and explain why i have yet to decide i will find it in time but first post yall's favorite ability and don't forget to explain why its your favorite :D
Levitate is by far my favourite ability. It grants you complete immunity to an entire type and the immensely popular Earthquake. Not to mention a defacto immunity to Spikes and Toxic spikes. It is one of the most useful abilities in the entire game. Also, it lets pokemon fly and who doesn't want to fly. :p
Because of new 5th gen mechanics, Sturdy. Free Sash abuse <3 However, if it had to be an ability without any mechanic changes, Shed Skin.
I love the ability thick fat, I'm not sure why. But its good becuase it makes me feel alot easier when using a thick fat pokemon, becuase you know you have an extra resistance to two more types.
Definitely Multiscale for me. I mean you can barely be killed by anything unboosted, even if it is supereffective! Mold breaker is a close second for me, suprises my opponents :3
I don't like the ways in which they are abused, but Drought and Drizzle are some very cool concepts. I also like Speed Boost. It can make it easier for you to make a sweeper almost unstopable, without being broken, and it also helps Baton Passing, which I think is a cool strategic way of battling. Magic Bounce is especially great. Suddenly, entry hazarders feels like so much less of a threat.
intimidate. people don't realize the potential it has a lot. The opportunity to temporarily nerf the opponent's pokemon while you set up is far underappreciated. Especially in doubles, double intimidate son. That being said, the word intimidate is probably a bad name for it, given that Shinx has it..
I would have to say Either magic gaurd or contrary. With MG you get immnity to both damaging status allments and a life orb with no draw backs, with Contrary you get great boosts by abusing moves (like leaf storm overheat Etc.) more pokes with high special movepools but weak special atk should get the later ability because of its excusiveness
Magic Guard is really cool. I honestly never realized how much we rely on chip damage until Reuniclus started dominating OU. Contrary is probably my favorite though, too bad nothing worth using gets it... in the real metagame, that is. How could I forget Regenerator... probably the best ability in the game next to Magic Guard.
Regenerator. Hazards and other damage are common, and being able to heal that minor damage as you switch out helps. It also makes it easier for you to predict, as if you predict poorly and take a hit you didn't want to, you can switch out and recover some health. That's one addition to Gen 5 that I actually like. Magic Guard is such a stupidly good ability as well. Entry hazards, status damage, other splash damage... Like koko said above, you don't realise just how much chip damage we rely on. It's the sole reason as to why Clefable was used at all last Gen, and without Magic Guard (even though it also gets Regenerator), I'm willing to be Reuniclus would be UU or lower. Another 5th Gen ability that I quite like is Moxie. You kill something, you become more likely to kill something else. How is that not awesome? Otherwise, my favourite ability is Limber. No Pokemon outside of those with Limber and those with Quick Feet can avoid being crippled with paralysis, and that alone makes Limber one of the best abilities in the game.
Magic mirror <3 hate Love to say it, but I LIKED ESPEON BEFORE IT WAS COOL *shot* And it's finally good enough to last a good while in OU. So breloom can take his spores and eat it.
Truant. I like it because it calls to mind that Slaking probably skipped high school and will get a low-paying job at McDonald's for the rest of his natural life.
Mold Breaker / Teravolt / Turboblaze. This is probably the most useful ability, negating Levitate, Sturdy (I think), and lots of other abilities I don't remember (Filter?) Lets Ramparados hit Gengar with EQ. Lets Reshiram hit Heatran with Fusion Flare. And lets Zekrom hit Sheddy with anything it wants. Contrary This is awesome on Serperior, allowing you to perform funny stuff like Contrary Leaf Storm, as well as reverse Intimidate boosts to your own advantage, and lets Shadow Ball hax help you instead of forcing you out by actually raising your Special Defense, making you able to take more hits. Now the only thing we need is to reverse flinch into forcing them to flinch next turn...
Hands down the speed boosting abilities are great. Swift swim, chlorophyll, and sand rush. Regenerator is just beautiful. Even with all hazards and residual damage, if the Pokemon can manage to switch out without being pursuited, it can tank alot. Abilities like Magic Guard can almost completely make the ever popular Sigilyph into a beasting tank, shrugging off all inflicting ailments, battering weather, and door traps. Cursed Body is ever so useful on leads *coughfroslasscough* which itself is very frail, can survive the other leads and has 20% to disable. If the pokemon has nothing else to use as an attacking move, the Pokemon is forced to switch out or waste a turn with taunt while Lassey can set up another layer of spikes. It's also useful on such walls such as Jellicent, though it's somewhat situational to decide between Water Absorb. Though this thread is mainly focused on the abilities themselves it's easy to notice how certain pokemon can receive at least two of the best of abilities. Take in mind Scrafty. It recieves Intimidate, Shed Skin, and Moxie. Intimidate on the switch in can temporarily marshmellowize a pokemons attacking ability. At least 100 sweepers in this game of all tiers would kill for Shed Skin. The attribute that can awaken you from a rejuvanating slumber , stop your limbs from seizing up, have bad organ poisoning, burning your powerful attacks or just stopping you from becoming a Popsicle while making redundant the use of the status curing berries or just in general Lum, is one of the best abilities in the game. Moxie is just an ego boosting ability. The stronger you get, the more you beat, the stronger you get etc. Prankster is one of those cheap abilities that makes using once unattrractive pokemon so popular. Even Thundurus is being Suspected because of this ability though Im not sure how it's a "prankster" (probably a mythical genie folktale) This ability comepletely can cripple other teams when not prepared for it. Being ailmented, Taunted, or having gotten sharp objects place around you before you can even launch an attack is an ability to be wary about.
