Ability

An Ability (Japanese:  ability) is a game mechanic introduced in Generation III that provides a passive effect in battle or in the overworld. Individual Pokémon may have only one Ability at a time. Prior to Generation VI, an Ability could not be changed after a Pokémon was obtained except by Evolution&mdash;where the new Ability is determined by the former Ability&mdash;and form change. Not every Ability is beneficial;.

Mechanics
Some species of Pokémon have multiple possible Abilities. The most Abilities any species or form has is three: two normal Abilities and one Hidden Ability. In most wild Pokémon encounters, the Pokémon's Ability will be one of its non-Hidden Abilities (each having an even chance of appearing if the species has two). Hidden Abilities were introduced in Generation V; they are relatively rare and usually require some type of special encounter.

In technical terms, a species' Abilities may be thought of as having separate slots, with an individual Pokémon's non-Hidden slot determined by its personality value. For example, an &mdash;with two non-Hidden Abilities&mdash;has for its first non-Hidden slot,  for its second, and  for its Hidden Ability slot. &mdash;with only one non-Hidden Ability&mdash;can be considered to have for both non-Hidden slots. When a Pokémon evolves, its Ability slot remains the same. This means that a with  will evolve into a  with, while a Poochyena with  will evolve into a Mightyena with.

Aside from Evolution, there are three ways for Pokémon to change Abilities in a permanent manner. One way is if the Pokémon has different forms with different Abilities. Another way is through the Ability Capsule, which was introduced in Generation VI. The Ability Capsule actually changes a Pokémon's non-Hidden Ability slot, but it will not work if the Pokémon has its Hidden Ability or if the species has only one non-Hidden Ability. Third, transferring a Pokémon from one generation of games to a later one in which the Ability in a given slot is different. Aside from these methods, during battle, Pokémon may also change their Ability through Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion, and certain moves and Abilities can also change a Pokémon's Ability.

When Abilities were introduced in Generation III, some Pokémon only had one possible Ability. A number of these species were given a second Ability in a later generation. If a Pokémon whose species gained an Ability after Generation III is transferred to Generations IV or, it will initially retain its original Ability; upon evolving, however, its Ability slot will be recalculated and its Ability may change. When a Pokémon is transferred to Generation VI or Generation VII, however, it will be locked into the appropriate slot for its current Ability.

Aside from in-battle effects, some Abilities also have effects.

Beginning in Generation V, were given an additional, Hidden Ability (Japanese: れ Hidden Ability). A Pokémon with its Hidden Ability will retain its ability slot upon evolution, unless the evolved form has no Hidden Ability. Hidden Abilities can only be acquired under special circumstances. Such circumstances are listed below.
 * Certain event Pokémon may have their Hidden Ability.
 * In Generation V, all Pokémon encountered in Entree Forest (i.e. obtained from the Pokémon Global Link, either via the Pokémon Dream World or a Global Link promotion) will always have their Hidden Ability, if they have one.
 * Pokémon obtained from the Pokémon Dream Radar will have their Hidden Abilities.
 * In, some overworld Pokémon have their Hidden Ability:
 * The five in the Desert Resort.
 * The in the Dreamyard on Fridays.
 * Any Pokémon found in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2's Hidden Grottos have their Hidden Ability.
 * In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, some overworld and gift Pokémon have their Hidden Ability:
 * On Mondays, a male at Undella Bay or a  on.
 * On Thursdays, a on  or a female  at Undella Bay.
 * A given as a gift on.
 * A male gifted by Amanita in Castelia City, after the player has entered the Hall of Fame.
 * Yancy/Curtis will trade the player a specific Pokémon with a Hidden Ability after entering the Hall of Fame and riding the ferris wheel with them.
 * Any Pokémon encountered in a Horde Encounter may have their Hidden Ability.
 * Pokémon encountered in the Friend Safari have approximately a 1 in 3 chance of having their Hidden Ability if the Friend to whom the Friend Safari corresponds has been recognized as a Friend in the PSS (i.e. if both players have been on the PSS at the same time).
 * have a chance of having their Hidden Ability, which increases as the Search Level for that species increases.
 * In Generation VII, Pokémon that appear as the tenth or later Pokémon in an SOS Battle have a chance of having their Hidden Ability, which increases as the chain lengthens.
 * All Pokémon transferred from the Virtual Console releases of the Generation I or Generation II games via Poké Transporter have their Hidden Ability.
 * In, some -like Pokémon have their Hidden Ability.
 * Totem-like, , and in Ultra Sun.
 * Totem-like, , and in Ultra Moon.

