I love how he mentions any pathetic move would KO Shedinja without its Wonder Guard ability, then uses Tackle as an example, a move that wouldn't actually hurt Shedinja regardless of ability due to the ghost typing.
Clefairy is definitely a Mon that is carried by its ability, which is friend guard. Also colossal made a huge impact in gmax-viable formats thanks to steam engine, making it even faster than excadrill in sand. Speaking of sand, most mons with speed boosting abilities with their respected weathers literally carried their viability in VGC. Just some examples so far
Mold Breaker Excadrill if its in SV will be great for beating possible terastalized electric levitate mons. It will also be great at dealing with terastalized Shedinja if that's in the game.
Can’t forget about Incineroar! It was hardly used before the distribution of its hidden ability, after which it became the most omnipresent vgc mon ever after getting it
This also was helped by it getting Parting Shot added to it's movepool shortly after, and it's sitting at #1 usage stat throughout the last few VGC seasons.
I recall having used a joke team in gen 6 NU and the Magnum Opus of the team was : shedinja with Life Orb, Double Edge, Final Gambit, Shadow Sneak and a filler move Shit was hilarious as hell, no matter what I clicked the opponent always was gonna find it funny
On the topic of Quagsire, he's honestly a solid candidate for this too, as you said there are so many other Water/Ground types and Quagsire would just be a weaker Swampert if it weren't for Unaware, that ability is what makes Quagsire the suprise juggernaut it is (even to the point where because of Unaware it was literally used to help counter Zacian-Crowned whenever that monstrocity was let out to slay)
Agreed. Staring Zacian in the face and kicking it back to its pokéball is no joke and it's only possible due to unaware. Quagsire is quite fragile, and folds to any special attacks without needing to be grass type. It also likes the surprise factor, seeing players do another boost to deal with quagsire is quite funny. It also walled kyogre in gen 3 because of water absorb, now that I think about it...
Let be real here, without their abilities every Water/Ground mons would be a worse Swampert! Except for Whiscash, that one is already a worse Swampert because its ability sucks ass!
Also, a big mon carried by its ability has to be Mimikyu. Although Mimikyu isn't terrible by any means, its stats lean very much into the mediocre territory, not being exactly fast or strong but not being bulky at all, with its VGC usage mostly being a result of it being a ghost type with Trick Room that can live any 1 hit while having the option to go Focus Sash for a near guaranteed second or Mental Herb for Taunt protection. So much so was it carried by it its usage suffered heavily when the ability got nerfed in gen 8, leading to it no longer being able to use Focus Sash which also made Mental Herb sets more predictable and easier to counter.
Ditto is also very much carried by its ability. It had the quick powder and the other one that boosted its defenses so it could either transform faster or sponge a hit then transform. Impostor makes both of those items now irrelevant.
Buff the items to work while transformed, I want chaos. But at least with the powders you get to choose who you transform into, but I think scarf I still better though I'm not sure how transform interacts with it
I love how when talking about dark types with fake out that can lower special attack you didn't even have to show the fire type that shall not be named to make the point.
@@dabmonstr7403 this is vgc we are talking about. Removing item is not necessary. Throat chop can prevent the target from using parting shot and snarl Edit : and metal sound
Cinderace and Rillaboom both saw a big increase in usage after their HA were released. I don't think they'd be used as much without these top tier abilities
Over in singles, we have Nidoking as an example. Only 85 special attack with meh bulk and okay speed, but it has Sheer Force, which combined with Life Orb and the most GOATed special move pool next to Mew means it can one shot half the metagame.
I mean if you move up a tier or 2 and go to ubers you reach landorous incarnate which has an even better special move pool much higher special attack and sheer force which makes it a stupidly high power mon with good speed so it can just nuke opposing threats
@@willkershisnik5893 he does have a better special move pool as well as access to gravity which lets him have perfect accuracy and no pokemon being immune to it's attacks It's got the same coverage opportunities as Nidoking as well as just overall better stats
My favorite team in doubles is Ninetales + Mega Camerupt then switch Ninetales with Cradily. Cradily is not Gastrodon but they both have Storm Drain. My point? I don't know, I just wanted to talk I guess...
How about tsareena? A grass type without anything that really stands out becomes extremely dangerous on hyper offence teams by completely shutting down any priority, stuffing fake outs and destroying anything unlucky enough to be choiced into a grassy glide or something. While you can argue that taunt would somewhat allow her to keep a niche, I think it's queenly majesty that enables her to be extremely annoying.
You could potentially argue that Groudon (primal and normal) is carried by Drought/Desolate Land. That extra utility is probably the only thing giving it a real leg up over other restricted Pokemon. Without that it's just super Rhyperior or Sandslash, which is still good, but far less likely to be worth the restricted slot.
Groudon is definitely helped by its ability, but I think its robust moveset means that even with a more bog standard ability it would be getting by just fine.
