I really don't understand why, it's Terrain Seed + Terrain Surge + Unburden that has made Unburden a threat in the first place, instant double speed with no need for set up. Unburden would still be usable without the seeds, but it would require more support/"commitment".
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Metagame Shared Power [Under Re-Construction!]
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Mostly agree but worth noting that most terrains do provide an offense boost. It's not as spammable as stuff like Surge Surfer/Chlorophyll/Swift Swim or whatever since the donors don't really sync up with terrains as far as type goes, but it's there. The seed boost isn't negligible either even if it doesn't provide an offensive buff.
I've been messing around with Necrozma on an Unburden/Psychic Surge team and it does quite well. Paired with GonZ, Lele, Magearna and a Beast Boost Donor it's capable of steamrolling teams without a dark type fairly easily thanks to Photon Geyser. Can also fit onto Guts/Quick Feet teams in place of or in addition to KyuB because of Photon Geyser's unique qualities and it's reasonable base 107 attacking stat but that's not as germane to this discussion.
(I'm still gunning for it to be on the VR and have no idea why it's not yet)
I honestly can’t imagine Unburden being too useful against bot teams; but as Haaku said, the meta is probably going to be OmOtm, and I am predicting a shift towards HO. Thus, I feel that the meta would shift towards speed wars. However, unburden itself isn’t necessarily a game breaker. We’ve banned abilities giving a 2x speed boost, and by extension seeds should be banned too. As the posters above me said, we should make a seed clause.
I misspoke -- I meant to say that it would leave it the most intact, i.e. diminish its viability the least out of the available options. Good catch.
You're right, I forgot about the offensive boost from terrains. Still, that's only for one type (with the choices being Grass/Electric/Psychic), which kinda pales in comparison to more generalized boosting items.
I also think that people should look into speed control strats like Trick Room and Webs -- the former is fun for clowning on teams that rely on winning speed wars, while the latter is nice because Magic Guard teams will often forego hazard removal entirely.
Lcass4919
The Xatu Warrior
on top of a seed clause/unburden ban, id like to talk about poison heal, and no, not banning it, but rather focusing on quick feet. honestly, the main issue in shared power is granting a speed boost thats not accessable without specific abilities. lets look at the three worst(and only) cases:
weak armor-
this is by far the "dark horse" of the trio, mostly because people still forget that its -1 def activates competative+defiant, meaning any physical attack grants a shell smash boost with only -1 def instead of -1 de+spc def. ive faced this before, and its just as scary
quick feet-
unfortunately you are locked into using a ph/guts spam team to fully utilize this, however its by far,(which is a benefit on its own for god sake) the "most forgiving" out of the three, granting a permanent scarf to your teammates, which likely are packing some hard hitting abilities.
unburden-
people who say this isnt an issue clearly hasnt fought a serious one yet. theres next to no counters to a well built one. i actually fought the same team with 4 different teams, knowing how to beat it, and still lost just because power+speed simply overwhelms balance and offense. seed clause might help, but idk, it could still be an issue without...but seed clause is def worth considering.(also to answer the main question, think about it like this, ability that doubles speed, ability that negates priority+boosts psychic moves. and 4 other abilities that boost your offensive capabilities like skill link, technician, etc). theres not much you can do before your ohko'ed even through multiscale.
basically, i think in order for this meta to improove, all variants of speed boosting abilities SHOULD be limited to just the user. since speed is such a crutial aspect of pokemon, and granting your entire team even a +1 boost puts you at a significant advantage over your opponents.
edit: theres also rattled, but its like...so restricted to specific types i doubt its an issue worth addressing.
weak armor-
this is by far the "dark horse" of the trio, mostly because people still forget that its -1 def activates competative+defiant, meaning any physical attack grants a shell smash boost with only -1 def instead of -1 de+spc def. ive faced this before, and its just as scary
quick feet-
unfortunately you are locked into using a ph/guts spam team to fully utilize this, however its by far,(which is a benefit on its own for god sake) the "most forgiving" out of the three, granting a permanent scarf to your teammates, which likely are packing some hard hitting abilities.
unburden-
people who say this isnt an issue clearly hasnt fought a serious one yet. theres next to no counters to a well built one. i actually fought the same team with 4 different teams, knowing how to beat it, and still lost just because power+speed simply overwhelms balance and offense. seed clause might help, but idk, it could still be an issue without...but seed clause is def worth considering.(also to answer the main question, think about it like this, ability that doubles speed, ability that negates priority+boosts psychic moves. and 4 other abilities that boost your offensive capabilities like skill link, technician, etc). theres not much you can do before your ohko'ed even through multiscale.
basically, i think in order for this meta to improove, all variants of speed boosting abilities SHOULD be limited to just the user. since speed is such a crutial aspect of pokemon, and granting your entire team even a +1 boost puts you at a significant advantage over your opponents.
edit: theres also rattled, but its like...so restricted to specific types i doubt its an issue worth addressing.
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Well guys, I know I was one of those who want something banned but I think we have to wait a bit before changing more the meta. Some past bans can already be questionned and to ban other things will be not legitimate in a proto meta which changes very quickly. Stall teams are able to deal with unburden stuff, at least a bit. A lots of teams aren't adapted to that yet and we have to give to people more time to be prepared to it. I'm not saying everything is going well right now, everybody can see the terrific strategies that players have found and the issues that it sets up. I just say we don't have yet the hindsight to conclude that Unburden, Multiscale, Regenerator, Multi-Hits, Quick feet or whatever else is really broken or not. We need more games, more players, more new strategies to determine it.
As the saying goes, wait & see.
As the saying goes, wait & see.
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Well, we did it! February's OMotM winner is none other than Shared Power! Thanks for everyone who has made this possible, the support, and thanks to nv and aGroove for being awesome council members. I hope we all have a fun month!
