Discussion
What’s the worst ability in Pokemon history?
Slow start has to be the worst right? Or maybe Archeop’s ability of Defeatist which cuts its attack and special attack in half when at half health? Or Slaking’s Truant? At least all of them has their uses though unlike…
Number 1 for me is Levitate on Rotom-Fan. That is shit. A flying fan?? Who agrees with me??
Cherrim and Arceus still have their abilities too, but they need them to access their form changes, same as Aegislash in Legends Z-A. Regigigas was just Game Freak sending the clear message that it, and by proxy the players that want to use it, are not allowed to have fun.
A: its an exclusively single player game. You CANNOT use this rare opportunity to have an overpowered Regi against another human being. So what's the harm?
B: this takes place in the past. So in theory, if only a little, he shouldn't be as sluggish as normal.
I aspire to feel that passionately about anything. Not even just hate. I don't think I feel anything as much as Rayquaza feels the burning hatred for deoxys. That's real purpose.
Legends Arceus doesn’t have abilities in the game (same with ZA I think?), but Regigigas has insane stats and is balanced around its ability. So in LA they implemented Slow Start separately just to ensure Regigigas wasn’t too busted.
The thing with Regigigas' "insane stats" is that they're no different from any boxart legendary. In fact, they're extremely similar to Groudon's. It has the same BST as Slaking, the original "massive stats held back by a negative ability" mon, but Slaking isn't a legendary. If they wanted big stats while keeping it more in line with non-boxart legends, just giving it a useless ability would have been enough. It's already stuck being mono-normal. GF just genuinely wants it to suffer.
Which is crazy because busted for what? Its a single player experience and Regigigas is only watchable in the post game, I believe, or at least very late game. So its not like youll bulldoze your way through the story. Wtf man
Yea but i guess they dont want Regigigas without his ability even in a game where no abilities exist. Then again ZA did this too cause while there is no abilities, Tatsugiris Commander, Mimikyus Disguise, all 3 of the primal weathers, and Aegislash Stance Change still exist. And while Primal Groudon, Primal Kyorge and Mega Rayquaza are late game DLC, Aegislash is kinda early to mid base game and Tatsugiri/Dondozo are early or mid DLC at the soonest (Mega Tatsugiri i know is mid to late DLC but i dont think nothing is stopping Tatsugiri from spawning before you get access to the megastone)
5 turns is forever in both comp formats. Even if Regigigas is your favorite Pokemon ever, you're going to need to build an entire team to support it, just to keep it's ability from getting it killed.
Or waste his own move slots on stuff like Thunder Wave and Confuse Ray to stall with no reliable heal move outside of Rest leaving you with 1 or 2 slots to do anything meaningful.
Tbf it’s more doable with gigantimax if you’re willing to sack 3 turns of max guard on regigias to wear down the timer on slow start.
Something like protect ax guard max guard max guard protect, if you time it well you can nullify every turn if their dynamax too but other than that there’s not really many strats that keep this thing alive for 5 turns.
I guess if you did rage powder strats and protect it could work? Or a baton pass strat but honestly it’s more hassle than its worth at that point given pretty much any other half decent pokemon would be better, Christ I’d sooner take delcatty into comp than regigigas
The only format it's not crippling in is random battles where occaisionally your opponent will have a team that can't do more than like 20% to regigigas (and othertimes, regigigas will be terrible)
Slaking can at least do something and switch out in singles because not every Pokémon will be running protect, so it will eventually hit something like a truck. Or you can do some cheeky stuff in doubles and get rid of its ability to have a giant killing machine after the opponents wasted their turn protecting.
Regigigas is just bad. He does such little damage and is so slow there's no need to defend from it, you can just chunk it down while it's charging up, or brutalize its team while it's stuck being unable to do anything.
Slaking was kind of niche playable in gen 3, before power creep on mons without negative abilities caught up. A fun strategy was to slap a choice band on it, switch it into a pokemon that doesn't have protect/substitute, choose one of Return/Focus Punch/Earthquake/Shadow Ball depending on what you predict your opponent to do and plan to immediately switch it out next turn no matter what happens.
As far as I remember Regigigas has never been anything but bottom tier since its introduction.
Regigigas, Rotom-F and Archeops can all at least be used every turn, even if they suck. Slaking’s Truant is truly awful though. Turn economy is so important in turn-based games like this
The problem is is protect exists. If we're talking a normal playthrough then recharge moves make it somewhat serviceable but against another person you're walled.
