I Simulated 1,810,053 Battles to Find the Strongest Pokémon

Summary

In an epic quest to determine the strongest Pokémon, a mind-boggling 1,810,053 battles were simulated. Utilizing a tool by Smith that runs trainer match-ups, this experiment pitted every Pokémon against each other in an ultimate showdown. The findings were surprising: legendary Pokémon Cosmog was ranked the weakest due to its limited move set. Mechanics like Dynamax and Z-moves were omitted to keep the battles fair, leaning into Mega Evolutions instead. Pokémon like Magikarp surprisingly shone in specific circumstances despite its universal reputation as weak. The strongest contenders included powerful giants like Mega Rayquaza, with the ultimate title going to a Pokémon typically considered unbeatable in the game as a boss. Insights into starters, move sets, and type advantages were all part of this in-depth exploration.

Highlights

• Cosmog ranked the weakest Pokémon despite being a legendary, due to its ineffective battle moves. 😱
• Magikarp, known for its Splash, secured wins with strategic moves against certain types. 🐟
• Mega Evolutions played a primary role in the battles, excluding Z-moves and Dynamax mechanics. 💥
• The ultimate strongest Pokémon was one that players cannot catch, known only as a near-unbeatable boss. 🏆
• Many beloved Pokémon like Pikachu and Mewtwo faced tough competition, highlighting power creep in newer generations. 📈

Key Takeaways

• The experiment simulated over a million battles to rank every Pokémon, using Mega Evolutions while avoiding Dynamax and Z-moves 🏆.
• Cosmog, a legendary, surprisingly ranked as the weakest Pokémon due to its lackluster moves 🚫.
• Magikarp, against all odds, managed some wins thanks to specific move setups 🎣.
• Mega Rayquaza was among the top contenders, leveraging its Mega Evolution advantage 🌌.
• Various factors like move sets, type advantages, and unconventional tactics played significant roles in battle outcomes 🔍.

Overview

In a groundbreaking feat, over 1.8 million Pokémon battles were simulated to crown the ultimate champion. Using a simulation tool designed by Smith, the battles involved every conceivable Pokémon matchup, revealing a fascinating hierarchy of strength and strategy among these creatures.

The simulations illuminated some surprising outcomes. Legendary Pokémon Cosmog found itself at the bottom of the rankings due to its limited combat abilities. Meanwhile, Magikarp pulled off unlikely victories in the right scenarios, defying its reputation as a weakling. Excluding Dynamax and Z-moves, the focus on Mega Evolutions allowed a fair analysis of combat prowess.

Atop the rankings were formidable opponents such as Mega Rayquaza, a testament to the impact of Mega Evolutions. However, the ultimate strongest was an exclusive Pokémon, renowned in the game for its unbeaten status. This study provided rich insight into competitive battling, revealing how diverse elements shape Pokémon strength and utility.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Simulation Setup The chapter titled 'Introduction and Simulation Setup' introduces a program developed by Smith that can simulate millions of trainer battles to determine who is the strongest among them. The program's capability elicits excitement as it opens up the possibility of simulating battles involving all Pokémon, raising questions about hypothetical matchups, such as who would win between iconic Pokémon like Bulbasaur in such simulated battles.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Worst Performing Pokémon Discussion The chapter discusses which Pokémon are considered to perform the worst in battles. Participants bring up various Pokémon like Ivysaur, Bulbasaur, Venusaur, Charmander, and Quillin, with a humorous suggestion to bury Quillin deep in the earth due to its poor performance. The discussion then shifts towards considering which Pokémon could potentially defeat the most others, with Mega Rayquaza, Ultra Necrozma, Mega Mewtwo X and Y, Mega Rayquaza, and Eternamax Eternatus being mentioned as strong contenders.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Competitive Move Set and Mechanics Adjustments The chapter begins with an announcement of an official ranking of all Pokémon, from the bottom up. It builds suspense by asking the reader who they think might be the worst Pokémon, suggesting common choices like Magikarp, Caterpie, Sunkern, or Weedle. However, the twist reveals that the worst Pokémon is actually a legendary one, specifically Cosmog. The chapter hints at specific reasons why Cosmog holds this position.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Unexpected Wins and AI Behavior This chapter discusses the unexpected victories of certain Pokémon due to the AI behavior in combat situations. One example given is of Pokémon like Cosom, which can only use moves like Splash, Teleport, and Cosmic Power. Despite these limited move sets, they manage to win battles because opponents often defeat themselves due to poor decision-making or move errors. The key strategy involves giving each Pokémon their most popular competitive set from Smogon and making minor tweaks for one-on-one battles, leading to these surprising outcomes.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Starter Pokémon Performance Rankings The chapter focuses on ranking the performance of starter Pokémon considering which moves are competitively viable. Specifically, it excludes certain game mechanics such as Dynamax, Z moves, and Terrestrialization, as their inclusion would make Pokémon overpowered and detract from the fun. However, Mega Evolutions are included due to their coolness and fun factor. A humorous note is made about Magikarp, which only managed to win 92 out of 3,000 battles.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Analysis of Pre-Evolved and Other Pokémon The chapter discusses the surprising effectiveness of Magikarp, especially against Bug-type Pokémon such as Caterpie, Weedle, Wimpod, and Mega Heracross. Despite common perceptions of Magikarp's weakness, it manages to outspeed and perform significant damage with its Bounce attack. This strategy is highlighted with an example where Magikarp successfully bounces against a Mega Pokémon that attempts to use Swords Dance, allowing Magikarp to exploit its opponent's greed. The use of Bright Powder helps Magikarp dodge Close Combat attacks and triumph in battles repeatedly, illustrating the unexpectedly potent combination of speed and specific moves in simulated scenarios.
• 08:00 - 09:30: Legendary and Mythical Pokémon Rankings The chapter discusses the unpredictable nature of Pokémon battles, particularly focusing on Legendary and Mythical Pokémon rankings. It highlights how unexpected events, like a series of missed attacks or strategic moves, can lead to surprising victories. Specifically, it mentions a battle involving Kyogre, a powerful Pokémon, and how it can sometimes be defeated by a series of strategic moves and a bit of luck. Despite being a formidable opponent that usually wins by using its powerful Water Spout attack, there are instances where battles take a surprising turn. This chapter focuses on those rare, yet memorable, battles that break the norm.
• 09:30 - 11:00: Top Pokémon and Final Rankings The chapter discusses the rankings of top Pokémon, with a particular focus on why Spectre, despite its impressive attributes such as special attack, speed, typing, ability, and move pool, is ranked below Boun Suite. Despite having 204 wins and 3,000 losses, the reasoning for its placement in the rankings is explored.
• 11:00 - 12:00: Conclusion and Closing Remarks In the 'Conclusion and Closing Remarks' chapter, the speaker reflects on their experiences with AI in the context of Pokemon. They express frustration with the AI's performance, describing it as 'stupid' due to its tendency to spam certain actions (like cursing) rather than making strategic decisions. Despite acknowledging that the results are generally good, the speaker believes that one particular Pokemon did not receive fair treatment, suggesting an imbalance in the AI's decision-making process. The tone is critical, highlighting the need for improvements in how AI handles diverse elements within the game.

