There are tons of abilities that already exist in the pokemon universe(191 if not mistaken!), but if you want to keep things fresh for 20 years, you gotta keep making them. With this in mind, I am going throw down five ideas for future abilities!

#5- Attitude- Some very common moves are swords dance, dragon’s dance, calm mind, etc. Well if your pokemon had Attitude, then if a pokemon tried to set up in such a way, it would trigger your pokemon’s ability-Attitude. Once Attitude is triggered, you gain double what they gain. You could use it in doubles and have one pokemon that sets up. In return, this could trigger your other pokemon’s Attitude ability! I got this idea kinda based off of the preexisting ability, simple. So I get it if it feels like this ability already exist, but I thought it would be a cool way of expressing a characteristic of pokemons.

Who would have this?: I haven’t really watched much of the show since the Hoenn days, but think of any pokemon that has attitude that stands out far and above the others. I mostly mean this in a sassy connotation. Also, I was thinking it might could be a hidden ability on super weak pokemons as a way of evening things up.

#4 Tough Armor- Armor abilities exist in pokemon, but here is one I think needs to be added- Tough Armor. It simply says “Fighting and Ground moves do 50% less damage). clearly have one type of pokemon in mind for this. Steel pokemon’s tend to get wrecked by these two types. Also, I feel like when Bronzong was popular in the days of Diamond and Pearl, you had to guess the metagame based off whether to give him Heatproof or Levitate. I feel like this ability brings that guessing back. If you’re running a steel type, do you go with Heatproof, Tough Armor, or even Levitate. Sure, this covers steel’s weakness but you have to guess what types are gonna show up.

Who would have this?: Functionality-wise, I had Steel pokemon in mind. I assume you could give this to any pokemon who have a weakness to either one or both though.

#3 Caliginous/Dusk- This ability would be much like sand stream. When you summon a pokemon with this ability, it makes it nighttime. Subsequently, Dark moves get a slight boost as well as a slight boost in speed, whereas, Fairy moves get hindered slightly and maybe even fire pokemon since they like it when it’s sunny. You could also use this move to make it nighttime outside of battle to help catch pokemons that only come out at night.

Who would have it?: Umbreon jumps to mind immediately, but it could be thrown on pokes such as Houndoom and Mandibuzz.

#2 Luster- This ability goes out to everyone who loves their shiny pokemon. Basically if you breed your pokemon with another pokemon who has Luster, it increases the chances of them producing a shiny egg. In battle it could be used to increase the chance of encountering a shiny pokemon, or interact with shiny pokemon’s such as boosts moves if the user is shiny. Just a thought.

Who would have this?: I know everyone is screaming ditto right now. And it would be a welcomed upgrade in my opinion. It’s two abilities are imposter(Which is basically its move transform in ability form) and limber(I guess useful on your sweeping Ditto).

#1 Rancorous- Look, Poison Point and Poison Touch are fine, but they are dependent on the opponent attacking. I say, take the action into your own hands! With Rancorous all poison moves would get a slight boost in power. Also if your pokemon is running this ability, all damage inducing moves would have a 10% chance to poison an opponent(Even if they aren’t poison moves to begin with). I also had the idea that rancorous would just give all moves an addition poison typing, but I wasn’t sure how that would work with damage calculation(But I guess it would work the same as double typed pokemon).

So who would have this?: Crowbat, Arbok, Weezing and Muk, all come to mind. Yet again though, you really could throw this ability on any poison pokemon.

Come up with any abilities of your own? Post them in the comment section!