That being said, there's some business to be taken care of as we go to an exciting ladder, and that's Unburden and Kyurem-Black. I want to discuss these two elements more and whether we want them in our metagame in the future! Now that we have a ladder to actually test teams on, this will be way easier for everyone! And again, thanks to everyone! It sounds cheesy and corny but it couldn't have happened without you guys
That being said, there's some business to be taken care of as we go to an exciting ladder, and that's Unburden and Kyurem-Black. I want to discuss these two elements more and whether we want them in our metagame in the future! Now that we have a ladder to actually test teams on, this will be way easier for everyone! And again, thanks to everyone! It sounds cheesy and corny but it couldn't have happened without you guys
However not the greatest mon in the tier and somewhat difficult to build around, people need to stop sleeping on the epic utility provided by Tapu Fini and more importantly Misty Surge.
People are becoming increasingly cautious of the strength that Status Boosting abilities provide, such as the Guts/Quick Feet combo, so I feel that someone needs to remind them all that Misty Terrain completely negates these status abilities from activating. Guts, Quick Feet, Toxic Boost, Flare Boost, Poison Heal, and Marvel Scale are all completely useless if your Toxic/Flame Orb fails to activate. Not only do Guts teams lose their method of boosting Atk against Misty Surge, they also don't have a boosting item to begin with, making them complete sitting ducks.
Having Misty Terrain also has other benefits, messing with opposing terrains and protecting your team from status. The only real downside is that it prevents yourself from building with status boosting abilities like Poison Heal, and you yourself cannot status the opponent. But free Dragon resists for everyone is pretty neat if you're not running Dragon moves yourself.
Tapu Fini alone is no slouch of a pokemon either. It's got that fat bulk and awesome defensive typing, being able to take on a bunch of threats such as the new Blaziken and Mega Charizard X. Fini's typing is also real nice offensively, and with something like Adaptability it can carve up with its Calm Mind set and fit really well onto balance. In fact as this meta progresses I could easily see Fini Balance turning into its own archetype due to the ways in which it limits both the builder and the opposition.
Many people didn't hesitate to use Cloud Nine to stop weather teams at the beginning of the meta, and personally I find that Tapu Fini is a touch better than Drampa, so let's give it a chance people.
With all that said Fini should very obviously be ranked in my eyes, and how Necrozma is still unranked is beyond me.
I personally use Necrozma on my Stall team, which is a very underrated archetype. Stall is a lot less one dimensional than PP Stalling, and however I do abuse its ability to PP Stall in part, to me what makes Stall viable is its ability to have crazy boosting sweepers. Once Stall mons start boosting their Defensive stats with 6 abilities passively protecting them, they can quickly become invincible and sweep teams with moves like Stored Power. I built my team around setting up sweeps for two Calm Mind users coupled with Stamina, and however I didn't save all the replays it has raked in flawless results.
(Please excuse the Intimidate + Unaware combo displayed in the Beta version of the team)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-199505
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-206911
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-228701
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-223584 Shows Necrozma's power in being able to crush opposing Stall.
Finally as a parting gift here's something for your Gale Wings teams:
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- High Jump Kick
- Flare Blitz
I don't think I need to explain too much, just chuck this on a standard Gale Wings team with Magic Guard and Reckless to profit. Bonus points for using Tough Claws. Use Brave Bird revenging opportunities to nab Speed Boosts so you don't need Protect.
CONGRATS ON OMotM!
People are becoming increasingly cautious of the strength that Status Boosting abilities provide, such as the Guts/Quick Feet combo, so I feel that someone needs to remind them all that Misty Terrain completely negates these status abilities from activating. Guts, Quick Feet, Toxic Boost, Flare Boost, Poison Heal, and Marvel Scale are all completely useless if your Toxic/Flame Orb fails to activate. Not only do Guts teams lose their method of boosting Atk against Misty Surge, they also don't have a boosting item to begin with, making them complete sitting ducks.
Having Misty Terrain also has other benefits, messing with opposing terrains and protecting your team from status. The only real downside is that it prevents yourself from building with status boosting abilities like Poison Heal, and you yourself cannot status the opponent. But free Dragon resists for everyone is pretty neat if you're not running Dragon moves yourself.
Tapu Fini alone is no slouch of a pokemon either. It's got that fat bulk and awesome defensive typing, being able to take on a bunch of threats such as the new Blaziken and Mega Charizard X. Fini's typing is also real nice offensively, and with something like Adaptability it can carve up with its Calm Mind set and fit really well onto balance. In fact as this meta progresses I could easily see Fini Balance turning into its own archetype due to the ways in which it limits both the builder and the opposition.
Many people didn't hesitate to use Cloud Nine to stop weather teams at the beginning of the meta, and personally I find that Tapu Fini is a touch better than Drampa, so let's give it a chance people.
With all that said Fini should very obviously be ranked in my eyes, and how Necrozma is still unranked is beyond me.
I personally use Necrozma on my Stall team, which is a very underrated archetype. Stall is a lot less one dimensional than PP Stalling, and however I do abuse its ability to PP Stall in part, to me what makes Stall viable is its ability to have crazy boosting sweepers. Once Stall mons start boosting their Defensive stats with 6 abilities passively protecting them, they can quickly become invincible and sweep teams with moves like Stored Power. I built my team around setting up sweeps for two Calm Mind users coupled with Stamina, and however I didn't save all the replays it has raked in flawless results.
(Please excuse the Intimidate + Unaware combo displayed in the Beta version of the team)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-199505
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-206911
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-228701
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-223584 Shows Necrozma's power in being able to crush opposing Stall.
Finally as a parting gift here's something for your Gale Wings teams:
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- High Jump Kick
- Flare Blitz
I don't think I need to explain too much, just chuck this on a standard Gale Wings team with Magic Guard and Reckless to profit. Bonus points for using Tough Claws. Use Brave Bird revenging opportunities to nab Speed Boosts so you don't need Protect.
