Dream A Little Dream- LC Dream World Abilities

[Seven Deadly Sins]

With everyone freaking out about the new Dream World abilities for fully evolved Pokemon, a couple notable LC abilities have kinda fell by the wayside. Hopefully, this topic can shed a little light onto these missed abilities.

A NOTE: At this point, we have no reason to believe that Dream World abilities are legal with tutor moves or bred moves, including Level Up moves above Level 5.

I'll be arranging these by number, but i'm noting one very important one first.

Vulpix

Base Stats: 38 HP / 41 Atk / 40 Def / 50 SAtk / 65 SDef / 65 Spe

Notable Moves: Fire Blast, Energy Ball, Nitro Charge, Flamethrower, Overheat

Dream World Ability: Drought - Summons permanent Sunny Day effect upon switching in.

Comments: Since Politoed is evolved, Vulpix is the only weather changer we get here in LC. That said, even though its stats are middling, it can come in, fire off incredibly powerful double STAB Fire attacks, and even threaten a sweep with Nitro Charge (think fire-type charge beam for speed) / Fire Blast / Energy Ball / HP Rock or Ground. Very impressive, and possibly what it takes for Sun to level the playing field with Rain.

Now, on to the main event.

Bulbasaur

Base Stats: 45 HP / 49 Atk / 49 Def / 65 SAtk / 65 SDef / 45 Spe

Notable Moves: Solarbeam, Sludge Bomb, Energy Ball, Hidden Power

Dream World Ability: Chlorophyll - Doubles Speed during Sunny Day.

Comments: Kinda disappointing, really. No Seed Bomb for Swords Dance hijinks, less SAtk than Oddish, but a little more speed than Oddish and bulk than Bellsprout. Still decent, so might as well mention it.

Diglett

Base Stats: 10 HP / 55 Atk / 25 Def / 35 SAtk / 45 SDef / 95 Spe

Notable Moves: Earthquake, Rock Slide, Aerial Ace, Shadow Claw, Hidden Power (shit, why not, it's not like this silly SOB has any decent moves)

Dream World Ability: Sand Strength - During Sandstorm, Rock, Ground, and Steel moves have increased power.

Comments: No Sucker Punch, but at least this bolsters Diglett's middling power against opponents. Having a boosted QuakeSlide works well for it, and while it may lack Sucker Punch, it's still got Aerial Ace and Shadow Claw in a pinch.

Exeggcute

Base Stats: 60 HP / 40 Atk / 80 Def / 60 SAtk / 45 SDef / 40 Spe

Notable Moves: Energy Ball, Psychic, Hypnosis, Substitute, Sludge Bomb, Trick Room, Explosion, Reflect, Light Screen, Rest

Dream World Ability: Harvest - Berries can be reused within a single battle

Comments: Aw shit, we in the big leagues now. Oran Berry becomes a big fucking deal here, with basically 50% healing for free every turn as long as Exeggcute is below 50% HP. Or it can go with Lum Berry and Rest every turn. Either way, Exeggcute becomes ridiculously hard to take down, and its powerful attacks can shut down weaker attackers with ease. Substitute becomes even more important, since Recycled Oran can easily make up for Substitute's HP loss, and you need Houndour to fuck off (now more than ever... but we'll cover that later). Look to this to be one of the huge threats in Gen 5 LC.

Lickitung

Base Stats: 90 HP / 55 Atk / 75 Def / 60 SAtk / 75 SDef / 30 Spe

Notable Moves: Return, Fire Blast, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Surf, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Earthquake, Rock Slide

Dream World Ability: Cloud Nine - Weather effects are disabled.

Comments: Not bad. Lickitung can act as an effective weather check with its massive bulk and insane coverage, and other than Power Whip and maybe Body Slam, nobody cares about Lickitung's level up movepool, tutor moves, or egg moves. With Vulpix, the buffs to Hail, and the new boosting abilities for Sandstorm, Cloud Nine is an even more important ability.

