CAP 32 - Part 5 - Primary Ability Discussion

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quziel

I am the Scientist now
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https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/cap-32-so-far.3716532/

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Please pay very close attention to Scizivire's posts during this thread and remain on topic. DO NOT begin by posting massive lists of abilities!

Some general rules for this discussion:
  • Custom abilities are banned. No exceptions. Posts suggesting custom abilities will be deleted.
  • There are ability banlists for the different stages of ability discussion. Posts suggesting banned abilities will be deleted.
  • Flavor abilities do not have any place in this thread. Do not bring up flavor reasoning. Posts that rely on flavor reasoning will be deleted.
The following abilities are banned from this discussion:

Arena Trap
As One
Aura Break
Bad Dreams
Battle Bond
Beads Of Ruin
Beast Boost *
Chilling Neigh
Commander
Dark Aura
Dauntless Shield
Delta Stream
Desolate Land
Disguise
Dragon's Maw
Fairy Aura
Flower Gift
Forecast
Full Metal Body
Grim Neigh
Gulp Missile
Hadron Engine
Hunger Switch
Ice Face
Illusion
Imposter
Intrepid Sword
Moody
Multitype
Neuroforce
Orichalcum Pulse
Power Construct
Primordial Sea
Prism Armor
Protosynthesis *
Quark Drive *
RKS System
Schooling
Shadow Shield
Shadow Tag
Shields Down
Soul Heart
Stance Change
Sword Of Ruin
Tablets Of Ruin
Teravolt
Transistor
Turboblaze
Unseen Fist
Vessel Of Ruin
Victory Star
Wonder Guard
Zen Mode
Zero To Hero

* These abilities will only be unbanned on a concept which is based around this ability - Such as an Ultra Beast or Paradox Pokemon

These abilities are banned by default and should not be discussed barring exceptional cases. If you believe one of these abilities should be considered, you can make a post trying to explain why an exception is warranted in this specific case and if both the TL and Ability Leader agree, it will be allowed. If the TLT disagrees with the unbanning proposal, they should be considered fully banned and should not be further discussed.

Bulletproof
Color Change*
Defeatist
Dry Skin
Earth Eater
Flash Fire
Fur Coat
Good As Gold
Gorilla Tactics
Huge Power
Ice Scales
Libero*
Levitate
Lightning Rod
Magic Bounce
Magic Guard
Magnet Pull
Mimicry*
Motor Drive
Parental Bond
Protean*
Pure Power
Purifying Salt
Regenerator
Sap Sipper
Slow Start
Stall
Storm Drain
Truant
Volt Absorb
Water Absorb
Water Bubble
Well Baked Body
Wind Rider

*These abilities can only be considered for an unban if the Ability stage is done before typing.

Comatose
Drizzle
Drought
Electric Surge
Fluffy
Grassy Surge
Innards Out
Misty Surge
Prankster
Psychic Surge
Sand Stream
Snow Warning
Speed Boost
Stamina
Steam Engine
Supreme Overlord
Toxic Debris
Triage

Ball Fetch
Battery
Costar
Friend Guard
Healer
Honey Gather
Illuminate
Pickup
Power Spot
Power of Alchemy
Propeller Tail
Receiver
Run Away
Stalwart
Symbiosis
Telepathy


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Ability banlist PRC threads:
 
What's up guys, now that we have concluded compiling a list of (potentially) defining moves, it is time to start thinking about our first ability for CAP 32. We have previously established that we're aiming to create an offensive pivot which uses good synergies between typing, abilities and moves to offset the lower stat limits mandated by our concept. In order to facilitate this, my goal for this stage is to explore the different routes we can take with regards to synergies with our Defining Moves 1 list, how this applies to other "average" Pokémon, and ultimately pick an ability that we as a community can say with confidence will be synergistic with the rest of our kit.

So let's get things rolling then! Before we start getting into suggesting specific abilities themselves, I have prepared some questions in order to gather opinions on the direction we want to take and how to best approach synergizing with our typing and moves:

1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
Learning from how other "average" Pokémon synergize their ability and the rest of their kit and how that applies in games may help us narrow down on how to apply this for ourselves. Of course, we don't have to exactly match these examples, but we can draw inspiration from them in order to inform our decisions during this stage.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
There are plenty of ways in which our ability can help CAP32 perform as an offensive pivot, but some routes may be more succesful than others. To give some examples, we could opt to directly increase our offensive presence with a power boosting ability in order to offset our likely relatively lower offense stats, provide (more) utility using the moves we will be clicking most, focus on survivability through a more defensive ability or, in some cases, a mix of these.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
With strong offensive Fire-type options like Iron Moth, Volcarona and Cinderace, and solid offensive pivots like Krilowatt, Astrolotl and Meowscarada around, we're facing some stiff competition in the meta, especially considering our "bang average" statline. In order to stand out, we'll have to match them in power or provide something our competition cannot do, so is this something we want to look at discussing during this stage of the process?

With that said, let's get to discussing! Remember, we're not looking for discussion around specific abilities just yet, but feel free to mention them to support your arguments if you deem it necessary.
 

quziel

I am the Scientist now
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Gonna fill out this post more later but I think you can generally divide "low bst mons that are good" into a few categories when looking at abilities. Looking at the mons not the abilities here.

Steroid to one or more attacks: Nidoking with Sheer Force, Crawdaunt with Adaptability, Breloom with Technician

This category basically makes up for deficiencies in its stats by just supplementing its stats with an ability that boosts one or more of its attacks by a significant amount. Nidoking is probably the best example here, as it combines a gen1 offensive movepool with Sheer Force pushing its offenses just high enough to guarantee an OHKO on pretty much anything it hits SE, which is everything.

Immunity to a weakness: Rotoms, Orthworm

This is sorta a limited list, but having an immunity to a major weakness can completely transform your defensive profile. Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat are the best examples here, as they leverage Levitate to hit OU, despite not really having great defensive stats at all, and Rotom-Heat fills a role that's very close to what we probably want to.

Field Effect Setter/User: Politoed, Pelipper, Arctozolt, Tapu Koko, Ninetales-Alola, Hawlucha

This is a bit more expansive of a list than it needs to be, but one route to OU viability, even if its typically a short stint in OU viability, is to either set or abuse a relevant field condition. Ninetales and Arctozolt are the most recent lower stat examples of this, and each has a very potent move besides the ability effects, but its a valid route.

Very Strong Ability: Clefable, Gliscor, Sableye-Mega, Azumarill, Amoonguss

This is a bit of a weirder list, but the mons above have very strong abilities, eg Magic Guard, Regen, Huge Power, and also have significant synergy between their abilities and movepool. Clefable's Sticky Barb set is a great example here, but like, giving ourselves a top tier ability, and then also giving ourselves some manner to abuse the unique aspects the ability gives us is going to be a strong route here.

