Controversial opinions

[Unireon]

I wouldn't count Lucario in any ranking.

Since it's all due to plot-armor/DeM.

Edit: I would try to make my own but it wouldn't be controversial.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I really don't see what Dragonite or Incineroar has done to be so high up on the list. Should they be on the list maybe but not that high up. And I guess I can say the same for Lucario.

Incineroar defeated Kukui's own Incineroar (who was firmly established to be insanely powerful, possibly the strongest Pokemon in all of Alola) as a Torracat, lending some good credence to it being a powerhouse. Dragonite and Lucario I do agree need to wait for Journeys to end before properly ranking them, but so far they've both had very strong showings: Dragonite soloed Korrina's team and later defeated Champion Iris's Haxorus (who is her ace) while Lucario beat two of Bea's Pokemon, her ace included.

If anything, I'd argue that the one Pokemon on that list whose placement is suspect is Naganadel, since we didn't see it do anywehre near enough stuff to properly gauge its strength: the best accomplishment it has is defeating Kukui's Lucario, who seems to be his weakest Pokemon if its onscreen performances are anything to go by, so placing Naganadel among Ash's strongest Pokemon is dubious at best. I'd swap it out with Lycanroc, tbh.

 

[Enzo]

Spoiler

Ash’s Battle Frontier team is better than his Kalos team.

Top 10 Ash strongest Pokemon:

1. Pikachu

2. Charizard

3. Sceptile

4. Dragonite

5. Incineroar

6. Nagandel

7. Greninja

8. Infernape

9. Snorlax

10. Lucario

The controversial opinion is Greninja being out of the top 5.

Incineroar on #5???? Dragonite, Incineroar and Naganadel (???) above Infernape???? Both Infernape and Snorlax being this low???

I know this is the controversial opinion thread, but damn...

To be clear: I'm not trying to diminish their victories and deeds... But I don't agree with this ranking. At all.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Incineroar on #5???? Dragonite, Incineroar and Naganadel (???) above Infernape???? Both Infernape and Snorlax being this low???

I know this is the controversial opinion thread, but damn...

To be clear: I'm not trying to diminish their victories and deeds... But I don't agree with this ranking. At all.

Snorlax should be higher. Also do you agree with Greninja being number 7

 

[HiroHunter]

Snorlax should be higher. Also do you agree with Greninja being number 7

Greninja should be above at least Nagandel.... Why is Negandel on the list at all?

 

[Unireon]

At the end I ended up making it anyway.....

Spoiler: Maybe-not-so-controversial Ranking

1. Goukazaru
2. Lizardon
3. Jukain
4. Gekkouga
5. Pikachu
6. Kabigon
7. Lugarugan
8. Waruvial
9. Fushigidane
10. Onigohri

I am not counting Gaogaen since it hasn't battled after evolving.
And there is the Power-Up-Letdown trope.

I am going to wait for Journeys to end and then I will put Lucario in the absolute bottom.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

My personal rankings:

1. Pikachu
2. Infernape
3. Charizard
4. Sceptile
5. Snorlax
6. Incineroar
7. Lycanroc
8. Greninja
9. Swellow
10. Bulbasaur

 

[HiroHunter]

Mine ranking is:

1. Pikachu
2. Charizard
3. Infernape
4. Sceptile/Greninja
5. Snorlax
6. Incineroar
7. Lycanorc
8. Swellow
9. Bulbasaur
10. Lucario?

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

At the end I ended up making it anyway.....

Spoiler: Maybe-not-so-controversial Ranking

1. Goukazaru
2. Lizardon
3. Jukain
4. Gekkouga
5. Pikachu
6. Kabigon
7. Lugarugan
8. Waruvial
9. Fushigidane
10. Onigohri

I am not counting Gaogaen since it hasn't battled after evolving.
And there is the Power-Up-Letdown trope.

I am going to wait for Journeys to end and then I will put Lucario in the absolute bottom.

Wow, Glalie...

I put Nagandel on their because it is a legendary Ultra Beast that Ash shouldn’t have even had in the first place.

Then again I’m only putting Dragonite above Greninja as it defeated a champions ace (Haxorus) then again we have no idea how strong Iris really is. And Dragonite has potential to get stronger.

I should put Lycanroc in the top 10 but didn’t even though it’s best feat is beating Gladion’s ace (in a bs way while it was getting outplayed) but didn’t because it jobbed against Kukui

 

[HiroHunter]

I put Nagandel on their because it is a legendary Ultra Beast that Ash shouldn’t have even had in the first place.

The thing is the only win from the top of my head that it has was vs Kukui's Lucario. And from the looks of it that wasn't one of Kukui's stronger pokemon. So I still don't think he should be on the list.

 

[Unireon]

Wow, Glalie...

I put Nagandel on their because it is a legendary Ultra Beast that Ash shouldn’t have even had in the first place.

It defeated a Lizardon, it was truly a pity that the writers decided to cut off its potential.

