Pokemon Sword and Shield Trailer Reveals New Abilities, Battle Features

A new Pokemon Sword and Shield trailer revealed some of the many new abilities and attacks that Pokemon will have in the upcoming games. The Pokemon Company released a new trailer at the Pokemon World Championship today that revealed some of the more strategic features of the game to the many competitive players gathered in Washington DC to determine the world's best Pokemon trainer. The trailer revealed a handful of new Abilities, a few new moves, and even a couple of items that Pokemon can hold in battles.

One of the biggest announcements in the trailer was Galarian Weezing's Neutralizing Gas ability. The regional variant of Weezing (which sports two smokestacks and is a Poison/Fairy-type Pokemon) can neutralize the effects of any other Pokemon's Ability, which can make a huge impact in competitive play. As certain Abilities can be used to negate certain unfavorable type match-ups or render a Pokemon immune to certain types of attacks, the Neutralizing Gas ability makes Galarian Weezing a must-have in competitive play. The trailer also revealed that Corviknight, a Steel/Flying-type Pokemon, will have the Hidden Ability Mirror Armor, which bounces back stat-lowering effects. This protects Corviknight from certain harmful effects, thus making it even more potent in battle.

The two new items introduced in the Pokemon Sword and Shield trailer are Room Service and Eject Pack. Eject Pack causes any Pokemon that has its stats lowered to immediately switch out, saving a trainer from burning a turn to put out a more effective attacker. Room Service is a bit more situational, but it lowers a Pokemon's Speed when the move Trick Room is used. Trick Room causes Pokemon with lower Speed to go first in battle, so this helps give Pokemon an edge when Trick Room is activated.

In addition, the Pokemon Company also confirmed that both Ranked Battles and Casual Battles would return in Pokemon Sword and Shield via the Battle Stadium feature. Players can also compete in both Official Competitions and Friendly Competitions online.

You can check out the full Pokemon Sword and Shield trailer above. Pokemon Sword and Shield will be released on November 15th.