Genaller
Silver Soul
So a while ago PBF made polls regarding which (non-GL/FB/E4/RC) onscreen trainer is the most skilled. The first one was pretty much turning into another DP Ash vs XY Ash poll, so he made a 2nd 1 excluding any variant of Ash where Paul (rightfully) won by an landslide. I think it would be interesting to discuss which (non-GL/FB/E4/RC) trainer barring some variant of Ash or Paul should be considered the most skilled trainer in the anime.
In case you think this trainer isn’t 1 of those mentioned (e.g. Jackson, Clark, Barry, Trip, Virgil etc...) then please vote “Other”.
Personally I’m going with Sawyer (though I can also see good arguments being made for some of the other trainers). The guy gets a lot of flak for progressing so quickly though regardless it’s undeniable that he’s a skilled trainer. Here’s an outline of Sawyer’s skill feats in case anyone isn’t aware of them:
- (XYZ 13) Assessing Greninja to be more comfortable in close range battling, and so puts him out of his comfort zone by having Sceptile utilize more long range attacks (this was the reason why Sceptile had the upper hand against Greninja in XYZ 13 )
- (XYZ 26) Using Clawitzer’s Mega Launcher ability for both offense (Dragon Pulse) and recovery (Heal Pulse)
- (XYZ 33) Properly utilized a technical Pokémon like Aegeslash (Swords Dance + King’s Shield)
- (XYZ 33) Attract
- (XYZ 33) Timing Sceptile’s Mega Evolution to occur just as Raichu was about to strike with Thunder in order to capatilize on the boost granted by Lightningrod.
- (XYZ 34) Factoring in Hawlucha’s battle style concerning getting stronger (due to getting more pumped) by being able to tank foe attacks when selecting Slaking as a Lucha’s counter
- (XYZ 34) Reliable recovery in Slack Off
- (XYZ 34) Turning Hawlucha’s strength agaisnt him with Counter (now here’s the interesting part; based on Serena’s statement and I paraphrase “is he going to drag out the match again, so that he can end it with a OHK Counter” when referring to Talonflame vs Slaking, it seems as though Slaking’s Counter works like a meter where it absorbs all the damage Slaking took until then (including the damage it recovered) and dishes out twice the force of it in one go after which the meter resets, so in that sense it doesn’t work like a standard Counter (which is fine since the same move on different Pokémon has shown to work differently (e.g. Gogoat’s Leech Seed being temporary and immobilizing the opponent in vs Ramos, Stealth Rock in the Olivia GT, Noivern’s Supersonic not causing confusion and instead is portrayed as a mid lvl sound wave attack etc..)) but rather more like Bide with the only difference being that Bide is fired in a beam whilst Slaking’s Counter is fired in a punch
- (XYZ 34) Aqua Jet tracking for faster chasing
- (XYZ 34) Halting Talonflame’s momentum with Ice Beam
- (XYZ 34) Cutting down the forest because A) the forest was allowing Pikachu to move and evade more efficiently, and B) the scattered logs made the ground uneven making it more difficult for Pikachu to regain his footing when he falls from the sky
- (XYZ 35) Having Salamence tactically fire Incinerates at Noivern in order to lure him close enough to it for an easy clean hit with Dragon Tail
- (XYZ 35) Using Protect as a countermeasure for Echolocation
- (XYZ 35) Using Slurpuff’s nose to determine Goodra’s location in the smoke and hence launch a surprise attack
- (XYZ 35) His (Mega) Sceptile can freely control the trajectory of its Frenzy Plant to a very high degree with the added benefit of this Frenzy Plant not having any recharge time.
In case you think this trainer isn’t 1 of those mentioned (e.g. Jackson, Clark, Barry, Trip, Virgil etc...) then please vote “Other”.
Personally I’m going with Sawyer (though I can also see good arguments being made for some of the other trainers). The guy gets a lot of flak for progressing so quickly though regardless it’s undeniable that he’s a skilled trainer. Here’s an outline of Sawyer’s skill feats in case anyone isn’t aware of them:
- (XYZ 13) Assessing Greninja to be more comfortable in close range battling, and so puts him out of his comfort zone by having Sceptile utilize more long range attacks (this was the reason why Sceptile had the upper hand against Greninja in XYZ 13 )
- (XYZ 26) Using Clawitzer’s Mega Launcher ability for both offense (Dragon Pulse) and recovery (Heal Pulse)
- (XYZ 33) Properly utilized a technical Pokémon like Aegeslash (Swords Dance + King’s Shield)
- (XYZ 33) Attract
- (XYZ 33) Timing Sceptile’s Mega Evolution to occur just as Raichu was about to strike with Thunder in order to capatilize on the boost granted by Lightningrod.
- (XYZ 34) Factoring in Hawlucha’s battle style concerning getting stronger (due to getting more pumped) by being able to tank foe attacks when selecting Slaking as a Lucha’s counter
- (XYZ 34) Reliable recovery in Slack Off
- (XYZ 34) Turning Hawlucha’s strength agaisnt him with Counter (now here’s the interesting part; based on Serena’s statement and I paraphrase “is he going to drag out the match again, so that he can end it with a OHK Counter” when referring to Talonflame vs Slaking, it seems as though Slaking’s Counter works like a meter where it absorbs all the damage Slaking took until then (including the damage it recovered) and dishes out twice the force of it in one go after which the meter resets, so in that sense it doesn’t work like a standard Counter (which is fine since the same move on different Pokémon has shown to work differently (e.g. Gogoat’s Leech Seed being temporary and immobilizing the opponent in vs Ramos, Stealth Rock in the Olivia GT, Noivern’s Supersonic not causing confusion and instead is portrayed as a mid lvl sound wave attack etc..)) but rather more like Bide with the only difference being that Bide is fired in a beam whilst Slaking’s Counter is fired in a punch
- (XYZ 34) Aqua Jet tracking for faster chasing
- (XYZ 34) Halting Talonflame’s momentum with Ice Beam
- (XYZ 34) Cutting down the forest because A) the forest was allowing Pikachu to move and evade more efficiently, and B) the scattered logs made the ground uneven making it more difficult for Pikachu to regain his footing when he falls from the sky
- (XYZ 35) Having Salamence tactically fire Incinerates at Noivern in order to lure him close enough to it for an easy clean hit with Dragon Tail
- (XYZ 35) Using Protect as a countermeasure for Echolocation
- (XYZ 35) Using Slurpuff’s nose to determine Goodra’s location in the smoke and hence launch a surprise attack
- (XYZ 35) His (Mega) Sceptile can freely control the trajectory of its Frenzy Plant to a very high degree with the added benefit of this Frenzy Plant not having any recharge time.
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. Yeah TR was pretty awesome and from a pure skill standpoint Conway did outplay Ash in their match since Ash never actually countered Trick Room but lucked out thanks to Gible’s... assets. I still think Sawyerhas more skill overall though I can respect you putting Conway over him.