Wildcard: Bisharp, everything else I forgot

This category is hard for me to really cover but it sorta is everything else. Where we have a unique ability that doesn't necessarily give us free stats, but instead gives us a very solid place on a unique playstyle.
 

kenn

Prince of the Halidom
is a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator
Okay so here goes nothing!
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
The biggest examples that were brought up during Concept Assessment and Typing were Pokémon like Clefable and Nidoking so I am gonna discuss the 2 of them (others were mentioned iirc but these were the ones to stand out to me specifically lol).

In the case of Clefable, it had the opportunity to run 2 very good abilities that accentuated its movepool by allowing it to set up without worry from status (Magic Guard) or from opposing setup sweepers (Unaware). This allowed famous sets like CM + Stored Power to thrive easily despite the lack of "above average" stats that Clefable had. Magic Guard in particular facilitated Clefable to be a fantastic pivot since it didn't take hazard damage and could bluff certain items that increased its power such as Life Orb or, in the case of the previously mentioned set, Kee Berry. Clefable's expansive move pool and great ability choices allowed it to be customized to the team's liking despite its "lackluster" stats.

In the case of Nidoking, it's expansive movepool of moves with secondary effects allowed it to utilize Sheer Force to its full effect despite having a higher base Attack stat than Special Attack. Ranging from STABs like Earth Power and Sludge Wave to coverage moves in Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt, Nidoking had merit purely because of its ability allowing it to bolster the "weaker" yet more wide-ranged coverage moves in its special movepool.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
Firstly, I think we want our ability to further incentivize the offensive part which can be done in many ways as there are a plethora of abilities to choose from that can help aid in just that. Things like Pixilate can beef up our Fairy STAB should we wanna go physical (or nuke with Boomburst) whereas something like Magic Guard could help us by avoiding hazard damage and allow us to run something similar to Life Orb Clefable from last generation (though I think this is a boring option personally but still worth a mention).

Other abilities that could enable the pivoting we want to do could include things like Prankster to give us priority Parting Shot or Will-O-Wisp (should we get this) while helping augment our bulk or a partner's and help us pivot a lot easier while something like Levitate could give the ability to avoid most hazard damage and rid us of a weakness, barring Mold Breaker, giving us the switch-in capabilities CAP 32 may desire.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
I think it is best if we can use our ability to help differentiate CAP 32 from some of the offensive Fire- and Fairy-types such as Iron Moth and Jumbao and the pivots such as Krilowatt and Astrolotl; however, if we were to line up in terms of similar roles as the aforementioned Pokemon, I don't think CAP 32 would be overshadowed as it already has a fairly unique defensive and offensive profile thanks to its typing alone.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
Both Clefable and Rotom Wash are very good examples of synergy to look for, Rotom-Wash in particular standing out to me. The way that its moves tie together with one another flow very well, with Hydro Pumps offensive prowess and strength against the types that deny Rotom-W's support options (Ground types for Thunder Wave and Volt Switch, and Fire types/Garg for Will-o-Wisp), allowing it to get away with the nonsense it wants to do. This is all supported by Levitate's ability to get it in on the Ground type moves that would normally stop it from having its fun. Clefable, then, has the incredibly efficient combo of Magic Guard and Softboiled to keep itself alive, and with its well balanced Fairy typing and useful movepool, it has no trouble fitting all the moves it wants while also having the longevity it needs.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
Judging by discussion and by what some of the best pivots do, there a few things that I feel we need in order to make an offensive pivot work for us:
1. Have a powerful offensive presence in order to allow us to threaten in the mons we want to pivot on.
2. Have enough defensive presence to switch into mons we threaten offensively at least a few times.
3. Make sure we can either pivot without trouble or have the ability to prevent the mons that thwart our pivoting move from switching in.

With these three things in mind, I feel that the best abilities are going to be the ones that allow our typing and movepool to best accomplish as many of these criteria as possible. Abilities that boost the damage of both out STAB and nonSTAB options, abilities that remove the weaknesses of our pivoting options (U-Turn, Volt Switch, Parting Shot, etc.), or any ability that boosts our ability to come in on attacks seem like ones to pay attention to, and any that can achieve most or all of these criteria seem like the best ones for ensuring synergy between our kit.
 
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sun_dew

formerly JAGFL
is a Pre-Contributor
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?

Most "average" Pokémon who are still viable in OU have pretty strong abilities that are usually defensively oriented to some degree. Regenerator Amoonguss, Water Absorb Clodsire, and Earth Eater Orthworm are all great examples of sub-500 BST mons who use a solid ability to enhance their otherwise lacking lifespan (granted, all three of these 'mons also happen to have an above 100 defensive stat, so perhaps they are not great examples). These examples also don't have a huge amount of synergy between their abilities and their kits, outside of maybe Amoonguss.

Weather-setting abilities have also made otherwise rather sub-par Pokémon viable in OU, with Drizzle Pelipper being a classic example with a pretty good amount of kit synergy, given that Drizzle helps boost their water attacks' damage and Hurricane's accuracy. Even more offensively focused would be a flat damage-boosting ability, such as Technician on Breloom, which boosts not only Mach Punch but also Bullet Seed, as well as a few other less viable options.

(quziel basically said everything I wanted to say in this section and then some while I was writing this post so apologies if this sounds a bit redundant)

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?

As established in previous stages, our typing lends itself well to offense, with a good amount of high-damage options available as STAB, and our defining moves are also mostly high-damage offensive options. As such, it would probably be best to have a damage-boosting ability of some sort. Getting an extra 1.5x boost to certain attacks would be incredibly useful, and make low offensive stats less of an issue.

However, an ability that can help deal with or entirely negate hazards could also be beneficial, as our typing leaves us weak to Stealth Rock, which is pretty devastating as a pivot. Heavy-duty boots are always an option as well, though, so an ability may not be necessary in this case.

Weather/Terrain-setting abilities could also be helpful offensively, at least in the case of Drought, since we could receive a boost to the damage of our fire-type moves. This type of ability also lends itself fairly well to pivoting, since weather and terrains allow other 'mons on a team with this CAP to reap the benefits of this CAP's ability as well.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?

I think a weather/terrain-setting ability would be fantastic for setting us apart from the competition. There are absolutely no viable terrain setters currently in CAP OU, and only a handful of viable weather setters. As a pivot, being able to set weather/terrain for free is incredibly valuable, though it would set us directly up for competition with Jumbao (and Malaconda I suppose) if we were to go for Drought.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
The best examples of this are probably immunity abilities that help with walling specific threats (Rotom-W, Gastrodon) or abilities that grant strong offensive boosts, possibly with specific move synergies (Breloom, Crawdaunt, Nidoking, Toxtricity?). There's also something like Pelipper which has a ton of synergy between its ability and the rest of its kit (STABs boosted by its weather, U-turn to bring in mons freely on the offensive team-style its ability lends itself to).