CONGRATS ON OMotM!
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The nice thing about Fini is that it also gets Knock Off, meaning it doesn't need to keep Terrain up for the entire match to do it's job vs guts teams. Just prevent them from getting their turn 1 boost and then slap off their Toxic Orb to render them useless for the remainder of the match. It's typing also helps it take on KyuB, as without the toxic boost, Facade isn't worth using and it resists both of it's STABs, Fusion Bolt is still a risk, but there are plenty of ways around that.
Not related to guts teams, but Nature's Madness is also a nice way to guarantee damage that won't just be negated by Regenerator since it'll do 50% on turn 1 regardless of Multiscale.
Not related to guts teams, but Nature's Madness is also a nice way to guarantee damage that won't just be negated by Regenerator since it'll do 50% on turn 1 regardless of Multiscale.
I feel like Guts teams have a lot of counterplay in the current metagame, and there’s an inherent problem with Guts teams- Poison Heal clashes with Magic Guard, which means that fantastic Pokemon such as Clefable and Alakazam can’t fit on these type of things. Furthermore, lack of Magic Guard means that Multiscale is also far less effective and shouldn’t even be used. Contrary teams with Sticky Web can beat Guts teams and Kyurem-Black as well by cancelling the Speed boost that these teams rely on. Trick Room teams can outright win due to the fast nature of the playstyle. It’s worth taking a closer look into, but let’s just wait until the ladder for now.
I’d like for Kyurem-Black and Unburden to be centric points of discussion during the first week of play. It seems like Unburden’s Speed boost is not much different from the weather spam at the beginning of the metagame, and is probably unhealthy in a metagame dominated by offense.
EDIT: Looking back, yes it seems that the Poison Heal + Magic Bounce bug was fixed. Disregard that point!
I’d like for Kyurem-Black and Unburden to be centric points of discussion during the first week of play. It seems like Unburden’s Speed boost is not much different from the weather spam at the beginning of the metagame, and is probably unhealthy in a metagame dominated by offense.
EDIT: Looking back, yes it seems that the Poison Heal + Magic Bounce bug was fixed. Disregard that point!
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Was this not fixed? It was a pretty heated topic a few pages back.
Yeah, I remember that. Poison Heal + Magic Guard was just inconsistent, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I think urkerab changed that to always work, as Poison Heal description just says that it heals poisoned mons, and most people wanted that way too.
Also, most guts teams are relying on raw damage output and outpacing the opponent anyway, not really their ability to take hits, so running Magic Guard over Poison Heal is 100% a thing you can do if you're going all in with Guts/Toxic Boost/Quick Feet. Magic Guard also has the benefit of letting you run Flare Boost for special attackers as well.
Guts teams are so optimized though that they don't really have a *lot* of team building wiggle room, there are 5 poison boosting abilities, and typically it's KyuB in the last slot. They can run MGuard over Poison Heal like I said, but otherwise running a Tapu means you're losing out on being able to run KyuB (Limiting your ability to sweep bulkier teams), Marvel Scale (Meaning you can't take hits as well and die to strong priority), Toxic Boost (Lowering your raw damage output) etc., no way is anyone running a Tapu over Quick Feet or Guts itself.
Lcass4919
The Xatu Warrior
i get unburden is no different from weather spam, but so is quick feet and weak armor...all of them give a significant speed advantage over your opponent. think about it, quick feet may be a 1.5 boost, but it still means your faster then the opponents ENTIRE team with the exception of scarfers. likewise with weak armor, except weak armor requires you to hit them physically to basically give them a shell smash boost. the problem is this meta gives pokemon INTENSE power...and if you give them even a SLIGHT speed boost advantage, you basically win by default. unburden, quick feet, and even weak armor provide this issue, and if you cant see the problem with providing nukes with a inherent speed advantage, i honestly dont know what to say.
weak armor is slightly different with its "if you hit me physically im going to sweep you" mentality, the issue can be avoided, but i think its still something to consider.
i think all three need to be addressed and not JUST unburden. i honestly think kyub should wait until these three have action taken on them.
Trace is banned from sharing at the moment for technical reasons. I think urkerab is still working on a potential fix, but for now, we'll have to live without it. The way it's supposed to work is that it only traces the opposing Pokemon's native ability, similar to how Skill Swap or Entrainment work.
Apologies for the double post, but just wanted to take some action before the ladder is up!
After quite some time worth of discussion, a new clause has been added to the OP, and that is Seed Clause, which means that you can only have 1 of Psychic Seed, Misty Seed, Grassy Seed, or Electric Seed on any team. This is the way weather currently works too, you can only have 1, or maybe 2 Pokemon that can double their Speed, and although it's not entirely comparable in this scenario, we feel like this change might resolve the unignorable problem that Unburden teams present in the current metagame. The first week of the metagame will be used as a testing period to see whether this is enough to minimize the centralization of Unburden, and on a bigger scale, Kyurem-Black. Please do use the thread for discussion as the ladder goes live!
Tagging The Immortal to implement this as soon as he can.
After quite some time worth of discussion, a new clause has been added to the OP, and that is Seed Clause, which means that you can only have 1 of Psychic Seed, Misty Seed, Grassy Seed, or Electric Seed on any team. This is the way weather currently works too, you can only have 1, or maybe 2 Pokemon that can double their Speed, and although it's not entirely comparable in this scenario, we feel like this change might resolve the unignorable problem that Unburden teams present in the current metagame. The first week of the metagame will be used as a testing period to see whether this is enough to minimize the centralization of Unburden, and on a bigger scale, Kyurem-Black. Please do use the thread for discussion as the ladder goes live!
Tagging The Immortal to implement this as soon as he can.
I assume the lack of a full Item Clause, despite its easier programming, is to not entirely invalidate Guts spam?
