"Discussion on the Ultra Beasts and the huge missed opportunity when it comes to their Abilities."

One thing that disappointed me in USUM that nobody seems to be talking about is the huge opportunity missed with the Ultra Beasts. A huge plot point in the post game of Sun and Moon is that the Ultra Beats only have the Beast Boost ability because of the energy they take in during a trip through an Ultra Wormhole. This would imply that Ultra Beasts found in their native home would have different abilities. But for whatever reason they don’t. I don’t really understand why they went out of their way to make that awfully specific bit of lore about the wormhole energy if they were going to completely ignore it the next game.If they didn’t want to give them different abilities out of fear of them being broken then they could have easily said something along the lines of “It seems these Pokemon from another world have the miraculous ability to strengthen themselves during a fight”But instead they went out of their way to make the wormhole energy being the cause a huge plot point in SM’s post game, and then ignored it in USUM.Despite this disappointment, I decided it would be fun to make some hypothetical abilities for the Ultra Beasts anyway.Buzzwole: Muscle MassWhenever Buzzwole uses an absorbing move, its Attack is also boosted by 1 stage. I based this one on the information about Buzzwole given to you by Wicke, which states that Buzzwole makes itself stronger by absorbing the energy of others.Pheremosa: Queenly Majesty.Originally I wanted to create a Cute Charm like ability that worked regardless of Gender, but I realised it would be pretty useless due to Peromosa’s garbage defences. Then I remembered that Queenly Majesty existed, and is also pretty fitting. After all, you could easily interpret the priority moves being stopped in their tracks as an effect of infatuation. This is the only non-original ability here.Xurkitree: GroundingAn ability that activates while Electric Terrain is up. When a Pokemon with Grounding is on a field covered in Electric Terrain, opponents will be hurt when they use moves that make contact. I’m not sure how much damage should be dealt to make the ability balanced. Maybe rather than being a set amount of damage, it could be based on how much damage was dealt to Xurkitree? Maybe instead of being “contact damage” per say, it could be calculated as something like 30-50% recoil damage. I don’t really know, I’m not the best competitive player and I’m definitely not the arbiter of balance. I’m just doing it for fun.Kartana: Sharpened EdgeThis Pokemon’s “blade” and “slash” moves ignore any defence boosts or defensive abilities (Like Fur Coat) the opponent has. I based this ability on the idea of cutting through the opponent's armour. Not much else to say about it.Celesteela: Self-ServingThis one took me the longest to think of. I was really struggling to think of a good idea for this Pokemon, and since its stats are the most evenly spread of all the Ultra Beasts I wasn’t sure whether to make a defensive ability or an offensive one. I was also quite tempted to just give it some existing ability like Flare Boost or Heavy Metal, but I didn’t want to be boring. I eventually came up with Self Serving. This ability makes the Pokemon immune to mental,psychological based moves and abilities, like Taunt, Torment and Intimidate. It also allows its moves to hit Pokemon with Oblivious at full power if it has stat boosts.If you have a better idea for a unique Celesteela ability, please let me know. This was the best I could come up with.Guzzlord: DevourEvery time the Pokemon is switched in it devours any hazards on the field. The Pokemon restores 1/16th of its maximum HP for every layer of hazards consumed. So for example if there are 3 layers of spikes, 1 layer of stealth rocks, 2 layers of toxic spikes and a sticky web on the field, Guzzlord will switch in, be immune to the effects of the hazards, remove them and then restore 7/16ths of HP. While I imagine this ability would be broken on any other Pokemon, Guzzlord isn’t the best right now so I imagine it will give it a fair bit of utility.Nihilego: CodependentI left Nihilego for last since it has the most elaborate ability. Since Nihilego’s “Mother Beast” form seemingly has something to do with Z power, I thought it would be fun if its ability activated only when it used a Z-move. Upon using a Z move, Nihilego changes forms to its Mother Beast form. (Probably with a new name, and obviously without a person inside of it) The transformation happens during the “Nihilego is surrounded by Z-power phase”, so the Z move happens after the transformation and is affected by the stat increases the form gains.The form change would be very similar to a Mega Evolution, but like all the other variants would not consume your Mega use. I’m not sure if the type should change, but if it were to I definitely think it would be Poison/Psychic. The stats I think this form should have are as follows:HP: 109Attack: 63Defence: 87Sp.Attack: 157Sp.Defence: 151Speed: 103Total: 670I only went in depth on the Ultra Beasts that can be found within their own worlds, but I’ll also give some quick ideas of what the remaining Ultra Beasts "natural" abilities could be.Naganadel and Poipole could have an ability that lowers the opponent's speed when they hit them with a Poison move.Blacephalon could have an ability that causes it to restore some it of its own health every time an opponent takes damage from the Burn status effect.Stakatacka could increase its resistance to a specific attack if it is used in succession. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2BIrGRa