In Depth Mold Breaker discussion

Started by Howmander March 6th, 2015 9:16 AM
  • 5297 views
  • 9 replies
Male
Seen October 9th, 2017
Posted July 13th, 2017
1,900 posts
9.5 Years
So Mold Breaker I personally find really hard to get in depth details on, as all any message board ever says is "it lets earthquake hit levitating pokemon" and that seems to be as in depth as any posting ever seems to delve, but there are tons of abilities that it ignores ( http://www.serebii.net/abilitydex/moldbreaker.shtml ) but a lot of the movesets that are suggested aren't immediately obvious as to why they are on a mold breaker pokemon vs it having any other ability.

For example, there was one moveset for Sawk someone suggested (Close Combat, Knock Off, Ice Punch, Poison Jab) but I don't get why. I mean, Poison Jab and Ice Punch, even though they can hit pokemon with Leaf Guard or immunity already, can they still inflict status ailments? I get the Ice Punch is unaffected by Thick Fat, but all in all, some moves don't make sense on mold breaker pokemon only because no one ever explains them, so OTHER THAN Earthquake, what moves do you use on a mold breaker pokemon and more importantly why and what abilities does it ignore? (hopefully this thread will start filling up with suggestions that people never even thought of using for this ability) thanks to anyone who participates!
Need a specific Berry? I have literally every kind. Need a Friend Safari HA pokemon? I have them all. Need a gen 1 - 3 (and a few from gen 4) Move Tutor Egg Move that can no longer be obtained? I might be able to help. Drop me a DM if you need anything and maybe I can help!
My first battle in a competition, January 2016: I call this "never give up!" :D YNUW-WWWW-WW3F-FMAQ

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
So Mold Breaker I personally find really hard to get in depth details on, as all any message board ever says is "it lets earthquake hit levitating pokemon" and that seems to be as in depth as any posting ever seems to delve, but there are tons of abilities that it ignores ( http://www.serebii.net/abilitydex/moldbreaker.shtml ) but a lot of the movesets that are suggested aren't immediately obvious as to why they are on a mold breaker pokemon vs it having any other ability.

For example, there was one moveset for Sawk someone suggested (Close Combat, Knock Off, Ice Punch, Poison Jab) but I don't get why. I mean, Poison Jab and Ice Punch, even though they can hit pokemon with Leaf Guard or immunity already, can they still inflict status ailments? I get the Ice Punch is unaffected by Thick Fat, but all in all, some moves don't make sense on mold breaker pokemon only because no one ever explains them, so OTHER THAN Earthquake, what moves do you use on a mold breaker pokemon and more importantly why and what abilities does it ignore? (hopefully this thread will start filling up with suggestions that people never even thought of using for this ability) thanks to anyone who participates!
Mold Breaker lets the user bypass Wonder Guard, so any move that Shedinja would be immune to (other than Normal and Fighting) would KO Shedinja instead. It also bypasses Sturdy, which lets the user OHKO Sturdy Pokemon at full health.

Megan

She/Her, It/Its
Online now
Posted 1 Hour Ago
17,751 posts
10.3 Years
I really don't wanna sound rude, but while I do understand, why you, dear thread creator ask these rather significant questions, caused by terribly written wiki articles, what I don't understand is why you ask them in the first place. A lot of those mechanics would only need a minimal amount of research in order to be figured out completely, so technically you could simply research them on your own and compile a list, while we could consider creating some kind of a Mini Guide Thread, that deals with those questions (as opposed to those hugh guides that seem to pop up rather frequently at the moment and that all have their own thread), were stuff like this could be posted quite easily. That way people also wouldn't need to look through tons of posts in some random threads, that may even disappear after a certain amount of time.

As for the topic: Mold Breaker ignores Unaware, which allows for setups on certain Pokemon while they are unable to respond to that at all.
Moderator of Previous Generations, Forum Games and VPP
You got a thing!
Male
Seen October 9th, 2017
Posted July 13th, 2017
1,900 posts
9.5 Years
I really don't wanna sound rude, but while I do understand, why you, dear thread creator ask these rather significant questions, caused by terribly written wiki articles, what I don't understand is why you ask them in the first place. A lot of those mechanics would only need a minimal amount of research in order to be figured out completely, so technically you could simply research them on your own and compile a list, while we could consider creating some kind of a Mini Guide Thread, that deals with those questions (as opposed to those hugh guides that seem to pop up rather frequently at the moment and that all have their own thread), were stuff like this could be posted quite easily. That way people also wouldn't need to look through tons of posts in some random threads, that may even disappear after a certain amount of time.

