New Abilities, Dynamax Moves, and Items Revealed in Sword & Shield

More information about Pokémon Sword & Shield was announced today at the Pokémon World Championships. While no new Pokémon were unveiled, several new Abilities and items were, along with more details about Dynamax Pokémon‘s Max Moves causing very beneficial effects. There’s also a special Battle Stadium for player-vs-player battles along with a ranked mode.

New Abilities

• Galarian Weezing‘s second Ability is Neutralizing Gas, an Ability that suppresses other Abilities of Pokémon out in the battle for as long as the Pokémon with Neutralizing Gas is on the field, preventing Abilities from activating and removing their effect altogether.
• Corviknight has a Hidden Ability, which has a chance of being found in Max Raid Battles against Corviknight. Corviknight’s Hidden Ability is Mirror Armor, which bounces back any stat-lowering effects from moves and Abilities back to the opponent’s Pokémon.
  • It was also mentioned that it is possible, yet extremely rare, that a Pokémon capable of Gigantamax and possessing a Hidden Ability can be fought in a Max Raid Battle.

New Moves

• Breaking Swipe is a move shown to be used by Flygon, which does damage and lowers the Attack stat of both opponent’s Pokémon in a Double Battle (or just their active Pokémon in a Single Battle).
• Steel Beam is a new move for Duraludon. Its details have not been shown.
• Max Geyser, the Water-type Max Move usable by a Dynamax Pokémon, does a lot of damage and also activates rainy weather upon use.
• Max Knuckle, the Fighting-type Max Move, raises the Attack of all of your Pokémon on the field in addition to doing damage.

New Items

• The Eject Pack is a new held item that causes the Pokémon to be switched out immediately whenever any of its stats are lowered, similar to the Eject Button from earlier games, except for stats instead of damage.
• Room Service is another new held item that will lower the user’s Speed whenever any Pokémon uses the move Trick Room, effectively giving it a boost during Trick Room’s effects.

Battle Stadium

• The Battle Stadium is a new way for Trainers to battle other Trainers in player-vs-player battles over the internet.
• There are Ranked Battles, which allow players to battle players at a similar ranking tier, which can be raised by winning online battles. Battles can be either Single or Double Battles. Mythical Pokémon and certain Legendary Pokémon cannot be used in these.
• There are also Casual Battles, which are mostly intended for casual skirmishes and don’t have restrictions on Pokémon that can be used, although you won’t earn any ranking points for these fights.
• Online Competitions are for special battles, such as seasonal or official events. There’s also Friendly Competitions which are hosted by other players or you can even host your own, and the host determines the ruleset for this competition.
• Rental Teams can be used to borrow battle teams of other Trainers, or you can share your teams with other players. Up to five teams can be rented at a time and, perhaps most interestingly of all, these Rental Teams can even be used in Ranked Battles.

Additional Screenshots