Effective Abilities

Moxie cn be very good fr any sweeper. Toxic Heal is strong. It heals a lot and cant be poisoned. Guts and Façade is hard for peple.

Magic Guard is indeed effective. It rules out a whole field of the battle, more or less. However, it still leaves a lot of options open, and relies on delivering enough damage in the time for it to matter.

Shadow Tag with Will-O-Wisp or such can be debilitating to a physical attacker. While it's mitigated, as they probably know a Dark-type move like Knock Off, it can still be highly effective, especially if the move is disabled or such, as it would still be weakened and allows for healing. It can create a situation where the opponent is forced to faint powerlessly, which is efficient.

Poison Touch, Flame Body and such can be highly effective, as they make attackers vulnerable and can allow for an offensive tendency even while not moving.

Intimidate can also be effective, possibly negating an attacker. In general, physical attackers tend to be highly vulnerable to Abilities, and Special attackers are less so. The anime doesn't always tend to portray things in harmony with this, in which sense it's out of step with the games, as well as highly repetitive and simplistic.

Adaptability can be quite useful, although it makes roles more straightforward. It can take advantage easily of a Special attacker with good moves of its own type, especially with appropriate weather conditions.

In general, one category we seem to find effective is moves which take a usually problematic area of battle and allow it to be used for your own benefit, like Magic Guard or Poison Heal? Hence, you allow for Poison, but this strengthens you, or you can take status and switch it onto the opponent, or freely deal damage with status moves, and so on.

I suppose that I was describing a category of guard in some way, but that's mostly true. The guarding abilities which can have general coverage, or of the format, 'Don't attack this Pokémon, or this will happen to you,' are generally most effective. Otherwise, 'Don't attack this Pokémon, or this will stop you,' is often most effective, and in a sense similar.

This is often something like two layers of defence - don't attack the Pokémon, and also you will be stopped. The others are first defensive once, then offensive: don't attack this Pokémon, but if you do it threatens you.

Each Ability has certain limits. Magic Guard works through stalling, but can't stall general attacks. Poison Touch works through Poison, but does not apply with types resistant to this. This might help with constructing them for games, if you so choose.

In addition, Magic Guard is seemingly more effective than Poison Touch, usually. This might speak of the effectiveness of its categories.

Use Magic Guard to stall! Its powerful!

Poison Heal is powerful and easy to use. It gives you benefits for doing little. I agree if you like it!

...I mean, maybe if you near-exclusively use FEAR Pokémon?

Otherwise Sturdy can be far more limited, especially with entry hazards in play.

That seems like a good line for a movie dictator. 'Sturdy is good, but your right? You can't use it much!'

Anyway, good that you're so steadfast about this. So if you like level 1 Pokémon this much, do you like count the levels backwards or something?