I don't think Groudon is quite carried by its ability. It would still be an Uber just because of its massive base stats and it has a STAB Earthquake off of 150 attack, or 180 in primal form. It definitely appreciates the ability but it's such a physical nuke with great bulk that it would find a niche regardless. It wouldn't be at the top of the tiers it's top in without those abilities but it it would have a place.
Maybe in doubles, his stat-spread and typing are just insane. It's basically impossible for a mon with stats, movepool, and typing like that to be carried by an ability.
My one addition to the list is that, along with Pelipper and Torkoal gaining their weather-setting abilities, Gigalith gained Sand Stream in Gen 7 at the same time, making it one of the top picks for sand teams since. It still may not see a ton of use in higher tiers, but it now dominates the PU tier with it's terrifying sandstorm and Assault Vest-boosted Special Defense and STAB Stone Edge or Rock Slide making it a serious threat, not to mention it's Sand Force and Sand Rush teammates by its side.
I threw Gastrodon on a sandstorm team once cuz I had a huge water weakness (obviously). Thing is... it had Sand Force, not Storm Drain. It was fucking hilarious seeing it rampage through the enemy team under trick room. All while they refused to use water moves because they all assumed it was Storm Drain.
You should do one that is just "bad pokemon with broken abilities" for example frosmoth is the perfect fit here even tho it has a CRACKED ability (takes 50% less from special attacks) it still didnt get that much attention
If there is a part 2, please do mention how regular glalie has never amounted to much of anything for as long as Moody has been banned. Similar thing with the Bidoof line. And an honorable mention to Imposter ditto, a pokémon virtually unplayable without imposter
I feel like Rillaboom should be on the next list, right? I mean without setting up grassy surge and clicking Grassy Glide/Wood Hammer what even is its gameplan?
Ludicolo and Kingdra are probably carried by their abilities, yes water/grass and Water/Dragon are good types but if Swift Swim didn't exist then I don't think they would have never been considered outside of that niche "Crit-dra" set that was circulating early Gen 6 (same thing kinda goes for Golduck and Seismitoad but lesser, yes Golduck does also get Cloud Nine but that is still revolving around it's ability) As for Chlorophyl: Venusaur doesn't necessarily need Chlorophyl to be good as proven by Mega Venusaur, Liligant though you may have an argument And for Sand Rush: Excadrill is still useful with Mold Breaker, yes you would rather be running Samd Rush but it doesn't exclusively need Sand Rush. Alolan Sandslash and Beartic aren't good enough to talk about Slush Rush
Disagree. The reason mega venasaur is strong is because of thick fat and the buff to its stats. Venusaur without chlorophyl cant set up and sweep. So its regulated to the shitty leech seed sub stall set.
I remember following you when you had like 6k subs, and i know you deserve a lot more! cheers to the quest to 100k! Hit Scarlet and Violet content right and you'll be there in no time!
Comfey with Triage. Giving plus 3 priority to healing moves gives very fast weakness policy activation and floral healing making it a great support pokemon in vgc, take away that ability and no way it would have seen any use
Cool video Interesting topic, I really liked it I really didn’t care for Pelipper until I got it as my first shiny ever this year, now I use it for in VGC when I want to use a rain team lol
It's a crime that they even bothered giving Shedinja defense or special defense stats. Those stats should both be 1, and the rest of the points should be distributed into speed and attack.
I did ask my father why neutralizing gas doesn't work on those 2 pokemon. He thought for an hour and then said " be right back getting milk". He'll probably have an answer soon. I'm so excited
Thought the thumbnail was just dumb till I realized what it was refrencing. I wish I could say that I reliably shut down gastrodon ever with neutralizing gas, it just never happens
I love Gastrodon but have to agree on it. Even with better stats, the lack of a water immunity would probably make it worse than Quagsire in Singles and for VGC I really don't see it ever being used, it doesn't pack any other particularly useful utility for said meta and its offenses are just okay at best in something really slow.
I'd recommend Blazakin for the sequel. It's mediocre speed left it playing second fiddle to Infernape up until it got speed boost as it's ability, which made it so good it was sent to UBERS, and during gen 6, was considered to be better off without Mega evolving, because it was just that powerful.
Scizzor. I love the cool steel bug, and his typing and stat distribution are pretty good, but the moment they nerfed his move pool and thus his access to good technician boosts, he immediately stopped being good.
New subscribers! Love your channel. I would really love to see a video on buffing certain abilities or pokemon that would benefit from different abilities.
Venusaur and probably Rillaboom too. In fact any terrain setter that it's named "Tapu" fits here. Most weather setters too. In the video though you called this a problem but I don't see it that way. Their ability just so happens to be their strongest tool.
0:46 I know we're talking VGC but it's interesting you bring up Diglett here because ignoring that it gets Sand Veil which itself is very silly, Arena Trap hard carried Diglett to the point of getting Arena Trap banned in many singles formats. And yes, Diglett is relevant here because otherwise Dugtrio could've been banned but no, the ability as a whole had to be banned.