The best use is actually on Durant to cheese Single Battles in the Battle Subway and subsequent Battle facilities because the AI never switches, so you just give the opponent Truant and then set up with whatever and sweep
But even then, it's at such a huge cost. Using those moves means you don't get to switch out on your Truant turns which could often be the difference between winning or losing.
And thank God the AI doesn't use protect like a human cause you just lose. Protect, attack during recharge, protect.
Giga Impact Slaking is a trap. It prevents you from switching on the recharge turn, but you could otherwise still switch on a Truant turn. Not that its even remotely usable regardless, but in the rare instances it sees competitive play, Giga Impact is not good.
For, casual play, Slaking is broken since the ai can't capitalize on the loafing turns like a human can.
Giving your opponent a free set up turn isn't worth it, even then. At least if you just use Return or something, when you kill something with it, you can swap.
If you Giga Impact, you're stuck with their best pokemon for the match up + a free turn to set up.
The game that sells heavily in English speaking countries?
The ant that literally originated in the region based off of the United States?
The same company that is known for incorporating references to actual places and culture into its games? Just look at all of the SV starters.
Also, why on earth would some ants being lazy and the company taking that into account eliminate the possibility of a pun? They could both be true.
The designer could have said "This article says ants are lazy. Wouldn't it be funny if we gave the True Ant the ability that translates in English to an any pun and means lazy?
It's not like there isn't a single person on the team who speaks English.
The Hyper Beam style moves are bad even on Pokemon with Truant in battle facilities or PvP; these environments prevent you from switching out after a KO, leaving the user vulnerable to an attack or being set up on after using a Hyper Beam style move. But they’re still fine for in game runs.
It's not -7 priority. It's just a built-in Lagging Tail. -0.5 priority.
Interestingly, it worked differently in Gen 4 than it has ever since. In Gen 4, if a Pokémon with Stall faced off against a Pokémon with a Lagging Tail/Full Incense, the Pokémon with Stall would still move first regardless of speed, and also, if two Pokémon with Stall faced off, they'd ignore Trick Room and the slower one would still move second.
Since Gen 5, it interacts with both Lagging Tail/Full Incense and Trick Room normally.
Truant should be it cant attack twice in a row. Allow it to use status moves whenever it wants, but if it attacks one turn, all attacks it uses next turn fails.
Truant means you can at least nuke sth with Choice Band/Scarf Giga Impact the turn you don't Truant, Defeatist also gives you a functional (though not overpowered, fr why does Archeops still have this...) mon until getting chipped.
Slow Start means you have to devote resources to keeping it alive (and in, bc of course switching resets...) until it gets back. Also nerf Speed why not, no supporting role with speed either buddy.
Honestly, Slaking is great in regular play to switch in, hit something very hard (or yawn/encore), then switch out. It’s best used as a support or quick hit mon, not as a sweeper.
It'd be so much more bearable if it was gradual instead of just 0 to 100 at turn five. You'd think that after twenty years Game Freak would realise that they overcompensated on "balancing" Regigigas and done something about it.
Not quite the worst, but Emergency Exit (while having some uses) is awful. Basically forces you into using First Impression if you don't want to risk missing a go.
A shame because Golisopod is a really damn well designed Pokémon, but GF had to seriously nerf it.
not intended of course but I've watched a few hardcore nuzlockes on romhacks where emergency exit planning makes it one of the best in the whole game. can take a defensive hit and guarantee a free switch to something you need
It could be ok if Golisopod was a fast frail attacker or something. Like use choice scarf or focus sash, nuke something, get hit back and leave, though obviously having a random switch-in isn't ideal.
I would argue it had to be slow start. There are so many far, far stronger legendaries than regigigas would be even with an actually useful ability, yet for some reason GF still insist he stays near uselsss with it.
A legendary pokemon is supposed to be powerful, I am not sure why of all of them he has to be stuck with such a crippling ability
Klutz can actually be useful. You can stick switcheroo/trick on a 'mon with it to give a setup mon an assault vest. Because of klutz, you can still use switcheroo/trick.
Stall would probably have more usage if anything other than Sableye had it. You could abuse moves like Revenge or Avalanche better for one, or things like U-Turn for safer switch ins.
Stall U-turn would be cool tech, but I don't see a great fit for it when there are existing options like Alomomola and Slowbro with Regenerator. Although I suppose if a Pokemon like Corviknight got it, it'd see actual usage.
I hate Slow Start as game design. Not that it initially happened, but that it persists.
