Metagame Dancerability

[Squawkerz]

Approved by The Immortal and imas

banner created by Centinela
​

Metagame Premise
In the newest Pokemon generation, the Pokemon Oricorio was released, and with it, a brand new ability called Dancer. The ability Dancer allows a Pokemon to copy and use a dancing move right after the opponent used it, before using the move that they chose. This effectively allowed the Dancer Pokemon to act twice in one turn. But what if this new mechanic could be added to other abilities?
Rules:In the Metagame Dancerability , if a Pokemon is hit or affected by a move that would activate it's ability, it will use the same move back at the opponent directly after, and still allow the Pokemon that got hit to use the move it chose at the start of the turn. Please note that the abilities normal effect will still happen, so Levitate is still immune to ground moves, and Flash Fire is immune to fire moves and boost their damage. Just like in Sun and Moon, a Pokemon can not copy a move that has already been copied, therefore preventing an endless loop.

vs

You have your Rotom-Wash in against an opponent's Heatran. You choose to Volt Switch. The opponent decides to Earth Power your Rotom-Wash (Maybe it was Scarf or he did not know that Rotom-Wash had Levitate, but that doesn't matter). Since the Earth Power activated your Rotom's Levitate, it uses Earth Power back at the Heatran and nearly OHKOs it, and then you use the Volt Switch that you chose at the start of the turn to finish it off and switch out.

Mechanic: Moves that would activate a Pokemon's ability get copied and used back at the opponent
Clauses: Standard OU Clauses
Bans: OU Banlist
Unbans: Nothing Yet

Strategy:

I think the best Pokemon in this meta will be Pokemon with a type immunity ability, such as Levitate, Flash Fire, Storm Drain and Lightning Rod, as Levitate is only stopped by Flying Types, and the other ones give a nifty boost to the move that they copy.

Pokemon with contact based abilities like Gooey and Rough Skin will be good as well, due to the large amount of moves they copy.


Q&A:

Q: What moves does this ability copy?
A: Check the folder.


Resources:
Playability: Playable on ROM (Random Other Metagames)
Council: None Yet
Replays: None Yet
List of Abilities that copy moves

List

Limber: Moves that can cause the pokemon to get paralyzed
Volt Absorb: Electric Moves
Water Absorb: Water Moves
Color Change: Move that was used on it
Immunity: Moves that would poison this Pokemon
Flash Fire: Fire Moves
Suction Cups: Moves that would cause this pokemon to switch out
Rough Skin: Contact Moves
Wonder Guard: Not Very Effective and Neutral attacks
Levitate: Ground Moves
Effect Spore: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Clear Body: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Lightning Rod: Electric Attacks
Poison Point: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Inner Focus: Moves that would flinch this pokemon
Magma Armor: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get frozen
Water Veil: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get burned
Soundproof: Sound Proof
Flame Body: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Keen Eye: Moves that would lower this pokemon's accuracy
Hyper Cutter: Moves that would lower this pokemon's attack
Cute Charm: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Sticky Hold: Moves that remove this pokemon's item
Liquid Ooze: Draining Moves
Vital Spirit: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get put to sleep
Insomnia: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get put to sleep
White Smoke: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Tangled Feet: Moves that would cause this pokemon to become confused
Motor Drive: Electric Moves
Steadfast: Flinching Moves
Damp: Self-Destruction Moves
Dry Skin: Water Type Moves
Storm Drain: Water Type Moves
Defiant: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Cursed Body: Damaging moves if the ability activates
Weak Armor: Physical Attacks
Overcoat: Powder Moves
Big Pecks: Moves that would lower this pokemon's defense
Mummy: Contact Moves
Justified: Dark Type Moves
Rattled: Bug, Dark, and Ghost Type Moves
Magic Bounce: Status Moves
Sap Sipper: Grass Type Moves
Iron Barbs: Contact Moves
Aroma Veil: Attract, Disable, Encore, Heal Block, Taunt, and Torment
Bulletproof: Ball/Bomb Moves
Competitive: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Sweet Veil: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get put to sleep
Gooey: Contact Moves
Stamina: Damaging Moves
Water Compaction: Water Type Moves
Water Bubble: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get burned
Comatose: Moves that would burn, sleep, freeze, paralyze, or poison
Queenly Majesty: Priority Moves
Dazzling: Priority Moves
Tangling Hair: Contact Moves
Anger Point: If a move Critical Hit this pokemon
Static: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Sturdy: Any move that would bring this pokemon's HP down from full to 1
Disguise: Any attacking Move, 1 time
Illusion: Any attacking Move, 1 Time
Battle Armor: If a move would Critical Hit this pokemon
Shell Armor: If a move would Critical Hit this pokemon