Abilities and breeding
Before Generation V, the Ability slot that a Pokémon Egg would have when it hatched was left to random chance, resulting in a 50% chance of having either slot. Since Generation V, though, special mechanics have been introduced.

Starting in, female Pokémon with Hidden Abilities have a 60% chance of passing on the Hidden Ability to their offspring when bred with a male Pokémon from the same Egg Group. In Generation VI, this was extended so that male and genderless Pokémon with a Hidden Ability can also pass it down if they are bred with Ditto. The chance of the offspring having either non-Hidden Ability is 20% each.

Starting in, there is an 80% chance that the offspring's Ability slot is the same as its mother's if the mother was bred with a male Pokémon from the same Egg Group. Starting in Generation VI, this chance is generically applied to any non-Ditto parent.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series
Abilities available in the core series games are also available in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. Some Abilities differ from their counterparts in the core series (e.g. reduces the opposing Pokémon's Attack by 20%).

Pokémon Conquest
While most Pokémon species in Pokémon Conquest have access to three Abilities (similar to the main series, Hidden Abilities included), many of these Abilities are different from the main series due to differences in the battle system. For example, Abilities like and  do not exist in Pokémon Conquest (due to the game's lack of a gender mechanic), while other Abilities utilize mechanics unique to Pokémon Conquest battles (like "Sprint", which increases the user's movement ).

Like the main series, an individual Pokémon's Ability is dictated by its current species (i.e. evolutionary form) and may change during evolution.

In the anime
Abilities have been shown in the anime, but are usually only used in battles; however, sometimes they have an effect on the plot, such as Ash's Infernape's. Abilities sometimes work differently in the anime than they would in the games, such as, which in the anime cancels out more Abilities than it would in the games.

In the
The only Ability that was seen in the original series was, being used by in The Kecleon Caper. It was later used by in Playing With Fire!.

In the
The first Ability to be seen other than was, first seen in Sharpedo Attack!. It was used by a.

In Now That's Flower Power! a used.

In A Poké-BLOCK Party!, used its  Ability to stay awake and listen to 's song.

used to protect itself against  by Misty's Corsola in The Princess and the Togepi. Two Abilities were seen in Balance of Power, being used by Ash's Pikachu and, using and  respectively.

used in Unfair Weather Friends, turning into its Sunny and Rainy Form.

In The Garden of Eatin', used  which prevented it from falling asleep.

Both and  were seen in Gaining Groudon and The Scuffle of Legends respectively.

In It's Still Rocket Roll to Me!, Liza's Lunatone used.

In Eight Ain't Enough, used  to increase its speed.

In Showdown At Linoone, a has the Ability  and takes items to its private stash, including 's Poké Balls.

In At the End of the Fray,  used  to half the damage it took from Ash's Torkoal's.

In Rough, Tough Jigglypuff, used  whilst her  used Soundproof to stop Jigglypuff's  from working.

used Color Change in From Cradle to Save, as well as Brock's Bonsly using.

In Pinch Healing!, a wild used.

In Once More With Reeling!, May's Blaziken used its Ability while Ash's Sceptile used  during their Contest Battle in the.

In the
Abilities proved important in the battles Paul and had with Roark. During Paul's battle in Shapes of Things to Come!, his uses  to paralyze Roark's  and  although the latter shakes it off with. Paul also deliberately allows his to take extra damage so that it can activate. After 's first match with Roark ends in defeat, briefly lends him  in Wild in the Streets! because its Ability  makes it similar to Roark's Pokémon Onix, who also had the Ability. During Ash's rematch in O'er the Rampardos We Watched!, also activates  against Roark's newly evolved  and it is similarly ineffective.

In A Secret Sphere of Influence!, used  against Team Rocket.

caught by surprise during their first battle in The Grass Menagerie! when it was able to move very quickly with.

In Tag! We're It...!, Ash and Paul found themselves at a disadvantage during their first Tag Battle in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition because the used by one of their opponents possessed, rendering Pikachu's  attacks useless.