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
Both offensive and defensive abilities are viable on an offensive pivot. Immunity abilities are defensive in nature in the sense that they are literally just blocking damage, but are not at all weaker on an offensive mon than a defensive mon. They allow us switch-in opportunities, as well as forcing out pokemon that can no longer threaten us, which is great for a pivot. They have synergy with our defensive typing, eliminating weaknesses to allow us to capitalize on our existing resists.

On the other hand offensive abilities are obviously amazing on an offensive pivot. In terms of a synergy-specific build, you think of abilities that boost specific moves, but more general boosting abilities still provide sufficient synergy with our very solid offensive typing.

There is one ability that completely transcends these categories, providing a multitude of defensive applications and synergies with both our defensive typing and our offensive movepool, synergy with specific items, etc., but I suspect we'll get to that later...

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
The ability will be an integral part of making us viable with average stats, so yes, we must use our ability to differentiate ourselves in some way. I do not believe we specifically need to use our ability to offer team support that is hard to come by (setting a terrain or weather for instance). That is one route to viability, but it's kind of a shallow one in the sense that that pokemon are rarely used for their own merits. There are other ways to make ourselves viable.

I think turning one of our weaknesses into an immunity is one of the strongest possible ways to do that, making us a balanced and useful team member and maybe allowing us to plug a team's weaknesses to specific threats while not forfeiting momentum or threat level.

On the other hand, using boosting abilities or move-ability synergies to reach a power level more on par with top threats is a perfectly viable option, and there are a lot of really interesting routes to do that.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?

As mentioned previously, a strong ability is one of the biggest boosts in power that let something with otherwise unimpressive stats become viable (alongside a movepool that they can effectively utilize of course). Defensively, Regenerator amoongus isn't strictly built with their kit in mind but is so universally useful that it works well. Other defensive abilities include stuff like Water Absorb clodsire (synergizing with its typing), or any number of mons with Unaware (which can help them set up on their own or otherwise deal with things that threaten the typical slow bulky mons that often have it). That said, defensive abilities often don't require as strong a connection to the rest of the kit since being able to utilize them is more applicable to any number of scenarios (you're never gonna complain about ignoring stat boosts for example)

Offensive abilities on these mons are pretty much required to work with the kit by contrast. A technician mon like breloom wouldn't be half the threat it is if it lacked moves that can proc it. Same can be said for something like Sheer Force nidoking in previous generations - if it didn't have a kit that let it make use of sheer force then it wouldn't find success with it.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?

I'm inclined to look for a defensive ability. Our typing and expected coverage means that we can threaten mons that we want to, and can simply avoid switching into ones we don't want. But providing a defensive tool can make these good matchups even better and make failed predicts much less punishing.

If we do go for an offensive ability, something beyond increasing the power of our moves is probably the best bet. Our defining moves gives a bunch of non-pure-damaging options and I think attempting to capitalize off of that side of things is a more effective approach given our low stats. It doesn't matter how low our Attack is, a burn is a burn.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?

I mean, yeah? Not sure what the alternative is. Given our low stats attempting to push in on someone's turf is just giving us an uphill battle that will, at best, mean two mons will be used half the time (assuming they're equally useful) or more likely one of them will just be made irrelevant.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
The best "bang average" pokemon currently are Pelipper, Breloom, and Clodsire.
Clodsire's abilities synergize with its minmaxed defensive stat spread.
Breloom's best ability (In the current metagame) directly boosts its power, making it absurdly strong in conjunction with its sky-high Attack.
Pelipper's ability carries an entire playstyle. Ignoring that, it still has the most synergy with its typing. Its high-power rain-boosted hydro pumps and accurate also high-power hurricanes make up for a meager offensive stat.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
Considering we are an OFFENSIVE pivot, the primary synergy we should go for is a way to improve our offenses, of which there are a number of ways to do. Sharpness effectively gives us STAB on a wide array of moves, especially Bitter Blade. Adaptability boosts our already potent STABs. It is also notable that most of our STAB moves also are boosted by Sheer Force, both physical and special.

Defensive abilities, such as immunity abilities (which i think should be unbanned for discussion), also work for CAP32. Most notably Levitate/Earth Eater allows CAP32 to have a much safer switch in on Great Tusk and Equilibra.

Some wild cards include:
Magic Guard
Should also be unbanned for discussion, IMO. Magic Guard kills like 3 potential birds with one stone for this mon (that i will elaborate on if it does get unbanned for discussion) and synergizes greatly with our typing (admittedly magic guard doesnt directly affect our movepool). I understand why people may be against it, however.
Rocky Payload
Synergizes well with our typing. Effective STAB on Stone Edge/Power Gem to hit our fire-type checks and Venomicon is pretty cool.
Psychic Surge
Do NOT give us Lumina Crash if we get this ability. Without the Tapus, we're pretty starved of good terrain setters. Psychic Terrain fits this mon better than the others because it boosts Psychic coverage, if we get it.


3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
Im not entirely sure we need to. Obviously, it creates a more interesting and varied Pokemon if we do, but the specific targets we hit from our typing alone already differentiate us from pokemon like Krilowatt and Meowscrada.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
Looking at the current viable "average" Pokemon, one thing that many of the offensively oriented Pokemon have in common is a power boosting ability. Think Breloom's Technician, Nidoking's Sheer Force, or Azumarill's Huge Power. Additionally, looking at other common offensive pivots, Pokemon such as Tapu Koko have Electric Surge to boost their own Electric moves while Pokemon such as Greninja or Meowscarada have Protean to boost their non-STAB moves.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?

Truth be told, I think there's a fine line here. While I still believe that the main STAB options such as Moonblast or Flamethrower are too weak on their own to fully justify the use of a Pokemon with mediocre stats, we should definitely take care to ensure the Pokemon is used as an offensive pivot rather than a wallbreaker. For example, giving CAP 32 Sheer Force might make it too strong to function as an offensive pivot. Additionally, Sheer Force generally incentivizes Life Orb, and an offensive Fire type pivot will likely want boots. I think abilities such as Adaptability or Pixilate work well with our unique typing. Adaptability provides about the same power boost as Sheer Force, but its overall offensive prowess is kept in check as it only functions on our STAB moves. In this way it can still apply offensive pressure without functioning as more of a wallbreaker. I also think Pixilate is worth a look, especially with Extreme Speed. Forcing switches is an important part of an offensive pivot, and priority is a great way to do so. Because of our middling stats and lack of set up moves, I don't think it would be too strong or change the role of CAP 32.

Prankster is also worth a look. However, part of me wonders if Prankster Strength Sap and Wisp would make CAP 32 fill more of a defensive role, as it would absolutely eviscerate physical attackers.

I personally don't think we should go with terrain/weather setting. CAP 32 would not be able to personally benefit from any of the boosts provided by either except for Sun, and it would face stiff competition from Jumbao or Malaconda in that sense.