Please tell me if i missed anything on the list
Ban History: Nothing Yet



:)

 

[Squawkerz]

reserved

 

[G-Luke]

Some thoughts.

Shedinja seems like its easily one of the best things in the meta, as it can switch in on a neutral nuke attack, take no damage and fire it tight back at opponents.

 

[iLlama]

Could you put the abilities in the list in alphabetical order by chance? Otherwise it's difficult to tell if everything is there. Do the abilities have to announce in-game that they are their in order for them to be considered activating? Also how would this affect abilities such as:

Hide

Aftermath, Analytic, Anticipation, Anger Point and Battle Armor and Shell Armor (What if the move only crits like Frost Breath?), Berserk, Blaze and Overgrow and Torrent and Swarm, Defeatist, Disguise, Emergency Exit, Flare Boost and Guts and Toxic Boost, Gluttony, Harvest, Hydration, Innards Out, Marvel Scale, Multiscale, Pressure, Shields Down, Soul-Heart, Sturdy, Unaware, Unburden, Unnerve, Wimp Out, and Zen Mode?

How would Z Hypnosis and Z weather/terrain work if the opposing Pokemon had an ability that utilized these?

After reading how the meta works, it seems like any ability that activates at percents can be pretty broken, i.e. Defeatist, Emergency Exit, Wimp Out, and Wonder Guard.

E: Agree with Raylism, except I think this might not be possible to code. There's just way too many ridiculous situations to cover for.

 

[SadisticMystic]

If you try to use Explosion into Damp, the opponent's ability will kick in and trigger the rule. But since they are Damp, does their use of the move get blocked out by their own ability (thereby making it a pretty pointless ability to "dance" with), or do they actually succeed in blowing themselves up, such that you can feed a Damp opponent a poison pill this way?

Magic Bounce already has a lot in common with this rule. If you try to Whirlwind a Magic Bouncer, you obviously get it blown back in your face for a forced switch, but is the rule supposed to be additive with that, such that the opponent uses Whirlwind again as a "dance", blowing you out a second time? A lot of the moves that get bounced are redundant in multiples, but there are some that make quite the difference.

There are at least a few abilities missing from the list: Anger Point (critical hits), Sturdy (full-to-empty hits), Disguise/Illusion (any damage, but only once), Static (contact if a random check is passed)...

How is Mold Breaker supposed to work? If you use Earthquake on a Levitator, you obviously won't trigger an ability message, so does that mean the attack is likewise excluded from dancing? What about abilities that Mold Breaker doesn't normally have cause to ignore, like using Mud-Slap on Defiant Bisharp?

 

[Pipotchi]

what happens when you use scald against shield dust. you would have a 30% chance to scald usually but shield dust prevents this from happening. so does shield dust always reflect scald? does it reflect 30% of the time? does it never reflect? same goes for other status blocking abilities vs moves with a % chance to cause that status

 

[Raylsim]

As someone with basic coding experience, this sounds like a nightmare to code
(̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶i̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶H̶T̶M̶L̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶e̶r̶i̶e̶n̶c̶e̶)̶
Don't you have to get someplace to put/test code too?
Edit: Scratch that its JS

Garchomp Setup

Garchomp @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head/Poison Jab/Any other coverage

Designed for forcing a switch out and setting up.

Anti Fake Out or Sucker Punch

Tsareena (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe or 252 atk / 252 hp / 4 Def
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Trop Kick
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn

Can deal with fake out or sucker punch spammers + hazard clear.