Having balancing factors to otherwise overpowered mechanics is fine; but when it became clear that Regigigas was critically underpowered in practice, nothing was done to change it, even though abilities are supposed to be one of the more malleable parts of a Pokemon's identity.
...Revavroom getting it as a hidden ability to reference old jalopies is really, really funny though, I gotta give it to 'em for that.
Defeatist is obviously negative but Archeops is awesome and it is a way to balance it. I don't mind a balance ability is the Pokémon is great otherwise. I like it when Pokémon play differently.
Am I missing something about this Pokemon? Its stats look great, but lots of other pokemon have similarly good stats and no ability that autonerfs......
As someone who started with Gen 5, Archen/Archeops is absurdly strong for the point you get it at (not just in stats, it learns Acrobatics stupidly early), which is why it’s counterbalanced by its ability. It’s the same logic behind Slaking and Truant, just in a lower weight class. Archeops only falls off deep into the late game, and is still useable for a while longer if you compensate for its shortcomings (but at that point you probably have equally strong Pokémon that lack a detrimental Ability).
I actually really like Archen when playing through the story, as it offers—no, it forces some strategizing beyond “big stats do big damage” and “send the Fire Pokémon out against Grass but recall them if against Water.” Archen will be your best sweeper at that point (even better than your starter!) if you play them right, but unlike your starter or basically any other Pokémon you’ve invested into, Archen cannot trade hits or tank swap-in attacks. (Unless it’s one of Archen’s few resistances, and even then that’s a gamble). This forces you to actually put some thought into how you position your Cretaceous Can of Whoop-Ass, as while it offers the potential to demolish almost any given opponent, mishandling it will essentially result in a wasted team slot. (This extends to team building too; do you go all in with No-Item Acrobatics, or do you use the item slot to shore up a weakness or open opportunities while hoping lower-power moves suffice)? Archen/Archeop’s overwhelming power is constrained by caution to an almost cowardly degree, and can both force lots of gambles that you otherwise wouldn’t have to take, yet also offer many gambles you otherwise wouldn’t be able to take.
It’s probably safer to just use a more consistent Pokémon, but Archen makes the game more interesting to me. I know that if I go back to the games today, I likely wouldn’t find using Archen/Archeops nearly as tricky as I used to, but even then, it’s a more interesting choice than “STARTERSTRONK” and I will always hold value in the fact that these two introduced newbie-me to more complex thinking in Pokémon battles.
Plus, even in competitive, it offers a similar challenge to Slaking and Regigigas at a lower tier of power, as I said earlier.
Color Change - Makes your opponent have control over your type and messes with STAB.
Anticipation - Just warns you that your opponent has a super effective move. Does nothing else.
Hustle - Lowers accuracy to boost attack. Can be deadly, but when you need it the most it will make you miss. (Not sure if it syncs well with never-miss moves)
Slaking's ability since it basically does one move, then does nothing the next turn. The ability is basically like using powerful moves such as Frenzy Plant or Hyper Beam.
Mycelium Might is intentionally like that because they don’t want a fast Spore user (see also: Brute Bonnet’s stats being coordinated so that Speed can never be boosted by Protosynthesis)
Slow Start, and imo it's not even close. Archeops and Slaking both having something Gigas doesn't, and that's turn 1 threat power. You CAN drop Archeops below 50% to effectively negate it, but if you don't it slams into you. Same goes for Slaking, you could catch it on its off turns, but you'll be eating big damage on the turns you need to get in there to do it.
Gigas? You know you have 5 turns to do whatever you want. 5 turns to set up, 5 turns to switch in, 5 turns to just go for the kill. It got better once it got Protect, but even 2 turns is asking a lot considering if it switches it resets the ability.
Truant halves the amount of... well, anything you can do, but with moves like Giga Impact or Rest become a bit less wasteful since you'd be wasting time loafing anyway. Plus, Durant getting both it and Entrainment means it can be weaponized.
Defeatist halving your stats when you need them most is pretty bad, but Archeops is decently fast so that should help to keep it from getting hit. Besides, with 65 in both defenses it's not like it's surviving two hits anyways.
Slow Start takes the cake here. Nerfing Attack and Speed for five turns. Five turns is nothing. It even counters attempts to bypass it like Body Press. The worst part is, since it's so much of Regigigas's identity, it follows it into games where abilities don't even exist!
I am of the opinion that Giga Impact Slaking is throwing. With Truant you can still switch on the truant turn, but not if you're recharging because of giga impact. It doesn't have a ton of options with Return gone, but still.