Now for the next video post the opposite - pokemons that are held back because of having bad abilities to the point that they’d be monstruos if they didn’t had a bad ability crippling them, such as slaking, regigigas, archeops, etc.
Whimsicott is a prankster pokemon that is definitely not carried by its ability. Even without prankster it’s still very fast and it saw quite a bit of play in gen 5 because of this. Prankster just makes it that much better so that it can be a top tier pokemon.
7:25 I still wonder why instead of giving him those pointless points in def and spec def , they didn't put those 70 ish points of the two stats combined into its speed stat : making it a respectable 110+ speed mon ! Considering how it was conceptualized I wonder why they didn't make him more of a potential fast sweeper/ support mon ( has access to screech by lv up, can set up the sun, has access to trick or ally switch ) ! Similarly I wonder: if Weezing has no access to Physical Poison moves , why give it high atk ?! Granted Poison used to be only physical bef gen 4, but still why not tweak his stats at least for the regional variant :o ?!
3:35 Whimsicott, Mega Banette, Riolu and partly Tornadus and Thundurus has still some uses without Prankster, tbh. Whimsicott mostly thanks to other abilities and priority moves and Riolu due to how good Fighting types usually are in Little Cup.
The aforementioned Ditto? A prime example! Without Imposter, Ditto can still steal an opponent's setup... If they don't just switch out, or KO the Ditto... With Imposter? It takes opposing setup sweepers and *runs with them.* I distinctly remember a Pokémon Unbound run where I specifically chucked Rock Tomb at Maxima's Contrary Serperior, *raising its Speed,* so I could promptly sweep the remainder of her team with her own setup.
I have a shiny Grimmsnarl... with Pickpocket... I'll try and make it work. I do have a strategy in mind when Scarlet and Violet release with a certain AyeAye Pokémon and it's ability 👀
Incineroar and landorus therian should be in this category as well. Without intimidate, incineroar saw no play prior to its release, and landorus incarnate with life orb sheer force would have be a better offensive mon with the higher speed. Groudon and kyogre too, able to set sun defemsively against opposing water attacks its weak to, and powering its already strong water attack respectively, otherwise power creep means the calyrex forms are simply objectively better as powerful spread attackers Abilities are far more important than many think, and i await the day they give regigigas pure power
Greninja and Blaziken. Great to have starters in the thumbnail and they likely would have seen zero usage without protean/battle bond and speed boost respectively. Mat block on Gren is fun but still not useful enough to see significant play.
I’ve come up with the ability Dimension Distort, which is auto Trick Room. Sure it alone is enough to make the Rock/Psychic hallucigenia fossil ‘mon I created and gave that ability go to Ubers.
Was just thinking how much a hazard clearing ability could carry a mon, even as a sacrifice into a known killing move just to avoid the damage and clear hazards.
Seismitoad got hard carried by Water Absorb back in the heavily restricted Galar Region singles metagame, becoming one of the most used pokemon in an environment where Dracovish would tear any team without a physically bulky water immunity apart.
I dunno if it was ever used much in VGC, but I definitely recall Weezing seeing decent use in Gen III and IV back in the day. Gen III especially. Definitely still carried by Levitate, though.
Next time you make video like this I think a quick shoutout to all the pure power or huge power pokemon would be appropriate. Granted they’re not all carried by their ability to the same degree, some might have used without it and some aren’t useful even with it, but in general that ability is a core feature of any Pokémon who can access it.
@movieboosted i believe the abilities As one & Disguise. Is not just an ability but their mechanics. Shadow rider is already join/fused so the ability is built in & mimikyu Disguise is always on as it's what it's wearing
Just as a heads up, Nutralizing Gas doesn’t effect a lot of abilities, not just those 2, I looked it up and I found a list of abilities Neutralizing Gas cannot suppress: Pokémon's Neutralizing Gas, Multitype, Zen Mode, Stance Change, Power Construct, Schooling, RKS System, Shields Down, Battle Bond, Comatose, Disguise, Gulp Missile, Ice Face, or As One. If any of these are wrong, I found it on bulbapedia so I am sorry. Also this was the first Google result for “are there any abilities neutralizing gas can't stop”. Pointing this out just as a point since I immediately saw potential to stop things like Power Construct in Dynamax Adventures, but that sadly wouldn’t work.
I do love my gastrodon but yeah there is alot of water ground and he gets worse without storm drain. I think good or decent abilities can make or break pokemon. Thanks for the video!
Aegislash's entire gimmick is its ability. If it uses any attacking move it becomes an attacker, with high attack stats and low defense stats, and if it uses King's Shield, it becomes a defender, with high defense stats and low atrack stats. Good for raising stats with little issue. If Aegislash didn't have Stance Change, it just wouldn't work.
