Rank Ash's rivals in terms of skills

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Volkner showed more skill than Sawyer in both his episodes in DP and JN....why isn't he up there then

 

[Psajdak]

I haven't watched every season so I won't bother ranking them, but I am sure that none of them could compete against Gary.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

I haven't watched every season so I won't bother ranking them, but I am sure that none of them could compete against Gary.

......pretty much most of the people outclass Gary lol, he didn't even show that much strategies and his battle included so many KOs

 

[Deleted member 384931]

I haven't watched every season so I won't bother ranking them, but I am sure that none of them could compete against Gary.

Oh pls. Paul, Sawyer, Alain and Gladion are miles better

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

I'm pretty sure the most impressive thing Gary did at the Johto League was have Nidqueen use it's tail to jump which he copied from Ash.

 

[Ragnarok4]

I'm pretty sure the most impressive thing Gary did at the Johto League was have Nidqueen use it's tail to jump which he copied from Ash.

I think conway is a bit on the level of sawyer if we talk about strategies, even better, but sawyer was dedicated a little more to battles, I think the two of them are the only ones who could be close to Paul.

Gary is a bit meh to me, he's fine being a researcher

 

[Pokemonfan5]

I think it's either Paul or Gladion, both utilise their Pokemons moves and abilities better than all other rivals.

Gary problem is he was from OS series where abilities doesn't exist and battles are very short that many rounds end in OHKO.

I don't think I need to talk about Trip

Sawyer is too much depend on his data, he make a team and strategies to counter Ash but he was put in corner by Tierno.

Alan is mostly about brute force.

Kukui strategies isn't much impressive either

 

[janejane6178]

I think it's either Paul or Gladion, both utilise their Pokemons moves and abilities better than all other rivals.

Gary problem is he was from OS series where abilities doesn't exist and battles are very short that many rounds end in OHKO.

I don't think I need to talk about Trip

Sawyer is too much depend on his data, he make a team and strategies to counter Ash but he was put in corner by Tierno.

Alan is mostly about brute force.

Kukui strategies isn't much impressive either

Why is the Kuku man considered a rival? o.o

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Katie + AJ + Shingo + Heero Yuy (Gundam) = Paul

There's a reason Paul was dubbed as "The Stop Having Fun Guy" and being compared to competitive gamers.He used status moves,abilities,entry hazards,type advantage,switching,planning and scouting to the max.No other rival had all of these qualities at the same time.

 

[DayQuil95]

Katie + AJ + Shingo + Heero Yuy (Gundam) = Paul

There's a reason Paul was dubbed as "The Stop Having Fun Guy" and being compared to competitive gamers.He used status moves,abilities,entry hazards,type advantage,switching,planning and scouting to the max.No other rival had all of these qualities at the same time.

Plus his training was legitimately effective, his Ursaring was an absolute beast who tanked everything from Barry's team. And he was the first actual hint at the existence of stuff like IVs in the anime, which I always find interesting to see.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Plus his training was legitimately effective, his Ursaring was an absolute beast who tanked everything from Barry's team. And he was the first actual hint at the existence of stuff like IVs in the anime, which I always find interesting to see.

Yeah there's still people to this day that complain about how Ursaring was able to tank all of Hitmonlee's attacks despite them being super effective along with taking it's own Focus Blast after Barry's Empoleon sent it back.Paul went for the strongest species of pokemon he could find in the wild,scan their moveset (IV/Nature) with his pokedex and then make them even stronger (EV Train/Breed).

 

[DayQuil95]

Yeah there's still people to this day that complain about how Ursaring was able to tank all of Hitmonlee's attacks despite them being super effective along with taking it's own Focus Blast after Barry's Empoleon sent it back.Paul went for the strongest species of pokemon he could find in the wild,scan their moveset (IV/Nature) with his pokedex and then make them even stronger (EV Train/Breed).

His dynamic with Ash was also absolutely amazing, really cemented how even after beating the Battle Frontier, there was still a lot of stuff for Ash to do and improve as a trainer. If Paul is to appear again in the anime, I'd find it very interesting to have him hold an important role, because he's got as much potential as Ash, if not more, and to see him getting stagnant while Ash becomes champion and climbs through the ranks would be very underwhelming.