 

[Yahooboo]

pressure reflects literally every move XD

 

[E4 Flint]

Interesting concept; Color Change seems finally interesting as a kind of basically Psuedo-Protean. As the above user said, abilities that affect almost all moves like Pressure might be problematic though. Stuff like filter against z moves could be interesting too. I feel like it'd make more sense if abilities like Magma Armor would only proc if say Ice Beam would've frozen instead of every attack though.

 

[SadisticMystic]

Pressure is only broadcast on switching in, not as a result of being hit by any move. Along with such abilities as Intimidate and Mold Breaker, it will never allow you to dance on anything.

The closest things to "dance everything" abilities here are Color Change and Stamina (or I guess a level 7 Magnemite that keeps spamming Recycle to take Sturdy hits, but you're not going to hit back very hard with that)

 

[Squawkerz]

Could you put the abilities in the list in alphabetical order by chance? Otherwise it's difficult to tell if everything is there. Do the abilities have to announce in-game that they are their in order for them to be considered activating? Also how would this affect abilities such as:

Hide

Aftermath, Analytic, Anticipation, Anger Point and Battle Armor and Shell Armor (What if the move only crits like Frost Breath?), Berserk, Blaze and Overgrow and Torrent and Swarm, Defeatist, Disguise, Emergency Exit, Flare Boost and Guts and Toxic Boost, Gluttony, Harvest, Hydration, Innards Out, Marvel Scale, Multiscale, Shields Down, Soul-Heart, Unaware, Unburden, Unnerve, Wimp Out, and Zen Mode? How would Z Hypnosis and Z weather/terrain work if the opposing Pokemon had an ability that utilized these?

After reading how the meta works, it seems like any ability that activates at percents can be pretty broken, i.e. Defeatist, Emergency Exit, Wimp Out, and Wonder Guard.

The abilities that I crossed out don't copy moves. All abilities that rely on the Pokemon being at a certain percentage don't work because the ability activates once the Pokemon reaches a certain percentage, not because of the move that got it there. Aftermath and Innards Out don't work because the abilities activate once the pokemon that has it dies, and a dead pokemon cant use a move. The rest that are crossed out don't have to do with moves. I missed the Crit abilities and Disguise, thanks for telling me.

If I'm interpreting your question correctly, it would only copy the regular version of the move, just like dancer does ingame.

If you try to use Explosion into Damp, the opponent's ability will kick in and trigger the rule. But since they are Damp, does their use of the move get blocked out by their own ability (thereby making it a pretty pointless ability to "dance" with), or do they actually succeed in blowing themselves up, such that you can feed a Damp opponent a poison pill this way?

Magic Bounce already has a lot in common with this rule. If you try to Whirlwind a Magic Bouncer, you obviously get it blown back in your face for a forced switch, but is the rule supposed to be additive with that, such that the opponent uses Whirlwind again as a "dance", blowing you out a second time? A lot of the moves that get bounced are redundant in multiples, but there are some that make quite the difference.

There are at least a few abilities missing from the list: Anger Point (critical hits), Sturdy (full-to-empty hits), Disguise/Illusion (any damage, but only once), Static (contact if a random check is passed)...

How is Mold Breaker supposed to work? If you use Earthquake on a Levitator, you obviously won't trigger an ability message, so does that mean the attack is likewise excluded from dancing? What about abilities that Mold Breaker doesn't normally have cause to ignore, like using Mud-Slap on Defiant Bisharp?

1. They get blocked from using it
2. Good catch! That makes setting up spikes and toxic spikes much harder to set up if the opponent has a magic bouncer.
3. My mistake, i don't know how I missed them
4. The attack would not be copied because the ability didn't activate

I feel like it'd make more sense if abilities like Magma Armor would only proc if say Ice Beam would've frozen instead of every attack though.

Thats what I meant to say, but i worded it badly. Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Raylsim]

I have more sets!

Keckleon

Kecleon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Stealth Rock/Toxic
- Recover
- Fake Out

It eats hits and deals them back. Its bulky and can stall to an extent. Can also run max SpD of Def.

