Thread: New Held Items

With each new Generation of Pokemon comes a batch of brand-new held items that can boost a Pokemon's battling abilities, enable certain strategies or provide some kind of utility purpose in or out of battle.

Have any ideas for possible new held items? Post them here!

I'll start by sharing two:
Limiter (JP: Limiting Headband)
Effect: Prevents the holder from gaining any EVs.
Sometimes you just don't want a Pokemon to gain any EVs. Maybe you want to keep it as a "blank slate" until you can EV train at the end of the game, or until it's high enough level to EV train itself. In either case, this item is here to help.

Sweet Perfume (Intoxicating Perfume)
Effect: Infatuates opposite-gender Pokemon that strike the holder with contact moves. Consumed after use.
Not an item for serious battles, but an amusing strategy nonetheless.

This reminded me of a blog I made two years ago. Basically, I proposed a set of items that would benefit any Pokemon with a single type, since I think that mono-types are at a disadvantage compared to dual-types, as they have the benefit of dual-STAB and generally better defensive type. These items are basically to make it so that mono-types could enjoy the benefits of the dual types. I decided to revise this idea a bit by having only selected types.

Ice Armour
Effect: Gives single-typed Pokemon a secondary Ice-type. Breaks off after a few (three) hits, one if it's a super-effective attack.
It's good to have an Ice-type so that you are immune to freezing and Hail damage, and to a lesser extent, an Ice resistance. It also provides an Ice STAB too. However, Ice also gives out nasty weaknesses, so it's a double-edged sword. It's risky, yet potentially rewarding if this item is used.

Rock Armour
Effect: Gives single-typed Pokemon a secondary Rock-type. Breaks off after a few (three) hits, one if it's a super-effective attack.
Gaining a Sandstorm immunity and Special Defence boost is a good thing. It also gives Rock STAB and decent resistances, making it a nifty choice to use on a Sandstorm team. Still, Rock gives out weaknesses one wouldn't want to have, such as that Fighting weakness. Still, good for Grass-types.

Flame Armour
Effect: Gives single-typed Pokemon a secondary Fire-type. Breaks off after a few (three) hits, one if it's a super-effective attack.
Fire-types are risky. On one hand, there's that Fire STAB and decent resistances (such as Ice), but on the other, it makes the user weak to Rock and Ground, and the user would have the nasty side-effect of being weak to Stealth Rock too!

Shock Armour
Effect: Gives single-typed Pokemon a secondary Electric-type. Breaks off after a few (two) hits, one if it's a super-effective attack.
This rounds up the Fire-Ice-Electric trio. Electric is mainly used for its resistances and STAB, so it's good for anything wanting Electric STAB. However, weakness to Ground is not good, as there's no Air Balloon to avoid it (unless the user has Levitate). I made it two hits since this one potentially has bigger advantages over the other three.

Originally Posted by Winterdaze

Limiter (JP: Limiting Headband)
Effect: Prevents the holder from gaining any EVs.
Sometimes you just don't want a Pokemon to gain any EVs. Maybe you want to keep it as a "blank slate" until you can EV train at the end of the game, or until it's high enough level to EV train itself. In either case, this item is here to help.

This is a nice idea. However, I felt that it should have some advantage, like say, increase the experience earned (could be 10% extra), to compensate for the drawback, because you know, to give it some incentive when using it.

Thanks for reading.

Maybe they could have held items that function like the weather-inducing abilities (Snow Warning, Drizzle, etc). They might be game-breaking, though.

Ive been thinking for a while, since Everstone passes down Nature and Power Items pass down IVs in breeding, what if there were one that passed down Gender? I think it's a nice idea and I'd like to see it.

i've been wishing there was some sort of held item that mimics the effects of the ability rock head so you can give it to a pokemon with a lot of recoil moves without worrying about it hurting itself. it would be some sort of helmet i think. although its probably too broken to actually be made.

Now that I think about it, any item that had the same effect as an ability would be too broken, as it would basically be a second ability for the Pokemon holding it. So I don't think they'd make held items like that.

Originally Posted by bubbie

i've been wishing there was some sort of held item that mimics the effects of the ability rock head so you can give it to a pokemon with a lot of recoil moves without worrying about it hurting itself. it would be some sort of helmet i think. although its probably too broken to actually be made.

I had an idea similar to this, though it only halved recoil damage rather than preventing it (Padded Helmet was the item name). It would be far from broken though, since in most cases a Choice Band/Life Orb would get better results. Much more useful in-game though, where recoil moves can wear down your Pokemon quickly in successive battles.