Well, now that Shared Power is OMotM it's about time to post a guide I'd been working on. It's a bit outdated now, but I tried to list as many strategies as I could. I also began writing this a month ago.
Earlier, I made a list of damage altering abilities. Now I'd like to try to make a more comprehensive list of abilities, combinations, and mechanics that I have seen be used or suggested in Shared Power.
Hyper Offense
Hyper Offense strategies are often gimmicks using multiple abilities to modify damage output and sweep with a single or a couple Pokémon. They often rely on speed or priority to kill without being touched. The best part about these strategies is that they actually can work reliably, which is very different from normal gimmicks.
Examples include:
Skill Link Technician
These teams take advantage of the Skill Link Technician combo to use very powerful multi-hit attacks. These strategies are a good counter to Multiscale and can just ignore sashes and Sturdy. Most good multi-hit moves have a base power of 25 for each hit, so you effectively get a 187.5 power move that ignores Multiscale, Focus Sash, Sturdy, and Substitutes. The actually decent multi-hit moves are:
Hustle No Guard
This isn't so much a Hyper Offense strategy in itself, but instead a great damage multiplier. I feel like No Guard is an Ability that's just generally good for all players in Shared Power due to the fact that it means that no moves are going to be missed (unless you have mold breaker or something). No Guard Hustle effectively gives every Pokémon on your team a Choice band without being locked into moves, and means you don't have to worry about missing. While it can't take advantage of Hustle, Xurkitree can take advantage of No Guard with Hypnosis and Zap Cannon. Psychium Z gives you +1 speed when you use Hypnosis, allowing you to set up with Tail Glow and then likely outspeed your opponent. This also can work with Sticky Web, but that is slightly worse now that Magic Bounce is unbanned. Durant is probably the best Hustle user, but Mega Pidgeot, Machamp, Doublade, and Lycanroc-Midnight are all equally good No Guard users. Mega Pidgeot does force you to mega and cannot take advantage of Hustle, but it is still a terrifying threat. Machamp uses No Guard itself the best, but Doublade is good without really needing to use it. Lycanroc is one of the best fast users of No Guard. Teams using this strategy can either just use it as an extra damage multiplier, or focus around it using mons like Conkeldurr and Buzzwole, which hit like a truck with a boosted Dynamic Punch. Sleep moves are also very powerful with No Guard, and any Pokémon that can take advantage of Zap Cannon is a huge threat. Inferno also exists but has less users.
Adaptability and Tough Claws
These are 2 common damage multiplying abilities that work very well on Hyper Offense. Tough Claws is a free Life Orb for physical moves, and Adaptability is extremely powerful on anything. Greninja Adaptability is a potential combo, but since Protean does not carry it is less viable. Porygon-Z, Beedrill-Mega, and Crawdaunt are some of the best users of Adaptability, while Tough Claws is usually on Lycanroc-Dusk, Charizard-X, and Aerodactyl-Mega. Personally I prefer Lycanroc because it doesn't have to mega evolve, but these are all viable.
Steelworker
Steelworker is a very powerful ability, but you can only use it on specific Pokémon. Scizor and Dhelmise can combo quite nicely, with Scizor getting a 90 power STAB Bullet Punch. Stakataka TR teams also work very nicely due to the fact that Dhelmise is already a slow mon. Mega Mawile does quite well, and I suppose that the newly introduced Aegislash could be very good. Doublade + Durant + Dhelmise is another potential combo, giving 2 separate 1.5x boosts, one to the base power of moves and one to the attack stat.
Gale Wings
An ability that gives priority if you're at full health is bound to be used on HO. After all, the entire point of the strategy is to use fast attacks to kill without taking damage. Personally, I've found this to be very good when there isn't a Bruxish or Tapu Lele on my opponent's team. Banded Staraptor works very nice, getting 144 power STAB Banded Brave Birds off without any recoil due to Magic Guard. This benefits Talonflame itself due to it relying on Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. Add some Hustle No Guard in there and you're bound to pack a punch (it OHKOs Clefable and Dragonite through Multiscale).
The "Ate" Abilities
Pixilate, Aerilate, Galvanize, and Refrigerate are all great abilities and can be used with moves such as Extreme Speed and Boomburst to hit super hard. So guess what, this is another metagame where Noivern gets STAB Boomburst! Unfortunately, the users of Galvanize and Refrigerate are kind of bad. Golem-Alola is trash, and Glalie-Mega isn't anything special. And neither is Aurorus. So Pixilate and Aerilate are the only ones that are really used. Pinsir can work quite well with Dragonite, giving it STAB Extreme Speed. Pixilate could be harder to use. I could see physical Diancie-Mega with Sylveon, or Tapu Bulu with Gardevoir/Altaria Mega or Sylveon. And physical Tapu Koko could be good too, especially with Magic Guard. On the special side there's not much. I could only really see Primarina or Togekiss being used, and they wouldn't be very good. Now, if you use Normalize with an "Ate" ability then all moves will have the type of the "Ate" ability and have 1.44x power. However, only having one type of move doesn't really help your coverage. If you use more than one "Ate" ability it's a random chance for the type of your move. Which is fun to use but completely impractical. Now, I have run a Galvanize Pikachu (which sweeps with Extreme Speed before it runs into a ground type) and a Hustle Extreme Speed Pixilate Togekiss (which somehow did well but 50 base attack isn't much to brag about), but neither team was reliable and they were complete gimmicks. And of course Noivern + Mega Pinsir could work some magic. And unfortunately Aerilate and Gale Wings cannot work together due to how Aerilate works.