Also up for consideration is Magic Guard. Krilowatt is a great example of how an offensive pivot can use Magic Guard effectively. Additionally, it gets rid of the weakness to Stealth Rock, as well as enabling moves such as Eruption to be much more useful. Magic Guard + Mind Blown could also be a hell of a drug if we do decide to go this route, though it might end up being too powerful for it's own good. Just some food for thought.

Edit: Thought I'd throw out the idea of Stakeout as well. It's an interesting ability hampered by the fact that it's only on pretty terrible Pokemon. While it might disincentive switching on the opponent's part, the fact that it'll usually only be useful on the first turn it's in might make it sort of conducive to the role of an offensive pivot. Might definitely be a bit overpowered with Eruption though.
 
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1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
In previous or alternative metagames, we have seen Pokemon with subpar stats able to preform extremely well due to the ability doing one of two things; mitigate the weaknesses or bolster what the effectiveness of what it can do. Breloom would be a perfect example with both of its best abilities (Poison Heal let is survive surprisingly well for a frail mon and Technician let it use its one good stat effectively).

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
A defensive ability would let us get around poor bulk so we could actually preform our role as an offensive pivot. Not slating anything but examples like Magic Guard + Focus Sash or Sturdy practically guarantee surviving a hit or immunity granting abilities would provide free switch ins. We should be looking for abilities that allow us to maintain momentum. I worry if we slate an offensive ability we run the risk of turning CAP32 linear and without means to properly switch in, but am not totally against it.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
I don't think we should particularly worry about it necessarily, but we should definitely keep in mind "Why would someone pick CAP32 over X mon?". If another Pokemon fulfills the same role but has better consistency or stats, we run the risk of making CAP32 too niche. I would like to see CAP32 use said ability and typing to differentiate itself, but we should not make it our focus.
 
Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
Honestly except for pure support Pokémon almost every Pokémon in OU will have a synergistic kit to work with. And even with support Pokémon you will see a distinction in viability between those that offer additional valuable traits and those that are merely setters of their respective conditions.

again almost every Mon ranked OU will have synergistic traits in its kit.
Imo for mons with less powerful stats there are three extremes of this.
One where the synergy happens because of a multitude of options, that in one way or another are able to make a whole that is more than its parts. Clefable is such a Pokémon, where it just has so many positive traits, that its meager stats are no hinderance to its success.
Compare that to Rotom-W, which has to get by on the bare minimum of what its typing offers, min maxed in almost every aspect of its competitive design. Only one water move, only leftovers as recovery, only half a handful of utility moves and only one ability, all of which of course makes it one of if not the best Volt Switch Pivot in the entire meta, with a naturally desirable defensive and offensive niche.
The third distinct option are mons where a large portion of their strength comes from one maybe two singular traits.
To name an example that hits closer to home Venomicon Epilogue draws almost all its power from its unresisted flying STAB courtesy of Tinted Lens.
Similarly Azumarrill finds success because of a solid offensive typing that is super powered by its ability.
Orthworm on the other hand draws a hundred percent of its success from shed tail.
And yes all of these mons have traits that further enhance these overpowered options, but none of them would be viable without them compared to something like clef where losing knock off and softboiled as well as recovery PP might be a hit to it’s strength but access to other options would likely be enough to keep it solidly viable.
I think the romtoms are an interesting case in that nothing in their kit is extremely overpowered, but removing or changing anything would probably doom it. Imagine Rotom-W without Hydroor Levitate.
2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
Atm I value something that offers additional utility and enhances the power of our stabs.
An offensive Mon without a reliable offensive presence or utility is pre buff Voodoom.
Compare that to a Mon like Astrolotl, which has similar stats and hits relatively weak but also has a wealth of options improving the teams defensive profile as well as offensive options, and is capable of making progress regardless of their lower power.
Or a Mon like Post Buff Pyroak, which has even worse initial offensive presence than Voodoom but thanks to its ability move combination becomes nuclear in just one turn.

While Fire Fairy has more inherent defensive utility than Dark/Fighting, I believe its strength lies in how strong both attacking types are individually and in combination, especially wrt the power and reliability of the moves it gives access to.
(Compare Focus Blast to Moonblast for example)
Additionally Fire/Fairy is exceptional for compression of moveslots (mostly on its special side) thanks to a variety of moves with additional effects that can force progress even on weaker or resisted hits.
3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
obviously we don’t want to make Iron Moth but weaker. So differentiation is important.
But considering we have a completely unique offensive and defensive profile thanks to being the only existing fire fairy, we already took one step in setting CAP 32 apart.
Being a fire type wallbreaker might be hard atm but there are still ways to be unique even in that limited space.

At this point I feel like we still have a lot of options to achieve a singular niche that allows us to cut power in Stats.
TLDR:
Overall I think we should focus on enhancing the offensive presence of CAP32 especially its STABs and look for abilities that offer additional utility on top of powering up those moves.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?

A lot, a lot, a lot of them. Clodsire, Clefable, Azumarill, Torkoal, and Cyclizar come to mind.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?

I mean, there’s a reason why we picked to do Ability after Defining Moves, so that we pick an ability to synergize with those two!!!! Anyway, we want an ability to work well with us switching in and out a lot.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?

Yes, but a lot of the “good” abilities are already used up, RegenSpam, multiple immunity abilities, and more make it hard to carve a niche solely due to ability alone.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?
There are a lot but I want to talk about synergies: Nidoking has Sheer Force to leverage its Gen1 movepool and its typing give him the opportunities to come (+ a decent match-up against hazards). Sheer Force also remove recoil damage, which means it's harder to chip it and improve its match-up again stall.
Rotom-W / Rotom-H also use Levitate very well as they are Electric types that are strong at deterring Ground-types thanks to this immunity and to their movepool, which means usual Volt Switch counters have to think twice before trying to block them.
Every bulky ground with a Water immunity also warrants a mention (hi Saharaja) like Gastrodon with Storm Drain: they can combine the advantages of two common types with few drawbacks, providing some useful role compression and checking a large array of threats.
Lastly there are all specific abilities like Terrain setting / Swift Swim-likes that provide either rare support or strong stat boosts.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?
Defensive-leaning but something we can also leverage for offensive prowess are imo our best avenue for abilities. Magic Guard is of course the strongest contender with Regenerator as a close second but I would not mind keeping these banned to try something else. But in any case, I think that's where we can look for spending of our power budget.

Immunity + boost are welcome as always. Storm Drain and Lightning Rod especially are not only great at improving our defensive profile (especially the former) and using to patch-up our offence. I also like how we become very strong against pivoting moves (1/4 from U-Turn and immunity to Flip Turn (when it's distributed anyway) / Volt Switch) with one of these. There also better than healing immunities even though they would be pretty great too, but draining the momentum from our opponent while improving ours seems really valuable especially as we will not be strong from the get-go.
They are not the most spectacular but Storm Drain especially completely turns the table on would-be checks and I think they should be unbanned for further discussions.