Iron Barbs/Rough Skin: It is always underestimated how good these abilities actually are. Especially on a Pokémon like Ferrothorn. Lightningrod: It was given to a bunch of second rate Pokémon like Manetric and Raichu, and now its good witch gives them a slightly larger niche at least. Drizzle and Sand Stream: Cuz they make noobs cry.
Lots of the abilities have great potential. Here are some of my favourites to use: Multiscale-Good for walling and roosting with lugia and d-nite. I like the parashuffler set for dragonite. It haxes. Pressure-Lugia is a complete wall who abuses the extra pp loss, so its great for stalling. Regenerator-Ho-oh is crippled by stealth rock, and has a chance to actually get something back. Magic Guard-Need I even explain? Levitate-Trolls nubs who use eq on gengar weezing etc. Natural cure-My celebis always get poisoned, so i rub the curing in my opponents face. Speed Boost-Does what it says on the tin. Illusion-If used correctly with a convincing disguise, you can troll/sweep safely.
I have to cast my vote for Magic Guard. The things it does for the viability of a Pokemon is just amazing. Alakazam becomes all the more beastly with it. You'd want him to be statused now, for sleep and paralysis immunity ^_^ Kings of Gen 1 FTW.
Natural Cure is simply a lovely ability. Without it Starmie, Celebi, Shaymin, and Roserade wouldn't be nearly as easy to use - it's a really nice "letting off the hook" of what could mean doom to any other Pokemon. Second place goes to Intimidate. Its offensive potential provisions are incredible, and Intimidate cores have practically limitless defensive bounds. Third goes to Flame Body. Substitute Volcarona LOL YOUR DRAGONITE IS BURNT.
Yeah... Flame Body shouldn't activate behind a Sub. It's a bug on PO that's gonna be fixed for the next update.
There goes sub Volcarona ;.; Magic Guard just trolls stall teams, which I hate fighting against. Magic Guard Reuniclus practically redefined stall teams in OU, If only we had a Magic Guard Legendary, we need some to help with the obscene amount of stall in Ubers. Regenerator is also great, using Slowbro in UU has never been easier. Regenerator Mienshao also works great with Life Orb and U-Turn. Interesting to note Reuniclus gets both of these lol. I guess they intended it to be the world's best stall-breaker.
Guts is my favourite ability, really funny when people burn or poison you and then you destroy whatever comes in and Pokemon who get Guts make great use of it eg. Conkeldurr, Heracross, Swellow, Ursaring and even Machamp and Hariyama
I like Levitate, because it is so good when you battle ground types. Lol it also saves you from a powerful Earthquake and/or Earth Power.
I think Mold Breaker was pretty cool. Hitting Gengars with Earthquake and Shedinjas with non-SE attacks is always lulzy. I wish there was a Fire-type with Mold Breaker. Hitting Heatran and Chandelure with Fire-type attacks would be ridiculously funny. My second favorite would probably be Prankster, seeing as how I abuse Sableye and his priority Will-o-Wisp. :P
Wish granted. Reshiram has TurboBlaze, which is Mold breaker under a different name. Flame Body is also evil. Hitmonlee uses Fake out... oh god a Limber swee... LOL MAGMORTAR HAXXES YOU GG
@Icey I'm starting to see a trend with you and anything that can hax. XD Funny how so many people I know get so badly haxed. Ingame, Compoundeyes and Pickup are just AMAZING. Compoundeyes lets me sweep with Fury Swipes of all things, along with making it easier to find item-holders (though so far I haven't used it for that purpose), and Pickup is Pickup. :D As for competitive, Prankster would probably be high up. So many Pokemon I like abuse it. Immunity abilities are also favs of mine; Flash Fire, Water Absorb, Volt Absorb, all that stuff. So no real "favorite". XP
Curses, I'll miss Substitute Volcarona. Fair enough, I won't miss it in the time I would have spent fighting it. Magic Guard is pretty cool. I suppose that's my third favourite, for reasons previously explored in this thread.
Magic Bounce, cuz pro. With Pokemon having Magic Bounce in almost all my teams, I don't have to use spinners. It also helps in trolling Pokemon like Whimsicott.