In Glory Blaze! Ash, and  found Paul and  evidently abusing his, repeatedly attacking it until it eventually collapsed from exhaustion. When confronted, Paul explained that Chimchar actually wanted the brutal training regimen; when they first met, Chimchar was being attacked by wild and when pushed to the limit it activated  and defeated all of the Zangoose with. This incredible power was what drove Paul to capture Chimchar in the first place and the two have been trying to replicate the experience ever since with no success.

was an important part of Ash's Buizel going toe to toe with Maylene's Lucario in A Triple Fighting Chance!

returned in Chim - Charred! when Ash's Chimchar became enraged during a battle with Paul's Ursaring. It took considerable effort for Ash to return Chimchar to normal after it defeated Ursaring, causing Paul to leave the battle a draw. Paul told Ash that they would only battle again when and if Ash and Chimchar learned to control Blaze. In Battling the Generation Gap!, activated his  Ability while battling Dawn's Ambipom in the final round of the.

Brock's Croagunk first used his Ability in Losing Its Lustrous!. He often used it to find Team Rocket and chase them off on his own.

Two have used. One used it in The Rise of Darkrai and another in Sleepless in Pre-Battle!.

In A Shield with a Twist!, used.

In Dealing with Defensive Types!, used its  Ability to minimize damage from Ash's Chimchar's.

In Another One Gabites the Dust!, Jessie's Yanmega activated its Ability while performing in the.

In Pursuing a Lofty Goal!, Paul's Honchkrow used its Ability.

In Sliding Into Seventh!, was known to have Stench as it Ability but the Ability activated off-screen.

In Evolving Strategies!, Paul's Magmortar used its Ability to burn Ash's Pikachu. Paul's Ursaring also used its Ability when Ash's Pikachu's  activated.

An used  in Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

In Challenging a Towering Figure!, used.

A wild used its  Ability in A Rivalry to Gible On!.

A wild used  in Pokémon Ranger: Heatran Rescue!.

used its Ability in The Eighth Wonder of the Sinnoh World! against  in their Gym battle. It was later used by Paul's Electivire in Battling a Thaw in Relations!.

In Casting a Paul on Barry!, Barry's Empoleon activated its Ability while battling Paul's Electivire in the third round of the Lily of the Valley Conference.

used its Ability in Familiarity Breeds Strategy! to avoid damage from its  attack. In the next episode and  used  and Speed Boost respectively. was seen twice in Zoroark: Master of Illusions, being seen by a and.

In the
A Hidden Ability was first seen in Saving Darmanitan From the Bell! by a using.

In A Rival Battle for Club Champ!, used  to easily defeat Ash's Oshawott and. later used.

In Here Comes the Trubbish Squad!, a wild used its Ability.

In A Night in the Nacrene City Museum!, used its  Ability to reveal any hidden things in the museum to appear.

Ash's was revealed to have  in A Connoisseur's Revenge! but he wasn't shown activating it. 's was shown using its  Ability in the same episode.

A wild used its  Ability to poison Ash in A Venipede Stampede!.

In Gotta Catch A Roggenrola!, pointed out that  had the Ability Sturdy, implying that Roggenrola would receive less damage than a Pokémon normally would. Luke's Zorua often used to help Luke in making his movies. It was first seen in Movie Time! Zorua in "The Legend of the Pokémon Knight"!.

In The Club Battle Hearts of Fury: Emolga Versus Sawk!, Iris's Emolga used to help her win a battle against Stephan's Sawk.

In Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader!, Red Flash Darmanitan used Zen Mode.

Three Darmanitan used Zen Mode in A Maractus Musical!.

In Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!, a wild used Stench.

In A Call for Brotherly Love!, Chili's Pansear used its Ability.

In Battling the King of the Mines!, Ash's Boldore used its Sturdy Ability to stop a from working.

In The Clubsplosion Begins!, used  against Stephan's Sawk, but ended up losing.

In Goodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!, used  to defeat Trip's Serperior.

In The Road to Humilau!, used Cursed Body.

Swarm wasn't seen until Strong Strategy Steals the Show! during Leavanny's battle with Stephan's Sawk.

In The Island of Illusions!, a used.

In The Journalist from Another Region! an unknown trainer's was shown to have  as its Ability.

In Survival of the Striaton Gym!, used its  Ability. Cilan's Pansage was confirmed to have Gluttony as his Ability in the same episode.

In the
Clemont's Chespin used its Ability in An Appetite for Battle! battling against a.

In Mega Evolution Special I, was shown to have  when Mega Evolved.