Komala
Now, I'm not saying this strategy is good, but it sure is fun. Despite the fact that Comatose is banned from sharing, Komala can still use a fun Sleep Talk Prankster Last Resort set to hit hard. Komala actually has a base 115 attack stat, so with a 140 power STAB move and a Choice Band it hits very hard. Add some Adaptability/Tough Claws/Hustle No Guard to it with Prankster, and you just use Sleep Talk to get some priority attacks. It's also good to add a Scrappy mon since you only have one move.
Beast Boost, Moxie, and Soul Heart
Another strategy utilized by HO and balance teams is Beast Boost, Soul Heart, and/or Moxie. This allows you to gain momentum as the battle goes on, and with more balanced teams it ensures that whenever you get a kill you get a boost. Which is very dangerous. Beast Boost is probably the best of these abilities because it gives a boost to your highest stat, allowing it to work on all mons, whether they be a physical or special attacker.
Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Sand Rush, Slush Rush, and Surge Surfer
Despite the fact that these abilities are now banned from sharing, they can still be used effectively on a single mon. Not much more needs to be said. Rain teams get Dry Skin, Rain Dish, and Hydration, as well as 2 great Swift Swim users in Mega Swampert and Kingdra. They also get 100% accuracy Thunders and Hurricanes. They can easily use a Volt Absorb/Lightning Rod/Motor Drive mon to remove their weakness to electric. I would recommend Thundurus-Therian due to the fact that it gets a nice 100% Thunder and is already generally very good. Sun gets Solar Power (which works well with Magic Guard), Harvest, and Leaf Guard (which is just bad tbh), as well as Solar Beam with no recharge. Weather Ball probably works the best on these teams, although unfortunately Venusaur cannot have Chlorophyll and Weather Ball at the same time. Sand teams get Sand Force, but not much more. Hail teams get Ice Body and a 100% accurate Blizzard. So overall if you're going to use weather, use Rain or Sun.
Magic Guard Blacephalon
This combo was originally almost always used on sun teams, and while that's still an option it is potentially better on its own. Mind Blown is a 150 power move, and Magic Guard removes the recoil from it. If you're running sun, Solar Power will not have an HP loss and will act like specs. The damage multipliers are crazy: 150x1.5(sun)x1.5(Solar Power)x1.5(STAB)x1.5(If you're running specs)≃759 (some of these are changes to SpA while some are changes to the base power of the move) on Blacephalon, which has 151 base special attack. This is an extremely viable combo.
Triage
Triage is an extremely powerful ability. +3 priority on healing/draining moves is extremely good when there's no Bruxish/Lele in sight. Here are some Pokémon that can take advantage of this:
Mega Launcher
Mega Launcher is a very cool ability. Unfortunately, only 3 Pokémon have it. Clawitzer and Clauncher suck, so all you really have is Mega Blastoise. But you can still take advantage of it. Technician and Mega Launcher stack on Water Pulse, which is very good. Greninja takes advantage of this a lot, using Dark Pulse, Water Pulse, and Water Shuriken. This could also be used in a rain team, as Kingdra works nicely with a Mega Launcher Dragon Pulse. Lucario also gets all of the boosted moves (apart from Origin Pulse of course).
Contrary
This is less Hyper Offense, but still kind of relies on all out attack. Shuckle is often used due to the fact that Sticky Web is a no risk move since if it gets bounced you get +1 speed. Shuckle also balances the team more. If you don't want to use Shuckle, Serperior is your next best option. To take advantage of contrary you need moves that drop your stats. Which means:
Unburden
Unburden is comparable to the weather abilities, but with the key difference that it requires an item and does not work if you switch. However, it is still extremely powerful when coupled with an anti priority ability. Tapu Lele is the best Pokémon for this due to the fact that it protects you from priority while allowing you to use a Psychic Seed, but any of the Tapus can be used. For Unburden you typically want Hawlucha, but you can use Hitmonlee, Sceptile, or Accelgor among others. Hitmonlee is just fun to use, Sceptile takes advantage of Grassy Terrain and can actually use Acrobatics, and Accelgor allows you to outspeed almost anything. Kyurem-Black works well on these teams due to its slower speed and the fact that it’s good almost anywhere. However, if you can be forced to switch then you lose the speed boost. Also, there is often no room for Magic Guard on these teams, allowing you to potentially break any Sturdies or Multiscales, which are commonly used.
Other Gimmicks
These are less Hyper Offense but more gimmicky teams that can actually work quite well.
Harvest Cheek Pouch
This strategy relies on using Harvest + Cheek Pouch + Gluttony + Starf Berry + Prankster, often with Simple and Stored Power/Power Trip, making Swoobat extremely useful. If you don't know, Starf Berry raises a random stat other than evasion or accuracy when the holder reaches 1/4 or less health. Because of Gluttony, it will be eaten at 1/2 or less health. Cheek Pouch restores 1/3 health after eating a berry, allowing the user to continue to use Substitute with Prankster to lower their health, then eat a Starf Berry and recover health. Harvest will recycle the berry, and Protect can also be run to make sure that the berry is recycled. Using a Pokémon with Drought is less useful because the sun will wear off. This strategy does lose to multihit moves, sound moves, and Infiltrator, but is surprisingly reliable and can beat Unaware with Stored Power/Power Trip.
Defiant/Competitive Weak Armor
Another surprisingly decent gimmick, this strategy allows the user to effectively get a free Shell Smash every time they are hit by a physical move. Add Stamina and you're never going to get a defense drop, or add Simple to make it even crazier. However, this strategy obviously suffers against non physical moves, but it's still surprisingly decent and fun to use.
Guts Toxic Boost etc
These teams rely on Poison Heal + Toxic Boost + Guts + Quick Feet and sometimes Marvel Scale to get all kind of crazy boosts from being poisoned. While Toxic Boost does change the power of moves as opposed to the attack stat, it's fair to say that all Pokémon get x2.25 attack and x1.5 speed as well as double Leftovers and potentially 1.5x defense, as well as a 140 power Facade. These teams actually hit extremely hard, and can utilize Bruxish to allow them to outspeed with Quick Feet and not worry about Priority.