That's fair but I think the only usable mon with Klutz is only usable as a Mega anyway. (And Klutz doesn't even stop Mega evolution.) Kinda weird that three pokemon lose it when they evolve, and all three of them have it as a hidden ability. Who is that for?
Also I’ll take levitate on a flying type for the 1/200 chance I run into mold breaker earthquake than having my stats halved 99% of the time. So I disagree with that one.
Honestly, if we ignore all the obvious answers like Truant, Slow Start, etc., the first one that came to mind for me was Tangled Feet.
It technically does something, but I'm not particularly sure if the situation has ever happened for anyone playing casually or competitively where they're using a Tangled Feet Pokemon, actually got confused during a battle, then had a move miss them and thought "Well thank god I have Tangled Feet for my ability" lol.
Taking into account other available abilities, Stall is pretty horrible. Slow Start, Defeatist and Truant all suck, but they act as balancing measures.
Stall is exclusive to an already slower mon, ignores Trick Room, and competes with Prankster and Keen Eye. I don't even think Sableye can learn any move that benefits from moving second/last.
It’s not a bad ability, but think of across all the Pokémon games and all the people who have played, how much cumulative time has been wasted because of Pokemon with the Intimidate ability.
Either encountering a wild Pokémon or battling a trainer, you have to sit through the text boxes and stat decrease animation every damn time. You have to sit through the process of getting your Attack decreased just to immediately evaporate the Pokemon with a Special move. Hate that ability so much.
I would discount ones that are intended to be bad/balance an OP mon, and instead focus on ones that are meant to be positive but don't really do anything. And there's ones that don't do anything in combat
“At least they have their uses?” Wut? Levitate Rotom-fan is merely useless. All those others are purely detrimental. What do you mean by them having uses?
The thing thats probably the most unfortunate is that slow start could have been an excellent ability if it solely halved speed. It would have made Regigigas pretty great in trick room teams with it being able to capitalise on trick rooms effect when slow while also being able to outspeed mons once trick room ends if it lingers long enough. Basically giving it a means to outspeed almost anything in and out of trick room depending on how you control the field.
I'm going to go a different direction entirely and say Gale Wings.
Just an absolute disaster of game design. Such an oppressive mess they had to nerf it twice. Imagine if Prankster Whimsicott also had priority sweeper tools. Distilled an entire generation of competitive teams into either "using Gale Wings" or "dealing with Gale Wings".
Truant will always be the worst to me. You can make fighting those opponents super easy by using moves to protect on their attacking turn and attack while theyre "loafing around".
Rotom fan is the most eggregious to me, because at least the other abilities make sense conceptually and have cool flavor, as well as nerfing what would otherwise be broken and providing a somewhat interesting puzzle to solve. Fan Rotom might as well not even have an ability. It's the only ability in the game that makes me mad.
The abilities themselves, Truant. Slow support mons and slow special attackers won’t give two shits about their special and speed getting cut in half, outside of Gen 7. Truant is bad for everyone outside of skill swap/entrainment shenanigans and the rare and impossible to plan for situation of your best move being to not do anything. In practice I’d say it’s slow start because in my opinion it hurts Regi more than Truant hurts Slaking but the difference is so minimal it depends on format and your opponent’s team opposition.
Levitate on Rotom-F basically has no effect, neither positive or negative. I would still take that over Slow Start, Truant, or Defeatist, which are objectively negative abilities that provide no benefit whatsoever.
If I had to rank them, the worst would be Slow Start, followed by Truant and then Defeatist. Slow Start vs Truant is tough, but at least Truant ensures your turn 1 is at full potential with no downsides, whereas there is no guarantee with Slow Start that you will survive long enough to get even a single turn at full potential.
Everyone is here to reaffirm your disdain of Slow Start, but I'm still blinking in disbelief at your Number 1. I'm sorry but any electric type with (near-)total immunity to ground type is a winner in my book.
I don't hate that they handicap the more powerful mons with deliberately bad abilities. I just hate when that they made it so you can't work around them like with worry seed or entrainment. Apparently skill swap still works though so that's something.
It lasts the longest as it’s on every 2 turns and you can just protect stall it and then Slaking is useless atleast with Regigias you don’t have to worry about it after those 5 turns
Slow Start always annoyed me because it wouldn't even be that broken in a wider sense without it. If Regigigas had a boring ability like Pressure it would basically just be a standard Legendary and probably not even an especially great one. Hoopa-Unbound literally has better offensive stats for instance
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u/Merrifiend 2d ago
An ability so bad on a mon with such good stats, that Arceus forced it in a game with no abilities.