Which is Ash's Strongest Regional Bird?

[Aduro]

But apparently none of this matters because it lost to a Latios

Yeah, despite the fact that some of Ash's very toughest pokemon have struggled against a legendary. Let alone one that's actually commanded by a skilled trainer

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Swellow is definitely better than Staraptor. Staraptor wasn't bad, but he wasn't great either. Swellow had great performances throughout the Hoenn region, especially during the league, and Battle Frontier. Except from the Trollbias episode, I always remember him taking out at least one Pokemon before he was ever knocked out. If P.I.C.S.S. is Ash's tier-1, then Swellow is easily in the tier-2s.

Swellow's resume is easily better than Staraptor's. Moveset means absolutely nothing if the bird doesn't have the power, speed, and stamina behind it.

At the Hoenn League, Swellow beat Katie's Venomoth and Scizor, tied with Morrison's Gligar, and defeated eventual champion Tyson's Hariyama and Donphan, and cracked Metagross's armor. He and Corphish beat Frontier Brain Tucker's Arcanine/Swampert, and he beats Frontier Brain Spenser's Venusaur (which just beat Heracross).

Like I said, just because Staraptor knows Brave Bird and Close Combat doesn't mean he'll be better if Swellow is faster, stronger, and tougher.

Legends say that a single Rollout from Donphan would have tramped Roserade. Swellow took four. And then stopped another one with his bare talons only to promptly Seismic Toss a f-ing rock elephant six times his weight for a OHKO.

Swellow > all other birds.

You're pulling a straw man here. Even if you take out Thunder Armor, Swellow is still better than Staraptor.

I seriously lol at those who say that Staraptor's victory against Paul's Weavile and his triumph over Honchkrow in a Pokeringer contest are better feats than those that Swellow has accumulated...Swellow is superior in strength, speed, and stamina. Staraptor has cool moves. You be the judge.

And y'know what's funny is that Latios's win against Swellow is actually a case of DEM/PIS considering Swellow tanked much more damage in the past and came out the victor.

 

[RafaSceptile]

Swellow's Battle Record: 10 Wins, 7 Loses, 1 Draw
Staraptor's Battle Record: 6 Wins, 9 Loses
Talonflame's Battle Record: 9 Wins, 9 Loses, 1 Draw

 

[Ubermuk]

*A bunch of quotes from someone else just to defend your thesis*

It's embarrassing that you have to quote a bunch of posts by a banned member just to defend your argument about Swellow instead of coming up with your own rebuttals... an argument that started just because I said that Staraptor was stronger and Swellow losing to Latios the way that he did was bullcrap. Like for ****'s sake am I not allowed an opinion?

 

[SerenaRulez]

Swellow seems to have the best battle record so I guess he's the strongest but I thought Talonflame was impressive too.

 

[UltimateNinja]

Staraptor got shafted at the last fourth of the series and it wasn't really that amazing anyway. No gym starring and it always felt like he was just there with the Brave Bird training being the only thing where he got focus. He got great moves and was decently strong but not that much of a powerhouse people think it is.

Talonflame is similiar but with a more consistent performance until the end of the league.

Swellow had less of a great moveset but he was consistently strong throughout the the series where it felt like he was the vice regional ace.

 

[Kuzehiko]

I think it is Talonflame.

 

[Applecorp]

Swellow, Talonflame and Staraptor are the strongest ones. The others don't even matter if you look at their battle records and notice that they're all average.

 

[RafaSceptile]

Swellow, Talonflame and Staraptor are the strongest ones. The others don't even matter if you look at their battle records and notice that they're all average.

Uuuuuhhhhhh

Swellow's Battle Record: 10 Wins, 7 Loses, 1 Draw
Staraptor's Battle Record: 6 Wins, 9 Loses
Talonflame's Battle Record: 9 Wins, 9 Loses, 1 Draw

Pidgeot's Battle Record: 2 Wins, 4 Loses
Noctowl's Battle Record: 4 Wins, 2 Loses
Unfezant's Battle Record: 3 Wins, 3 Loses
Rowlet's Battle Record: 8 Wins, 3 Loses

If we talk about Battle Record, Rowlet, Noctowl and Unfezant are the strongest ones. The others are all average or above. In that sense about only Battle Record:
Rowlet > Noctowl > Swellow > Talonflame > Unfezant > Staraptor > Pidgeot

 

[Leonhart]

Pidgeot's Battle Record: 2 Wins, 4 Loses
Noctowl's Battle Record: 4 Wins, 2 Loses
Unfezant's Battle Record: 3 Wins, 3 Loses
Rowlet's Battle Record: 8 Wins, 3 Loses

If we talk about Battle Record, Rowlet, Noctowl and Unfezant are the strongest ones. The others are all average or above. In that sense about only Battle Record:
Rowlet > Noctowl > Swellow > Talonflame > Unfezant > Staraptor > Pidgeot

To be fair, most people aren't taking Mokuroh into consideration since he was more like a regional bird substitute, and even the poll says that voting for him isn't compulsory.

