Glossary: Hidden Ability

Hidden Abilities are possible Abilities that a Pokémon species can have, although these Abilities are not available by standard means. In other words, you’re not usually able to simply catch a Pokémon in the wild with a Hidden Ability—there are usually special ways to acquire a Pokémon with such an Ability. Not all Pokémon have a Hidden Ability, and not all Hidden Abilities are available in every Generation.

Hidden Abilities were introduced in Generation V with Pokémon Black and White, where, aside from a few select in-game Pokémon such as Darmanitan and Basculin, these were exclusively available from the Dream World, which was an online-only service (that has since been shut down) for the Generation V games that allowed you to encounter Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities and send them back to the games. As such, Hidden Abilities are sometimes referred to as Dream World Abilities, though that is mostly in older material from that era.

Prior to Generation VIII, it was impossible for a Pokémon to change its Ability to a Hidden Ability, although the Pokémon Sword & Shield Crown Tundra expansion introduced an item, the Ability Patch, that can allow a Pokémon to change its Ability to its Hidden Ability, if it has one.

Ways to Get Hidden Abilities By Game

The following lists various ways to get Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities by game (and Generation, shown in parentheses). Keep in mind there are a few methods to get Hidden Abilities regardless of game:

  • Mystery Gifts or other distributions from official events often times give players a Pokémon with its Hidden Ability. For instance, various starter Pokémon or their final evolutionary stages were given away in Pokémon Bank or Pokémon HOME, and then these Pokémon could be bred to create more Pokémon with those Hidden Abilities.
  • Transferring Pokémon forward from previous Generations using Poké Transporter, Pokémon Bank, or Pokémon HOME. For instance, any Pokémon with a Hidden Ability in Generation V games could be transferred to a Generation VI, VII, or VIII game and is thus available there.
  • Breeding Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities is another way to get more of that Pokémon with the Hidden Ability. This process is outlined further below.
  • Of course, trading with other players or using features like the GTS, Wonder Trade, or Surprise Trade can result in getting Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities.

Pokémon Black & White (Gen. V)

The main method for acquiring Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities in Black and White was through the now-defunct online service, the Pokémon Dream World. It allowed players that synced their game with Game Sync to visit the Dream World once a day and have a chance to bring back Pokémon they encountered there, along with berries, to their Black and White games.

Unfortunately, this service has been shut down for nearly a decade now, so it is no longer an option to acquire Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities in these games. As such, for players playing through the games in the present time, most Hidden Abilities are completely unavailable for players in this Generation using only these games.

There are a few Darmanitan that have their Hidden Ability, Zen Mode, that can be awoken in the Desert Resort by using a RageCandyBar on them.

Additionally, there’s a Basculin that players can trade a Minccino for in Driftveil City, and it has its Hidden Ability.

Lastly, there’s a Musharna available in the basement of the Dreamyard after beating the game. This appears in the back of the basement every Friday and has its Hidden Ability, Telepathy.

Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 (Gen. V)

In addition to the now-defunct Pokémon Dream World being an option for Black 2 and White 2 while it existed, these two games also introduced a new way of getting many Pokémon in-game with their Hidden Abilities: Hidden Grottoes.

These Grottoes could be found all across the Unova region. Some would require HM moves to access, such as Surf. Every day, the contents of these Hidden Grottoes would change, and rarely (usually 1–5% of the time) they would contain stationary Pokémon that could be interacted with. Upon pressing A to interact with the Pokémon, it would start a battle with them, and the Pokémon would have its Hidden Ability.

This provides a way for many Pokémon to have their Hidden Abilities in the game, even without trading or the use of the Dream World, although it is also a tedious process that can take a considerable amount of time to even get a Pokémon with the desired Hidden Ability to appear.

Pokémon X & Y (Gen. VI)

Pokémon X and Y have two primary means of encountering and acquiring Pokémon with their Hidden Ability.

The first method is one common to any of the Generation VI games, which is Horde Battles. Pokémon encountered in a Horde Battle have a chance of having their Hidden Ability, although only very rarely. Horde Battles can be encountered randomly in any route or area that has Horde Battle encounters (not every area does), or by using either the Honey item or the move Sweet Scent outside of battle.

Another method of getting Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities is to visit the Friend Safari in Kiloude City after beating the game. Pokémon encountered in the Friend Safari have a chance of having their Hidden Ability and can be captured. Not every Pokémon is available there, but a good selection of Pokémon are, including some starter Pokémon’s middle evolutionary stage, such as Braixen with Magician or Ivysaur with Chlorophyll.

Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire (Gen. VI)

In addition to Horde Battles, which were also available in Pokémon X and Y, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire has another method of encountering Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities: the DexNav.

Pokémon encountered through the DexNav have a chance at having their Hidden Ability, and this chance increases as the Search Level for the specific Pokémon rises through repeatedly battling that same species with the DexNav.

Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon (Gen. VII)

Both the base games and their enhanced remakes have the same mechanics, for the most part, with most Hidden Abilities available by the same method: SOS Encounters. The SOS mechanic, where a Pokémon calls for help in battle, can be used to get Pokémon with Hidden Abilities. The chance of the Pokémon having its Hidden Ability rises as the number of SOS Encounters increases.

Pokémon Sword & Shield (Gen. VIII)

Pokémon inside of Pokémon Dens in the Wild Area (or in the Isle of Armor or Crown Tundra) can sometimes have their Hidden Ability. Additionally, certain Pokémon encountered in Dynamax Adventures can also have their Hidden Abilities, which you can get if you select them as the Pokémon at the end of your adventure.

Of course, the Ability Patch item, introduced in the Crown Tundra, can also be used to give any Pokémon its Hidden Ability if it has one, so it is now possible for any Pokémon to have its Hidden Ability as a result.

Breeding for Hidden Abilities

If the female Pokémon has its Hidden Ability, then it has a good chance of passing along that Hidden Ability to its offspring when breeding. In Generation V, it had to breed with a male Pokémon (and not a Ditto) in order to pass along its Hidden Ability; in future generations, breeding with Ditto would work.

For male Pokémon (and genderless Pokémon) with a Hidden Ability, the only option to pass it along is by breeding with Ditto, and only in Generation VI and up. If a male Pokémon with its Hidden Ability breeds with a female Pokémon of the same species without the Hidden Ability, there is no chance of producing an Egg with the Hidden Ability; instead, if the male Pokémon breeds with Ditto, it can then produce an Egg with the Hidden Ability, so it’s recommended to do this until a female offspring with the Hidden Ability is hatched.

Abilities Only Available As Hidden Abilities

There are a few Abilities that are only available as Hidden Abilities, meaning no Pokémon have them as their normal Abilities. Here’s a list of all of the Abilities that are only available as Hidden Abilities, as well as the Pokémon or evolution lines that have them:

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