Edit:
Prankster Copycat
Courtesy of BillyBobMan
All this team needs is a Prankster Pokémon and some others with Copycat + Dive/Dig/Fly/Phantom Force/Bounce. On the first turn you use your 2 turn move. You can run Sturdy to ensure this works, especially since Leftovers will give you continuous recovery, giving you back your Sturdy if you need it. Anyway, once you've used the 2 turn move you can just keep clicking Copycat and you won't be hit. Prankster will make sure the Copycatted 2 turn move will go first, making your opponent miss. However, you run -Spe and min Speed EVs to ensure that you will be slower on the second turn, causing your opponent to miss again. You can run Magic Guard to avoid potential status, and Bruxish/Tsareena since priority beats this. However, you are weak to Earthquake/Surf/Sky Uppercut/Guts (the latter 2 being almost completely inconsequential), so a Water Absorb and/or a Levitate mon can help. Make sure not to run a No Guard user, but you can use other damage multiplying abilities to help, even Hustle since it doesn't really matter if you miss. Unfortunately this loses to Bruxish/Lele/Tsareena/Dark Types, but it's still fun. Azumarill is a good user, and Samurott can actually be good despite not really contributing any abilities. Riolu is a good Prankster user, actually getting Dig and Copycat.
Earlier, I made a list of damage altering abilities. Now I'd like to try to make a more comprehensive list of abilities, combinations, and mechanics that I have seen be used or suggested in Shared Power.
Hyper Offense
Hyper Offense strategies are often gimmicks using multiple abilities to modify damage output and sweep with a single or a couple Pokémon. They often rely on speed or priority to kill without being touched. The best part about these strategies is that they actually can work reliably, which is very different from normal gimmicks.
Examples include:
Skill Link Technician
These teams take advantage of the Skill Link Technician combo to use very powerful multi-hit attacks. These strategies are a good counter to Multiscale and can just ignore sashes and Sturdy. Most good multi-hit moves have a base power of 25 for each hit, so you effectively get a 187.5 power move that ignores Multiscale, Focus Sash, Sturdy, and Substitutes. The actually decent multi-hit moves are:
- Bone Rush
- Bullet Seed
- Icicle Spear
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Tail Slap
- Water Shuriken
- Cloyster
- Cincinno
- Breloom
- Heracross-Mega (if you're running TR, which could potentially be viable, as Stakataka is an option with Rock Blast and Marowak could still be an option with Bone Rush)
Hustle No Guard
This isn't so much a Hyper Offense strategy in itself, but instead a great damage multiplier. I feel like No Guard is an Ability that's just generally good for all players in Shared Power due to the fact that it means that no moves are going to be missed (unless you have mold breaker or something). No Guard Hustle effectively gives every Pokémon on your team a Choice band without being locked into moves, and means you don't have to worry about missing. While it can't take advantage of Hustle, Xurkitree can take advantage of No Guard with Hypnosis and Zap Cannon. Psychium Z gives you +1 speed when you use Hypnosis, allowing you to set up with Tail Glow and then likely outspeed your opponent. This also can work with Sticky Web, but that is slightly worse now that Magic Bounce is unbanned. Durant is probably the best Hustle user, but Mega Pidgeot, Machamp, Doublade, and Lycanroc-Midnight are all equally good No Guard users. Mega Pidgeot does force you to mega and cannot take advantage of Hustle, but it is still a terrifying threat. Machamp uses No Guard itself the best, but Doublade is good without really needing to use it. Lycanroc is one of the best fast users of No Guard. Teams using this strategy can either just use it as an extra damage multiplier, or focus around it using mons like Conkeldurr and Buzzwole, which hit like a truck with a boosted Dynamic Punch. Sleep moves are also very powerful with No Guard, and any Pokémon that can take advantage of Zap Cannon is a huge threat. Inferno also exists but has less users.
Adaptability and Tough Claws
These are 2 common damage multiplying abilities that work very well on Hyper Offense. Tough Claws is a free Life Orb for physical moves, and Adaptability is extremely powerful on anything. Greninja Adaptability is a potential combo, but since Protean does not carry it is less viable. Porygon-Z, Beedrill-Mega, and Crawdaunt are some of the best users of Adaptability, while Tough Claws is usually on Lycanroc-Dusk, Charizard-X, and Aerodactyl-Mega. Personally I prefer Lycanroc because it doesn't have to mega evolve, but these are all viable.
Steelworker
Steelworker is a very powerful ability, but you can only use it on specific Pokémon. Scizor and Dhelmise can combo quite nicely, with Scizor getting a 90 power STAB Bullet Punch. Stakataka TR teams also work very nicely due to the fact that Dhelmise is already a slow mon. Mega Mawile does quite well, and I suppose that the newly introduced Aegislash could be very good. Doublade + Durant + Dhelmise is another potential combo, giving 2 separate 1.5x boosts, one to the base power of moves and one to the attack stat.
Gale Wings
An ability that gives priority if you're at full health is bound to be used on HO. After all, the entire point of the strategy is to use fast attacks to kill without taking damage. Personally, I've found this to be very good when there isn't a Bruxish or Tapu Lele on my opponent's team. Banded Staraptor works very nice, getting 144 power STAB Banded Brave Birds off without any recoil due to Magic Guard. This benefits Talonflame itself due to it relying on Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. Add some Hustle No Guard in there and you're bound to pack a punch (it OHKOs Clefable and Dragonite through Multiscale).
