The Unexpected Teammate

[NickCrash]

That must have been Seaking.

I was so lucky to have fished one in the fisherman's house back in Peridot, and it had almost perfect 31IVs. At first I kept it for breeding purposes, but since I dislike spending time waiting for eggs to hatch, I took it with me and parted ways with it around Luna/Samson where its sub-par stats started to become aparent. It was fun as long as it lasted Seaking. I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.

[Motorteo]

Swanna, I just don't like flying pokemon but it was very helpful with high speed, atk and sp.atk he helped me in the early game...now is in the box for upcoming battle but alwaaaays at the top

[Palpatine]

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

This!!

[Zqrfmb]

in two playthroughs I've gotten a couple surprises. Arbok and Fearow this time are my biggest upstarts currently. In my first playthrough, it was Swalot and his menagerie of status effects. A lot of other 'mons I have I either have always wanted to try, or knew were good, or had to bring up specifically for a fight (I didn't have a sneasel before Ciel stonewalled me, same deal with light clay espurr vs radomus, klang w/ mirror shot destroyed serra, abra turned the gen 1 bullshit against M3G4 T3RR4)

Edited July 5, 2016 by Zqrfmb

[CheddarSouffle]

Espurr ==> Meowstic (F) was a life saver for me. When I first started playing Reborn, I wanted a Ralts immediately, but found out it was replaced by an Espurr. I picked it up anyways, and it decimated Julia, Florinia, and Corey. It glitched and got Prankster instead of Competitive, so it was great for screens. Eventually I boxed it in favor of my Gardevoir, but I still use it from time to time.

[Doxaanima]

First Run: Crobat, was my best friend and still is currently in my team in that playthrough, Reborn made me realize the value of speed.

Second Run: Hariyama is a damn wall, with thick fat that thing was my savior for at least 3 gym battles including Charlotte's

[PokeFailure]

I had a couple I'd never used before become MVPs.

Emolga and Ampharos, Those two were a big part of my team, Emolga eventually got switched out for a few of the final gyms but it was my main flying type.

I'd say 80% of my team was pokemon I didn't think would become useful.

The biggest suprise was trubbish, Acid Spray+Sludge move helped set up for my team a lot.

[ArmoredGuardian]

Espurr ==> Meowstic (F) was a life saver for me. When I first started playing Reborn, I wanted a Ralts immediately, but found out it was replaced by an Espurr. I picked it up anyways, and it decimated Julia, Florinia, and Corey. It glitched and got Prankster instead of Competitive, so it was great for screens. Eventually I boxed it in favor of my Gardevoir, but I still use it from time to time.

This.

[SgtNoobly]

My shiny tangrowth was able to tank garchomp boss after we lowered its attack and accuracy a bit and then TANGLED it up and now its somewhere in the tangrowth. Also helped me in the ghost gym which i was very suprised at.

I need arcanine was good but he really pulled through and helped me out so many times like when he flare blitz crit the acrecus copy and kileld it

onix suprised me since it almost swept the poison gym

[missdragoon]

Igglybuff destroyer of field effects and Julia's sanity ;

Copy catting the sonicbooms first of all generally managed to take down voltorb without any trouble since igglybuff had a pretty good hp pool.

Second of all misty terrain from igglybuff plus poison gas from my stunky to change it to corrosive mist was hilariously fun to pull off [ starter was bulbasaur so he was sitting there as a happy...toad/dinosaur...yeah rofl ]

It made my time against Julia so much easier. It was a weird combo that i didn't try before but i liked it and MariMari is still a solid part of the roster.

[RudeStyle]

Cofagrigus was pretty unexpected. I was having trouble with the Els Arceus so i decided to train one up, and since then he's been pretty useful in defeating other trainers aces. Also special shoutout to Silk Scarf Explosion Graveler real MVP against charlotte.

[Hycrox]

Spiritomb and Metagross were the ones that surprised me the most. Spiritomb didn't look like much at first but it really pulled through since I got it (after Aya) until the end of Episode 15, as it pretty much carried me through the Radomus fight (put Arceus in the red zone with Pain Split) and even though it couldn't do much against Luna or Samson, it still has a pretty much guaranteed spot on the team. Metagross also surpassed my expectations by being useful and taking down at least two pokemon of the opposing team through sheer physical power in every battle except for Charlotte's Gym battle (used an Air Baloon against Terra and the AI's too dumb to notice), and it definitely was worth all the shenanigans I had to do to get it.

EDIT: I forgot about my Emolga tho, that thing swept Corey at lv 27 with Double team.

Edited July 9, 2016 by HYCROX

[enu]

First run - Froslass. Way more useful than I expected. Usually took out at least two enemy pokes thanks to Destiny Bond.

Second run - Cinccino. I had a hard time against Noel because of it so I tried it myself. Scary thing.