I think of gastrodon like it's an annoying boulder sitting there on the battlefield, either waiting to get pushed out of the field eventually, or waiting to get a boost to stomp the opposing team, but waiting nonetheless It's like a threat but not a threat at the same time and it makes me sigh every time I see one
Mimikyu Ditto Unaware Speed Boost Blaze Chicken? Diglett&Dugtrio Magnet Pull Magnets Adaptability Crawdaunt and Porygon-Z??? Regenerator? Huge Power Pure Power Talonflame Machamp, No Guard or Guts Sheer Force (Nidoking) Swellow. It either gets Guts boosted STAB Facade with Brave Bird, or Scrappy STAB Boomburst with Air Slash and Heat Wave (Sp.Atk 50-->75 in Gen 7) Physical Swellow's U-Turn hurts more
I love how he mentions any pathetic move would KO Shedinja without its Wonder Guard ability, then uses Tackle as an example, a move that wouldn't actually hurt Shedinja regardless of ability due to the ghost typing.
Well there is Scrappy
@@1Piddsnot even that, normal type can't be super effective.
@@bg8561"without it's wonder guard ability" means there is no need for super effective damage
@@bg8561bro didn’t read the original comment
@@kachebelka3416 sorry, i got confused with another comment section.
Clefairy is definitely a Mon that is carried by its ability, which is friend guard. Also colossal made a huge impact in gmax-viable formats thanks to steam engine, making it even faster than excadrill in sand. Speaking of sand, most mons with speed boosting abilities with their respected weathers literally carried their viability in VGC. Just some examples so far
Yeah I agree mostly, other than drill, mold breaker drill destroys rotom
Mold Breaker Excadrill if its in SV will be great for beating possible terastalized electric levitate mons. It will also be great at dealing with terastalized Shedinja if that's in the game.
@@johnf6263 Shedinja isn’t in the game
Clefable for that matter isn't that great without either of Magic Guard or Unaware
@@tylerd1297 Clefairy is a Pokemon where the only bad thing about are stats. Fantastic abilities, fantastic Movepool, and Fairy is a fantastic type.
Can’t forget about Incineroar! It was hardly used before the distribution of its hidden ability, after which it became the most omnipresent vgc mon ever after getting it
he has extremely good tools that fit with intimidate and his typing is pretty decent
We didn't forget, but we wanted too. 🙃
This also was helped by it getting Parting Shot added to it's movepool shortly after, and it's sitting at #1 usage stat throughout the last few VGC seasons.
Almost all intimidator users got carried by the ability in vgc. Arcanine, Lando-t, Gyarados, Hitmontop, Scrafty
Serperior is another starter that can't live at ALL without its hidden ability.
Did you know? Shedinja can learn Final Gambit. I firmly believe that it was given this move as a joke
I mean he can learn it cuz Nincada gets it, but let's go with a joke
I use that move against leon charizard it was funny
@@elmago2808 Pretty sure Nincada only got it as part of the same joke
@@colehanna4040
but like
Nincada evolves into Ninjask too
He can use it
I recall having used a joke team in gen 6 NU and the Magnum Opus of the team was : shedinja with Life Orb, Double Edge, Final Gambit, Shadow Sneak and a filler move
Shit was hilarious as hell, no matter what I clicked the opponent always was gonna find it funny
On the topic of Quagsire, he's honestly a solid candidate for this too, as you said there are so many other Water/Ground types and Quagsire would just be a weaker Swampert if it weren't for Unaware, that ability is what makes Quagsire the suprise juggernaut it is (even to the point where because of Unaware it was literally used to help counter Zacian-Crowned whenever that monstrocity was let out to slay)
Agreed. Staring Zacian in the face and kicking it back to its pokéball is no joke and it's only possible due to unaware. Quagsire is quite fragile, and folds to any special attacks without needing to be grass type. It also likes the surprise factor, seeing players do another boost to deal with quagsire is quite funny.
It also walled kyogre in gen 3 because of water absorb, now that I think about it...
Quagsire would be worse gastrodon if it didnt have unaware.
Quagsire and gastro have niche over swampert because they have recover.
But the video is about vgc. Quagsire has no usage in this format
Seismitoad too, if you think about it. Water Absorb did a lot for its usage.
Let be real here, without their abilities every Water/Ground mons would be a worse Swampert! Except for Whiscash, that one is already a worse Swampert because its ability sucks ass!
Also, a big mon carried by its ability has to be Mimikyu.
Although Mimikyu isn't terrible by any means, its stats lean very much into the mediocre territory, not being exactly fast or strong but not being bulky at all, with its VGC usage mostly being a result of it being a ghost type with Trick Room that can live any 1 hit while having the option to go Focus Sash for a near guaranteed second or Mental Herb for Taunt protection.
So much so was it carried by it its usage suffered heavily when the ability got nerfed in gen 8, leading to it no longer being able to use Focus Sash which also made Mental Herb sets more predictable and easier to counter.
When pokemons whole thing is its ability I really cant say it is carried by its ability. It is its ability
@@otttimon5654 I mean, Shedinja made the video...
It can’t use focus sash anymore. It got nerfed so when disguise is broken it loses 15 percent of its HP making sash useless
Ditto is also very much carried by its ability. It had the quick powder and the other one that boosted its defenses so it could either transform faster or sponge a hit then transform. Impostor makes both of those items now irrelevant.