Houndour

Base Stats: 45 HP / 60 Atk / 30 Def / 80 SAtk / 50 SDef / 65 Spe

Notable Moves: Fire Blast, Dark Pulse, Nitro Charge, Hidden Power, Flamethrower, Overheat

Dream World Ability: Tension - Opponents cannot consume Berries

Comments: While Tension Houndour loses access to Sucker Punch, it gains the ability to smash through many defensive checks simply through brute force and the prevention of Oran Berry consumption. Basically, choose Flash Fire if you want to step on offense or Tension if you want to step on defense.

Treecko

Base Stats: 40 HP / 45 Atk / 35 Def / 65 SAtk / 55 SDef / 70 Spe

Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Return, Rock Slide, Brick Break, Substitute

Dream World Ability: Unburden - Speed is doubled when not holding an item

Comments: Since Treecko has an awful special movepool, might as well use its physical one. SubLiechi with Return / Brick Break or Rock Slide / Substitute / Swords Dance can amp up its speed, then sweep with Unburden and +3 Attack. If you can keep a sub, that's even better. Think a physical Drifloon.

Torchic

Base Stats: 45 HP / 60 Atk / 40 Def / 70 SAtk / 50 SDef / 45 Spe

Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Return, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw, Fire Blast, Flamethrower

Dream World Ability: Speed Boost - Speed +1 at end of every turn

Comments: Kinda like Treecko, but with a more passive speed boost. Again, unless you want your movepool to be Fire Blast / Flamethrower / Overheat / (insert some move here or something). At least with Swords Dance you can get decent coverage. Mixed attacking is possible as well, maybe something like Return / Rock Slide / Fire Blast / Swords Dance.

Cranidos

Base Stats: 67 HP / 125 Atk / 40 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 58 Spe

Notable Moves: Rock Polish, Swords Dance, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Flamethrower

Dream World Ability: Encourage - Moves with secondary effects do 50% more damage, but lose their secondary effect

Comments: Woohoo. Rock Slide with 12.5% more power than Stone Edge and 90% accuracy? Yes please. Also, you'll note that I listed the elemental beams. Despite 30 Special Attack, the e-beams now have 142.5 Base Power, making Mixed Cranidos actually viable!

So there you go, discuss away! Also, feel free to point out anything viable I missed, or any inaccuracies I may have dropped in.

 

[McNUTTY]

yeah looks good SDS except that it looks like you doubled your post by typing it up twice.

anyway i think that Vulpix will be a huge change to the LC metagame due to the power of weather in LC and infinite weather only had one pokemon who could summon it in Gen 4, Snover. Think Houndour with a Flash Fire boost, Sunny Day and STAB Fire Blasts.... its horrifying. Bulbasaur and Charmander will also be able to take advantage on the Sun with their new abilities.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Shit, thanks for pointing that out. Edited.

 

[Darkamber8828]

Vulpix, Bulbasaur, Diglett, Lickitung, and Exeggcute are mentioned twice. EDIT: Dammit ninja'ed

For Exeggcute, Sleep Powder is better than Hypnosis.

Encourage Rock Slide is win. Flamethrower beats Bronzor, prolly, anyway.

Are we listing Gen 5 pokes?

I vote Smugleaf.

And Fire/Ghost Shadow Tab Candle, Hitomoshi.

And Kibago's abilities. All three of them.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Vulpix, Bulbasaur, Diglett, Lickitung, and Exeggcute are mentioned twice. EDIT: Dammit ninja'ed

For Exeggcute, Sleep Powder is better than Hypnosis. Unfortunately, Sleep Powder is a Lv. 14 move, meaning it's not available. Hypnosis is a Heart Scale move, so it's kosher.

Encourage Rock Slide is win. Flamethrower beats Bronzor, prolly, anyway.

Are we listing Gen 5 pokes? No.

 

[Heysup]

Just for clarification, wouldn't Stone Edge still benefit from Encourage because it has the secondary +crit ratio effect?

 

[McNUTTY]

Just for clarification, wouldn't Stone Edge still benefit from Encourage because it has the secondary +crit ratio effect?