MotorDrivePowerUp

Electivire @ Life Orb
Ability: Motor Drive
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Quick Attack/Brick Break/ Coverage
- Ice Punch/ Coverage

If you switch in on electric move or use thunderpunch on a lightning rod/volt absorb then it has sweep potential. Still really niche.

Mimikyu

Mimikyu @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough

Mimikyu is viable and disguise now reflects the first move used.

 

[Raylsim]

More on the coding:

Okay to to make this work we would have to make an IF statement for when a move triggers an ability.
That would cover most of the abilities.

We would have to program any exceptions we find.
It would look like this.

If (Move triggers abilty)
then (target pokemon uses the move)

The difficult part is filling the parenthesis with the correct code. I could possibly do it if I knew what the different variables for moves an abilities were. If there is a special "alert" or variable for abilities being triggered during the move usage then it would be easy, though there probably isn't.

Then you would have to have another if statement to determine if the move is currently in progress on something.

Edit: So after some digging into the source code I have found that the abilities are done individually

Idea

"flashfire": {
desc: "This Pokemon is immune to Fire-type moves. The first time it is hit by a Fire-type move, its attacking stat is multiplied by 1.5 while using a Fire-type attack as long as it remains active and has this Ability. If this Pokemon is frozen, it cannot be defrosted by Fire-type attacks.",
shortDesc: "This Pokemon's Fire attacks do 1.5x damage if hit by one Fire move; Fire immunity.",
onTryHit: function (target, source, move) {
if (target !== source && move.type === 'Fire') {
move.accuracy = true;
if (!target.addVolatile('flashfire')) {
this.add('-immune', target, '[msg]', '[from] ability: Flash Fire');
}
return null;
}

We see that it detects if its being hit by a fire attack it is immune.

if (target !== source && move.type === 'Fire') && (!target.addVolatile('flashfire')) {

This detects wether or not it activates.

then set it to use whatever "move" is right back at the source.

We would have to repeat this for each ability though it all comes from the source code.


then we can activate useMove: function (move, pokemon, target, sourceEffect, zMove) {

Here's the list in alphabetical order that someone asked for:

Alphabetical

Anger Point: If a move Critical Hit this pokemon
Aroma Veil: Attract, Disable, Encore, Heal Block, Taunt, and Torment
Battle Armor: If a move would Critical Hit this pokemon
Big Pecks: Moves that would lower this pokemon's defense
Bulletproof: Ball/Bomb Moves
Clear Body: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Color Change: Move that was used on it
Comatose: Moves that would burn, sleep, freeze, paralyze, or poison
Competitive: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Cursed Body: Damaging moves if the ability activates
Cute Charm: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Damp: Self-Destruction Moves
Dazzling: Priority Moves
Defiant: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Disguise: Any Move, 1 time
Dry Skin: Water Type Moves
Effect Spore: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Flame Body: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Flash Fire: Fire Moves
Gooey: Contact Moves
Hyper Cutter: Moves that would lower this pokemon's attack
Illusion: Any Move, 1 Time
Immunity: Moves that would poison this Pokemon
Inner Focus: Moves that would flinch this pokemon
Insomnia: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get put to sleep
Iron Barbs: Contact Moves
Justified: Dark Type Moves
Keen Eye: Moves that would lower this pokemon's accuracy
Levitate: Ground Moves
Lightning Rod: Electric Attacks
Limber: Moves that can cause the pokemon to get paralyzed
Liquid Ooze: Draining Moves
Magic Bounce: Status Moves
Magma Armor: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get frozen
Motor Drive: Electric Moves
Mummy: Contact Moves
Overcoat: Powder Moves
Poison Point: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Queenly Majesty: Priority Moves
Rattled: Bug, Dark, and Ghost Type Moves
Rough Skin: Contact Moves
Sap Sipper: Grass Type Moves
Shell Armor: If a move would Critical Hit this pokemon
Soundproof: Sound Proof
Stamina: Damaging Moves
Static: Contact Moves if the ability activates
Steadfast: Flinching Moves
Sticky Hold: Moves that remove this pokemon's item
Storm Drain: Water Type Moves
Sturdy: Any move that would bring this pokemon's HP down from full to 1
Suction Cups: Moves that would cause this pokemon to switch out
Sweet Veil: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get put to sleep
Tangled Feet: Moves that would cause this pokemon to become confused
Tangling Hair: Contact Moves
Vital Spirit: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get put to sleep
Volt Absorb: Electric Moves
Water Absorb: Water Moves
Water Bubble: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get burned
Water Compaction: Water Type Moves
Water Veil: Moves that can cause this pokemon to get burned
Weak Armor: Physical Attacks
White Smoke: Moves that would lower this pokemon's stats
Wonder Guard: Not Very Effective and Neutral attacks

