An Introduction to AAA

Introduction

Almost Any Ability is currently one of the most popular Other Metagames. The crux of the metagame may be quite obvious: Pokémon can get nearly any ability. It originated in Generation 5, but it only really got popular during this generation. In general, it is a metagame with a lot of creativity, since there are a lot of different things to utilize, even on the same Pokémon. Even though there's an established metagame, there are still a lot of things untouched and you can really test your creativity here. This article will aim to get you started in the metagame.

Almost Any Ability has a series of abilities banned from free use, since they're considered too good to be used in general, as they break many Pokémon. These are: Aerilate, Arena Trap, Contrary, Fur Coat, Huge Power, Imposter, Parental Bond, Shadow Tag, Simple, Speed Boost, and Wonder Guard. All of these boost either the power of many Pokémon too much or their sweeping ability in general. The only exceptions are the trapping abilities, which were decided to be uncompetitive, and Fur Coat and Wonder Guard, which give Pokémon insane defensive prowess. Besides these abilities, a variety of Pokémon have been banned over time, from obvious monsters such as Archeops and Slaking to recent bans such as Mamoswine and Terrakion. However, it's probably more notable what Almost Any Ability has unbanned: Aegislash, Blaziken, Deoxys-D, Deoxys-S, Genesect, Greninja, Landorus, and Shaymin-S. Most of these rely on their abilities or are generally more easily overwhelmed in this metagame, and they were unbanned to fulfill all new niches in this metagame! Probably the most notable are the Deoxys formes, for still being great hazard setters and, in Deoxys-S's case, a great revenge killer, and Greninja, for being one of the best fast Water-types. Finally, Chatter was banned, as it was seen as an uncompetitive move and too easy to abuse with Gale Wings.

Threats

Although there are many different options in Almost Any Ability, there are still some established choices in the metagame that have shaped the metagame. They are necessary to consider while teambuilding, as lacking a check will easily get you swept by these common and dangerous threats. Even though some may not be that great in OverUsed, they have taken full advantage of the new abilities gifted by this metagame and have turned into monsters. Generally, abilities like Gale Wings, Poison Heal, Magic Bounce, Mold Breaker, Intimidate, Adaptability, Tough Claws, and Prankster are very common, so make sure you sure to have a way to handle Pokémon even when using those (or use them yourselves!); in any case, here are some big threats in the tier.

Offensive

Courtesy of its Normal typing, which grants it STAB on Facade, great bulk, and solid Attack stat, it's no surprise Snorlax is one of the top users of Poison Heal in the AAA metagame. While it may be a one trick pony, Snorlax's signature Curse / Protect / Facade / Crunch or Earthquake set is both powerful and bulky enough to ram through even prepared teams after its counters have been eliminated, given Facade's outrageous power after a Curse. In addition to the power Snorlax possesses, it is very difficult to kill as well, given Poison Heal's passive recovery in tandem with Protect and Snorlax's raw bulk after a Curse. Even most Unaware users struggle against Snorlax, as Facade is very strong even unboosted. Snorlax has a hard time with Doublade, however, which is immune to Facade and can Secret Sword through Snorlax's Defense boosts.

While most people think of a defensive wall when they think of Skarmory, the metal bird is actually arguably the best Gale Wings user of the metagame. Initially, its Attack may seem underwhelming when compared to other Gale Wings users such as Braviary and Honchkrow; however, Skarmory sets itself apart from the crowd by being one of the few Pokémon with access to both Swords Dance and Brave Bird, which turn it into a very lethal sweeper once Flying resists have been weakened. In addition, by utilizing its amazing typing, Skarmory functions as a bulky sweeper that checks other Gale Wings users while utilizing Gale Wings itself and can support the team with priority Defog. However, while this may be its most popular set, Skarmory can also fulfill defensive roles by using abilities such as Flash Fire, Intimidate, and Unaware, which augment its defensive potential. Unfortunately, one downside to using Skarmory is that it is trapped by Magnet Pull, and because of this, Magnet Pull Pokémon such as Heatran can make rather short work of it if one is not careful.

While already dangerous initially given its access to the very powerful V-create, Victini becomes much more dangerous in AAA thanks to Desolate Land. Giving V-create (or Blue Flare on special sets) an absurd 50% power boost that can't even be negated by Drizzle or Sand Stream, Desolate Land makes Victini the epitome of a nuke in AAA and one of the reasons why Flash Fire is so omnipresent. While it can run a variety of sets such as mixed and Choice Band with Desolate Land, Victini is most often seen using a Choice Scarf set, which patches up its most notable flaw, its average Speed, and uses it to revenge kill most of the metagame. However, Victini has problems with Flash Fire and Primordial Sea Pokémon given it cannot effectively touch Steel-types outside of its Fire STAB, which means it is often paired with a Magnet Pull Pokémon such as Heatran to remove them and make room for Victini to sweep.

Defensive

Doublade has always been one of the better NFE Pokémon, but it's no secret that it's always been hampered by an ability that is only detrimental to it. In AAA, however, it gains access to three very beneficial abilities to choose from, all with their pros and cons and that help make Doublade one of the best physical tanks in the tier. Flash Fire is Doublade's most commonly used ability, allowing it to shut down the tier's most common Fire-types such as Entei and Victini with ease, in addition to stopping most Pokémon that rely on Fire coverage to get through Steel-types cold. Regenerator is the next most common ability, and it helps immensely with recovery, which is always something Doublade has lacked and diminished its viability. Finally, Levitate is its last common ability, allowing Doublade to stop Ground-types like Garchomp and Pokémon with Earthquake as coverage such as Snorlax cold in their tracks. However, Doublade loathes Knock Off, and given it is used as a physical tank, this weakness can prevent it from walling attackers it would otherwise be able to handle, which diminishes its effectiveness somewhat.

