There’s a lot more to Pokemon training than meets the eye. When it comes to the question of the best Po🙈kemon to use on a team, you have many factors to think about. It’s not just the one with the highest stats, the least weaknesses, or the best moves.
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In truth, it’s a combination of all of these traits and more. Another important thing to consider is the Abi🌳lity a Pokemon has. This factor alone can make an otherwise great Pokemon almost useless. Slaking’s Truant, for instance, stops it from attacking on consecutive tu💝rns. Here, you can check out some of the best Pokemon abilities throughout the franchise.
Updated March 8, 2025, by Andrew Scariati: The best Pokemon abilities shift with every new Pokemon VGC metagame, though some of the top-tier options have remained constant for several generations. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet made some top-tier additions to the best Pokemon abilities, including both base game and DLC inclusions.
23 𝄹 Flame Body 𒆙
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In Battle Effect |
Out Of Battle Effect |
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Contact with this Pokemon will burn the opponent |
Halves the number of steps requir𒁏ed to hatch an egg |
Flame Body is an important Ability to have on at leas🐎t one Pokemon if you plan on breeding. This move will half the steps needed🃏 to hatch eggs and, as the name implies, comes from Fire type Pokemon.
Within battle, this Ability c▨an be quite helpful as well. This competitive value of Flame Body isn't that great, but overall, it's fair🌠ly well-rounded and helpful for breeding the perfect Pokemon.
22 Ice Scales 🍎
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In Battle Effect |
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ꦗHalves damage from sꦑpecial moves that hit the Pokemon |
Ice Scales is available only to Snom and Frosmoth as their Hidden Ability. Because of this, the Ability isn't possible to obtain if you don't have one of these two Pokemonಌ in your party.
This ability reduces the damage of all special attacks Snom/Frosmoth take by half. Frosmoth’s Special Defense is quite♕ solid, so tℱhis makes it pretty darn tanky indeed. Its exclusivity is all that holds it back from rising any higher; imagine Blissey with this Ability. That’s terrifying to even think about.
21 Unaware
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In Battle Effect |
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When thi♚s Pokemon is targeted by a damaging move, the attacking Pokemon's stats are ignore🌄d when calculating damage and accuracy |
A lot of the Abilities on this list have so much potential because they allow Pokemon to either deal huge damage outright o🍎r buff themselves so that they can. Before we get into that sort of thing, though, here’s an Ability that represents an enormous roadblock for Pokemon looking to set up.
In case you were unaware, an Unaware Pokemo🐬n isn’t affe🥃cted by its opponent’s stat boosts.
If they’ve got boosted offense🐼s, they’ll deal only their usual damage. If the opponent has increased their Defense/Special Defense, they’ll take the usual damage from a Pokemon with Unaware. It’s super handy to have, but it’s also a𝔍 rare Ability and is quite niche. After all, if there are no boosts currently in play, this Pokemon essentially has no Ability.
20 Stance Change 🌠
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In Battle Effect |
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Changes the Pokemon from Shield Forme to Blade Forme, or vice versඣa
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The Honedge line made its debut in Generation Six, and Aegislash quickly established itself as one of the greatest non-Legendary Pokemon ever. The key to its success? Its exclusive Ability, Stance Change. This Ability sees Aegislash switch from its Shield Forme (its default on being sent out) to its Blade Forme when using an offensive move.
In ꧂the process, its base defenses switch with its very low base offenses.
When it uses King’s Shield, it switches back to Shield Forme. With its low Speed, then, Aegislash will usually tank a 💙hit with its high defenses before switching its stats and going on the at🥀tack with great force. It can’t take a hit at all in Blade Forme and can be quite predictable as a result, but Stance Change makes Aegislash a force to be reckoned with.
19 Sturdy
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In Battle Effect |
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The Pokemoඣn is unaffected by one-hit knockout moves that cause a target to faint instantly regardless ♔of HP, Defense, or Special Defense |
Sturdy is one of the best Pokemon abilities and has seen a lot of use. ꦚEssentially, Sturdy Pokemon have a built-in Focus Sash: if their HP is full when they’re attacked by a move that will take them out in one shot, they’ll withstand it with a single point of health left.