Third run - Vaporeon. The key to defeat Solochomp, completely destroyed several Gym Leaders (Radomus, Charlotte, Blake).

Yeah I know these are not exactly weak pokes but it was my first time using them.

On the other hand some pokes have proven to be unexpectedly useless:

Ampharos. So slow that it always got knocked out before doing anything.

Emolga. Good in the beginning but powerless later on.

Greninja. Even with Protean it isn't nearly as awesome as it is hyped.

Edited July 9, 2016 by baldr

[daigotsurezan]

First run - Froslass. Way more useful than I expected. Usually took out at least two enemy pokes thanks to Destiny Bond.

Second run - Cinccino. I had a hard time against Noel because of it so I tried it myself. Scary thing.

Third run - Vaporeon. The key to defeat Solochomp, completely destroyed several Gym Leaders (Radomus, Charlotte, Blake).

Yeah I know these are not exactly weak pokes but it was my first time using them.

On the other hand some pokes have proven to be unexpectedly useless:

Ampharos. So slow that it always got knocked out before doing anything.

Emolga. Good in the beginning but powerless later on.

Greninja. Even with Protean it isn't nearly as awesome as it is hyped.

To be fair to Greninja, it's competitive strength is as a suicide hazard setter, which is not the most useful niche in Reborn. Plus you have to chain breed to get Toxic Spikes, so you might as well skip him for a more rounded Pokemon.

[CodeCass]

So far it's been my Kricketune, Dethharmonic, in this run. I would have NEVER thought it would be this useful. I've used it for every gym battle so far (I'm about to face Corey) and it's served me well each time. Not to mention Deedle Deedle Whooooping Fern's ass, and being instramental in taking down each of the Pulse Tangrowths. I keep taking it out to let someone else have a turn, but he keeps working himself back into the rotation somehow!

Edited August 10, 2016 by CodeCass

[eggthief]

Never did I think that the Meowth with really good IV's I caught early on too fill up my team for the time would find itself to be a staple up to the very end, still loving my Persian today.

[PrimeMehster]

As others have said before, Harriyama was a huge early game MVP for me, and also helped out quite nicely against Serra and Charlotte with Thick Fat being a godsend of an ability. Donphan saved my run when facing Doc Sigmund, and carried his own overall, Sudowoodo came in clutch against Aya, and was generally useful all over. But I think my real MVP was Archeops, which had a neutral nature, but IV's all at 25 or above, and single handedly flinch haxed Lord Arceus to death, destroyed Samson, and helped me accidentally beat Ciel on what was supposed to be a scouting suicide run, but turned into a speed sweep, not to mention killing at least 2 Pokemon at every other gym that his prehistoric wings graced. In all seriousness though, I think that Archen has to be removed or heavily balanced, because it is too good for the late game.

[Guest]

I may sound like a sentimental old man when I say that my Delphox is my true trump card. It's got the best Sp. Attack stats I've seen since forever, plus its Magician ability to take care of foes who rely on items to win. My second best would have to be Lumineon, which can tank out a lot of hits and hit hard with Waterfall. High Attack + STAB and Mystic Water can be lethal in my opinion.

[yooorick]

Lot of people talk Donphan but no love for Sandslash?

[RpMM]

For me, definetely Houndoom, helped me so much

[IntSys]

Emolga. This flying squirrel carried me from Corey to Samson.

Nuzzle+Electro Ball+Acrobatics+Double Team. All that you'll need.

[dragonshaun9]

i just got hm strength, and i have my mvps. skuntank and scolipede. i mean, my blaziken is my go-to sweeper as i got ridiculously lucky with its nature and ivs (adamant 27/31/28/19/16/30, toss in a couple ability capsules for speed boost and...), but these two helped me in the biggest possible way. since i have no idea where the toxic tm is yet, when i fought big badat the volcano, my skuntank was up front. i got a lucky miss, and hit that damned garchomp with toxic. he missed again next turn, so i hit him with smokescreen, which i thought i had stupidly left on skuntank. another miss, so i hit him with another smokescreen. skuntank then goes down. i pull out scolipede and use protect. his health is dropping from toxic, and he pops a full restore. so i banked on him only having a limited amount like all the other trainers, used cotton candy to revive skuntank, and went at it again, using cotton candies to revive pokemon when i needed to. i dropped his lv 75 garchomp with a team of level 43s, with item backup and him running out of restores. king of the damned world right now.

Edited August 12, 2016 by dragonshaun9

[Craxuan]

Ursaring. Everyone gets countered one way or another, but Ursaring is always reliable. It is a tank, a hard hitter with Strength STAB, carries 2 TMX, can hit Ghost types with TM Shadow Claw and even Rain Dance temporarily for Saphira. Really awesome.