I would think so, but who likes relying on fail edge?

 

[Deck Knight]

Sandshrew with Sand Throw deserves a mention, because it has excellent Atk and Defense stats in LC and gets everything important from TM (Swords Dance/Earthquake/Rock Slide/X-Scissor).

Base Stats: 50 HP / 75 Atk / 85 Def / 20 SpA / 30 SpD / 40 Spe.

Jolly Sandsrew hits 28 Speed in Sandstorm, and after a Swords Dance its attack is raised to 34. Unlike its faster and slightly stronger molar counterpart however, Sandshrew has an excellent 22 HP and 15 Def with a spread of 36 HP /236 Atk / 196 Spe / 36 SpD, so its more durable against the overwhelmingly physical priority moves in LC.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Oh yeah, I meant to list Sandslash.

Anyway, Stone Edge doesn't benefit. The only beneficial effects are the X% chance to Y ones like the ele-beams, Rock Slide, etc.

 

[Heysup]

I see. Well Encourage Cranidos would still be awesome, not needing EVs to OHKO Gligar with Ice Beam and possibly other various benefits.

 

[Deck Knight]

Swift Swim Poliwag is another cool addition. It has a few things that separate it from Buizel (which has generally better offensive stats but the same speed.

First, it can have 19 HP with Life Orb, allowing it to attack twice as many times as Buizel. All of its stats end in zero so it can increase a full 6 stat points with its 510 EVs. Although it dearly misses Hypnosis (learned at Level 8), it still has an extensive special movepool, including Psychic to deal with Croagunk and Waterfall for Munchlax. Swift Swim carves out a new niche for Poliwag. It's a bit weaker physically than Buizel, but a little more versatile.

Magic Guard Abra

Abra gets to keep its Focus Sash through hazards and weather, which is a huge boon as it usually only needs one attack to KO. Alternatively you can go Hyper Offensive with Life Orb, and use Psycho Shock to deal with that pesky Munchlax.

Ice Body Seel

It's now a better partner for Snover for taking fire attacks, which it still resists, and now it is actually healed by Hail in addition to its berry. Not very powerful on its own, but nonetheless very valuable in Hail, especially since Snover also resists its weaknesses. Does Seel really need anything other than Surf/Blizzard anyway? No Encore is a drag, but a Hail abusing Pokemon that resists fire attacks is always welcome.

Addendum:

Sand Strength Nosepass

Laugh now guys, laugh while you can. But consider this: After a Rock Polish, Nosepass has 26 Speed and it's Earthquake and Stone Edge are coming off an effective 21 Atk (22 with Adamant, but then you only have 24 Speed, not really worth it). It also has 19 HP so it can abuse Life Orb, while it's two defenses are 20 and 24(Sandstorm) Respectively. That's a lot of bulk for a LO user, and it only has to expend 1 HP each time it attacks, unlike say, Aron, Geodude, Larvitar, and Rhyhorn.

Alternatively Nosepass also works in Trick Room, where it can drop down to 7 Speed while retaining that fantastic bulk (or even more if you want to use Oran). All of Nosepass' good moves are TMs anyway, so if you can't cobble together a set from Earthquake/Rock Slide/Stone Edge/Explosion/Rock Polish/Thunder Wave/Volt Change then nothing I post will help you.

 

[Dubulous]

I'm not really feeling Magic Guard Abra. Certainly it would be able to kill one thing just about every match, but it's not guaranteed and it's still boned by priority moves. 19 Speed also hurts it; luckily for Abra there are still only three Pokemon in the tier (unless Scyther and Sneasel are unbanned, which is possible!) that can outspeed without a Choice Scarf. Abra is better, but still not a top tier Pokemon.

 

[Heysup]

I actually think Focus Sash Abra will be pretty awesome due to Stealth Rock immunity.

I'd probably run Psychic / Encore / HP Ground / Protect as a lead.

 

[Bloodbath]

There's also Bagon with Encourage. What about utilizing him?

