Ash’s Weakest Pokemon, Ranked

Summary

• Some of Ash Ketchum’s Pokemon were disappointingly weak in battles, like Totodile, Oshawott, and Scraggy.
• Torkoal and Palpitoad didn’t live up to their potential due to poor battle performance and lack of evolution.
• Despite his popularity, Butterfree often failed to excel in battles, before he was eventually released.

The main character of the original Pokemon anime, Ash Ketchum, managed to accomplish the monumental task of becoming World Champion, after many years of hard work and multiple crushing defeats. Because of this, he has obviously trained some really powerful Pokemon, like his Charizard, his Lucario, his Dragonite, and countless more.

But not all of them were effective in combat, seeing as many others ended up being surprisingly weak, especially those who fulfilled a specific role within the story. As a result, the battle capabilities of some of Ash’s Pokemon certainly left a lot to be desired, and the following eight are the most noteworthy examples.

8

Totodile

He’s Funny And Adorable, But Not Much More

• First Appearance: Episode 151

Every Pokemon fan remembers Ash’s Totodile because of his adorable appearance and lighthearted personality, but that’s pretty much his entire contribution to his Johto team. Totodile was not very strong in battle, especially when compared to the Water Type starter that Ash had previously trained in the Kanto region, his Squirtle.

Totodile not only never evolved, which is already enough proof of how weak he is, but he also never learned a strong Water Type move and relied solely on Water Gun during Ash’s entire journey through the Johto region. While he did manage to accomplish his fair share of victories, he is still one of the most ineffective starter Pokemon Ash has ever trained.

7

Oshawott

He’s Just Supposed To Be A Silly Comic Relief

• First Appearance: Episode 658

Totodile isn’t the only Water Type Starter Pokemon in Ash’s collection with a disappointing battle record, since the Oshawott he caught in the Unova region is also quite infamous for how weak he was. Of course, this can be chalked up to one single reason: He was specifically written to be a funny comic relief, instead of an actual fighter like Krookodile or Pignite.

Ash’s Oshawott did learn a few powerful Water Type moves, like Hydro Pump or Razor Shell, but that was pretty much it. Since he didn’t have enough diversity in his move pool and enough experience in combat, he ended up losing a surprising number of battles, not to mention that he was never able to evolve into a Dewott. Of course, many of Ash’s Pokemon were able to become surprisingly strong without evolving (like Pikachu or Bulbasaur), but Oshawott is definitely not one of them.

6

Scraggy

A Newborn Baby With A Lot Of Unreached Potential

• First Appearance: Episode 674

While traveling through the Unova region, Ash Ketchum received a mysterious egg that eventually hatched into a Scraggy. At first, this seemed like a great addition to his team, especially if he was able to evolve him into a mighty Scrafty, but the young Pokemon ended up being quite a disappointment.

Scraggy did learn a few strong moves, like Focus Blast or High Jump Kick, but, because of his young age, it took him quite a lot of time to fully master them, not to mention that he also never learned any Dark Type moves. He did have the right attitude when it came to battling, but he wasn’t able to achieve many victories, which explains why Ash only used him in one Gym battle. This is a real shame, because Scraggy had a lot of potential, and it would have been great to see him evolve into a Scrafty.

5

Torkoal

A Crybaby Who Lost Too Many Battles

• First Appearance: Episode 332

Pokemon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire did something completely unprecedented: Instead of having Ash catch and train a Fire Type Starter (like Charizard or Cyndaquil), the prominent Fire Type member of his team in the Hoenn region was a wild Pokemon. The only real problem is that said Pokemon was a Torkoal, which is not particularly strong or impressive.

Needless to say, Ash’s Torkoal lived up to the reputation of its species by participating in some really important battles – like the Battle Frontier or the semi-finals or the Sinnoh League – and losing pretty much all of them. He did have some solid moves at his disposal, like Heat Wave or Overheat, but Torkoal’s main issue was his emotional and cowardly personality, which never allowed him to reach his fullest potential.

4

Palpitoad

He Managed To Lose Against Pokemon He Had A Type Advantage On

• First Appearance: Episode 689

During the Black & White series, Ash did something odd but interesting: Instead of catching and using only five Pokemon for his team, he caught far more than that and rotated them around. Sadly, while this was a decent idea, it resulted in many of his team members being weak and underdeveloped, and there’s no better example of this than his Palpitoad.

Ash used Palpitoad in two different Gym battles, against Elesa and Roxie, but lost to their respective Pokemon despite having an obvious type advantage. On top of that, he wasn’t used in battle very often, nor did he learn any new moves at all. Maybe if he evolved into a Seismitoad, he could have become a true force to be reckoned with, but since he remained a weak Palpitoad with very little experience, he ended up becoming one of the most forgettable Pokemon that Ash has ever caught and trained.

3

Aipom

She Never Really Liked Battling In The First Place

• First Appearance: Episode 453

During the Ruby & Sapphire series, Ash caught a mischievous little Aipom that had been chasing him around and tried to steal his hat on multiple occasions. Curiously enough, she was mostly interested in participating in Pokemon Contests, and she grew so fond of Ash that she even accompanied him to the Sinnoh region.

After that, Aipom kept participating in a few other contests before Ash traded her to Dawn for her Buizel. The fact that he never used her in any important Pokemon battles, combined with her enthusiasm for Contests, is enough proof of how ineffective Aipom was in combat, so it was a good idea to have her trade places with Buizel, who was much stronger and enjoyed fighting a lot more.

2

Butterfree

Ash’s Second Pokemon Was Surprisingly Weak

• First Appearance: Episode 002

Ash’s Butterfree is among the most iconic characters in the entire show since he was the first Pokemon the protagonist ever caught (and the second member of his team after Pikachu) which led to Ash forming a close bond with him. But, in reality, this Butterfree was surprisingly weak and didn’t perform well in battle.

When fighting, he relied mostly on status moves like String Shot, Sleep Powder, or Stun Spore, which were quite helpful, but he lacked any proper strength to properly knock out his opponents. Needless to say, Butterfree’s disappointing performance can be explained by the fact that Ash was a rookie Pokemon trainer at that point, and, since he was released just twenty episodes later, he was never able to become stronger like all the other members of Ash’s Kanto team.

1

Tauros (x29)

Twenty-Nine Pokemon He Never Used In Battle

• First Appearance: Episode 035

When Ash and his friends explored Kanto’s Safari Zone, he accidentally caught multiple Tauros who repeatedly ran in front of his Safari Balls. Because of this hilarious situation, Ash ended up with a herd of thirty different Tauros that he immediately had to send to Professor Oak’s laboratory. He did use just one of these Tauros in many battles, and it proved to be surprisingly strong, especially since it played a key role in the battles against Drake the Orange League champion, and Anabel the Frontier Brain.

But, what about all the other Tauros he caught? That’s right, he never used any of them for a Pokemon battle, and thus, they lived peacefully in the laboratory, stampeding through entire open plains without any care. While some of Ash’s other Pokemon, like his Butterfree or his Aipom, have proven to be quite weak, at least they had some fighting experience, and the same can’t be said about the remaining twenty-nine Tauros.