The Unexpected Teammate

[Raviel the Phantom]

The one thing I love about Reborn is the fact that you have to have diversity in your team and think outside the normal Game Freak box. During my journey, I managed to catch a Koffing, and thought nothing much about it. It had good IVs, decent nature, but I just kept it along to fill up my roster.

Little did I know that gas bag was able to take a lot of punishment and dish out just as much. Helping me take out a few gym leaders, I decided to make it a part of my team as a side liner for future gyms.

So, who became a surprising asset in your game play?

[Combat]

Dophan, slayer of poison types and the only reason I didn't give up on Reborn.

Corey was probably the first time I actually felt Reborn's difficulty, and thanks to my shiny Dophan Lily, I was able to beat him. It was also the time I learned you need to use Pokemon besides one you only like to beat Reborn too.

[Shad_]

Donphan destoyed everything on its way to the end of E15, from Shade (where i caught my trusty pal as a Phanpy) to Ciel and her Mega Altaria

[DemICE]

Linoone.

Pickup helped me a great deal of much over the course of my journey. With every 10-level becoming better and better.

Godly early game cuz lvl 20 evolution and strong early moves.

Pin Missile a decent coverage move that wrecked Florinia cuz of the field effect,

Stab headbutt with important flinches at some hard battles.

Good HM synergy --> Cut/Strength/Rock Smash/Surf/Headbutt combined with Pickup and Reborn's feature to forget HM moves made it the god of overworld.

Belly Drum enabled it to sweep if it survived.

Overall, a utility teammate that can also hold its own in a fight, instead of being just a useless underleveled HM pickup-slave that leaves you with 5 battling pokemon

Edited June 30, 2016 by DemICE

[YoshiofRedemption]

This is a great question. A lot of the Pokemon I've used in my run of Reborn have been unexpected finds, yet also very helpful, which is to be expected when you decide to limit yourself to only using Pokemon you've never used before or haven't used in a while. If I must pick one, I cast my vote for Swalot. It was a major help against Florinia, helped me beat Corey in 1 try when I was struggling to not lose my sanity against the Gym Leaders early on, and its defenses make it an amazing tank while it slowly takes down the opposition and regains health with Black Sludge.

[Lugruf]

Pachirisu and Musharna for me.

[NaughtyNomad]

I'd say it was my Roserade. I didnt have plans to catch one, because I wanted a lilligant for my grass type, but since it literally jumped into my arms and onto my team, I haven't regretted it a bit.

It worked out well because I never got a sunny day while in Reborn City, so I could never get the event Petitil.

[Timber Dragon]

Quite a few, considering in the official games I usually got away with using maybe 1-4 good mons, sometimes all the way to the Elite 4. I guess you can say that nearly 80 percent of my roster were unexpected finds.

In a normal playthrough, an example that a lot of Reborners probably know of is Kricketune. I think it was mainly put there to help players deal with Florinia and her Cradily, but it was actually a useful battler in general all the way until around Corey. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it got the axe in subsequent episodes just for how powerful Fury Cutter can be.

In my bird-themed run, one mon I did not expect to be this useful is Aromatisse. You have no idea how often this fluffy birb came to the rescue for being a heavy hitter in general, and for not being weak to some combination of Electric, Rock, Ice, Ground, and even Water that's a threat to the rest of my team.

But yes, Reborn really forces you to use Pokemon you normally wouldn't bother with, even moreso when you're doing a monotype or some other themed challenge, and it is awesome.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Timber Dragon

[Cyanna Cyril]

Golem was an old favorite who came back in reborn with a vengeance with strength that was surprisingly wonderful to blow through many challenges easily.

Also, having never played Gen 6, I was very pleased by the performance of Pancham/Pangoro throughout my first run. I didn't really have high expectations for the fella, but by the end of E15, he was my main sweeper and carried me through so many different situations.

[Alchemia Chan]

Emolga was one of my most unexpectedly devastating Pokemon in Reborn.

Another would be Aromatisse and Garbodor.

[daigotsurezan]

Kricketune. Never has an early-game Bug type proved so amazingly honed to rock the early game. Sure, it's less potent against Cain (who resists Fury Cutter) and Julia (who can blast it out of the sky too easily), but it eats anything that doesn't resist bug (or outspeed it) for breakfast.

In the more long-term, Cacturne (for my main run) or Pinsir (for my mono-Bug run).

Cacturne came with Water Absorb and learned great moves like Cotton Spore/Needle Arm and Sucker Punch. He's got a few common weaknesses like Flying, Fire and Fighting (and a HUGE weakness to Bug), but he pulls his own weight on the team.

Pinsir's moveset is surprisingly dominated by Fighting moves, but he does learn the staple X-Scissor and gave my team an additional coverage element against Rock and Dark types (the form in particular was sorely needed). With Swords Dance and the surprisingly useful Storm Throw (which I'd never even HEARD of before Pinsir learned it), he can carve through any amount of Barriers or Reflects.

