatist: instead of halving the stats, it should reduce two random (not accuracy or evasion) stats by 1 stage every turn the mon ends at below 50% HP, but also have a positive effect at high HP (raise a random stat by 1 stage? something else?)