As for the topic: Mold Breaker ignores Unaware, which allows for setups on certain Pokemon while they are unable to respond to that at all.
Well, considering I did say this in the first sentence:

as all any message board ever says is "it lets earthquake hit levitating pokemon" and that seems to be as in depth as any posting ever seems to delve,
I did make it clear I DID do minimal research and that's all I can find because that's all people ever seem to say, so I, presuming message boards and forums were the place one asks questions to find information they can't find on their own, posted a question to find information I can't find on my own.

Now as for the non snippy part of your response, your sentence doesn't make sense. "Mold Breaker ignores Unaware which allows for setups on certain pokemon…" HOW exactly does that work? If I am attacking a pokemon that has unaware how does my ability ignore the opponent's ability? Unaware ignores my stat boosts when the opponent is attacking me, how does it benefit me when I am attacking it with Mold Breaker? I know it is on the list of abilities Mold Breaker ignores, but this is precisely the entire point of this thread: to go into depth on exactly how the move works against certain abilities.
Need a specific Berry? I have literally every kind. Need a Friend Safari HA pokemon? I have them all. Need a gen 1 - 3 (and a few from gen 4) Move Tutor Egg Move that can no longer be obtained? I might be able to help. Drop me a DM if you need anything and maybe I can help!
My first battle in a competition, January 2016: I call this "never give up!" :D YNUW-WWWW-WW3F-FMAQ

Nah

Age 30
she/her, they/them
Seen 11 Hours Ago
Posted 19 Hours Ago
15,643 posts
9.5 Years
Now as for the non snippy part of your response, your sentence doesn't make sense. "Mold Breaker ignores Unaware which allows for setups on certain pokemon…" HOW exactly does that work? If I am attacking a pokemon that has unaware how does my ability ignore the opponent's ability? Unaware ignores my stat boosts when the opponent is attacking me, how does it benefit me when I am attacking it with Mold Breaker? I know it is on the list of abilities Mold Breaker ignores, but this is precisely the entire point of this thread: to go into depth on exactly how the move works against certain abilities.
Mold Breaker ignores all abilities that hinder or nullify your attack. Unaware hinders your attacks by ignoring your Pokemon's positive boosts. Your attacks are supposed to do more damage, but Unaware lessens the damage by ignoring your stat increases. Calc examples:

+2 252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Clefable: 138-162 (35 - 41.1%) -- 71.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Sawk Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 275-324 (69.7 - 82.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Dunno if that made sense or not though
Nah ンン
“No, I... I have to be strong. Everyone expects me to."

Megan

She/Her, It/Its
Online now
Posted 1 Hour Ago
17,751 posts
10.3 Years
I did make it clear I DID do minimal research and that's all I can find because that's all people ever seem to say, so I, presuming message boards and forums were the place one asks questions to find information they can't find on their own, posted a question to find information I can't find on my own.
My apologies, for not making it clear enough. By research I mean:
- you take your game
- you create a testing environment in your game
- you test how said thing behaves in said environment
- you take notes until you have gathered enough information

Clear enough?
Now as for the non snippy part of your response, your sentence doesn't make sense. "Mold Breaker ignores Unaware which allows for setups on certain pokemon…" HOW exactly does that work? If I am attacking a pokemon that has unaware how does my ability ignore the opponent's ability? Unaware ignores my stat boosts when the opponent is attacking me, how does it benefit me when I am attacking it with Mold Breaker? I know it is on the list of abilities Mold Breaker ignores, but this is precisely the entire point of this thread: to go into depth on exactly how the move works against certain abilities.
Unaware normally ignores every stat change your enemy has, be it possitive or be it negative. Normally when your opponent has a setup sweeper out on the field, in order to stop said Sweeper from sweeping your team, you switch out to your Unaware Pokemon, because even if he is at +6 Attack (or -6 for that matter), his physical moves deal only +-0 boosted damage. Unaware also ignores your defense drops/boosts as well.

Mold Breaker on the other hand just bypasses the ability check when attacking. Normally, when you attack, there's a check if the opposing Pokemon has an ability, that changes the outcome of the turn taken. If a normal Pokemon attacks with a boosted move an Unaware Pokemon, then the check says "opponent has Unaware, ignore attack boost", using a Mold Breaker Pokemon just says "has Unaware, but Mold Breaker, so proceed with all you've got".
It's the same with abilities like Storm Drain, Water Absorb, Wonder Guard and all the other abilities that would normally prevent certain type moves from hitting the opponent. If you have Mold Breaker, you can hit a Pokemon with Water Absorb using a Water type move and your opponent doesn't get healed as well (Water Absorb makes the holder immune to Water type attacks and heals it instead).

Now granted, I don't know if Mold Breaker gets around defense boosts/drops on said Pokemon when facing an Unaware opponent; same with Speed (because Unaware Pokemon are normally slow as heck, so a faster opponent will always be faster). That's definitely something that would require testing, but I'm certainly not going for it, because I have other stuff to do. :P
Moderator of Previous Generations, Forum Games and VPP
You got a thing!