There are some major shortcomings to this, of course. Any kind of priority will immediately take the ༒Pokemon down afterward, especially as most Pokemon with this Ability are slow, defensive Rock or Steel-types. The true potential of Sturdy lies in what that𓄧 Pokemon does with its ‘free turn.’ There are ample setup opportunities here. Sturdy, Weakness Policy, and Rock Polish, in particular, can be a fearsome combination.
18 Wonder Guard 𒆙
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In Battle Effect |
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The Pokemo༺n is immune to all damaging moves that are not super effective. |
Wonder Guard is a unique ability that is exclusive to Shedinja. At face value, you might wond💟er just how the heck this Pokemon could be at all usable.
It has a♍ total of 1 HP, which can’t be increased by any means.
The one thing Shedinja does have going f🥀or it is the aforementioned Ability, which renders it immune to any direct attacks it isn’t weak to. Super effective moves, status, weather damage, and hazards all spell doom for it, but if you know that you are going to face a Pokemon that isn't super effective, then Shield Guard is great.
17 🍨 Neutralizing Gas 🌠
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In Battle Effect |
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Abilitie💫s of any other Pokemon in the battle can't be used
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Sometimes, an Ability doesn’t need to have a flashy effect in and of itself. After all, a critter like Mega Mawile (which was super reliant on Huge Power) is in some major trou💖ble when that Ability i𝔍s taken away.
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Neutralizing Gas is the exclusive Ability of the Koffing family and prevents or nullifies the effects of all other Pokemon in the battle. While this hasn’t been as 🌺dominating as it sounds, it’s an excellent counter to other strategies when played well.
16 ꦆ Good As Gold🌼/Purifying Salt
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In Battle Effect |
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Good As Gold: This Pokemon cannot be affected by status conditions or moves that inflict them. Purifying Salt: This Pokemon cannot be affected by status conditions and halves the Special Attack or Attack of any 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon attacking w⛦ith 𒈔Ghost-type attacks. Cannot use Rest. |
Gholdengo is the only Pokemon with the Good As Gold ability that allows it to ignore all status conditionsღ. The Ability descripti𓆏on claims that this is thanks to its solid gold body that can't be affected, but we think it's probably just that Gholdengo is too cool to care.
Similarly, Garganacl's Purifying Salt equals Gholdengo's status condition nullification but also adds to the ability by reducing the attacker's Attack and Special Attack when calculating damage. Unfortunately, you can't recover using Rest wiꦇth this Ability, but it's a fair trade-off.
15 🎉 Multiscale
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In Battle Effect |
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When this Pokemon is at its maximum HP, in𒀰coming damage is halved.
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Multiscale is another Ability that doesn’t have any major direct power itself but allows the Pokemon the opportunity to boost itself and shoot for a sweep. It’s not just about being aggressive, either: Multis☂cale is just as useful from a defensive point of view.
This Ability halves the damage taken from direct attacks while the user’s HP is full. It’s available to 𝕴only two Pokemon; Dragonite and Lugia. The former loves using it to help it accrue Dragon Dances, while it helps the latter with its main game plan: sitting there tanking absolutely everything and being a monumental pain.
Pokemon With Multiscale:
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Pokemon |
Hidden Ability? |
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Dragonite |
✓ |
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Lugia |
✓ |
14 ༺ Gorilla Tactics
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In Battle Effect |
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This Pokemon's Attack stat is increased by 50 percent, but it can only use one mov🌄e. |
Gorilla Tactics is a newer Ability introduced in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Sword and Shield, exclusive to Galari﷽an Darmanitan. What does it do? It immediately makes this ludicrous-looking creature overpowered.
The effect of the Ability is the same as that of a Choice Band: it gives the Pokemon an Attack boost but allo𒀰ws it to use only the first move it picked on being sent out. The truly frightening thing is that you can actual🅰ly give it a Choice Band on top of that. Considering that this thing already has a base Attack of 140, that’s some astronomical power right there.