Buff the items to work while transformed, I want chaos. But at least with the powders you get to choose who you transform into, but I think scarf I still better though I'm not sure how transform interacts with it
@@abrawolf "But at least with the powders you get to choose who you transform into" what? you can still do that without the powders.
@@gregorymirabella1423 not in a double battle if using imposter
@@heyboxgaming Yeah you can, you always copy the mon directly in front of ditto, just send it out in the right position
@@hellothere2570 you cant just do that in a double battle without A, swapping out or B, getting lucky
I love how when talking about dark types with fake out that can lower special attack you didn't even have to show the fire type that shall not be named to make the point.
houndoom?
@@somechupacabrawithinternet8866 nah good ol Tony the Tiger
Intimidate, fake out, parting shot, throat chop, prankster immunity
@@ispeakcockney5387 throat chop? Isn't knock off better?
@@dabmonstr7403 this is vgc we are talking about. Removing item is not necessary. Throat chop can prevent the target from using parting shot and snarl
Edit : and metal sound
Cinderace and Rillaboom both saw a big increase in usage after their HA were released. I don't think they'd be used as much without these top tier abilities
Pre-HA, Cinderace was a mid level OU mon, cause it's stats where that good. It's HA is what put it into ubers.
@@EeveeShadowBacon he’s talking about vgc
@@willkershisnik5893 ahhh, ok that's a totally different beats then
same with greninja to an extent
Same as Incineroar, Greninja, and Blaziken
Over in singles, we have Nidoking as an example. Only 85 special attack with meh bulk and okay speed, but it has Sheer Force, which combined with Life Orb and the most GOATed special move pool next to Mew means it can one shot half the metagame.
He's the king after all
Mr. No Switch-Ins himself, the 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse for Stall players.
I mean if you move up a tier or 2 and go to ubers you reach landorous incarnate which has an even better special move pool much higher special attack and sheer force which makes it a stupidly high power mon with good speed so it can just nuke opposing threats
@@hellhound74 lando doesn’t have a better special move pool he just has better stats
@@willkershisnik5893 he does have a better special move pool as well as access to gravity which lets him have perfect accuracy and no pokemon being immune to it's attacks
It's got the same coverage opportunities as Nidoking as well as just overall better stats
Gastrodon's access to Recover its what makes it really shine over the other Water/Ground mons in singles imo. Storm drain is still really good tho.
My favorite team in doubles is Ninetales + Mega Camerupt then switch Ninetales with Cradily. Cradily is not Gastrodon but they both have Storm Drain.
My point?
I don't know, I just wanted to talk I guess...
@@AofCastle I love Cradily. He's the perfect counter to the almighty Dracovish
Quag gets recover though
@@zilosis3794 quag also has water absorb
How about tsareena? A grass type without anything that really stands out becomes extremely dangerous on hyper offence teams by completely shutting down any priority, stuffing fake outs and destroying anything unlucky enough to be choiced into a grassy glide or something. While you can argue that taunt would somewhat allow her to keep a niche, I think it's queenly majesty that enables her to be extremely annoying.
You could potentially argue that Groudon (primal and normal) is carried by Drought/Desolate Land. That extra utility is probably the only thing giving it a real leg up over other restricted Pokemon. Without that it's just super Rhyperior or Sandslash, which is still good, but far less likely to be worth the restricted slot.
Groudon is definitely helped by its ability, but I think its robust moveset means that even with a more bog standard ability it would be getting by just fine.
I don't think Groudon is quite carried by its ability. It would still be an Uber just because of its massive base stats and it has a STAB Earthquake off of 150 attack, or 180 in primal form. It definitely appreciates the ability but it's such a physical nuke with great bulk that it would find a niche regardless. It wouldn't be at the top of the tiers it's top in without those abilities but it it would have a place.
This video isn't about pokemon that are significantly improved by their ability, it's about pokemon that would be bad without it
Nah man I mean sure with drought you can cut out water damage but it's already really bulky without it.
Maybe in doubles, his stat-spread and typing are just insane. It's basically impossible for a mon with stats, movepool, and typing like that to be carried by an ability.
My one addition to the list is that, along with Pelipper and Torkoal gaining their weather-setting abilities, Gigalith gained Sand Stream in Gen 7 at the same time, making it one of the top picks for sand teams since. It still may not see a ton of use in higher tiers, but it now dominates the PU tier with it's terrifying sandstorm and Assault Vest-boosted Special Defense and STAB Stone Edge or Rock Slide making it a serious threat, not to mention it's Sand Force and Sand Rush teammates by its side.
Pelliper literally kicked Politoed out of a job.
And there's rillaboom who kicked Bulu out as well.
All those faces in the thumbnail, and somehow Koffing's regular face is still the derpiest
I threw Gastrodon on a sandstorm team once cuz I had a huge water weakness (obviously). Thing is... it had Sand Force, not Storm Drain. It was fucking hilarious seeing it rampage through the enemy team under trick room. All while they refused to use water moves because they all assumed it was Storm Drain.
