Mold Breaker (Ability)

Mold Breaker	かたやぶり
	Mold-Breaking
Flavor text Generation III Currently unknown Generation IV Moves can be used regardless of abilities. Generation V Moves can be used regardless of Abilities. Generation VI Moves can be used on the target regardless of its Abilities. Generation VII Moves can be used on the target regardless of its Abilities. Generation VIII Moves can be used on the target regardless of its Abilities.

Mold Breaker (Japanese: かたやぶり Mold-Breaking) is an Ability introduced in Generation IV.

Effect

In battle

When a Pokémon with Mold Breaker uses a move, the effects of all ignorable Abilities (i.e. Abilities that could potentially negatively affect the success, damage, or effects of a move if possessed by the target of a move or its allies) are ignored for the execution of that move. For example, a Pokémon with Mold Breaker that uses Earthquake can hit opponents that have Levitate.

Mold Breaker ignores all ignorable Abilities, not only the targets'—including the user's allies'. For example, if a Pokémon with Mold Breaker uses Spore on a Pokémon whose ally has Sweet Veil, the target will still fall asleep. Likewise, if a Pokémon with Mold Breaker uses Thunderbolt targeting an opponent while its own ally has Lightning Rod, it will still use the move on its original target.

The Abilities are only ignored while the move is being executed. They take effect again immediately after its execution.

• 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 will activate immediately after being inflicted with the status condition, even if it was inflicted by a Pokémon with Mold Breaker.
• If a Pokémon with Own Tempo consumes a held Berry that may cause confusion in response to the move of a Pokémon with Mold Breaker, it will become confused if it dislikes the flavor. However, Own Tempo will then activate and cure it of confusion.

In Generation IV, when a Pokémon with Mold Breaker is brought out, the message "<name> has Mold Breaker!" is displayed. From Generation V onward, when a Pokémon with Mold Breaker is brought out, the message "<name> breaks the mold!" is displayed.

Generation IV

Flower Gift will increase the Attack of allies with Mold Breaker, even when they are attacking the ally with Flower Gift.

Generation V onward

If a Pokémon with Mold Breaker forces a Pokémon to switch in by using a move that switches the target out (such as Roar or Dragon Tail), ignorable Abilities are ignored when applying entry hazards. For example, a Pokémon with Levitate switched in this way will be affected by Spikes and Toxic Spikes (unless it is also ungrounded for other reasons); if a Poison-type Pokémon with Levitate is switched in this way, it will remove Toxic Spikes from its side of the field (unless it is also ungrounded for other reasons).

If a Pokémon with Mold Breaker attacks, it does not gain Attack due to an ally's Flower Gift.

Abilities affected

Mold Breaker ignores the following Abilities, even in situations where the target's Ability could increase the power of a move if it weren't ignored (such as using Low Kick on a Pokémon with Heavy Metal or using a Fire-type move on a Pokémon with Dry Skin):

Generation	Ability
Generation IV onwards	Battle Armor, Clear Body, Damp, Dry Skin, Filter, Flash Fire, Flower Gift, Heatproof, Hyper Cutter, Immunity, Inner Focus, Insomnia, Keen Eye, Leaf Guard, Levitate, Lightning Rod, Limber, Magma Armor, Marvel Scale, Motor Drive, Oblivious, Own Tempo, Sand Veil, Shell Armor, Shield Dust, Simple, Snow Cloak, Solid Rock, Soundproof, Sticky Hold, Storm Drain, Sturdy, Suction Cups, Tangled Feet, Thick Fat, Unaware, Vital Spirit, Volt Absorb, Water Absorb, Water Veil, White Smoke, Wonder Guard
Generation V onwards	Big Pecks, Contrary, Friend Guard, Heavy Metal, Light Metal, Magic Bounce, Multiscale, Sap Sipper, Telepathy, Wonder Skin
Generation VI onwards	Aroma Veil, Bulletproof, Flower Veil, Fur Coat, Overcoat, Sweet Veil
Generation VII onwards	Dazzling, Disguise, Fluffy, Queenly Majesty, Water Bubble
Generation VIII	Mirror Armor, Punk Rock, Ice Scales, Ice Face, Pastel Veil

Mold Breaker does not ignore the effects of Aura Break, Magic Guard, Comatose, Shields Down, Full Metal Body, Shadow Shield, and Prism Armor.

Outside of battle

Mold Breaker has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Mold Breaker

#	Pokémon	Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
	Pinsir	Bug		Bug	Hyper Cutter	Mold Breaker	Moxie
	Gyarados Mega Gyarados	Water	Dark	Mold Breaker	None	None
	Ampharos Mega Ampharos	Electric	Dragon	Mold Breaker	None	None
	Cranidos	Rock		Rock	Mold Breaker	None	Sheer Force
	Rampardos	Rock		Rock	Mold Breaker	None	Sheer Force
	Drilbur	Ground		Ground	Sand Rush	Sand Force	Mold Breaker
	Excadrill	Ground	Steel	Sand Rush	Sand Force	Mold Breaker
	Throh	Fighting		Fighting	Guts	Inner Focus	Mold Breaker
	Sawk	Fighting		Fighting	Sturdy	Inner Focus	Mold Breaker
	Basculin Red-Striped Form	Water		Water	Reckless	Adaptability	Mold Breaker
	Basculin Blue-Striped Form	Water		Water	Rock Head	Adaptability	Mold Breaker
	Axew	Dragon		Dragon	Rivalry	Mold Breaker	Unnerve
	Fraxure	Dragon		Dragon	Rivalry	Mold Breaker	Unnerve
	Haxorus	Dragon		Dragon	Rivalry	Mold Breaker	Unnerve
	Druddigon	Dragon		Dragon	Rough Skin	Sheer Force	Mold Breaker
	Pancham	Fighting		Fighting	Iron Fist	Mold Breaker	Scrappy
	Pangoro	Fighting	Dark	Iron Fist	Mold Breaker	Scrappy
	Hawlucha	Fighting	Flying	Limber	Unburden	Mold Breaker
Please note that this is only 100% accurate to Generation VIII games. For Generation III games, ignore Abilities introduced in Generation IV or later and Hidden Abilities. For Generation IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities. For Generation V games, ignore Abilities introduced in Generation VI or later. For Generation VI games, ignore Abilities introduced in Generation VII or later. For Generation VII games, ignore Abilities introduced in Generation VIII or later.

In other games

Description

Games Description MDTDS Prevents the foe's ability from activating when the Pokémon attacks. BSL こうげきしたときに あいての とくせいのこうかを うけない MDGtI Damage dealt by the Pokémon's moves or items is not influenced by the target's Ability.* The Pokémon's moves are not influenced by the target's Ability! For example, it could make a Pokémon with Sturdy faint in one hit!* SMD The Pokémon's moves are not influenced by the target's Ability! For example, it could make a Pokémon with the Sturdy Ability faint in one hit!

In the anime

	Cranidos	Rampardos
The Pokémon cancels out the opponent's Ability when it activates.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
Cranidos	When the opponent's Ability activates, Cranidos cancels it out.
Roark's Cranidos	Shapes of Things to Come!		Debut
Rampardos	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	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

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 破格 Pogaak * 革新 Gaaksān * Mandarin 破格 Pògé * 革新 Géxīn * Dutch Schimmelbreker French Brise Moule German Überbrückung Italian Rompiforma Korean 틀깨기 Teulkkaegi Polish Niszczyciel Portuguese Brazil Quebra-Molde Destruidor de Molde (manga) Portugal Quebra-Molde Spanish Rompemoldes Vietnamese Phá Vỡ Khuôn Mẫu

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.