The "Ate" Abilities
Pixilate, Aerilate, Galvanize, and Refrigerate are all great abilities and can be used with moves such as Extreme Speed and Boomburst to hit super hard. So guess what, this is another metagame where Noivern gets STAB Boomburst! Unfortunately, the users of Galvanize and Refrigerate are kind of bad. Golem-Alola is trash, and Glalie-Mega isn't anything special. And neither is Aurorus. So Pixilate and Aerilate are the only ones that are really used. Pinsir can work quite well with Dragonite, giving it STAB Extreme Speed. Pixilate could be harder to use. I could see physical Diancie-Mega with Sylveon, or Tapu Bulu with Gardevoir/Altaria Mega or Sylveon. And physical Tapu Koko could be good too, especially with Magic Guard. On the special side there's not much. I could only really see Primarina or Togekiss being used, and they wouldn't be very good. Now, if you use Normalize with an "Ate" ability then all moves will have the type of the "Ate" ability and have 1.44x power. However, only having one type of move doesn't really help your coverage. If you use more than one "Ate" ability it's a random chance for the type of your move. Which is fun to use but completely impractical. Now, I have run a Galvanize Pikachu (which sweeps with Extreme Speed before it runs into a ground type) and a Hustle Extreme Speed Pixilate Togekiss (which somehow did well but 50 base attack isn't much to brag about), but neither team was reliable and they were complete gimmicks. And of course Noivern + Mega Pinsir could work some magic. And unfortunately Aerilate and Gale Wings cannot work together due to how Aerilate works.
Komala
Now, I'm not saying this strategy is good, but it sure is fun. Despite the fact that Comatose is banned from sharing, Komala can still use a fun Sleep Talk Prankster Last Resort set to hit hard. Komala actually has a base 115 attack stat, so with a 140 power STAB move and a Choice Band it hits very hard. Add some Adaptability/Tough Claws/Hustle No Guard to it with Prankster, and you just use Sleep Talk to get some priority attacks. It's also good to add a Scrappy mon since you only have one move.
Beast Boost, Moxie, and Soul Heart
Another strategy utilized by HO and balance teams is Beast Boost, Soul Heart, and/or Moxie. This allows you to gain momentum as the battle goes on, and with more balanced teams it ensures that whenever you get a kill you get a boost. Which is very dangerous. Beast Boost is probably the best of these abilities because it gives a boost to your highest stat, allowing it to work on all mons, whether they be a physical or special attacker.
Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Sand Rush, Slush Rush, and Surge Surfer
Despite the fact that these abilities are now banned from sharing, they can still be used effectively on a single mon. Not much more needs to be said. Rain teams get Dry Skin, Rain Dish, and Hydration, as well as 2 great Swift Swim users in Mega Swampert and Kingdra. They also get 100% accuracy Thunders and Hurricanes. They can easily use a Volt Absorb/Lightning Rod/Motor Drive mon to remove their weakness to electric. I would recommend Thundurus-Therian due to the fact that it gets a nice 100% Thunder and is already generally very good. Sun gets Solar Power (which works well with Magic Guard), Harvest, and Leaf Guard (which is just bad tbh), as well as Solar Beam with no recharge. Weather Ball probably works the best on these teams, although unfortunately Venusaur cannot have Chlorophyll and Weather Ball at the same time. Sand teams get Sand Force, but not much more. Hail teams get Ice Body and a 100% accurate Blizzard. So overall if you're going to use weather, use Rain or Sun.
Magic Guard Blacephalon
This combo was originally almost always used on sun teams, and while that's still an option it is potentially better on its own. Mind Blown is a 150 power move, and Magic Guard removes the recoil from it. If you're running sun, Solar Power will not have an HP loss and will act like specs. The damage multipliers are crazy: 150x1.5(sun)x1.5(Solar Power)x1.5(STAB)x1.5(If you're running specs)≃759 (some of these are changes to SpA while some are changes to the base power of the move) on Blacephalon, which has 151 base special attack. This is an extremely viable combo.
Triage
Triage is an extremely powerful ability. +3 priority on healing/draining moves is extremely good when there's no Bruxish/Lele in sight. Here are some Pokémon that can take advantage of this:
- Buzzwole: Leech Life and Drain Punch
- Trevenant: Drain Punch and Horn Leech (and Harvest is generally good)
- Conkeldurr: Drain Punch
- Heliolisk: Parabolic Charge is fun
Mega Launcher
Mega Launcher is a very cool ability. Unfortunately, only 3 Pokémon have it. Clawitzer and Clauncher suck, so all you really have is Mega Blastoise. But you can still take advantage of it. Technician and Mega Launcher stack on Water Pulse, which is very good. Greninja takes advantage of this a lot, using Dark Pulse, Water Pulse, and Water Shuriken. This could also be used in a rain team, as Kingdra works nicely with a Mega Launcher Dragon Pulse. Lucario also gets all of the boosted moves (apart from Origin Pulse of course).
Contrary
This is less Hyper Offense, but still kind of relies on all out attack. Shuckle is often used due to the fact that Sticky Web is a no risk move since if it gets bounced you get +1 speed. Shuckle also balances the team more. If you don't want to use Shuckle, Serperior is your next best option. To take advantage of contrary you need moves that drop your stats. Which means:
- Overheat
- Psycho Boost
- Leaf Storm
- Draco Meteor
- V-Create
- Dragon Ascent
- Hyperspace Fury (Magician is bad and defense boosts aren't great)
- Close Combat
- Superpower
- Hammer Arm
- Ice Hammer (Crabominable is bad)
- Fleur Cannon (Only Magearna gets it, and you'll be dealing with Contrary Soul Hearts)
Unburden
Unburden is comparable to the weather abilities, but with the key difference that it requires an item and does not work if you switch. However, it is still extremely powerful when coupled with an anti priority ability. Tapu Lele is the best Pokémon for this due to the fact that it protects you from priority while allowing you to use a Psychic Seed, but any of the Tapus can be used. For Unburden you typically want Hawlucha, but you can use Hitmonlee, Sceptile, or Accelgor among others. Hitmonlee is just fun to use, Sceptile takes advantage of Grassy Terrain and can actually use Acrobatics, and Accelgor allows you to outspeed almost anything. Kyurem-Black works well on these teams due to its slower speed and the fact that it’s good almost anywhere. However, if you can be forced to switch then you lose the speed boost. Also, there is often no room for Magic Guard on these teams, allowing you to potentially break any Sturdies or Multiscales, which are commonly used.
