Pokémon Legends: Arceus leak reveals abilities for new Pokémon

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is overhauling the entire battle system for the franchise, adding real-time strategy elements, different styles that can change the impact of attacks, and more. Additionally, Held items and Pokémon abilities have been removed entirely, simplifying certain areas to put more emphasis on the new changes. 

While abilities are not present in the gameplay of Arceus, however, it appears there are still hidden values within the data that have assigned abilities to the new Pokémon debuting in the game, including the Hisuian forms, new evolutions, and entirely original species. 

The main reason this data exists is for eventual Pokémon HOME compatibility, which will be coming later this year. Even in games like Pokémon Go, Pokémon Let’s Go!, and now Arceus where abilities don’t exist, the data for them are tied to each specific species so they can be assigned the proper attributes as needed. 

Most of the abilities assigned to the new Pokémon make perfect sense, either because they carry over from the previous Pokémon in their evolutionary lines or directly tie to the theme of the species. Here are all of the abilities that were listed under a new species in the leaked data. 

• Wyrdeer
  • Intimidate, Frisk, or Sap Sipper
• Kleavor
  • Swarm, Sheer Force, or Steadfast
• Ursaluna
  • Guts, Bulletproof, or Unnerve
• Basculin (White Stripe) and Basculegion
  • Rattled, Adaptability, or Mold Breaker
• Sneasler
  • Pressure or Poison Touch
• Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil
  • Poison Point, Swift Swim, or Intimidate
• Enamorus (Incarnate)
  • Healer or Contrary
• Enamorus (Therian)
  • Overcoat
• Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine
  • Intimidate, Justified, or Flash Fire
• Hisuian Voltorb and Electrode
  • Soundproof, Static, or Aftermath
• Hisuian Typhlosion
  • Blaze or Flash Fire
• Hisuian Decidueye
  • Overgrow and Long Reach
• Hisuian Samurott
  • Torrent or Shell Armor
• Hisuian Lilligant
  • Chlorophyll, Hustle, or Leaf Guard
• Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark
  • Illusion
• Hisuian Braviary
  • Keen Eye, Sheer Force, and Defiant
• Hisuian Sliggoo and Goodra
  • Sap Sipper, Overcoat, and Gooey
• Hisuian Avalugg
  • Strong Jaw, Ice Body, or Sturdy
• Dialga (Lord)
  • Pressure or Telepathy
• Palkia (Lord)
  • Pressure or Telepathy

This leaked info means the new method for calculating stats in Arceus likely has a transfer table that will normalize when a Pokémon is sent to HOME too, similar to that of Go and Let’s Go! But we will likely need to wait for the game to be officially released on Jan. 28 and HOME functionality to go live before we hear more about this.