Agoyon didn't do anything remarkable, so it doesn't deserve a spot.

I am not judging the current team, yet. Until we get farther in Journeys.
Despite me having made known my intent to put Lucario at the last place no matter what when that time comes.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

The reason why I put Greninja lower than Charizard and Sceptile was because Greninja disappointed me greatly. It was supposed to win Ash his first league, and it didn’t. GRENINJA WAS THE CHOSEN ONE!

 

[HiroHunter]

The reason why I put Greninja lower than Charizard and Sceptile was because Greninja disappointed me greatly. It was supposed to win Ash his first league, and it didn’t. GRENINJA WAS THE CHOSEN ONE!

I blame that lost more on Alain's LOL LOOK HOW SUPER OP I AM!Charizard than Greninja.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Greninja vs Charizard was just Creator's Pet vs Creator's Pet and in the end the bigger Creator's Pet won out

 

[Enzo]

Greninja vs Charizard was just Creator's Pet vs Creator's Pet and in the end the bigger Creator's Pet won out

As I said before: Greninja's downfall was the fact that both ''Ash is not allowed to win'' and ''Charizard is the ultimate Pokémon and can be nothing less than that'' syndromes plagued the narrative at the same time, and Greninja could break both (at the same time to boot) by defeating Charizard and giving Ash the win, so the poor frog had to be put down by the higher ups/writers.

It was just unfortunate circumstances for Greninja, really.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

I honestly think ranking the power of each of Ash’s Pokemon has become ridiculously absurd, all thanks to the PWC.
A Champion’s Pokemon can be taken out by an inexperienced Dracovish, yet some of Ash’s top Pokemon couldn’t even compete with the E4 in Sinnoh.
In anything, it’s a clear sign Ash has gotten much better at training, but with everything else, it just means some of his older Pokemon would potentially be a lot stronger under the current Ash. So, I really think there’s a lot of room to debate the Pokemon anywhere from the top three to twenty if you think about it. Personally, I thought Snivy was pretty strong, but we all know what Unova Ash was like.

 

[UglyToast]

I honestly think ranking the power of each of Ash’s Pokemon has become ridiculously absurd, all thanks to the PWC.
A Champion’s Pokemon can be taken out by an inexperienced Dracovish, yet some of Ash’s top Pokemon couldn’t even compete with the E4 in Sinnoh.
In anything, it’s a clear sign Ash has gotten much better at training, but with everything else, it just means some of his older Pokemon would potentially be a lot stronger under the current Ash. So, I really think there’s a lot of room to debate the Pokemon anywhere from the top three to twenty if you think about it. Personally, I thought Snivy was pretty strong, but we all know what Unova Ash was like.

to be fair, Dracovish managed to take out Dragonite only because Iris was not expecting Dracovish to pull off an ice type move, after Dragonite went down, Iris noticed her mistake and decided to take out Dracovish from afar instead of getting closer again.

 

[Enzo]

to be fair, Dracovish managed to take out Dragonite only because Iris was not expecting Dracovish to pull off an ice type move, after Dragonite went down, Iris noticed her mistake and decided to take out Dracovish from afar instead of getting closer again.

Also like,,, Ash probably has the only Dracovish in existence and she obviously had never met one before, so, it's absolutely reasonable she just didn't knew what it could possibly do, hence her not expecting it knowing Ice Fang and having that crazy powerful bite force.

 

[Enzo]

I honestly think ranking the power of each of Ash’s Pokemon has become ridiculously absurd, all thanks to the PWC.
A Champion’s Pokemon can be taken out by an inexperienced Dracovish, yet some of Ash’s top Pokemon couldn’t even compete with the E4 in Sinnoh.
In anything, it’s a clear sign Ash has gotten much better at training, but with everything else, it just means some of his older Pokemon would potentially be a lot stronger under the current Ash. So, I really think there’s a lot of room to debate the Pokemon anywhere from the top three to twenty if you think about it. Personally, I thought Snivy was pretty strong, but we all know what Unova Ash was like.

THIS. This actually why I never felt that these rankings of Ash's Pokémon were ever truly... ''fair''. Because not only is Ash evolving as a trainer as time goes on (well, I know that BW Ash was... something that happened, but my point still stands), but it's also cuz we just.. never see these Pokémon actually doing much when their series ends (at least up until DP, that is), so really: How much better would, say, Torkoal's, Boldore's and Unfezant's general perfomances would be like if they were to be under the most recent Ash's care? Is it still fair to compare them with Ash's more recent teams, or any of Ash's older mons, even the ones considered the best, as in: Charizard, Sceptile, etc, considering that these more recent teams were trained by a ''better'' Ash? I don't think the answer to strenght ranking is as simple/clear as we make it out to be.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Not to mention the JN team (and to an extent a few Kalos and Alola Pokémon) are protected what is an impenetrably thick layer of plot armor when they’re in a match they are supposed to "star" in.