• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

Who is the Strongest Ash? (2021 Version)

Who is the Strongest Ash?

  • Kanto Ash

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Johto Ash

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hoenn/Battle Frontier Ash

    Votes: 3 4.0%
  • Sinnoh Ash

    Votes: 11 14.7%
  • Unova Ash

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Kalos Ash

    Votes: 18 24.0%
  • Alola Ash

    Votes: 7 9.3%
  • Journeys Ash

    Votes: 32 42.7%

  • Total voters
    75
  • Poll closed .

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
I would argue Journeys Ash takes the cake in terms of actual power. It's just the sheer scale difference between a league where you compete to be in either the top 256 at most or top 64 at least trainers in the entire region versus being in the top 100 of the world. Unless someone argues that the stakes are somehow lower in the World Coronation Series, but I doubt that's the case. I think it's just poorly articulated.
 

Decidueye23

Well-Known Member
Okay honestly... how do you rank "Strongest Ash".
Like the only way i see ranking is ranking his regional teams. Or AG ash is "strongest" considering he carried a tree or soemthing iirc.

Because the show despite its issues with continuity, has maintained that Ash grows from each journey. There is personal growth. There is strategic growth. He has always come up with innovative stratergies. Right from johto. And he has always been coming up with innovative stratergies. So he really didnt "grow" in that area.

Personal growth. There is considerable grwoth from OS to DP but thats it. All growth thereafter was pretty much feeling depressed about a loss for a bit and then gaining back from it.

There is no real way to measure "Strongest Ash" without really comparing hsi teams.
 

TheNewGuy

Well-Known Member
Voted Kalos but forgot he beat Iris, which puts JN Ash over the top

Kalos is #2 imo. I think getting to the final and losing in a close one to Alain's near-unbeatable Zard is better than beating Kukui or Gladion. But I don't need to die on that hill; there's valid arguments either way. To me that's the top 3. Sinnoh and BF 4/5.
 

nickdt

Well-Known Member
Okay honestly... how do you rank "Strongest Ash".
Like the only way i see ranking is ranking his regional teams. Or AG ash is "strongest" considering he carried a tree or soemthing iirc.

Because the show despite its issues with continuity, has maintained that Ash grows from each journey. There is personal growth. There is strategic growth. He has always come up with innovative stratergies. Right from johto. And he has always been coming up with innovative stratergies. So he really didnt "grow" in that area.

Personal growth. There is considerable grwoth from OS to DP but thats it. All growth thereafter was pretty much feeling depressed about a loss for a bit and then gaining back from it.

There is no real way to measure "Strongest Ash" without really comparing hsi teams.

And even then, comparing his teams can only lead to one conclusion and that is that his Orange Islands team is the strongest, since they won him an actual league.

And yes, there is Alola, but come on: Drakes Dragonite alone would sweep every single one of the League contestants, except for maybe Kiawe and Gladion.
 

UltimateNinja

Praying for the holy relics
Here we go. Strongest in what? Having the most op team, skills or eating the most jelly filled donuts?

In terms of the team it's Journeys but getting powerhouses served on a silver plate isn't something that makes me think Ash is the strongest.

Voting for the DP Ash who consistently trained and got through the most problems (yes my DP bias is strong)
 

LucasMV

Well-Known Member
I think there's a natural progression from total rookie trainer with potential to think outside the box in OS to an experienced trainer that comes up with strategies on the fly in JN.

By natural progression I mean Ash got consistently better as we moved from one series to another. The resounding exception being BW, where Ash was clearly below his DP and AG self. BW should've happened after OS to make sense from a progression standpoint.

Either way, my answer is JN's Ash is the strongest, followed by SM and then XY. Then DP, AG, BW and OS.
 

TheCrazyMaster

Well-Known Member
Depends what's meant by the strongest Ash.

If we're talking about trainer skill then BF and XY Ash are tied for me while Sinnoh Ash comes after them. While I feel like DP Ash triumphs over all the Ash's in terms of strategy, i feel like he relies more on thinking ahead of time compared to the former two who I feel are quicker at coming up with strategies on the fly.
JN Ash and SM Ash come after them for me as I feel like they have instances where they show the same competence as the former three, but I feel outside of these instances they're generally decent trainers, but just not on par with the former three. Then in no particular order I have OS plus BW Ash, that said I haven't watched BW since it ended and since I'll be re watching it soon my opinion may change in the future.

If we're talking team wise then JN Ash is on top by default. Next is the AG team since I consider the Battle Frontier to be more challenging than the gym challenge/island trials. I would argue that some of his Pokemon on both his Sinnoh and Kalos teams are probably stronger than some of his BF Pokemon, but I feel that I can't give them the benefit of the doubt. The last two in no particular order are his OS and BW teams. Note that I didn't include the Alolan team as I actually have a hard time ranking them.