Other Gimmicks
These are less Hyper Offense but more gimmicky teams that can actually work quite well.
Harvest Cheek Pouch
This strategy relies on using Harvest + Cheek Pouch + Gluttony + Starf Berry + Prankster, often with Simple and Stored Power/Power Trip, making Swoobat extremely useful. If you don't know, Starf Berry raises a random stat other than evasion or accuracy when the holder reaches 1/4 or less health. Because of Gluttony, it will be eaten at 1/2 or less health. Cheek Pouch restores 1/3 health after eating a berry, allowing the user to continue to use Substitute with Prankster to lower their health, then eat a Starf Berry and recover health. Harvest will recycle the berry, and Protect can also be run to make sure that the berry is recycled. Using a Pokémon with Drought is less useful because the sun will wear off. This strategy does lose to multihit moves, sound moves, and Infiltrator, but is surprisingly reliable and can beat Unaware with Stored Power/Power Trip.
Defiant/Competitive Weak Armor
Another surprisingly decent gimmick, this strategy allows the user to effectively get a free Shell Smash every time they are hit by a physical move. Add Stamina and you're never going to get a defense drop, or add Simple to make it even crazier. However, this strategy obviously suffers against non physical moves, but it's still surprisingly decent and fun to use.
Guts Toxic Boost etc
These teams rely on Poison Heal + Toxic Boost + Guts + Quick Feet and sometimes Marvel Scale to get all kind of crazy boosts from being poisoned. While Toxic Boost does change the power of moves as opposed to the attack stat, it's fair to say that all Pokémon get x2.25 attack and x1.5 speed as well as double Leftovers and potentially 1.5x defense, as well as a 140 power Facade. These teams actually hit extremely hard, and can utilize Bruxish to allow them to outspeed with Quick Feet and not worry about Priority.
Edit:
Prankster Copycat
Courtesy of BillyBobMan
All this team needs is a Prankster Pokémon and some others with Copycat + Dive/Dig/
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Small fix but Sun is actually a 2x multiplier
e: I was wrong this whole time, wow. I thought that, because it halves fire moves, it would naturally double water moves. Nope!
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Here's some Prankster ideas:
Gastro Acid: Use this to remove all the other mons abilities.
-Unusable against: Magic Bounce, Dark Types, Psychic Terrain, Dazzling, Queenly Majesty
Nature Power: A +1 Prio Special attacking move that can either be either Tri Attack, MoonBlast, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Psychic.
-Unusable against: Dark Types, Psychic Terrain, Dazzling, Queenly Majesty
Dive/Dig + Copy Cat: Use and underspeed with Dive, then use prankster copycat to copy dive. You now can dodge moves since copycat moves first,
and your slow mon will move last on the next turn. (Azumarill is a user of this strategy https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-231932)
-Unusable against: No Guard. Moves with Priority, since they will be used by copycat instead.
Destiny Bond: Used to take out pesky mons. It can work in a similar way as Dive + copycat. You can use negative priority moves to move after the opposing mons. Sample team: https://pokepast.es/80419e6cf8b71602 (Prob not optimized, but I feel it is better than the one I posted before)
-Has Trouble with: This strategy does not like it when the other mon uses status moves. It also does not like it when opposing mons have priority moves.
Tailwind: Use this to out speed your opponent for a number of turns. In a meta where you can OHKO many mons easily, this move is pretty useful. Im pretty sure this was used a lot in Ultimate Z.
Magic Room: Temporarily stop Berries, Focus Sash, Seeds, Eviolite, Assault Vest, Status Orbs, from working temporarily. You may be able to use Kyurem-B to fight against sturdy, but you can't do anything against focus sash.
Reflect/Light Screen/Aurora Veil: I feel it explains itself.
As mentioned earlier, you can use prankster + Sub to get your berry effects faster.
Gastro Acid: Use this to remove all the other mons abilities.
-Unusable against: Magic Bounce, Dark Types, Psychic Terrain, Dazzling, Queenly Majesty
Nature Power: A +1 Prio Special attacking move that can either be either Tri Attack, MoonBlast, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Psychic.
-Unusable against: Dark Types, Psychic Terrain, Dazzling, Queenly Majesty
Dive/Dig + Copy Cat: Use and underspeed with Dive, then use prankster copycat to copy dive. You now can dodge moves since copycat moves first,
and your slow mon will move last on the next turn. (Azumarill is a user of this strategy https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen7sharedpower-231932)
-Unusable against: No Guard. Moves with Priority, since they will be used by copycat instead.
Destiny Bond: Used to take out pesky mons. It can work in a similar way as Dive + copycat. You can use negative priority moves to move after the opposing mons. Sample team: https://pokepast.es/80419e6cf8b71602 (Prob not optimized, but I feel it is better than the one I posted before)
-Has Trouble with: This strategy does not like it when the other mon uses status moves. It also does not like it when opposing mons have priority moves.
Tailwind: Use this to out speed your opponent for a number of turns. In a meta where you can OHKO many mons easily, this move is pretty useful. Im pretty sure this was used a lot in Ultimate Z.
Magic Room: Temporarily stop Berries, Focus Sash, Seeds, Eviolite, Assault Vest, Status Orbs, from working temporarily. You may be able to use Kyurem-B to fight against sturdy, but you can't do anything against focus sash.
Reflect/Light Screen/Aurora Veil: I feel it explains itself.
As mentioned earlier, you can use prankster + Sub to get your berry effects faster.
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- Status