 

[Mario With Lasers]

Encourage is actually 30%, not 50%.

And for what it's worth, Harvest may recycle the berries twice the same turn, as long as, after the first recycling, the pokémon still meets the conditions to use the berry (meaning a Salac Exeggcute would have its Speed increased by +2 once it gets down to 25% HP).

 

[Toothache]

For Exeggcute, Sleep Powder is better than Hypnosis. Unfortunately, Sleep Powder is a Lv. 14 move, meaning it's not available. Hypnosis is a Heart Scale move, so it's kosher.

Any Pokemon can be born with a level up move if both parents know it. So Sleep Powder is still a possible option.

Also Exeggcute learns Sleep Powder at L23.

 

[ΩDonut]

A NOTE: At this point, we have no reason to believe that Dream World abilities are legal with tutor moves or bred moves, including Level Up moves above Level 5.

Research thread already shows that Dream World abilities can be bred so long as the female parent is from the Dream World. Bred moves and +L5 level up moves are fine on these guys.

 

[Luisv96]

I think Encourage boosts 30% instead of 50%.

 

[Arcanite]

Tsutaja @ Leftovers
Max SpA/Spd
Contrarian
Leaf Storm
HP Rock
Filler
Filler

=Game

 

[Wynought]

Tangela with Regeneration and Pre-evolution Stone will be fun.

 

[Ice-eyes]

Lack of Speed Boost Carvahna?

 

[Wynought]

As well as Scrappy Tailow, Adaptability Corpish, Analyse Porygon, Immunity Gligar - meaning he is only prone of Sleep, Solar Power Charmander, Marvel Scale Dratini, Flash Fire Cyndaquil, Skill Link Aipom <3, and the amount of Pokés that get Self-Concious which would be a fun gimmick to abuse.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Lack of Speed Boost Carvahna?

At the time of the OP, I thought that Speed Boost Carvanha lacked access to its secondary STAB or coverage moves. I now know that's incorrect. It'll probably get added in, simply because it makes Subvanha significantly more ridiculous.

As well as Scrappy Tailow

The only reason Taillow is good is Guts + STAB Facade. Without Facade, Taillow is stuck with mediocre 55 base Attack and STAB Return, and it's now just a bad Meowth with no access to Fake Out or cool coverage moves.

Adaptability Corpish

Corphish's issue was never that it doesn't hit hard enough, it's that it's too slow. This still significantly boosts its offense, and maybe makes it a better attacker, but it won't make a huge difference IMO.

Analyse Porygon

"maybe" considering that Prevo Stone exists, but Trace and Download are amazing abilities, so likelihood is Analyse will get left by the wayside.

Immunity Gligar

"it's a usable ability" but nobody bothers with poison in LC when even the weakest of attacks will deal more damage than Toxic.

Solar Power Charmander

Too slow, not interesting considering the other excellent Pokemon available for Sunny Day teams.

Marvel Scale Dratini

Why bother trying to boost Dratini's super-mediocre defenses through its ability when you can Shed Skin off whatever ailment you might get afflicted with?

Flash Fire Cyndaquil

Yeah, I imagine a Flash Fire boosted Eruption from Cyndaquil would wreck worlds. I'll probably include it.

Skill Link Aipom <3

Skill Link Fury Swipes is less accurate AND weaker than Return. Sure, it breaks sashes now, but it's easier to just break the sash with rocks and move on.

and the amount of Pokés that get Self-Concious which would be a fun gimmick to abuse.

Do we even know what Self-Conscious does? Besides, nothing useful has it.

 

[TorchicBlaziken]

Dream World Abilities are legal with bred moves, as long as it is the male eggmover that is breeding with the Dream World mother.

Tutor moves from Gen IV, however, are not compatible.

 

[SlyShady]

Tsutaja will be crazy awesome. You definitely need max SpA & Spd + Contrarian/Perversity + Leaf Storm and the preferred Hidden Power. Maybe add in Glare, if you can have egg moves with DW abilities (and I know you can breed DW abilities so why not?).