If we're talking about the physically strongest Ash then I'm pretty sure AG Ash beats the others to bloody twitching pulps :D

Edit: I just realized that my smiley face emoji matches my profile pic XD
 

janejane6178

Kaleido Star FOREVER in my heart <3
Riolu and Farfetch'd?

Sure, Dragonite and Gengar were caught fully evolved and Dracovish doesn't evolve. But I think that very little screen time and not enough battles for Ash to use them on is more of a problem.
2 developed out of an entire team is not enough for me
Seeing newly caught Pokemon we barely saw train or battle, suddenly beats a champion. This is not called development for me
 

LucasMV

Well-Known Member
2 developed out of an entire team is not enough for me
Seeing newly caught Pokemon we barely saw train or battle, suddenly beats a champion. This is not called development for me
I kind of agree with the part about beating a Champion with these recent captures feeling somewhat forced and not in line with how the series always portrayed Champions.

But about the development, would it have been better if Dragonite was caught as a Dratini and in the span of less than 10 episodes became a Dragonite and then battled Korrina and do the rest of the stuff he did? Like how Goomy quickly became Goodra in XY?

I don't think that's necessarily better. Goodra could be seen as rushed development and Dragonite could be seen as Ash's achievement of catching a fully evolved Pseudo. They're just different possibilities.

Or is Gengar different than Hawlucha? A pokemon that doesn't evolve and is just strong from the get-go without needing much development.

I don't think this series portrays development badly, although too much of it happens off screen. I think what it does worse than SM for example, is not giving enough screen time to Ash's team outside of battles.
 

nickdt

Well-Known Member
Here we go. Strongest in what? Having the most op team, skills or eating the most jelly filled donuts?

In terms of the team it's Journeys but getting powerhouses served on a silver plate isn't something that makes me think Ash is the strongest.

Voting for the DP Ash who consistently trained and got through the most problems (yes my DP bias is strong)

Ash relied to much on Infernapes Blaze activating though, especially in the harder battles, because his other mons didn't come through. While Buizel and Staraptor had strong showings, they have nothing over Hawlucha and Talonflame, who beat/hit Mega's and hit/fought legendaries, with Talonflame even not going down in any official match without taking a mon with it (Basically having the best showing out of any mon next to Pikachu).

But even then his Orange Islands team is the strongest, since its the only team that won him a league and it was against a cheating Dragonite no less (The same Dragonite would sweep the entire Alola league, including Gladions Zoroark, Umbreon and Lycanroc, but gets a hard fight against Silvally and Kiawe's Charizard and Turtonator). It would also sweep Kukui's entire team except Incineroar.

Paul was set-up to be a threat, but in the end, only Drapion and Electivire had strong showings when it came down to it, since Paul pretty much only used Aggron and Froslass to be fall mons in order to scout out Ash's team. And during the Lake Acuity battle, Paul had fully evolved mons, while Ash didn't.
 
Last edited:

Dynamic_Fusion

HIKARI HYPE
Pikachu got thrashed by Regice last week even though it bet one in AG. I think the Power Levels have significantly been reduced in the Anime.
 

ShadowForce720

Well-Known Member
Pikachu got thrashed by Regice last week even though it bet one in AG. I think the Power Levels have significantly been reduced in the Anime.
Except it didn’t actually get thrashed in episode 71 instead what happened was after countering Ice Beam had gotten pushed back, but before Ash and Pikachu could resume the battle Tsurugi and his Urshifu intervened.

If you actually pay close attention to one Pikachu got knocked back you will notice that Pikachu was not knocked out and was still in good condition.

So Pikachu didn’t actually get thrashed or lose the battle.
 

Dynamic_Fusion

HIKARI HYPE
Except it didn’t actually get thrashed in episode 71 instead what happened was after countering Ice Beam had gotten pushed back, but before Ash and Pikachu could resume the battle Tsurugi and his Urshifu intervened.

If you actually pay close attention to one Pikachu got knocked back you will notice that Pikachu was not knocked out and was still in good condition.

So Pikachu didn’t actually get thrashed or lose the battle.
I mean Pikachu was indeed knocked back and losing against it. If it did continue, then he surely would have lost. That is at least what I am saying.
 

Jers745

I dont know :p
I mean Pikachu was indeed knocked back and losing against it. If it did continue, then he surely would have lost. That is at least what I am saying.
He beat it the first time with the friendship power also like they say pikachu was in good condition to resume the battle
 
Top