You should make a lore video on gen 6 blissey bases for exp training
You should do one that is just "bad pokemon with broken abilities" for example frosmoth is the perfect fit here even tho it has a CRACKED ability (takes 50% less from special attacks) it still didnt get that much attention
If there is a part 2, please do mention how regular glalie has never amounted to much of anything for as long as Moody has been banned. Similar thing with the Bidoof line. And an honorable mention to Imposter ditto, a pokémon virtually unplayable without imposter
Always love these videos. Seeing some of my stuff used for examples just make them that much better for me! Love it.
Like I said, you just always have the right stuff!
@@ProfJermZ I'm glad I got the right stuff. Haha
I feel like Rillaboom should be on the next list, right? I mean without setting up grassy surge and clicking Grassy Glide/Wood Hammer what even is its gameplan?
It did have knock off, fake out and high horse power. So at worse it's just a more effective tapu bulu.
@@jdamourep all the tapus are also carried by their abilities too anyway. :P
Speaking of ditto that's another Pokemon which would also be useless without it's ability
It does have transform as a move so yeah
@@isaac1100 ditto is already situational as is, being forced to waste a turn transforming would make it beyond useless
Outside of doubles, serperior
Pokemon with contrary : Sweating furiously.
Ludicolo and Kingdra are probably carried by their abilities, yes water/grass and Water/Dragon are good types but if Swift Swim didn't exist then I don't think they would have never been considered outside of that niche "Crit-dra" set that was circulating early Gen 6 (same thing kinda goes for Golduck and Seismitoad but lesser, yes Golduck does also get Cloud Nine but that is still revolving around it's ability)
As for Chlorophyl: Venusaur doesn't necessarily need Chlorophyl to be good as proven by Mega Venusaur, Liligant though you may have an argument
And for Sand Rush: Excadrill is still useful with Mold Breaker, yes you would rather be running Samd Rush but it doesn't exclusively need Sand Rush.
Alolan Sandslash and Beartic aren't good enough to talk about Slush Rush
Disagree. The reason mega venasaur is strong is because of thick fat and the buff to its stats.
Venusaur without chlorophyl cant set up and sweep. So its regulated to the shitty leech seed sub stall set.
Also drill is useful as a spinner
Azumarill's Huge Power is literally the only way it can do damage
The thumbnail being a reference to the orb of confusion from SpongeBob is S Tier.
I remember following you when you had like 6k subs, and i know you deserve a lot more! cheers to the quest to 100k! Hit Scarlet and Violet content right and you'll be there in no time!
Listen I geniunely love Gastrodon's design so the fact it was good at all makes me happy.
Comfey with Triage. Giving plus 3 priority to healing moves gives very fast weakness policy activation and floral healing making it a great support pokemon in vgc, take away that ability and no way it would have seen any use
This thumbnail is GENIUS
Great video. It's great to recap what happened in Gen 8 before transitioning to Gen 9.
Cool video
Interesting topic, I really liked it
I really didn’t care for Pelipper until I got it as my first shiny ever this year, now I use it for in VGC when I want to use a rain team lol
Mega Swampert would fit here. No swift swim means that far FAR more pokemon can outspeed it
It's a crime that they even bothered giving Shedinja defense or special defense stats. Those stats should both be 1, and the rest of the points should be distributed into speed and attack.
I did ask my father why neutralizing gas doesn't work on those 2 pokemon. He thought for an hour and then said " be right back getting milk". He'll probably have an answer soon. I'm so excited
He's ventured into gamefreak castle. If he does come back, he will not be the same.
Thought the thumbnail was just dumb till I realized what it was refrencing. I wish I could say that I reliably shut down gastrodon ever with neutralizing gas, it just never happens
7:50 “uh achaually, tackle can’t hit shedninja 🤓”
I love Gastrodon but have to agree on it.
Even with better stats, the lack of a water immunity would probably make it worse than Quagsire in Singles and for VGC I really don't see it ever being used, it doesn't pack any other particularly useful utility for said meta and its offenses are just okay at best in something really slow.
I really like these daily videos! I listen to them on the way to class. Keep it up bro, hype for gen 9 to come
The Weezing vs Weezing double Metronome battle was lit
01:35 is that a golisopod in your logo because that looks sick
Klefki is the epitome of "i live by my Ability!"
I'd recommend Blazakin for the sequel. It's mediocre speed left it playing second fiddle to Infernape up until it got speed boost as it's ability, which made it so good it was sent to UBERS, and during gen 6, was considered to be better off without Mega evolving, because it was just that powerful.
0:37 moxie using that scott stiener math
Archeops is carried by its ability, how did you forget🤦♂️
I subscribed today... after that Uncle Rico reference and pun! xD
Scizzor. I love the cool steel bug, and his typing and stat distribution are pretty good, but the moment they nerfed his move pool and thus his access to good technician boosts, he immediately stopped being good.