Originally Posted by Winterdaze

Originally Posted by bubbie

i've been wishing there was some sort of held item that mimics the effects of the ability rock head so you can give it to a pokemon with a lot of recoil moves without worrying about it hurting itself. it would be some sort of helmet i think. although its probably too broken to actually be made.

I had an idea similar to this, though it only halved recoil damage rather than preventing it (Padded Helmet was the item name). It would be far from broken though, since in most cases a Choice Band/Life Orb would get better results. Much more useful in-game though, where recoil moves can wear down your Pokemon quickly in successive battles.

my thoughts exactly. hal of my emboar's attacks are recoil moves and when i train him its a pain to run to the pokemon center or use potions every other battle. the moves are just so powerful and effective though so i'd hate to replace them with something more... tame.

Ive been thinking for a while, since Everstone passes down Nature and Power Items pass down IVs in breeding, what if there were one that passed down Gender? I think it's a nice idea and I'd like to see it.

I love this idea! It would make certain aspects of breeding much nicer.

SLEEP ORB - puts the holder to sleep.

I think there are TONS of strategies that could develop from this. It's absolutely dangerous, but a few pokemon could make use of it: Klutz Lopunny with Switcheroo is the most obvious, but also Sleep Talk + Psycho Shift Cresselia, or Sleep Talk + Trick Alakazam. Or Insomnia Banette with Trick. Or, my favorite, Sleep Talk + Whirlwind Crobat working with entry hazards.

The more I think about it, the more I think this item might get banned, actually! 100% accurate 114 base speed sleep or a base 130 speed neutral priority whirlwind would both be WAY too good!

Perhaps the most horrifying would be Prankster Volbeat that would have a priority sleep move with sleep talk+trick!

Another idea:
SLAKING BONES - the holder can only attack every other turn, but cannot take more than 25% damage from a single attack

Would it be used on stalling pokemon? Or is the tradeoff too great? Who knows!
Would it be used on Slaking himself since he already suffers the negative side effect?
Would it be used as a Klutz trick item, or is the defensive boost to the opponent too great?

Originally Posted by Karpi

Would it be used on Slaking himself since he already suffers the negative side effect?

Unless you set up wrong and end up with Truant taking every other turn and Slacking Bones taking every other other turn.

The Sleep Orb sounds interesting, though. Actually, introducing orbs for the other status effects in general could lead to some interesting gameplay.

Originally Posted by YamiiDenryuu

Originally Posted by Karpi

Would it be used on Slaking himself since he already suffers the negative side effect?

Unless you set up wrong and end up with Truant taking every other turn and Slacking Bones taking every other other turn.

The Sleep Orb sounds interesting, though. Actually, introducing orbs for the other status effects in general could lead to some interesting gameplay.

Other possible orbs of note:

Freeze Orb - EXTREMELY high risk with EXTREMELY high payoff. The user couldn't do anything about being frozen, so you would have to bait Trick. Unless you use Lopunny, in which case something might end up being banned for being too good...

Paralyze Orb - I don't see this getting much use, honestly. The only benefit to the user would be to use Facade or Guts, and I'm sure it's much safer to just lose a little health every turn than to have low speed and a chance not to attack. And Trick and Psycho Shift are in general bad strategies because Thunder Wave already has perfect accuracy.

One other item I did think of earlier, though...

Imprison Jewel - automatically casts Imprison on the opponent upon switching in. Cancels when the opponent switches out.
This is sort of interesting in a way. Would Dragonite users consider giving up type coverage to let it switch into Ice Beam? Would Scizor use HP Fire over one of its lesser-used moves to put a complete stop to Latias?

EDIT: These just keep coming to me...

Earmuffs - Bestows the holder with the ability Soundproof
Wouldn't it be much easier to wall Volcarona if it couldn't use Bug Buzz? Would Celebi hold this in order to use Perish Song repeatedly? Would be a niche use item, but honestly we already have Destiny Knot, and this is better than that.

Heal Block hold item - all pokemon on the field deal 50% of their normal damage, but all healing moves are also disabled.
Would add an interesting dynamic to offense vs stall. It could prevent Blissey from outstalling special attackers... or would it? If it took Rotom 5 Hydro Pumps to kill Blissey, that's a huge chunk of its health gone in Toxic/Seismic Toss damage.