CroCune has always been terrifying—monstrous physical bulk and even more jaw-dropping special bulk after a few Calm Minds has always made it a very potent threat to prepare for. In AAA, Suicune becomes even more fearsome, with Poison Heal removing its weakness to detrimental status moves and providing ridiculous recovery. In addition, Protect negates the need for Rest and Sleep Talk, freeing up a moveslot. Suicune usually runs Ice Beam in the last slot, though moves such as Toxic and Roar are perfectly acceptable options. Suicune can also run other abilities, from its classic CroCune set using Unaware to a physically defensive Regenerator wall that exploits Roar as its claim to fame. Despite these fantastic traits, Suicune does have some trouble against Desolate Land Pokémon, as Desolate Land completely negates Scald and forces Suicune to either Roar or hit what is likely an opposing Fire-type with Ice Beam, dealing little to no damage.

Ever since the AAA metagame's introduction, Zapdos has served as one of the best glue Pokémon in the tier thanks to its typing and access to both Volt Switch and Defog. One of the most reliable Flying resists in the metagame, Zapdos serves as a fantastic check to Gale Wings users and can use its ability slot to let it take on a variety of roles to support the team. Drizzle/Drought for weather support, Magic Guard to stop Stealth Rock damage before Defogging, and Magic Bounce to prevent hazards are all examples of the abilities Zapdos makes use of. Quite frankly, due to its utility, if you can think about a certain ability, Zapdos can probably pull it off. The grand variety of sets it can run often land Zapdos a slot on many teams, as while it isn't necessarily exceptional with any specific ability, its utility is unparalleled.

Weather

Weather is extremely viable in Almost Any Ability as well. Due to weather being reliant on abilities most of the time, it's logical to assume that this metagame would buff them.

Rain has gotten a lot of buffs in this metagame. First off, any Pokémon can be given Drizzle now, and it's viable on nearly anything that is decent on a rain team and doesn't need a specific other ability. This helps rain teams easily acquire their rain turns, since they can easily run two Pokémon with Drizzle and a Damp Rock, which enables the team to get rain up for most of the match and easily reset it after it's been broken by an ability like Delta Stream or Desolate Land. In addition to this, it also got easier to utilize. The most important ability for these teams is obviously Swift Swim, but now it can be slapped on anything in order to get more speed on rain teams, instead of on a limited number of Pokémon. This causes a lot of Pokémon to basically get a free Speed boost, allowing them to sweep the opponent's team, even if they don't benefit from rain directly. Besides these, Gale Wings is useful as well for Hurricane users such as Tornadus and Moltres, allowing them to break the opponent's team with powerful Hurricanes that won't miss in the rain. Finally, the last boost rain teams have gotten is rather indirect, but Water-types can now add an ability to boost their power so that they can wallbreak even better for the team, since a rain-boosted, item-boosted, and ability-boosted Hydro Pump will definitely damage most Pokémon.

Sun is quite similar to rain. It too benefits a lot from the unlimited possibilities of Drought. However, the main difference with sun is that there are two different kinds of sun teams, one where the entire team is a sun team, while the other only supports one particular Pokémon that benefits from sun, whereas rain usually has an entire team dedicated to rain. As with rain, sun benefits from Chlorophyll and its new distribution so that anything can get its Speed increased. An additional benefit sun gives, besides the boost to Fire-moves, is it also allows Grass- and Fire-types to use Solar Beam: an extremely powerful Grass-type move, without drawbacks under the sun. This is great for Grass-types you may want to use and gives Fire-types good coverage. A final thing that is great for sun wallbreaking is Solar Power. Although it'll quickly wear your wallbreaker down, Solar Power users are widely available and can easily break a lot of Pokémon, especially with sun-boosted, Solar Power-boosted, Choice Specs-boosted hits, but of course even Pokémon of others types can use it to get a power boost. As mentioned previously, sun can also be centered around one Pokémon: Heatran. Heatran is considered one of the most dangerous Pokémon under the sun, and mostly because of one set: its Chlorophyll set. When it's in the sun, its Choice Specs-boosted Eruption will destroy nearly anything, even things that resist it. Most resists and even Chansey are 2HKOed, so it's essential to have an answer to it. Because it's so dangerous, many teams have developed into carrying one Drought user, which usually has a pivoting move to get in and just destroy things this way, without having to create a dedicated sun team.

Finally, sand and hail are both not that good. Sand is the better one of the two and can be used with Rock-types to increase their Special Defense, although it will usually not matter much. Beyond that, it'll activate Sand Rush to give a speed boost just like the other weathers, though it won't be as immediately threatening due to it not giving a power boost to any type specifically offensively. Sand Force can be used to create powerful wallbreakers, but they're usually easy to handle due to only a few moves being boosted. In general, while sand is viable, it's usually better to use one of the other weathers, although it does cancel sun and rain out.

Finally, hail is quite bad and should probably not be run other than as a disruption to other weathers, and even then, Delta Stream, Primordial Sea, and Desolate Land are probably better. You'll probably only use this on one Pokémon using Blizzard and not build a team around it, since it has few benefits, and all Pokémon besides Ice-types get damaged by the hailstorm. In general, hail is not really viable.

Conclusion

Although this article won't make you a master of this metagame, it'll hopefully have given you a general idea of what the metagame is like and may have even encouraged you to go and try it out and play some matches on the ladder! If you want to get more information, you can check out its thread in the Other Metagames forum and the viability rankings, and you can go to the sample teams thread to get an established team to get started! Finally, if you want to discuss something, want to ask a question, or want someone to battle with you, the people in the Other Metas room on Pokémon Showdown will usually be willing to help!

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