I love the thumbnail! Got to love a Spongebob and Pokemon crossover! 😆
New subscribers!
Love your channel. I would really love to see a video on buffing certain abilities or pokemon that would benefit from different abilities.
Great video dude, really enjoyed watching this! Looking forward to more 😀
4:25 why does no one talk about grimmsnarl as a trick room sweeper? /hj
Venusaur and probably Rillaboom too. In fact any terrain setter that it's named "Tapu" fits here. Most weather setters too.
In the video though you called this a problem but I don't see it that way. Their ability just so happens to be their strongest tool.
Not so much in VGC, but outright banned in Singles
0:47 good luck tagging out in front of a diglett 😂
better yet, choice scarf max speed dugtrio to trap, outspeed, and ohko regieleki
Thumbnail is amazing
0:46 I know we're talking VGC but it's interesting you bring up Diglett here because ignoring that it gets Sand Veil which itself is very silly, Arena Trap hard carried Diglett to the point of getting Arena Trap banned in many singles formats. And yes, Diglett is relevant here because otherwise Dugtrio could've been banned but no, the ability as a whole had to be banned.
Weezing kanto form with Levitate is really nice as a physical pivot for Blissey, those two are always on my team
Now for the next video post the opposite - pokemons that are held back because of having bad abilities to the point that they’d be monstruos if they didn’t had a bad ability crippling them, such as slaking, regigigas, archeops, etc.
Whimsicott is a prankster pokemon that is definitely not carried by its ability. Even without prankster it’s still very fast and it saw quite a bit of play in gen 5 because of this. Prankster just makes it that much better so that it can be a top tier pokemon.
7:50. my man really said one of the few things that wouldnt kill shedinja even without its ability... Tackle
7:51 ah yes, tackle is great against those pesky ghost types.
Abilities like: trapping, levitate, speed boost, & even moody care several Pokemon though regenerator is absurdly useful too
i always thought that a mega shedinja that has more than 1 health would have been incredibly fun, if not a little challenging sometimes
Try the mystery dungeon series, shedinja actually has some hp there. :p
Other pokemon: Comfey, Clefable, Ditto, Alolan Ninetales, Rillaboom, Galarian Darmanitan, Cinderace (kinda), Azumarill, Dracozolt, Arctovish, Arctozolt (unsure bout these three cause fishious rend/bolt beak destroys stall) and Diggersby
It’d be pretty cool to have a battle mode where abilities don’t activate
Or just play with weezing and enforce that yourself. :P
What about ditto? Take away imposter and... well...
it has transform as a move
@@isaac1100
It would not really matter without imposter ditto is far too frail and slow to get the transform off before it dies.
7:25 I still wonder why instead of giving him those pointless points in def and spec def , they didn't put those 70 ish points of the two stats combined into its speed stat : making it a respectable 110+ speed mon !
Considering how it was conceptualized I wonder why they didn't make him more of a potential fast sweeper/ support mon ( has access to screech by lv up, can set up the sun, has access to trick or ally switch ) !
Similarly I wonder: if Weezing has no access to Physical Poison moves , why give it high atk ?! Granted Poison used to be only physical bef gen 4, but still why not tweak his stats at least for the regional variant :o ?!
Let’s see…Incin, Ditto, clefairy, rillaboom, and coalossal all come to mind. Thanks for the consistent content!
3:35 Whimsicott, Mega Banette, Riolu and partly Tornadus and Thundurus has still some uses without Prankster, tbh. Whimsicott mostly thanks to other abilities and priority moves and Riolu due to how good Fighting types usually are in Little Cup.
The aforementioned Ditto? A prime example!
Without Imposter, Ditto can still steal an opponent's setup... If they don't just switch out, or KO the Ditto...
With Imposter? It takes opposing setup sweepers and *runs with them.* I distinctly remember a Pokémon Unbound run where I specifically chucked Rock Tomb at Maxima's Contrary Serperior, *raising its Speed,* so I could promptly sweep the remainder of her team with her own setup.
Pelipper for sure, maybe not on vgc but on singles, pelipper was literally a PU until got drizzler where just become hurricane go brrrr
Sheinja being carried by his ability is like pointing out a car is only useful with tires
I have a shiny Grimmsnarl... with Pickpocket... I'll try and make it work. I do have a strategy in mind when Scarlet and Violet release with a certain AyeAye Pokémon and it's ability 👀
Incineroar and landorus therian should be in this category as well. Without intimidate, incineroar saw no play prior to its release, and landorus incarnate with life orb sheer force would have be a better offensive mon with the higher speed.
Groudon and kyogre too, able to set sun defemsively against opposing water attacks its weak to, and powering its already strong water attack respectively, otherwise power creep means the calyrex forms are simply objectively better as powerful spread attackers
Abilities are far more important than many think, and i await the day they give regigigas pure power
0:51 the irony being that Regieleki won't be able to tag out because of arena trap LOL
I didn't think I would ever think Koffing was cute. Props to the thumbnail artist
Gen 8 gave Torkoal a move set that works even without it's ability. Stealth rocks, body press, lava plume/eruption, rapid spin. It does a lot of work.
