Mold Breaker (Ability)
| Mold Breaker | かたやぶり | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mold-Breaking | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Flavor text
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mold Breaker (Japanese: かたやぶり Mold-Breaking) is an Ability introduced in Generation IV. Seventeen Pokémon can have this Ability.
Effect
In battle
Mold Breaker ignores the effects of Abilities that could potentially affect the damage or effects of a move that its user executes. For example, a Pokémon with Mold Breaker can hit opponents that possess Levitate by using Earthquake. Mold Breaker applies regardless of target Pokémon, but only to moves executed by its user (so if two Pokémon in a Double Battle both know Earthquake, only the Pokémon with Mold Breaker can hit a Pokémon with Levitate).
Unlike Gastro Acid, which completely negates a target's Ability, the opponents' Abilities otherwise remain in effect:
- Abilities that prevent status conditions (such as Immunity and Oblivious) will not protect the Pokémon from receiving the status condition; however, many of these Abilities also have effects to cure the Pokémon of the status condition if afflicted, which are not negated by Mold Breaker.
- Abilities that draw attacks to the user, such as Lightning Rod and Storm Drain, will still divert attacks regardless of Mold Breaker, but will not nullify the damage or boost the Pokémon's stats.
Mold Breaker can ignore the Abilities of Pokémon other than the target; for example, if a Pokémon with Mold Breaker uses Thunder Wave on a Grass-type Pokémon whose ally has Flower Veil, the target will still be paralyzed.
In Generation IV, when a Pokémon with Mold Breaker is brought out, the message "<name> has Mold Breaker!" is displayed. In Generation V onward, when a Pokémon with Mold Breaker is brought out, the message "<name> breaks the mold!" is displayed.
Generation V onward
If a Pokémon with Mold Breaker forces a Pokémon to switch in with a move like Roar or Dragon Tail, immunities to entry hazards due to Abilities will be negated (except Magic Guard). If forced to switch in this way:
- Pokémon with Levitate will be affected by Spikes and Toxic Spikes, unless they are Flying-type or holding an Air Balloon.
- Poison-type Pokémon with Levitate can remove Toxic Spikes, if they are not Flying-type and not holding an Air Balloon.
- Pokémon with Immunity will be poisoned by Toxic Spikes (although Immunity will then activate and cure them of poison).
- Pokémon with Leaf Guard will be poisoned by Toxic Spikes even during harsh sunlight.
- Pokémon with Clear Body or White Smoke will have their Speed lowered by Sticky Web.
- Grass-type Pokémon that have or have an ally with Flower Veil will be poisoned by Toxic Spikes, and will have their Speed lowered by Sticky Web.
In Generation VI, a Pokémon with Overcoat will be affected by powder and spore moves as well.
When a Pokémon with Mold Breaker uses a move, the effects of Sweet Veil, Aroma Veil and Flower Veil (including allies') are ignored for the duration of that move. As such, if the move of a Pokémon with Mold Breaker triggers an Ability (such as Gooey or Cursed Body) or item (such as Destiny Knot), the Pokémon with Mold Breaker will not be protected by its allies' Abilities; likewise, if a Destiny Knot held by a Pokémon with Mold Breaker is activated during the use of its own move (such as in response to the target's Cute Charm), that target will not be protected by its allies' Aroma Veil.
Abilities affected
Mold Breaker ignores the following Abilities, even in situations where the Ability could increase the power of a move (such as using Low Kick on a Pokémon with Heavy Metal or using a Fire-type move on a Pokémon with Dry Skin):
Mold Breaker does not ignore the effects of Aura Break.
Outside of battle
Mold Breaker has no effect outside of battle.
Pokémon with Mold Breaker
In the anime
 Cranidos  Rampardos | |||
| The user cancels out the opponent's Ability when it activates. | |||
| Pokémon | Method | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| User | First Used In | Notes | |
|
When the opponent's Ability activates, Cranidos cancels it out. | ||
| Roark's Cranidos | Shapes of Things to Come! | Debut | |
|
When the opponent's Ability activates, Rampardos cancels it out. | ||
| Roark's Rampardos | O'er the Rampardos we Watched! | None | |
In the manga
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
 Haxorus
| |||
| Moves can be used regardless of Abilities. | |||
| Pokémon | Method | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| User | First Chapter Used In | Notes | |
|
Haxorus's moves aren't affected by the opponent's Ability. | ||
| Iris's Haxorus | One Way or Another | None | |
Trivia
- Roark's Rampardos's Mold Breaker stopped Ash's Pikachu and Paul's Elekid's Static in the anime, even though Static is not affected by Mold Breaker in the games.
In other languages
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Variations of the Ability Mold Breaker | |
|---|---|
| Mold Breaker • Turboblaze • Teravolt | |
|
This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games. |