A mention to Technician and Adaptability as they leverage our fantastic STABs and also making Draining Kiss a not-garbage move, which might be an opportunity to combine offence and longevity. Adaptability + Eruption will basically be a nuclear attack at full power and I am all for it. Aside from these two, I don't really like other pure offensive-boosting abilities. They feel a bit too much of a cop-out and don't really synergize with our kit, they don't provide something that a Fire / Fairy mon would uniquely use.

Unlike No Guard which provides with perfect accuracy Inferno: who wouldn't want to use a 100BP move that always burns? Thunder becomes a very good option too (or even Zap Cannon lmao).

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?
We have two ways to crate our own niche:
- Beat what usually check our competition. That's where I feel immunities + boost abilities really shine as a Fire-mon who can sit on some Water-mons is a real niche (and which is why I think the boost is important as Astrolotl is already not too bad against them). For example Rotom-W can at best Volt Switch / Trick us. No Guard arguably fits this bill too by throwing status willy nilly, making would-be checks think twice before coming.

- Provides unique utility. That's where setting abilities come into discussion: if our Pokemon is the only one who can set-up Psychic terrain (and even own most Steel that are usually good checks), of course it will find a home in some teams as it would be a unique pivot. A terrain-user ability (I like Chlorophyll or Protosynthesis here) seems great too but I am not sure it's very suited for a pivot. Likewise, Magic Bounce makes our pivoting even more potent (and easier!) and I like Prankster (or perhaps Triage for priority Draining Kiss) given our potent list of non-damaging moves, especially if we decide to take Strength Sap, Taunt or Encore.
 
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?

I'm temporarily taking "average" to mean without any stats (Spe, Atk, SpA, HP+Def, HP+SpD) in the top 10 of the tier, or BST in the top 10. This is a surprisingly strict condition, and for OU the Pokemon that meet it are: Azumarill, Corviknight, Pelipper, Quaquaval, Rotom-Wash. Out of these, all but Corviknight rely heavily on their ability, but other than Quaquaval the synergies are mostly subtle. Rotom-Wash has strong water STAB to synergize with its ground-type immunity, Pelipper has Hurricane to use rain and U-turn and Roost to be a good weather setter, and Azumarill has Aqua Jet to make use of its extreme attack.

With the same constraints as OU, the average-stat CAP pokemon are Naviathan, Necturna, Smokomodo, Snaelstrom, Tomohawk, Venomicon, Venomicon-E. Of these, Naviathan and Necturna are not super viable, so we'll set them aside. Venomicon (Roost, Body Press), Venomicon-E (Flying-type, Coil, Roost), Smokomodo (Bone Rush and Flame Charge/Trailblaze), and Tomohawk (Haze, Roost) all have heavy synergy between their movepool/type and their ability.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?

As an offensive pivot we need an ability that makes it easier to switch in, easier to do enough damage to immediately threaten out CAP 32's targets, or something unique that can't be provided by any other viable Pokemon.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?

Yes. None of the examples above of average-stat Pokemon are offensive pivots other than perhaps Venomicon-Epilogue.

Immunity abilities can help us stand out by giving us defensive profiles that no other Pokemon has. For example, if Walking Wake were still legal, a water-type immunity ability would make us a perfect switch-in.

Field/weather setting abilities give differentiation, but most of them are not useful with our typing.

Other than these two, there's a lot of possible unique abilities, but they have to be treated one at a time.
 
Hey there, just dropping in to say I'm really happy with the current discussion so far. I'm already seeing a bit of a consensus being formed on questions 1 and 3, while opinions for question 2 are quite varied, which is also fine. I did see some people advocating for some specific ability-move synergies here, which is not really within the goals for this set of questions, but I'll let it slide for now in favor of fluid discussion.

I'll give you guys roughly another 24 hours or so to voice your opinions before moving on, so make sure you get your posts in before then.
 

memesketch

won't look back, i must shine
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
1. Looking at existing "average" Pokémon, which ones see/have seen success because of the synergies between their ability and the rest of their kit?

Naturally I think of Clefable first and foremost. Magic Guard and Unaware give it a host of possibilities and allow it to circumvent its low BST by maximizing the potential that its typing and bottomless movepool offer. Rotom-W also comes to mind with how brilliantly Levitate meshes with its movepool, enhancing its presence against the Ground-types that it wants to force out to click Volt Switch. Other type immunity abilities on the likes of Gastrodon, Clodsire, and Orthworm contribute hugely to how these otherwise underwhelming mons perform in the current OU environment. Amoonguss and Alomomola are also worth a mention, as Regenerator perfectly exploits their strengths as a status-spreading pivot and Wish passer, respectively, and covers up their otherwise unimpressive movepools and statlines (165 HP on the fish, I know, but the rest of its stats are NFE level).

On the offensive side of things, mons like Nidoking and Breloom are able to function so well because they have powerful abilities and movepools tailored to them – it's hard to imagine where Nidoking would be without FlameBoltBeam, or Breloom without Bullet Seed and Mach Punch. Similarly, mons like Crawdaunt, Azumarill and Diggersby, and Cinderace have their general damage output amped up by their abilities to make up for the former three's middling overall stats and the latter's otherwise one-dimensional nature.

2. As an offensive pivot, how are we looking to synergize our ability with our typing and movepool?

I think we need to consider abilities that reinforce how we want CAP 32 to operate. The outline we have for this mon so far is a pivot with a typing that provides offensive and defensive utility and an arsenal of auxiliary moves (status, recovery, disruptive tools) to make use of. As much as we want a strong ability as the last piece of the puzzle to make up for its middling stats, I think there is such a thing as going overboard here – namely, with Magic Guard. I feel that striking a balance between keeping this mon's stats viable enough to see usage and justifying Magic Guard on a strong Fire-type pivot (crucially with the possibilities of Strength Sap, sleep moves, etc) may just be too difficult to accomplish. As such, I like the concept of Boots as a limiting factor on this mon so that we can have more liberty giving it the powerful tools that will make it worth using.

I personally really like the idea of abilities that give our STABs a kick, whether we go full throttle with Adaptability or more specialized with, say, Pixilate Extreme Speed or Sharpness Bitter Blade. On the topic of Pixilate, I agree with priority being an intriguing option to force switches, and I also love Triage as an option for that. Defensively, Storm Drain and Earth Eater are huge options to consider and present us with the opportunity to give CAP 32 a unique defensive profile while opening up new Tera potential.

3. Keeping in mind the competition we face in this meta, do we want to use our ability to help differentiate ourselves from the competition and carve out a niche of our own? If so, how?