Greninja and Blaziken. Great to have starters in the thumbnail and they likely would have seen zero usage without protean/battle bond and speed boost respectively. Mat block on Gren is fun but still not useful enough to see significant play.
Would absolutely love a part 2!
UBs(Kartana,Pheromosa,Naganadel,Nihilego & Blacephalon)
Cinderace/Greninja
Ultra Necrozma
Tapu Bulu,Lele and Koko.
Rillaboom
G.Darmnitan
Scolipede/Blaziken
Grimmsnarl
Regieleki
Hatterene
Urshifu
Zacian-C
Calyrex Shadow Rider
Incineroar/Lando-T
Marshadow
Nice orb of confusion reference in the thumbnail.
I’ve come up with the ability Dimension Distort, which is auto Trick Room. Sure it alone is enough to make the Rock/Psychic hallucigenia fossil ‘mon I created and gave that ability go to Ubers.
Was just thinking how much a hazard clearing ability could carry a mon, even as a sacrifice into a known killing move just to avoid the damage and clear hazards.
Seismitoad got hard carried by Water Absorb back in the heavily restricted Galar Region singles metagame, becoming one of the most used pokemon in an environment where Dracovish would tear any team without a physically bulky water immunity apart.
The typing and movepool was good too tho
Seismitoad having Water Absorb did contribute, but it has a remarkably varied moveset on top of that, and a solid typing.
True, but it's really good duel stab/defensive typing, along with access to toxic + stealth rock + scald helped it alot.
Neutralizing gas: *Exists*
Shedinja: *chuckles* I'm in danger
Dugtrio’s arena trap was so unbelievably broken that it was literally banned, even diglett had it banned too
I dunno if it was ever used much in VGC, but I definitely recall Weezing seeing decent use in Gen III and IV back in the day. Gen III especially. Definitely still carried by Levitate, though.
Next time you make video like this I think a quick shoutout to all the pure power or huge power pokemon would be appropriate. Granted they’re not all carried by their ability to the same degree, some might have used without it and some aren’t useful even with it, but in general that ability is a core feature of any Pokémon who can access it.
@movieboosted i believe the abilities As one & Disguise. Is not just an ability but their mechanics. Shadow rider is already join/fused so the ability is built in & mimikyu Disguise is always on as it's what it's wearing
Mega Kanghaskhan 100%.
Anyone remember 2014 vgc when it was almost required in team structure to use or plan against parental bond?
Just as a heads up, Nutralizing Gas doesn’t effect a lot of abilities, not just those 2, I looked it up and I found a list of abilities Neutralizing Gas cannot suppress: Pokémon's Neutralizing Gas, Multitype, Zen Mode, Stance Change, Power Construct, Schooling, RKS System, Shields Down, Battle Bond, Comatose, Disguise, Gulp Missile, Ice Face, or As One. If any of these are wrong, I found it on bulbapedia so I am sorry. Also this was the first Google result for “are there any abilities neutralizing gas can't stop”. Pointing this out just as a point since I immediately saw potential to stop things like Power Construct in Dynamax Adventures, but that sadly wouldn’t work.
rillaboom would definitely be a lot less good if it didn't have grassy surge
I do love my gastrodon but yeah there is alot of water ground and he gets worse without storm drain. I think good or decent abilities can make or break pokemon. Thanks for the video!
I’m 200% behind the idea that Gastrodon is a top 10 mon, bro dude dude bro has won me more games than I could realistically give a number to.
This is a really interesting series you should do follow up vids
Aegislash's entire gimmick is its ability. If it uses any attacking move it becomes an attacker, with high attack stats and low defense stats, and if it uses King's Shield, it becomes a defender, with high defense stats and low atrack stats. Good for raising stats with little issue.
If Aegislash didn't have Stance Change, it just wouldn't work.
5:07 Sableye got those stats because it had 0 weaknesses in Gen 3. Fairy wasn't a thing, so you couldn't hit it for super effective ever.
I think of gastrodon like it's an annoying boulder sitting there on the battlefield, either waiting to get pushed out of the field eventually, or waiting to get a boost to stomp the opposing team, but waiting nonetheless
It's like a threat but not a threat at the same time and it makes me sigh every time I see one
Mimikyu
Ditto
Unaware
Speed Boost Blaze Chicken?
Diglett&Dugtrio
Magnet Pull Magnets
Adaptability Crawdaunt and Porygon-Z???
Regenerator?
Huge Power
Pure Power
Talonflame
Machamp, No Guard or Guts
Sheer Force (Nidoking)
Swellow. It either gets Guts boosted STAB Facade with Brave Bird, or Scrappy STAB Boomburst with Air Slash and Heat Wave (Sp.Atk 50-->75 in Gen 7)
Physical Swellow's U-Turn hurts more
imagine if Shedinja had been built giving it just one point in defense and special defense as well as in hp to focus everything on speed and attack