Oh, and f̶l̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶v̶e̶i̶l̶, poison touch, thick fat and magician aren't here, should they?
And tangled feet doesn't make any sense since it gains boosts when its confused (and Its probably banned anyway).

 

[anaconja]

Stamina

Mudsdale @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
The ultimate physical wall. No need for Sleep Talk because Mudsdale will be hitting back after Stamina. I put max defense because you shouldn't go against any special attackers anyway.

edit: rip stamina

Flash Fire

Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Morning Sun
Arcanine has nice mixed stats.

Levitate

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Psyshock
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
See Arcanine.

 

[Blumenwitz]

I noticed that Solid Rock and Filter aren't in the list in the OP. Shouldn't the effect activate if the user is hit by a super effective move?

 

[SadisticMystic]

Those aren't abilities that broadcast a message, they just silently figure into damage calculation, a lot like Huge Power.

 

[Blumenwitz]

Those aren't abilities that broadcast a message, they just silently figure into damage calculation, a lot like Huge Power.

Oh, ok. Well, so much for that Weakness Policy Rhyperior set I thought of :/

 

[x TwirlyPanda x]

Some thoughts.

Shedinja seems like its easily one of the best things in the meta, as it can switch in on a neutral nuke attack, take no damage and fire it tight back at opponents.

So... does that mean that now we need to start running take down submission wild charge to take care of some sheddies?

 

[chartung17]

It seems to me that Pokémon that don't mind having their own attacks thrown back at them would be very good in this meta. A couple examples (not necessarily the best ones, just the first that came to mind):

Exploud @ Life Orb
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Shadow Ball
- Roar
- Protect

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon
- Toxic
- Explosion

 

[GolisopodMan]

While the meta certainly seems interesting, it would be a nightmare to code. There are a ton of edge cases you would have to account for, as well as a way to stop infinite loops.
What is a heatran uses flamethrower, but you switch in your own heatran. Without a safe-guard, infinite usage of Flamethrower and Flashfire triggering.
Though I'm not experienced in !Showdown's code, I feel it would be impossible to do without outright changing the coding of the moves or the abilities. maybe even both.

 

[Iynhe]

Infinite usage of Flamethrower and Flashfire triggering.

I think that i will work like a status move used by a magic bouncer against a magic bouncer. It will not go infinite.

 

[urkerab]

Mudsdale @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
The ultimate physical wall. No need for Sleep Talk because Mudsdale will be hitting back after Stamina.

Dancer doesn't work if you're asleep/frozen/flinched. So, assuming the mechanics follow those of Dancer, then that's not going to work, sorry.

 

[urkerab]

Playability: Not Yet

I'm attempting to implement this on ROM. Feel free to find bugs in it; there are likely to be many of them. (For instance, I haven't copied the Dancer mechanics for asleep/frozen/flinched.) Edit: This has now been preliminarily implemented.

 

[Squawkerz]

Thanks to Centinela we have a beautiful banner now!!!

:]

Also if anyone wants to playtest with me on ROM, just write a message on my profile page.

 

[urkerab]

Also if anyone wants to playtest with me on ROM, just write a message on my profile page.

(I think it was) charizard8888 already found a couple of bugs on ROM. The first was that Levitate didn't invoke the move correctly, so the engine thought that it had run out of PP. The second was that Illusion always invoked, not just when it was broken. These have now been fixed. Thanks for testing! Edit: charizard8888 also found bugs in Sticky Hold and Liquid Ooze, which should now also be fixed.