5 Legends: Arceus Pokemon with Mediocre Hidden Abilities in Scarlet & Violet

5 Legends: Arceus Pokemon with Mediocre Hidden Abilities in Scarlet & Violet

• In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, some species of Pokémon are better off with their regular Ability rather than their Hidden Ability.
• Hisuian Lilligant’s Hidden Ability, Leaf Guard, only prevents status conditions in sunny weather, making it less useful without setting up specific conditions.
• Hisuian Goodra’s Hidden Ability, Gooey, is overshadowed by one of its regular Abilities, Shell Armor.

Abilities are a mechanic in Pokemon that give special effects to Pokemon in and sometimes out of battle. In Legends: Arceus, Abilities were nullified and had no impact on the gameplay. Follow the first part of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s expansion pass, The Teal Mask, some Hisuian Pokemon can be caught in Kitakami or can be transferred from Legends: Arceus via Pokemon HOME. Once Hisuian Pokemon set foot in Paldea, their Abilities can be viewed via their summary page.

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Most Pokemon have two regular Abilities and one Hidden, but there are some exceptions. Since Hidden Abilities are rare, they’re usually the best type of Ability to have on a Pokemon. In Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, some species of Pokemon are better off having their regular Ability than they are their Hidden Ability.

Hisuian Lilligant

Hidden Ability: Leaf Guard

Trainers can get their own Hisuian Lilligant by transferring one from Legends: Arceus. Alternatively, they can catch a Petilil in Paldea/Kitakami, then transfer it to Legends: Arceus and evolve it with a Sun Stone. Evolving Petilil in Scarlet/Violet will result in the regular/Unova Lilligant. Unlike that one, Hisuian Lilligant is a Grass/Fighting-type that excels in Attack and Speed. She even has a signature move, Victory Dance, that raises all her stats in battle.

Leaf Guard is a Hidden Ability that prevents Lilligant from receiving status conditions, but only when the weather is Sunny. It sounds like an amazing Ability, and that would be if it weren’t for the weather requirement. Without setting up a move like Sunny Day or having a Pokemon with the Drought Ability, Leaf Guard is useless. Hisuian Lilligant’s other Abilities don’t fare well either. Hustle raises the power of her moves at the cost of her accuracy, while Chlorophyll doubles her Speed, but only when it’s Sunny.

Hisuian Electrode

Hidden Ability: Aftermath

Voltorb and Electrode gained a Hisuian form in Legends: Arceus, turning its mono Electric-type into Electric/Grass-type. In terms of base stats, it has the same spread and total as the Kantonian Electrode. The Voltorb/Electrode Pokemon are known for taking their appearances from Poke Balls.

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Hisuian Electrode has Aftermath as its Hidden Ability, which causes the attacking Pokemon to lose some of its HP if it manages to knock out Electrode with a physical attack (i.e, a move that makes physical contact). While this isn’t a bad Ability, Hisuian Electrode’s Static (30% chance of inflicting paralysis on an opponent that makes physical contact) or Soundproof (can’t be damaged by sound-based moves, such as Uproar) are usually preferred. Static is effective on any Pokemon that isn’t Ground or Electric-type, or doesn’t have the Limber Ability. Soundproof can prevent the opponent from using stat-increasing “sound” moves such as Clangorous Soul.

Hisuian Goodra

Hidden Ability: Gooey

The Hisuian Sliggoo and Hisuian Goodra were given a Steel/Dragon-typing, shaking three Dragon-type weaknesses (Ice, Fairy, and Dragon). Instead, Hisuian Sliggoo/Goodra are weak against Fire, Ground, and Fighting-type moves. Another perk that Hisuian Goodra has over its Kalos counterpart is its incredible Specia Defense and Defense stat, making it an excellent wall.

Gooey is an Ability that lowers the opponent’s Speed if they use a physical move on Hisuian Goodra. For some cases, this may work as a good Ability, since Hisuian Goodra’s Defense is lower than its Special Defense, but the drawback is Hisuian Goodra’s Speed. At a base total of 60 Speed, it will take a few turns for Gooey to trigger until the opposing Pokemon can move after Hisuian Goodra. If Goodra is up against a fast Pokemon, then the Ability won’t be as effective.

Pokemon Legends Arceus

Franchise Pokemon Platform(s) Switch Released 2022-01-28 Developer(s) Game Freak Publisher(s) Nintendo, The Pokemon Company

Instead, players will want Shell Armor, which protects Hisuian Goodra from critical hits. This is especially useful since critical hits will always bypass a Pokemon’s Defense or Special Defense, which happen to be Hisuian Goodra’s best strengths. As such, it’s obvious why Shell Armor is preferred over Gooey.

Ursaluna

Hidden Ability: Unnerve

Ursaluna was added to Legends: Arceus as a third evolution to Teddirusa and Ursaring. It also has a unique way of evolving. In Legends: Arceus, Ursaring would only evolve into Ursaluna if it was given a Peat Block, but only during a full moon. In Pokemon GO, Ursaring needs 100 Teddirusa Candies and there needs to be a full moon in real time. In Teal Mask, there was a new regional form for Usraluna called Bloodmoon Ursaluna. However, unlike regular Ursaluna, Bloodmoon Ursaluna only has one Ability: Mind’s Eye.

The Hidden Ability for Ursaluna is Unnerve, which prevents the other Pokemon in battle from eating any Berry they may be holding. Unfortunately, this Ability has a better chance of being triggered in competitive gameplay over the standard story of Scarlet/Violet. Trainers may want to have their Ursaluna with Guts or Bulletproof. Guts will boost Ursaluna’s Attack if it’s inflicted with a status condition (i.e, Poison, Paralysis, or Burn), and Bulletproof protects it from Ball or Bomb moves, such as Aura Sphere.

Hisuian Typhlosion

Hidden Ability: Frisk

Along with Rowlet and Oshawott, Cyndaquil was one of the starter Pokemon for Pokemon Legends: Arceus. When fully evolved, Cyndaquil will become Hisuian Typhlosion, which is a Fire/Ghost-type. It even has its own signature move: Infernal Parade. With its new Ghost-type, Hisuian Typhlosion could learn moves that were super effective against Ghost and Psychic-type Pokemon.

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Unfortunately, Hisuian Typhlosion’s Hidden Ability is Frisk, which allows trainers to see if the opponent Pokemon is holding an item. If it’s not holding anything, then Frisk doesn’t activate. Like its Johto counterpart, Hisuian Typhlosion’s main Ability is Blaze, which increases the power of its fire moves when Hisuian Typhlosion is at low HP. It’s not the best Ability, but compared to Frisk, it’s definitely preferred. However, an Ability that took advantage of Hisuian Typhlosion’s second-typing would have been more ideal. A Hidden Ability such as Cursed Body (disables a move that makes physical contact with the Pokemon) would have been useful, or even Prankster (gives status moves priority, allowing them to move first in battle).

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are available for Nintendo Switch.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Franchise Pokemon Platform(s) Switch Released 2022-11-18 Developer(s) Game Freak Publisher(s) Nintendo, The Pokemon Company