I'd say this just boils down to ensuring that we're not building an Astrolotl, an Iron Moth, a Kerfluffle, or a Krilowatt that's roasted in the sun for too long. We have the potential there to make this mon unique with the typing and defining moves, and our choice of ability should reflect that. Because of that, I don't think this is something we need to worry about too much as it should, ideally, come naturally in our process.
 
It's a bit later, but here we go anyway

Alright guys, at this point I feel like this round of questions have been answered quite well, so let's summarize what has been said so far!

Regarding the first question, many of you mentioned the likes of Sheer Force Nidoking, Technician Breloom, Huge Power Azumarill and Adaptability Crawdaunt as Pokémon that mitigated their lower raw sweepiness stats with an ability that boosts a great amount or at least a good chunk of their movepool in power, allowing them to still punch holes in teams with boosted STABs and/or coverage. On the other hand, Pokémon like Rotom-Wash/Heat, Orthworm and Gastrodon make use of their immunity abilities in order to safely pivot into threats that might otherwise beat them. Lastly, Clefable has been mentioned a lot as a Pokémon that can do everything quite well despite its mediocre statline thanks to two of its stellar abilities-- Magic Guard and Unaware.

For question 2, opinions seemed more divided on which direction we should take for our primary ability. A lot of posters want to directly increase the power of (a subset of) our moves through a damage boosting ability in order to emphasize the offensive part of our "offensive pivot" role and be more threatening overall. On the contrary, there has also been a lot of support for shoring up our defensive profile and consequently our switch-in opportunities with a more defensive ability, which includes but is not limited to immunity abilities. Abilities that aim to provide a more utility-based approach seem less popular, but are still worth mentioning.

As for the third question, a lot of posts mention that differentiating ourselves from the competition is important, but that doing this through our ability is not necessarily required. Many of you mentioned that the offensive and defensive profile courtesy of our typing is enough differentiation, but that there is room for more if we give CAP32 an ability that provides something the competition cannot.

Because immunity abilities have been mentioned a few times as something that might be beneficial to us as an offensive pivot, I will allow discussion of these abilities. These include:
- Dry Skin
- Earth Eater
- Flash Fire
- Levitate
- Lightningrod
- Motor Drive
- Sap Sipper
- Storm Drain
- Volt Absorb
- Water Absorb
- Well-Baked Body

---

With that out of the way, I want to officially open up ability submissions. Additionally, here's another question to answer, but this one is entirely optional:

4. Besides immunity abilities, are there any other soft-banned abilities that warrant discussion and thus should be unbanned? If so, why?
Considering we can spend a good chunk of our power budget on our primary ability, and some existing examples have shown that certain abilities on the soft-banned abilities list can indeed make a difference here, I think we can be a bit more flexible about it during this specific process. If there is any abilities on said list that you think might be useful, you can use this question to make a case for them, and spoo and I will take a look at them.
 
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dex

Hard as Vince Carter’s knee cartilage is
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4. Besides immunity abilities, are there any other soft-banned abilities that warrant discussion and thus should be unbanned? If so, why?
Magic Guard and Regenerator.

Magic Guard has already been brought up for its general boost to viability. It's a very strong ability by itself, and it interacts uniquely with CAP 32's typing, making it one of the rare Fire-types that don't care about Stealth Rock. There are further move interactions with Magic Guard, and it denying incidental chip damage definitely supports the offensive pivot role.

Regenerator is the ability every pivot wishes for. It can help make up for lacking defensive stats by granting extra longevity. I will say that, in the current metagame, this ability is not as strong as it was in previous generations due to the offensive nature of teams, but it's still obviously a very powerful choice that should be available.
 
I think Electric Surge would be an interesting option. While it does not boost our STABs or give us a "third STAB", it does provide a decent 30% boost to one of our coverage types, and more importantly, it provides team support. Currently there are 5 Quark Drive Pokémon on the CAP viability rankings who are stuck with a useless ability because there's no viable Electric Terrain setter (plus the viable Electric types that would also benefit from terrain); CAP32 could change that.

4. Besides immunity abilities, are there any other soft-banned abilities that warrant discussion and thus should be unbanned? If so, why?
I think Magic Guard is definitely worthy of discussion. We only have average stats, and based on the defining moves discussion it looks like we won't have any extremely powerful STABs, so a powerful ability would be very helpful. Magic Guard is especially useful since we're an offensive pivot weak to Stealth Rock; with Magic Guard we would have the freedom to run an offensive item like Life Orb instead of Boots. Also, switching into Knock Off would be dangerous without Magic Guard, despite our Dark resistance, since losing Boots would greatly reduce our longevity; with Magic Guard, while we might not like losing a Life Orb, it's not as big of an issue.
 

dex

Hard as Vince Carter’s knee cartilage is
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a CAP Contributor Alumnus
I also wanted to go over abilities I like that have been brought up here in some capacity.

Offensive:

Adaptability:
This is my favorite of the offensive-boosting abilities, as it turns an already great STAB combo into something that can be pretty menacing to switch into. A proven success in Crawdaunt tells the tale of an ability that can absolutely help CAP 32.

Technician: The entire attraction of Technician is Draining Kiss, which is, when strong, a very silly move. It's not my favorite, but I like it better than most of the other offensive options other than Adaptability.

Defensive:

Honestly, I don't think any of the immunity abilities are of that much interest. Levitate and Earth Eater are cool until you realize you're basically competing with Venomicon for a slot, and the thing you'll be switching into the most (Great Tusk) gets Knock Off. A Water-immunity is definitely good, but it's also just good for Fire-types to be immune to Water, I don't think there's anything to learn there that we didn't cover in Saharaja.

A little bit of both:

Magic Guard:
Though it may be generically good, generically good might just be what CAP 32 needs. Magic Guard has obvious synergy with the typing and potential moveset beyond being just "good" and ensures CAP 32 a niche in the current metagame.

Regenerator: The pivot's dream, Regen is a means of making up for CAP 32's supposed lack of bulk. The ability can put in work, freeing up stats to be a bit more diverse.

I guess I'll put in a formal submission for Adaptability, Magic Guard, and Regenerator (if they get approved). I'll hold off on Technician till more people talk about it. At the moment, Adaptability is my absolute favorite of the bunch.
 
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I want to bring up Pixelate. There are several Normal type moves that are just excellent (Extreme Speed, Body Slam, Boomburst) that are truly excellent. Extreme Speed Pixelate in particular pretty much guarantees us viability, as we currently don't have much that can outspeed Iron Valiant after a boost from Booster Energy. It allows us to get away with lower stats while ensuring we have a unique place in the metagame.
 

Brambane

protect the wetlands
is a Contributor Alumnus
I am going to keep this post brief, but our typing by itself is pretty dogshit for basic pivoting.

First thing is we are super hazards weak, which not only limits our potential item pool as a pivoting role to HDB but also makes us extra vulnerable to Knock Off progess against other balance teams. We also can't afford to run that good shit like Rocky Helmet or Leftovers or Assault Vest that other pivots could utilize in past metagames (think how Torn-T could run AV even in SS, partially because it only had to worry about SR and not Spikes in combination with Regenerator.)