 

[RafaSceptile]

To be fair, most people aren't taking Mokuroh into consideration since he was more like a regional bird substitute, and even the poll says that voting for him isn't compulsory.

I know, the point was about Staraptor having the 2nd worst Battle Récord, but still it is "the strongest" and "above the average" with that Battle Record

 

[Red and Blue]

Swellow. It was one of his biggest powerhouses of Hoenn second only to Sceptile.


Curious were Toucannon would have ranked

 

[Blazicken]

Even with his inferior moveset compared to staraptor, the strongest is Swellow without a doubt.
Ignore the way the writers did him dirty against Tobias.

 

[k6666]

Swellow , talonflame , Rowlet

 

[Almighty Zard]

Swellow wins this one hands down.

losing to a legendary doesn't detract how strong it already showed it was.

When you can tank electricity that's normally supposed to hurt you like a boss, and take a hyper beam point blank after having your defence lowered and getting back up, i'd say that's awesome.

 

[nickdt]

Swellow's Battle Record: 10 Wins, 7 Loses, 1 Draw
Staraptor's Battle Record: 6 Wins, 9 Loses
Talonflame's Battle Record: 9 Wins, 9 Loses, 1 Draw

So Talonflame is better, since it battled more and despite that has only 1 win less than Swellow and it didn't have the Battle Frontier and Sinnoh league either to put its wins higher.

 

[Ignition]

I'd say Swellow because it had a lot of great showcases. I know all of Ash's Pokémon are stubborn in some degree but this thing is probably the poster child for it. Talonflame and Staraptor take 2nd and 3rd respectively

 

[Fernsday]

I’d have to go with Talonflame overall, while Swellow has had some great wins I consider Talonflame’s feats to better which include taking a thunderbolt from Zapdos and needing a second one to be put down, knocked back a Moltres right after evolving, etc. Comparing all of them based off feats I’d say Talonflame>Swellow>Rowlet>Staraptor>Noctowl>Unfezant>Pidgeot. Staraptor I find a bit overrated, it does have an impressive win over Paul’s Weavile but said Weavile wasn’t used again and doesn’t seem to be as strong compared to most of Paul’s other Pokémon such as Honchcrow or Magmortar, even Gastrodon made Ash recall Staraptor, Roserade was a decent win but it gets heavily hurt just from a Magical Leaf leading to its defeat from Armaldo’s Rock Blast. As for Rowlet being over Staraptor, I find it to be more consistent plus it also has some solid feats of its own over Staraptor imo including easily beating Ryuki’s Zweilous and Druddigon(Albeit with a combo attack) and essentially shrugged off Steel Wings(Albeit he resists) from Kukui’s Braviary(While Staraptor was reeling from Roserade’s Magical Leaf) who easily sliced through Lycanroc’s Stone Edge which knocked back Tapu Bulu(Plus prompted him to actually block the attack) and he only continued to get much stronger from the Ula Ula arc and also later on managed to tank a super effective Sludge Bomb from Kukui’s Venusaur(Though it fainted from the next attack, I still think it’s a better show of durability than Staraptor getting one shot by Armaldo’s Rock Blast), it was also fast enough to quickly use Brave Bird and aim for its leg while Braviary was already coming at it with Superpower and managed to defeat it

 

[nickdt]

Swellow seems to have the best battle record so I guess he's the strongest but I thought Talonflame was impressive too.

Battle record means nothing without looking at the match-ups though. Talonflame fought 2 legendaries, tanked a Fire Blast from Moltres as a Fletchinder,, brought a hit in against a Mega (Again, as a Fletchinder) and won the first battle it ever participated in against a Gym Leader, as a Fletchling no less and it never went down in a gym without taking down at least 1 mon, except for against Grant and it also tanked a Fire Blast from Talonflame as a Fletchling. So Fletchling has shown to be naturally the strongest bird from the start and kept that consistency up througout the whole region.

 

[RafaSceptile]

Battle record means nothing without looking at the match-ups though. Talonflame fought 2 legendaries, tanked a Fire Blast from Moltres as a Fletchinder,, brought a hit in against a Mega (Again, as a Fletchinder) and won the first battle it ever participated in against a Gym Leader, as a Fletchling no less and it never went down in a gym without taking down at least 1 mon, except for against Grant and it also tanked a Fire Blast from Talonflame as a Fletchling. So Fletchling has shown to be naturally the strongest bird from the start and kept that consistency up througout the whole region.

Those battles aren't considerer on its Battle Record because those were inconclusive battles