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With all the skill debates, I decided to do one for the highest grossing media franchise in the world. All Pokemon are naturally skilled, but which Pokemon rise above the others? Which Pokemon are the most skilled out of them all? All the main media (games, the anime, and Pokemon Adventures) will be considered for the list. There are rules, however, but the most important one is to have fun (also don't take this too seriously).
Rule 1
None of the creation gods. Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf are banned. The nigh omniscience granted by scaling to Uxie being the concept of knowledge and therefore knowing everything that ever was as well as Dialga being the concept of time and therefore experiencing everything that ever was (as well as being older than dirt) makes this unfair, as they automatically win like they would any other "most [blank] Pokemon" challenge. You may be wondering about Darkrai and Cresselia, but we'll get to them later.
On a related note, I may ban Mewtwo as well, as being genetically engineered to be the best Pokemon in every way is cheating. Currently he's allowed, but if he tops the list he's banned.
Rule 2
Legendaries and Mythicals are allowed. Being a physical god doesn't necessarily make you skilled. For example, Manaphy has no skill beyond basic Pokemon instinct (which imo is good on its own), which means it gets severely outskilled by something as simple as a Machop. This also includes Darkrai and Cresselia. They may minorly scale to the creation gods (minus Arceus), but they're *not* creation gods. They're newer Legends, presumably coming well after the likes of Mew, Rayquaza, Regigigas, and the like.
Rule 3
No unique Pokemon. Only Pokemon that are part of species may be considered. Legendaries and Mythicals are exceptions as by default there's only one...sometimes. But yeah, that means no to Pokemon such as Sir Aaron's Lucario, Grandmaster Wigglytuff, Red's Clefairy, and most importantly, no to Ash's Pikachu. All of them heavily skew the results of the species.
Rule 4
Mega Evolutions and Gigantamax Forms are allowed...for now. If they dominate the list then they get yeeted. However, I doubt that given the insanity brought on by Mega Evolution retcons, and iirc, Gigantamax Forms don't really have any skill feats.
Rule 5
Other than that, all Pokemon are allowed, no matter the stage in evolution. But due to that, consider the Pokemon separate. Machop isn't Machoke who in turn isn't Machamp. For example Machamp may be more skilled than Conkeldurr, but Machoke might not be. Obviously, evolutions get the skill they had in previous forms (because duh). On a similar note, don't separate forms. Obviously, Alolan and Galarian forms get considered different Pokemon, but for example, Oricorio is still Oricorio no matter the dance style, Darmanita is still Darmanitan despite Zen Mode, and Rotom is still Rotom no matter the possessed appliance.
Rule 6
Unlike the normal skill thread, age/experience do count towards skill, albeit not a lot. For example, a 1,000 year old Pokemon spending its time fighting is gonna have a lot of experience, but a 1,000,000 year old Pokemon just sitting in space waiting for a random 10 year old isn't.
Rule 7
So...like the skill tier list, I'm gonna make this more tier-based than just a single general answer. You probably could figure that out from the rules above lol. The tier list outline is going to be in my comment directly below this one. I'm gonna try my best to order it. Please, for the love of God, don't give me all 890+ Pokemon.
Let's be honest, this top of the list is gonna be filled up with Fighting- type Pokemon anyway.
Rule 1
None of the creation gods. Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf are banned. The nigh omniscience granted by scaling to Uxie being the concept of knowledge and therefore knowing everything that ever was as well as Dialga being the concept of time and therefore experiencing everything that ever was (as well as being older than dirt) makes this unfair, as they automatically win like they would any other "most [blank] Pokemon" challenge. You may be wondering about Darkrai and Cresselia, but we'll get to them later.
On a related note, I may ban Mewtwo as well, as being genetically engineered to be the best Pokemon in every way is cheating. Currently he's allowed, but if he tops the list he's banned.
Rule 2
Legendaries and Mythicals are allowed. Being a physical god doesn't necessarily make you skilled. For example, Manaphy has no skill beyond basic Pokemon instinct (which imo is good on its own), which means it gets severely outskilled by something as simple as a Machop. This also includes Darkrai and Cresselia. They may minorly scale to the creation gods (minus Arceus), but they're *not* creation gods. They're newer Legends, presumably coming well after the likes of Mew, Rayquaza, Regigigas, and the like.
Rule 3
No unique Pokemon. Only Pokemon that are part of species may be considered. Legendaries and Mythicals are exceptions as by default there's only one...sometimes. But yeah, that means no to Pokemon such as Sir Aaron's Lucario, Grandmaster Wigglytuff, Red's Clefairy, and most importantly, no to Ash's Pikachu. All of them heavily skew the results of the species.
Rule 4
Mega Evolutions and Gigantamax Forms are allowed...for now. If they dominate the list then they get yeeted. However, I doubt that given the insanity brought on by Mega Evolution retcons, and iirc, Gigantamax Forms don't really have any skill feats.
Rule 5
Other than that, all Pokemon are allowed, no matter the stage in evolution. But due to that, consider the Pokemon separate. Machop isn't Machoke who in turn isn't Machamp. For example Machamp may be more skilled than Conkeldurr, but Machoke might not be. Obviously, evolutions get the skill they had in previous forms (because duh). On a similar note, don't separate forms. Obviously, Alolan and Galarian forms get considered different Pokemon, but for example, Oricorio is still Oricorio no matter the dance style, Darmanita is still Darmanitan despite Zen Mode, and Rotom is still Rotom no matter the possessed appliance.
Rule 6
Unlike the normal skill thread, age/experience do count towards skill, albeit not a lot. For example, a 1,000 year old Pokemon spending its time fighting is gonna have a lot of experience, but a 1,000,000 year old Pokemon just sitting in space waiting for a random 10 year old isn't.
Rule 7
So...like the skill tier list, I'm gonna make this more tier-based than just a single general answer. You probably could figure that out from the rules above lol. The tier list outline is going to be in my comment directly below this one. I'm gonna try my best to order it. Please, for the love of God, don't give me all 890+ Pokemon.
