When you watch a battle from the Pokemon anime, the first thing you notice are the moves. That makes sense, of course, as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:moves are how a Pokemon deals damage, and how a battle ebbs and flows.
On the other hand, one aspect of battling extremely vital in the games but slept on by the anime's writers is abilities. That also makes sense, though. Some abilities just can't be translated into something tangible in the anime. Let's face it: how would you animate No Guard? There are a few that manage to sneak their way onto the anime, though. In particular, the thirteen abilities listed below have been identifiably used in significant moments of the Pokemon anime.
13 Color Change: Harrison's Kecleon
This instance occurred during 💙the Johto League, and was the very first time an ability was shown in the anime. The ability to get that honor was Color Change, utilized by Harrison’s Kecleon. Yhough instead of functioning like it does in the games (changing Kecleon’s type to the foe’s move), the ability caused Kecleon t🍸o literally blend into its environment like a chameleon.
Ash had quite a bit of tr🍨ouble battling Kecleon, Harrison’s lead for 🧸their quarterfinal battle. Kecleon took advantage of its ability to hide in tall grass and execute stealth attacks, until Pikachu finally caught its tongue and knocked it out with a Thunderbolt.
12 Rock Head: Paul's Aggron
Ash and Paul&rsqu💯o;s battle aꦇt the Lily of the Valley Conference has a lot of fodder f☂or those looking for ability꧟ usage in the anime, as you’ll later see. The earliest instance of such was with Paul’s lead in that battle, Aggron.
Paul’s movesets are thoughtfully curated, 𒈔and Aggron was no exception – a Pokemon with Rock Head as an ability was taught Double-Edge to deal maximized, no recoil damage. That was seen when Paul had Aggron use it and clash with Infernape’s Flare Blitz; while Infernape suffered from recoil damage, Aggron was unaffected.
11 Speed Boost: Jessie's Yanmega / Paul's Ninjask
Speed Boost is one of the more popular abilities out there, and it coinc💛identally also has solid representation in the anime.
The first instance of its usage was on Jessie’s Yanmega. Jessie, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:participating in a Contest as Jessilina, brought out Yanmega for the Appeals round, and got through to the final eight with an appeal that utilized Silver Wind in conjuctio𓃲n with Speed Boost.
Speed Boost was also utilized by another one of Paul’s Pokemon, Ninjask. In that league battle against Ash, Ninjask used Speeꦓd Boost to dodge a bunch of attacks and repeatedly hit Ash’s Gliscor with Fury Cutter. After taking a Flare Blitz from Infernape, though, Ninjask’s speed notably declined, allowing Infernape to knock it out with a deftly-timed Mach Punch.
10 Snow Cloak: Paul's Froslass
Right after Paul’s Ninjask came his Froslass, and he wasted no time putting her ability to good use. Froslass had Snow Cloak, the evasion-rais﷽ing tendency of which more or less translated nicely from the games to the anime.
Against Ash’s Pikachu, Paul immediately had Froslass use Hail. Snow Cloak acti♐vated, making her harder to hit, causing her to appear and disappear in spurts, and even allowing her to completely phase through an oncoming Volt Tackle. It wasn’t until the hail cleared that Pikachu could easily land a Volt Tackle and knock Froslass out.
9 Flame Body: Ash's Fletchinder
ಌWhile it’s never actually been seen in battle, Ash’s Fletchinder had an ability that was notably used out🅺side of it.
In the games, if you have an Egg in your party, you can reduce the time it takes to hatch if you also bring a Pokemon with Flame Body. That was also shown to be in the anime, where Ash’s Fletchinder used that ability to keep an Egg warm until it hatched into 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:what would be Ash’s Noibat. As mentioned, though, no Pokemon ha✅s visibly gotten burned from physical cont꧟act with Fletchinder in battle, even after it evolved into Talonflame.
8 Prankster / Keen Eye: Olympia's Meowstic
Ash had a tough double battle against Anistar Gym Leader Olympia, largely due to the 🐼chemistry between Olympia’s two Meowstic and their mastery of their respective abilities.
Olympia’s male Meowstic had Prankster, an ability that gives priority to status moves. That showed itself when he quickly executed a Light Screen, warding Talonflame’s Flame Char🍬ge and Frogadier’s Water Pulse off him an🌺d his partner. The female one had Keen Eye, an accuracy-boosting ability, which allowed her Psyshock to follow Talonflame and Frogadier even as they tried to dodge it.
7 Hydration: Ash's Goodra
Abilities involving any sort of weather are pretty easy to tangibly translate to the anime, and there are several examples of such. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ash’s stalwart Goodra used Rain Dance as a regular battle tactic, in large part tꦆhanks to Ash-Greninja’s compatibility with it, but also thanks to the benef♎its it would get itself.
Goodra has Hydration as an ability, 𒊎which removes status effects in the rain. This came into play in Ash’s battle against Clemont, where he had Goodra use Rain Dance to cure its paralysis. That re-energized Goodra for the rest of the battle, in which it gave Ash the win thanks to a flawless execution of Bide.
6 Illusion: Gladion's Zoroark
Zoroark’s Illusion is a similarly easy abil🦩ity to translate from the games. While there is a whole movie out there featuring a Zoroark and its ability, its first major appearance in the series was Gladion’s in Sun and M🔯oon.
Originally owned by Gladion’s father, Zoroark joined Gladion’s team and was eventually used in battle against Ash at the Manalo Conference finals. It came out disguised as Gla💦dion’s Midnight Forme Lycanroc, and♐ though it got away with it for a while, the effects of Illusion wore off when it got hit with Pikachu’s Thunderbolt.
5 Snow Warning: Wulfric's Abomasnow
Wulfric’s ace is one of the stronger Pokemon Ash has faced in a Gym battle, being capable of Mega Evolution. Even without the Mega, though, Abomasnow was a big reason why Ash lost his first match against the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ice-type Gym Leader.
Abomasnow has Snow Warning, which creates hail the instant it enters the battlefield. That h🌳ailstorm was too much for Ash in the first battle, and even though Wulfric subsequently lost the rematch, Abomasnow was still a tough out, not only thanks to the Mega Evolution, but also that hail constantly chipping away at Ash&rsqu📖o;s team.
4 Motor Drive: Paul's Electivire / Volkner's Electivire
Ash has battled two Electivire in key mat๊ches, both wielding Motor Drive. Ash had Pikachu use Ele🐬ctric-type moves on them anyway, with varying results.
The first was against Paul’s Electivire in the aforementioned Sinnoh League battle, and that was a more straightforward 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:failure on Ash’s part. Ash had Pikachu use Volt Tackle for some reason, and as expected, E𝄹lectivire got an extra jolt of speed𒉰 and would eventually knock out Pikachu.
The other notable instance was in a World Coronation Series match against Vol🌸kner, who would switch in Electivire before Pikachu executed an Electric-type move. Although in the end, Ash had Pikachu use 10,000,000 ༒Volt Thunderbolt, the sheer power of which would end up overcharging Electivire, knocking it out and giving Ash the win.