 

[janejane6178]

For me Paul was the BESTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Sawyer was nice too, he nice battle strategies
And Alan needs to be beaten already.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

If Paul is to appear again in the anime, I'd find it very interesting to have him hold an important role, because he's got as much potential as Ash, if not more, and to see him getting stagnant while Ash becomes champion and climbs through the ranks would be very underwhelming.

He has both the skill and power to win at a pokemon league,realistically he should've beaten Ash but lost due to plot armor.What Ash failed to do in Unova Paul would've corrected that by using his reserves,but he was already doing that in DP by constantly rotating his pokemon along with capturing and training new pokemon.Ash failed at doing this in Johto and Unova.

It wouldn't make sense for Paul to become stagnant when he was so focused on acquiring power and doing almost anything to get it.He wants to get to the top and be the best just like Ash does so if he does come back he should have access to Mega Evolution,Z-Move,Dynamax etc.

 

[Xuxuba]

Sawyer was good at coming up with counters. Paul was good at putting pressure and destabilizing the opponents from the get go.

Conway was very skilled too despite not showing up much.

Since i don't personally consider grinding to obtain brute strenght as a skill (tho one migh easily argue that it is), i am gonna leave out trainers like Alain, Kukui, Gladion, Bea and other opponents from the World Tournament out of this list, tho they do show some occasional strategies every now and then (but not often enough for me to distinguish their skills in my opinion).

 

[DayQuil95]

He has both the skill and power to win at a pokemon league,realistically he should've beaten Ash but lost due to plot armor.What Ash failed to do in Unova Paul would've corrected that by using his reserves,but he was already doing that in DP by constantly rotating his pokemon along with capturing and training new pokemon.Ash failed at doing this in Johto and Unova.

It wouldn't make sense for Paul to become stagnant when he was so focused on acquiring power and doing almost anything to get it.He wants to get to the top and be the best just like Ash does so if he does come back he should have access to Mega Evolution,Z-Move,Dynamax etc.

I honestly think that seeing Paul as something like an Elite Four, Frontier Brain, or even champion of another region would be amazing. If Iris and Ash could become champions, then the dude who is one of the most skilled trainers in the anime should too.

 

[DankOverlord]

I honestly think that seeing Paul as something like an Elite Four, Frontier Brain, or even champion of another region would be amazing. If Iris and Ash could become champions, then the dude who is one of the most skilled trainers in the anime should too.

Oh yeah, I could see him becoming Champion offscreen by the time of a future JN episode.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

I honestly think that seeing Paul as something like an Elite Four, Frontier Brain, or even champion of another region would be amazing. If Iris and Ash could become champions, then the dude who is one of the most skilled trainers in the anime should too.

Paul is definitely at the level of a Frontier Brain at least when counting Electivire,Ursaring,Drapion and Torterra.He would be higher than that if he gets those powerups.His Elekid and Ursaring became huge powerhouses in just 1 region so imagine if he got a hold of Mega Evolution.

 

[Power Up]

Conway is quite possibly one of the most overrated characters battle-wise I've ever seen. @Lunanight has done some great analysis of why so, but he's essentially a massive one-trick pony.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Conway is quite possibly one of the most overrated characters battle-wise I've ever seen. @Lunanight has done some great analysis of why so, but he's essentially a massive one-trick pony.

Straight Cap,I literally gave a list of all his best feats.

Conway

• Used Slowking's Safeguard to protect it and Dawn's Piplup in a tag battle.
• Had Shuckle use Withdraw multiple times to increase it's defense and then used the move Power Trick to switch it's attack and defense stats.
• Dusknoir's Trick Room allowed it to move faster than Ash's pokemon despite being physically slower,used Mean Look to prevent Ash from switching pokemon.
• Used Heracross's Feint attack to destroy Elekid's Protect which really caught Paul off guard.

How does this make him a one trick pony?Him,Paul and Katie are at the top of the food chain for most skilled trainers that we've seen in the anime not counting Champions,E4,Frontier Brains.