Take a quick look at VR and glance at what is ranked high at the moment:

:venomicon: Book can tech into STAB Sludge Bomb, which is an uncommon but not unreasonable option even in the current metagame
:arghonaut: Clicks Knock Off, but otherwise one of the best mons to pivot against, this mon basically always runs the same four moves anyways
:garganacl: Yeah okay hello Mr. Salt Cure and Earthquake, mind letting me in
:dragapult: We switch into Draco, maybe switch into Shadow Ball if we are bulky, but do we switch into Hydro Pump?
:equilibra: Earth Power SE, Flash Cannon neutral, and if Libra outspeeds after a spin you may as well watch your dad get beat up by another dad
:great tusk: This Pokemon probably has one move you want to switch in on out of four
:iron valiant: Super set dependent, although I wouldn't "pivot" vs non-Choice IV, I would aim to force it out or kill it outright; this learns Liquidation btw
:jumbao: literally the best thing in the world we can come in on
:krilowatt: tbf pretty much everything has to read right to switch in vs Krilo except like Gastrodon and Water Absorb Clod
:revenankh: nerfed back to the tomb
:gholdengo: neutral to Make It Rain already, but will we be weak to Trick?
:iron moth: If it isn't SW or Tera Ground, maybe we can tank it even in sun? hard to say without stats; hopefully just force it out after an Overheat
:roaring moon: If Acro doesn't hurt, Earthquake definitely does; pretty solid into Choice Band hopefully, we 4x resist U-turn!
:rotom-wash: Hydro Pumping since Gen 4
:skeledirge: Even if we can threaten this mon back, these are running Earth Power a fair amount anyways
:caribolt: So Caribolt fits on worm/HO teams so if you "pivot" into Caribolt you better threaten it before it murks you with +2 Electric STAB
:cinderace: Hope it doesn't hit Gunk Shot, or doesn't have it, or we are faster
:dragonite: Yet another Pokemon that could murk us with Earthquake
:garchomp: See above, but add STAB
:greninja: Common Fire-type L, if you scout it out with another mon you can come in on DPulse or Ice Beam, just Greninja things
:hatterene: Okay this one maybe we can do something against, hopefully we force it out before Psyshock or smth murders
:zoroark-hisui: pretty stat dependent, if we have good SpDef then sure
:kingambit: This mon is the GOAT, and we resist the Dark moves and are only neutral to Iron Head so maaaybe?
:snaelstrom: Razor Shell moment
:volcarona: if you can prevent this from boosting in your face, you probably force out the non-Tera Ground variants

===

So yeah, our typing alone makes us a reliable "pivot" into a small handful of a list of meta-defining threats. Not very good by itself.

For CAP32 to function in its given role, I think the primary ability needs to do one of four things:
1. Give it a better defensive profile through immunities to increase what it can switch-in against effectively
2. Allow CAP32 to have Speed or priority to maintain offensive momentum in conjunction with other offensive Pokemon (can also be achieved with a high Speed stat ofc)
3. Regenerator
4. Absurdly unique utility that would carry a teammate or archetype

Immunity Abilities

Pretty simply, our typing has a pretty mediocre defensive profile by itself and this improves it. There are four real relevant abilities here with Earth Eater, Levitate, Storm Drain, and Water Absorb. Of them, I think the Ground immunity makes the most sense to handle the Earthquake and Earth Power coverage on a lot of the Pokemon listed above. I think these are kind of "coping" abilities to improve a mediocre to awful defensive profile and don't really appeal to me that much.

I am also going to include non-type immunities here. Magic Guard makes us immune to hazards and frees us from HDB as well, adding to our offensive and defensive profile immediately with options such as Life Orb, Leftovers, Rocky Helmet, and Assault Vest suddenly on the table. Sticky Hold make us "immune" to Knock Off, making Arghonaut and non-Sludge 3 Attack Venom-P fair less punishing. Also means Gholdengo can't trick us, which could be relevant but Gholdengo is more niche in CAP anyways.

Speed Abilities

Obviously if you are using an offensive pivot, its in compliment to other offensive Pokemon and maintaining offensive momentum and pressure is critical to their combined success. Speed is integral to this gameplan, so abilities that bolster our Speed are important. I am focusing on this specific stat since the main way you give a Pokemon good Speed is through a good Speed stat, while there are more ways to give a Pokemon good power. I am confident it is easier to adjust power during stats thanks to high BP moves like Armor Cannon or items; Speed has few ways aside from abilities to be adjusted.

Pixilate
is the obvious one, since it fixes both the "issue" of Fairy STAB being sub-100 BP and provides speed through moves like Fake Out and Extreme Speed. Pretty fond of this dual purpose for an offensive Pokemon.

Prankster is devilish given we threaten most of the common Dark-types with our STAB and Roaring Moon often runs Tera Flying. Priority Will-O-Wisp, paralysis, or Encore would give CAP32 a powerful niche against offensive teams, while maintaining a fast pivoting role with priority Parting Shot.

I will painfully acknowledge that Chlorophyll would be excellent given the current state of the metagame, but whether or not you want to go that route depends on how overbearing you think sun is currently. I personally would shy away from this direction, but I see the validity in it. Not a lot of offensive teams would feel good against a Fire/Fairy with absurdly high Speed to answer them even after a Protosynthesis/Quark Drive boost.

Triage combos with Draining Kiss and some other moves, but not Bitter Blade due to spaghetti coding. Main thing here is I don't think Triage Draining Kiss on a non-sweeper seems particularly good, and is likely overshadowed by Pixilate.

Regenerator

This ability can just make pivots if our stats are good enough to support it. The second point might be a little dubious due to our concept, but I imagine we would be well within reason of making it happen. Think of Regenerator as reducing the risk of scouting and turning neutral hits into less sticky damage. Good ability oversall, although I am going to be honest I have the very non-competitive reason for saying this ability is an absolute snoozefest when we have another Fire-type offensive pivot in the metagame with Regenerator. I think our typing is marginally better than Astrolotl (not resisting Caribolt's STAB, losing Water neutrality and Steel is kinda suspect, but we are a better Jumbao answer).

Weird Niche Abilities

Electric Surge
and Grassy Surge could probably create their own archetypes, although I think Grassy is the far weaker Surge for team support but better for the lower Earthquake damage. Electric Surge makes Quark Drive mons obviously better, but also bolsters Krilowatt's offensive presence. And offensive pivots love working with other offensive Pokemon great at forcing switches, so that's synergy right there. It also makes Caribolt a fucking nuclear warhead, have you ever played against Caribolt + Koko?