Both from  and  from   were seen in Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction.

and were both shown to have  as their Ability in The Green, Green Grass Types of Home!.

Ash's Goodra used its Ability in Ash's Gym battle against  in The Moment of Lumiose Truth!.

Ash's Fletchinder used its Ability in A Not-So-Flying Start! to help hatch an Egg that his  found.

Both were seen using their respective Abilities in All Eyes on the Future!, with the male Meowstic having his Hidden Ability  and the female one having.

Two Abilities were seen in Mega Evolution Special IV, both in battle against Alain's Charizard. A used  to half the damage it took from a. Malva's later used  to absorb another Flamethrower.

was shown to have as its Ability during its battle against Ash in A Full-Strength Battle Surprise!.

was shown to have as its Ability during its Gym battle against Ash in All Hail the Ice Battlefield!. His was later shown to have  in the same episode.

In the Lumiose Conference, many Pokémon were seen activating their Abilities during battles. In A League of His Own!, 's Mega Y was shown to have  as its Ability. In the following episode, the effects of three different Abilities were shown during the battle between and Sawyer;  was shown activating  while Sawyer's Mega  and  were revealed to have  and  as their Abilities, respectively. In Analysis Versus Passion!, was shown to have  as its Ability. In Finals Not for the Faint-Hearted!, was shown activating.

In the
Sophocles's Togedemaru used her Ability in The Guardian's Challenge!, absorbing Ash's Pikachu's  to increase her.

Jessie's Mimikyu used the ability Disguise frequently during battles in the series to absorb damage from the first blow taken, first seen in Loading the Dex!. A wild activated its Ability  in A Shivering Shovel Search! when it was hit by 's, allowing it to repair the damage done to its body by the attack.

DJ Leo's Alolan used its special ability  in Getting the Band Back Together! where it was able to grab and bind Jessie's Mimikyu and James's Mareanie.

's activated  in Mission: Total Recall!, changing into a  with the Dark Memory.

Lusamine's activated  in 10,000,000 Reasons to Fight! to cross a field of poison without taking damage.

Nanu's activated  in both of its battles against 's  in Tough Guy Trials! and Guiding an Awakening!.

Hapu's activated  in its battle against Tupp, Rapp, and Zipp in SM104.

In the TCG
Abilities under the name of Abilities did not appear in the until the TCG Black & White expansion kicking off Generation V. However, this was merely a renaming of the longstanding Pokémon Powers. Pokémon Powers were very similar to Abilities, but were introduced much earlier, appearing in the very first TCG Base Set during Generation I. In fact, some Abilities from the games originally appeared as Pokémon Powers.

With the introduction of the TCG Expedition Base Set, Pokémon Powers were split into two groups: Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies. Poké-Powers are special effects that the player must trigger or announce using. A Poké-Body's effect is a passive Ability that is always in effect. When Pokémon Powers were renamed to Abilities in TCG Black and White, these distinctions were done away with.

In the Be the Best! Pokémon B+W manga
Monta's activated  in The Key to Triple Battles.

A 's and Monta's  activated  and  in The Battle for More Friends!.

's activated  in Challenge the Battle Subway!.

Monta's activated  in Let's Master Pokémon Capturing!.

Monta's was unable to activate  in The Birth of the Best Pokémon Trainer! since the  Cheren borrowed used.

In the movie adaptations
activated in .

activated in .

Parallel to their introduction in Generation III of the video games, Abilities were first introduced in the Ruby & Sapphire chapter of Pokémon Adventures.

During 's battle with Roxanne in Blowing Past Nosepass I, Roxanne's Nosepass proved superior to Rono. Worried that Rono would be defeated, attempted to switch Rono out for Chic but was unable to. Roxanne explained that because her has, Steel-type Pokémon cannot switch out.

's first encounter with Abilities arrived in Stick This in Your Craw, Crawdaunt II when he and Mr. Briney were attacked by a wild. Peeko tried to defeat it with, but the Crawdaunt's prevented it from doing much damage at all. After Mr. Briney fell unconscious, Ruby had Kiki use and infatuate Crawdaunt with its Ability.

Sapphire later struggled against a potent counter Ability when she faced Brawly in Mashing Makuhita. After Rono was quickly defeated by Brawly's Makuhita, Chic used against, but it had little effect due to its.

