What I assume you mean by 'superior' in this case is that LumHarvest makes Leaf Guard (and Water Veil, etc.) completely redundant, and this is entirely not the case - what they give CAP5 is a reduced fear of status while running Leftovers. You might argue that Leftovers recovery isn't a big deal, but it's actually quite pertinent where the most major threats CAP5 needs to address, Lati@s and Politoed, are concerned. When running Leftovers, defensively-invested CAP5's chance of being 2HKOd by Specs Latios Sun-boosted HP Fire and Specs Toed's Focus Blast is pretty low - less than 30% for both last I checked - without Stealth Rock damage, and with Rocks it still avoids the 2HKO from Life Orb Latios's HP Fire.
-snip-
So, what you're saying is, Leaf Guard would overshadow Harvest? Okay, maybe not, but its possible. I see where you're going at, and I get your logic, but I don't believe Leaf Guard would be the best. As a niche ability, I believe we'd overshadow Harvest and maybe have too many of these running around; granted, not as much as, say, SitrusStall or HarvRest, but still, niche doesn't mean "if you want two options at once."
Essentially, the proposed Leftovers + Leaf Guard set would act as a recovery berry (not as effective, but still) AND a Lum berry in Sun (just without the guaranteed chance; I'll elaborate on this later), while still leaving 4 free moveslots. One of the best uses of Harvest is a LumRest, but it breaks a moveslot, while with LG + LO, 4 moveslots stand strong. Likewise, it has no negative defects; just keep it in Sun and voila, a more passive Sitrus and free Lum. Who wouldn't want that on a Specially Defensive Physical tank? No burn, recovery...
Keep in mind one other important factor: Leaf Guard
doesn't work in Sun. While this has the bonus of directly encouraging Sun usage, other proposed abilities that don't
directly benefit from Sun, such as Infiltrator, still have a better use
in Sun than out of it (for the most part). Remember, we want a mon that benefits Sun inside and outside of their preferred weather if possible, and, though you could argue that Harvest does this,
this is a niche ability. Niche doesn't mean
rendered useless, it means
if you feel like it and, from a competitive standpoint,
does it benefit your team better or
do you use it better.
Now, ignoring the overkill of italics in the last paragraph, I have one more thing to say: I am not calling Leaf Guard a
bad option, I'm calling it an
outclassed option, due to how it overshadows the primary if you feel like it. You could argue, "well, it's niche, it needs to be better at
something." Agreed, but it basically literally does more than Harvest does. A LumHarvest will be ignored in favour of a LG Leftovers, and that entirely eliminated one good option of our primary, not create another, which kind of makes it not
niche but
doing it differently, and better at that. Niche should be another option, not outclassing an existing option.
But, I digress. I wouldn't be mad if LG got chosen, but I think some of the other options are simply better. It wouldn't break it or anything, and it would be fun learning about, I must admit. After all, CAP is about the process, not the result.
BrianFantana said:
So, onto Water Veil, the only thing that still 'needs discussion'. I think the best approach to take is to compare it with Leaf Guard, the most similar thing on the shortlist. Literally the only thing I think Water Veil has over Leaf Guard is the ability to stop Politoed's Scald from burning - in every other way, Leaf Guard's sun-dependence is beneficial, keeping CAP5 on-track conceptually. The risk of usage on Sand Teams, who would love a great rain counter and particularly a Scald switch-in, definitely exists with Water veil, and while CAP5 might not be a perfect Sandmon, Sand teams don't lack teamslots the way that Sun teams do, so they can comfortably cover its weaknesses. Politoed's Scald can be protected against by LumHarvest well enough anyway so I don't think Water Veil is really necessary - its fairly minor risks still outweigh its benefits.
I do agree that we should ignore Water Veil entirely though. I see no reason why it's better than Lum with Harvest, even with Leftovers. That doesn't make up for lacking Poison/Toxic, Para and Sleep protection, among others. I'd be fine with LG, but WV would kind of annoy me. Now it's not niche, but doing it
worse, which is the opposite of what I critiqued LG for, but even worse in most battler's eyes.