And Pinsir is only going to get nastier with I can finally replace his held Black Belt with Pinsirite...

[Dragon116]

Hariyama and Sudowoodo. Hariyama is a freaking beast that worked well up until Ciel. Sudowoodo is the absolute best utility mon there is, and it can help turn a bad situation into a more level playing field.

[JoshMck]

I love the fact Reborn makes you use Pokemon you wouldn't normally use~

The Pokemon for me that surprised me was DEFINITELY LUNATONE. Lunatone is a MONSTER. Lunar has been part of my team since I found it in the corner of some cave (forget the name.) Lunatone has helped me DESTROY Gym Leaders and move forward on my adventure. I didn't think much of it when I added Lunatone. I just wanted a duel typing/a new team member so I caught it. Lunatone swept Ciel. MEGA ALTARIA DID NOTHING. Once I set up on Lunatone, it's even MORE powerful. I was extremely surprised that it ended up being one of my teams MVP. It's either DOMINATING in a battle, but if its not then it's getting destroyed. Which is okay. It's done it's job and it'll continue to do so. I love Lunatone~

[krim]

Ive done a mono dark run, where Crawdaunt was my mvp. For some reason leaders would never target him in doubles so he could set up and sweep easily. He also took quite a bit of punishment.

And Im currently doing a mono flying run. Swoobat has swept Shelly and Shade so far as well as dealing massive damage to other leaders teams. Simple with access to charge beam and calm mind is too good to pass up.

[Zargerth]

In Reborn, Barbaracle. Not only you really don't need any TMs to get a viable moveset on Barbaracle, it can also sweep after 1 Shell Smash.

In Rejuvenation, Torkoal. He was da mvp back in Versions 5 and 6.

[Lilleen]

My first run: Stoutland. I actually never thought I'd ever use this dog. I'm not very fan of normal types. This dog, however, could wreck shit: 110 attack isn't anything to sneeze at. I smacked Giga Impact on that thing and it destroyed anything in its path (almost ... unless those things were ghosts, steel or rock types ... yeah)

My second run: I don't remember this run too well. Maybe because it didn't go too well. I remember that my Swoobat was quite powerful early game. It alone destroyed Kiki.

My current run: Emolga has won my respect this run. Holy moly, that thing can be powerful. That immunty to ground type is just beautiful.

[Drymus]

Before Reborn, I had never touched the Zubat line. Now, after Reborn, I can't believe what I was missing out on.

Also, Tangrowth and Emolga surprised me as well.

[Tartar]

Ampharos was a dependable asset throughout my journies throughout the Reborn Region, and has been with me since I got one. Surprisingly its tanky and has great coverage and utility with Discharge/Power Gem/Thunder Wave and I imagine that it'll do wonders in the future due to being able to learn Dragon Pulse, and many Dragon types being in the upcoming episodes.

[JoshMck]

Ampharos was a dependable asset throughout my journies throughout the Reborn Region, and has been with me since I got one. Surprisingly its tanky and has great coverage and utility with Discharge/Power Gem/Thunder Wave and I imagine that it'll do wonders in the future due to being able to learn Dragon Pulse, and many Dragon types being in the upcoming episodes.

AND MEGA AMPHAROS. Don't forget that. Pure Destruction.

[Zounds]

I'd say Butterfree has carried my team the most throughout my playthough. Emolga has also been an incredible sweeper for the squad and gave me wins I never would've expected. Now I am in an awkward position where I should replace one of these two pokemon for my main team but I am too attached to both of them!

[Honchy]

My first run? I had it all planned out from the start, but for my second run, I need some space fillers if I wanted my ideal team, so I ended up catching a Patrat. Watchog actually has a lot of coverage and support moves

[guy who doesn't post]

Swoobat was my MVP for the longest time until I ended up dropping it just before the battle with Serra (Because it's just so great that the next three gyms rendered it almost unsuable.). Simple AND Calm Mind is a great combo, though, and with Charge Beam it ripped apart most teams.

Other than that I didn't have too many unexpected party members.

[mde2001]

I'd probably go with Garbodor and Pachirisu. I expected myself to drop both of them as soon as better pokemon of their types became available, but they've both served me well.

[Lupo]

E m o l g a . . .

Sweeped the heck out of Kiki's team and helped in killing off a majority of Samson's team

In my first run however, Leavanny

Caught one only cuz it's shiny but ended up killing off Radomus and Luna's teams and Mewtwo

[Sarun]

In Reborn, probably Skuntank. It's stats are decent while at the same time he only has one weakness and can learn Toxic early while being obtainable before the first gym. Also Gourgest because of the huge bulk for being automatically super-sized.

In Rejuvenation it was Xatu. It's pretty much a Psychic/Flying type that you can get early on even before the second Gym that also has Magic Bounce for an ordinary ability in these games. IMO, he's far too undervalued.