Snow Warning would be anti-meta as fuck to tell sun to screw off, but there isn't really a good Aurora Veil user (which is identical to snow, so call it "poll jumping" if you really want to be pedantic) so it would automatically create a unique niche in the metagame. Also, you get that sweet Defense boost for Baxcalibur, and who doesn't love the Bax?

Unaware puts us in immediate competition with Skeledirge even more than before, but I will not deny its effectiveness as an ability. It also has some funny offensive use, such as being able to continue to slam Venom-P with physical moves.

===

There are some other good abilities I will quickly highlight, but these abilities are more synergistic with our typing and defining moves, but not inherently supportive of pivoting as we defined it in concept assessment.

Adaptability
is just a good offensive ability when you have strong-ass moves to click, and we have Armor Cannon baby. We probably start to lean more into wallbreaker than pivot, but I would rather be a great wallbreaker and situational pivot given our typing. Yes, I do have sour grapes about selecting pivot as our role, and abilities that deviate us more in a different direction I find very favorable.

Sharpness combos with Bitter Blade to make it probably the best physical move in the game, and gives us wicked good pseudo-STAB options. Is it better than Adaptability? Well, maybe but probably not? I am not quite sure. I think it opens up the moveset a bit more and make CAP32 a little more nuanced than clicking the big funny Fire move, sometimes in sun.

Sheer Force exists but is probably a pain in the ass to balance compared to the above two abilities, so I would skip it over them every day. But it is pretty good with our STAB combination; do we really want to debate in stats stage about HDB and LO calcs in addition to the inevitable sun vs non-sun calcs? I sure don't.

Magic Bounce is just good, although I hesitate to see its effectives on an offensive pivot with our typing compared to really any other typing. Seems either like a set-up sweeper kind of ability like Hatterene or really efficient anti-hazard mon for offense teams like... Eject Button Hatterene.

No I am not going to proofread this post
 
I would like to submit Levitate.

(Earth Eater is functionally the same and I literally don't care which is chosen. It can be a flavor thing as far as I'm concerned).
A ground immunity makes our good but somewhat awkward defensive typing suddenly exceptional. We suddenly can switch in on Garchomp, banded Baxcalibur, and Roaring Moon, we're less worried about Equilibra and Dragonite, and we can even come in on Great Tusk if we don't mind taking a Knock Off (I recognize that this is not ideal, but on very offensive teams that are more focused on momentum than anything else, it might be a valid play at times). Adding on the threats we already take on like most Iron Valiant and Cinderace sets, our switch-in opportunities are opened up immensely, and we can much more easily force things out and grab momentum or slap things with our awesome offensive typing.

Levitate also forces the opponent to calculate the risk of throwing a ground move at any of the multitude of mons that are weak to ground in the meta, because suddenly they're risking us coming in for free and forfeiting all momentum. Terastallization also becomes more potent when we have probably the best possible immunity in the mix.

I would also like to submit Punk Rock.

Instead of shoring up our defensive typing for switching in, this improves our offensive power and threat level, which is important for an offensive mon with low stats. It specifically interacts with Torch Song, listed as an option in defining moves. Torch Song now has immediate power, so you don't have to stay in for several turns to pose a threat, although the snowballing option is still avaliable. This makes the move more appropriate for a pivot. It also boosts some nice coverage options (I've talked about Eerie Spell, and I don't think we need coverage beyond this, but there are also options like obviously Boomburst, Overdrive for Book and Pex, or Sparkling Aria for Skeledirge).

Punk Rock also reduces damage from opposing sound moves, so we can now maybe switch into Chromera for example.

Edit:

I know it's still currently soft banned but it's received a lot of attention (as it should), so I want to say something about Magic Guard. Sometimes in CAP it feels like there is pressure to choose the strongest available option at every stage, even though technically that's not the aim: we're supposed to choose what's best for the process. I think we should address that explicitly here. This ability is miles ahead of every other option in terms of power level. We're not weak to rocks/spikes anymore. We are no longer lacking offensive power, and in fact we probably hit like an absolute truck because of free Life Orb and the ability to use recoil moves with no health loss. We no longer have to worry about not being able to switch in after a Knock Off. As a cherry on top, we don't take damage from Toxic, partial trapping moves, Sandstorm, etc. This ability literally fixes all of our problems (except switching in I guess). To me, it feels like the easy way out as far as making this mon viable, and it trivializes subsequent stages to an extent. It's already viable without even knowing its statline. I think we need to recognize that nothing really competes with this ability, and if we don't choose it, we're making the conscious decision to not choose by far the strongest option available. I think that is a choice we should explicitly make. I imagine the ability is soft-banned for a reason, and my personal opinion is that it should remain that way for this process.
 
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I don't understand the draw of Technician. You're spending your ability slot turning a 50 bp move into a 75 bp move, when it was semi-established during the moves discussion and some talks in the discord that 75 bp is not strong enough for a STAB. The only other moves that benefit the most from Technician is Flame Wheel, at which point I'd just rather take Bitter Blade even without Sharpness.
Sharpness + Bitter blade is much stronger.


Echoing Dex, I am a fan of Adaptability and Magic Guard.

Adaptability
is obscenely straightforward. Our STABs become stronger, simple but effective.

Magic Guard fixes many potential issues with CAP32. Do our limited stats mean we don't do enough damage? Our role as an Offensive Pivot means that, unless we run boots, Stealth Rocks or Spikes become an issue, especially giving our Fire typing? Magic Guard negates that damage, leaving us with an open Item slot. Do our limited stats mean we don't do enough damage? Since we don't need to run boots, we now have an item slot free, and we can put a life orb on CAP32 for a free damage boost. Additionally, while it may not be as significant as Magic Guard's other benefits, we are immune to Sand, Toxic, Salt Cure, and Leech Seed chip.
huh the best ability in the game remains the best ability in the game, neat

Some other abilities I am a fan of are Sharpness, Rocky Payload, Psychic Surge, and Pixilate.

Pixilate
grants us much better STAB options than the ones we have currently. Pixilate Boomburst is one hell of a drug. If we go Physical, Pixilate Espeed (which everyone should call Pixiespeed) is very effective for threatening faster pokemon out. Pixilate Explosion is also another hell of a drug.

As I pointed out earlier, Sharpness boosts Bitter Blade to power levels comparable to Boomburst. It's hard to say no to a Boomburst that heals. We also get effective STAB on a plethora of interesting coverage moves.

Rocky Payload is just kinda funny. First of all, Fire/Fairy/Rock is perfect coverage, and Effective STAB on 3 potent offensive types make us extremely threatening. Fire types such as Iron Moth, Skeledirge, and Venomicon go from switchins to mere targets afraid to switch in. All that being said tho it has less utility than Sharpness or M-Guard.

Psychic Surge gives us the benefit of being immune to priority such as Extreme Speed from Dragonite, as well as boosting any Psychic coverage we get.

Personally, I'm formally submitting Magic Guard, Sharpness, Rocky Payload, and Pixilate.
 
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