While on their way to Slateport City, Ruby and Sapphire were attacked by and Tabitha at the Abandoned Ship during Adding It Up with Plusle & Minun II. They escaped with the help of a wild and  after Ruby realized that their complimentary Abilities  and  greatly amplified their power when they fought together.

After Wattson is captured by the New Mauville generator, Sapphire devised a double battle strategy using his in Plugging Past Electrike II. While Electrike did not have the moves to defeat the generator itself, and the wild that Wattson and the Trick Master had originally intended to capture would be quickly eradicated by its powerful attacks, Electrike's Ability  would allow it to redirect the bolt away from Donphan, buying Donphan enough time to destroy the generator with.

Archie's activated Thick Fat during battle with Maxie's  in Walrein and Camerupt.

Norman's was revealed to have  as its Ability in Rayquaza Redemption I but ped it with his 's.

's Gyara activated at the start of Red and 's battle in Red and Blue Make Purple Opponents.

Red's Aero activated while using  in Double Dealing with Deoxys. In the same chapter, Blue's activated.

Red's Poli activated in Put Your Beast Foot Forward. It was ped by in Storming the Forretress.

Blue's copied Chuchu's  with  in Secrets from Sneasel.

The 's was revealed to have  in Pinsir Me, I Must Be Dreaming.

's borrowed had  in A Dust-Up With Dusclops.

's had  in Stagestruck Starly.

A wild had  in Bombastic Bibarel & Heroic Hippopotas.

Cyrus's had  in Problematic Probopass and Mad Magnezone II. Diamond's was revealed to have  as its Ability in Well Met, Weepinbell but couldn't activate it since 's  cancelled it out with.

Platinum's Lopunny used her Ability in Getting the Drop on Gallade II to help her defeat a.

A belonging to the Battle Factory had  in Outlasting Ledian.

Diamond's Rotom was confirmed to have in Unplugging Rotom (Heat, Wash, Mow, Fan, Frost).

In All About Arceus IV, activated.

Brycen's had  in The Cold Hard Truth.

Brycen's activated  in A Cold Reception.

Black's Costa activated in One Way or Another, but Iris's  negated it with.

's, Garma, activated his Ability as a Mega Gengar in Changing Gengar.

In Pyroar Breathes, X's, Élec, used his Ability to drain Lysandre's machine's energy.

's, Quarter, activated its Ability in Defeat and the Commander of the School of Fish.

's, Franc, activated its Ability in PASM16.

In the Pokémon Battle Frontier manga
Enta's Vulpix activated in Enta Arrives at the Battle Frontier!.

's activated  in Introducing the Frontier Brains!.

When Enta battled Lucy's Seviper with in The Predestined Battle!, Zangoose activated  to prevent itself from being poisoned.

In the Pocket Monsters BW: The Heroes of Fire and Thunder manga
Togari's activated  in FAT1.

In the Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl manga
was shown to activate in 's imagination in PDP07 if  used  on it.

In the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure manga
Saturn's activated  to redirect Hareta's   moves to it.

Hareta's has  which activated after ing from B-2's.

Hareta's Piplup has, which powered up its moves.

Hareta's activated  in A Novel Test!! on Candice's  and  but Regirock's  prevented Intimidate from working. Regice and were revealed to have Clear Body in the same chapter but weren't shown activating it.

Hareta's Regigigas has, which proved to be a disadvantage for Hareta.

Koya's 's nearly defeated Hareta's Empoleon but a comeback with Empoleon's  would have given Hareta the win but the battle was interrupted by Mitsumi's 's.

Koya's activated  during a hailstorm.

In the Pocket Monsters Platinum: Aim to Be Battle King!! manga
In PBK1, 's had  to minimize the damage taken from Yū Shirogane's Infernape's  moves but Infernape's  powered them back up.

Yū's received 's  Ability after  ped them in PBK4. Yū's Bronzong had in that same chapter.

Yū's had  in PBK7.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga
Norman's activated  in I Won't Let You Lead.

and activated  in PMHGSS20.

In the Pokémon - The Legend of the Dragon King manga
Taichi's has  as its Ability.

Trivia

 * The unused Ability was included in the coding for third-generation games as Ability #076 ( was #077). From the fourth generation, Cacophony was removed and Air Lock was renumbered as #076, with the new Abilities positioned from #077 onward.
 * Generation III introduced the most Abilities, with 76. Generation VI introduced the fewest, with 27.
 * In Generation III, there is an unused Ability placeholder labeled as "---" with the description "No special ability".