With each new generation of Pokemon that gets released new Pokemon, moves, and abilities are added to expand the game's simple rock-paper-scissors style of gameplay. The addition of new mechanics began all the way back in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire which saw the introduction of abilities for every Pokemon. Now, more than 20 years later, the franchise is still adding unique and exciting skills and mechanics to its newest batch of Pokemon.
Many fans will agree that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have introduced an absolutely stellar line of new Pokemon, encouraging returning players to add many of these new monsters to their team as they venture through Paldea. Some of these new Pokemon introduce new evolution methods, while others have moves or abilities that are unavailable to any other Pokemon in the series. Players using any of the following Generation 9 Pokemon will certainly be in for a pleasant surprise.
10 Annihilape
The Rage Monkey Pokemon Annihilape is the new third evolution of the Generation 1 original Mankey line. The uniqueness of Annihilape is all centered around one move that is exclusive to the Pokemon's evolution line, Rage Fist. Rage fist is a 50-power Ghost-type move that has a really cool effect. Each time the Pokemon is hit while in battle, Rage Fist's power will increase by 50 points, maxing out at a ludicrous 350 base power after taking 6 hits.
On its own that makes Rage Fist pretty interesting but the thing that makes Rage Fist one of the most unique moves in the entire series is that the hit counter doesn't reset upon switch out or fainting. This means trainers can let Annihilape take a few hits against something that it resists to build up Rage Fist, switch out when something hits the field that it can't handle, and then bring it back in to sweep the opponent's team later with a fully charged Rage Fist. Smart players can also use a revive or a Pokemon that knows the move Revival Blessing on Annihilape to get a similar effect.
9 Glimmora
The Ore Pokemon Glimmora is both Rock and Poison type. It has a pretty interesting ability called Toxic Debris which is exclusive to its evolution line. Toxic Debris works like this: whenever a Pokemon with this ability is hit with a physical move toxic spikes will be set on the enemy team's field. This ability will trigger as long as there are fewer than 2 sets of toxic spikes on the opponent's field.
Moves that hit multiple times like Double Slap or Population Bomb will trigger the Toxic Debris ability for each individual hit. This ability plus its access to moves like Stealth Rocks and Spiky Shield makes Glimmora one of the best set-up Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet.
8 Baxcalibur
The Ice Dragon Pokemon Baxcalibur possesses a rather unique ability for an Ice-Type Pokemon called Thermal Exchange. Here's how it works: if a Pokemon with this ability is hit with a Fire-Type move, Its attack stat is raised by one stage. Unlike the ability Flash Fire, Thermal Exchange does not make its user immune to Fire-Type attacks, it also does not reduce the damage taken by Fire-Type attacks which is a bit unfortunate.
However, it will protect its user from getting burned. If this ability was on any other Ice-Type it would probably be pretty bad, but because Baxcalibur is part Dragon-Type it only takes neutral damage from Fire-Type attacks instead of 2x like most other Ice-Types.
7 Toedscruel
The Woodear Pokemon Toedscruel is a regional variant of the Generation 1 Pokemon Tentacruel. This Ground/Grass-Type possesses one of the strangest abilities in the entire series, Mycelium Might. A Pokemon with the ability Mycelium Might will always move last when using a status move like Sunny Day, Thunder Wave, and Screech. In return, these status moves will ignore the abilities of the enemy Pokemon. So a move like Confuse Ray can finally hit a Pokemon with the ability Own Tempo.
Unfortunately, Mycelium Might is not without limitations. There are some abilities that cannot be ignored such as Magic Guard, and Comatose. For any trainers interested in learning more about these interactions, Bulbapedia has a full list of all abilities that can and can't be ignored by moves and abilities.
6 Garganacl
The Rock Salt Pokemon Garganacl has an ability very fitting for its theme and design, that being Purifying Salt. Purifying Salt has two functions: it prevents its user from being affected by all status conditions and reduces the damage taken by Ghost-Type moves by half.
To be more specific, if a Pokemon with this ability is targeted by a Ghost-Type move, the Pokemon using the Ghost-Type move will have its physical and special attack stats during the damage calculation of the attack. This ability makes Garganacl a pretty sturdy wall when dealing with Ghost-Type Pokemon.
5 Farigiraf
The Long Neck Pokemon Farigiraf is the newest evolution of Girafarig. Farigiraf has the unique ability Armor Tail, which prevents enemy Pokemon from using priority moves. That's right, this Pokemon's ability completely locks the opponent out of using an entire classification of moves.
This effect also extends to Pokemon that have the Prankster or Gale Wings abilities which give priority to moves that don't usually have them. Considering the competitive relevance of moves like Fake Out and Extreme Speed this is a pretty crazy ability for any Pokemon to have.
4 Gholdengo
The Coin Entity Pokemon Gholdengo is the 1000th Pokemon in the national Pokedex, which is quite fitting given its evolution method and lore. This Pokemon is obtained by leveling up a Gimmighoul while having 999 Gimmighoul Coins. While Gholdengo's evolution method is unlike anything we've seen in the series, its ability is even more unique than that.
Gholdengo's signature ability is called Good as Gold and it's a bit ridiculous. This ability makes its user immune to status moves used by other Pokemon. This includes ally Pokemon using moves like Helping Hand. This ability makes Gholdengo a pretty solid special attacking wall. At least this makes all that time spent hunting down Gimmighoul Coins worth it!
3 Kingambit
The Big Blade Pokemon Kingambit is another Generation 9 Pokemon that has a unique evolution method. Kingambit is obtained by leveling up a Bisharp that is holding a Leader's Crest and has defeated at least three other Bisharps.
That's not all though, Kingambit also has a unique ability, Supreme Overlord. This ability grants Kingambit 10% extra power on all of its attacking moves for each ally Pokemon that has fainted during the battle. This ability makes Kingambit an excellent Ace Pokemon.
2 Dondozo/Tatsugiri
These two Pokemon have an incredibly unique interaction unlike pretty much anything seen in the series up until this point. If Dondozo and Tatsugiri are in a double battle together, Tatsugiri's unique ability Commander will activate. This will cause the Tatsugiri to lead inside the Dondozo's mouth and raise all of Dondozo's stats by two stages.
While the two are in this state, Dondozo cannot be switched out. The trainer using Dondozon and Tatsugiri will be unable to use Tasugiri's moves while they are in this state and all enemy Pokemon moves that target Tatsugiri will miss. When Dondozo faints, Tatsugiri will return to its original position on the battlefield. These two Pokemon have really turned what we know about double battles on its head.
1 Palafin
Say hello to the Dolphin Pokemon Palafin. Palafin has one of the most unique abilities in the whole franchise, in fact, many fans couldn't believe their eyes when they first saw what this little dolphin creature could do. Palafin's signature ability is called Zero to Hero, and it's pretty wild.
This ability triggers when a Palafin returns to the battlefield after being switched out once. When this ability triggers, Palafin will enter the battle in its Hero Form. Palafin's Hero Form boasts an impressive 650 base stat total compared to its base form's 457 total. Its 160-base attack stat puts it on par with some Legendary Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.