Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Say hi to Mega Sableye!

I'd say I called it, but I never actually said anything of the sort anywhere online, so I guess I have no proof. Still, it was sort of easy to see coming, since Mawile already has a mega, and it just so happens to be a version exclusive in Ruby whose Sapphire counterpart didn't have one. So I guess it wouldn't have come close to topping the whole Doublade thing anyway.

My guess as to why Sableye didn't get a mega right off the bat is that it already was in a solid position with Prankster, whereas Mawile was just absolutely horrible, so it needed the hand more. Still, now justice is done and Sableye gets one too. And its flavor seems to be defense defense DEFENSE, judging by its appearance and lore. One can only wonder, though, what kind of ability would it get? Wonder Guard would be absolutely broken on a Pokémon with one fifth of Shedinja's weaknesses and 304 times the HP, so we can rule that out.

Other than that, though, are there any existing defense-based abilities that would justify using a Pokémon with a BST of 480, including base 50 HP, and no held item slot? I doubt it. Fortunately, patching is now possible, and it's already likely that X and Y will be getting a patch to get full compatibility with ORAS, considering this is by far the largest amount of new data introduced in the middle of a generation, and we're still over five months away from release. So the likelihood of a brand new ability is quite high. As for what it'll be... your guess is as good as mine. Maybe a Speed Boost variant that raises both defenses every turn instead of speed? It would fall in line with the lore, which mentions the gem's hardening process. Any other ideas?

15 comments:

  1. Hopefully, if such an ability was created, it would raise both defense stats once per turn. It might actually become somewhat viable (in UU, perhaps) if you can find a situation to safely switch it in and then use Protect. Its lack of weaknesses might actually make it a pretty decent bulky annoyer in the right circumstances, though crits are always a problem. Sableye gets Recover, too.

    The biggest problem with an ability change is that Prankster is the only reason Sableye is EVER used. The new ability would have to be ridiculously good to make up for losing Prankster and the held item slot.

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  2. In terms of defensive abilities, there is Fur Coat which is so far exclusive to Furforu. And since Sableye is a ghost that wouldn't make sense even in the world of Nintendo Logic. So here are some ability options.

    1) Some kind of Fur Coat clone
    2) Prankster
    3) Magic Bounce
    4) Shadow Tag
    5) Magic Guard

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    1. True, but I meant defense as in "defense", not defense as in "support". That big-ass gem shield doesn't seem like a "support" thing to me.

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    2. My guess is some Multiscale clone, or something similar. I bet the gem protects him/halves damage for one turn and then there might be some way to rebuild it by either restoring health or by waiting a certain number of turns.

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  3. So what this seems interesting is it's one of those "prepare for one and the other gets in" megas. If you prepare for Mega Sableye, nope, this one's a normal Prankster one and Will O Wisp or Taunt or whatever else. Prepare for Prankster, suddenly Mega Sableye.

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    1. It'll only be the case if Mega Sableye is as viable as the Prankster sets, though. Looking for other potential megas also helps, for example seeing Mawile, Manectric or Gardevoir is a dead giveaway you're fighting a Prankster.

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    2. Though if you see a Garchomp or Tyranitar it's a bit harder since they're perfectly viable without mega evolving.

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    3. In fact, some could be cynical enough to say Garchomp ISN'T viable when mega evolving. But I see your point.

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  4. i hope it gets a huge power clone. but not as extreme. maybe something that raises both defenses by 1.5x or something like that. of course it would loss all appeal it had because the only reason one should use sableye is because of prankster.

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    1. True, but if it had really spectacular defenses it would make up for it somewhat. Think Deoxys-E vs. Deoxys-LG.

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    2. I agree. It should have specifies that the ability would be the mega ability along with the normal stat changes megas get. Maybe the ability I mentioned plus 50 addition points to both defenses. This would give it a potential 540 special defense and a potential 570 physical defense. Only a few pokemon could match one of those stats and only shuckle can beat both.

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  5. Heal Block, but an ability. Sounds like a GameFreak idea, but probably not that useful.

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    1. Well, maybe if it blocked all forms of healing including Leftovers and others, then it would be interesting.

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  6. Stance Change perhaps? Well, or something similar with just a fancy name.

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