I Simulated 1,810,053 Battles to Find the Strongest Pokémon Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 okay do you guys want to see the coolest thing of all time watch this this program by Smith plays is able to simulate millions of trainer battles to determine who's the strongest but wait if it can do trainer battles surely it [Music] could yeah so okay you know I'm running this simulation thing right yeah who do you think wins out of every single Pokemon like imagine like all of them and then it's like okay Bulbasaur vers
• 00:30 - 01:00 Ivysaur and then Bulbasaur vers Venusaur and then Bulbasaur vers Charmander oh dude I don't know I can tell you who's going to have the worst time or should okay quillin that thing needs to be put in a grave deep deep in the earth you kind of got to think like okay what Pokemon could beat the most other Pokemon I think Rayquaza is a good bet though that's what I think Mega Ray I'm go Mega Ray Ultra necros is in there Mega m2x and Y is in there Mega R quaz is in there eternamax eternus he might be in there
• 01:00 - 01:30 okay all right everybody the results are in this is the official ranking of every single Pokemon from 1,89 all the way to the top now who do you think is the worst Pokemon in the game you're thinking Magikarp you're thinking Caterpie you're thinking sunkern you're thinking Weedle I know you I know you're thinking and trust me I thought the same thing the worst Pokemon on this list is a legendary oh my God we I that's this is it we have it wait is cosmog at the bottom and the reason why it's so bad is
• 01:30 - 02:00 cuz it only gets Splash and teleport and nothing else cosom is here for the same reason I mean he gets cosmic power and he's way bulkier which gave him a you know a little bit of an advantage but really the only way these Pokemon were winning is if the opponent knocked themselves out every single Pokemon was given their most popular competitive set on Smogon but the difference is is I went in and tweaked some of them uh so they actually worked with a 1V one um anyways back to you Frank
• 02:00 - 02:30 thanks Frank on top of the move sets being competitively viable we also decided to get rid of U Dynamax and Z moves and terrestrialization because if those mechanics were included in this then every Pokemon would just click a z move the entire time and that's just not fun so megas are included because those are fun and cool and red the rest are not so back to back thanks Frank Magikarp was able to win 92 battles out of 3,000 which is still pretty bad but it you know because
• 02:30 - 03:00 of Bounce he was actually able to do some damage against Bug types uh like auna Caterpie Weedle wimp pod famosa Mega Heracross you know bug types it was insane Magikarp outspeeds bounces Mega goes for Swords Dance he gets greedy so Magikarp lands the bounce perra Dodges the close combat with the bright powder insane hits him with another bounce Magikarp wins this happens twice now when you simulate a a
• 03:00 - 03:30 million battles right anything that can happen will happen couple lucky stone Edge misses couple seed bombs Kyogre decides to call mine he gets the stun sport off Kyogre gets paed four turns in a row gives him the opportunity to bug bite a couple times weakens Kyogre down Kyogre goes for the water spout guess what he's tanking it now and he just won he just fuing won now to be fair I'm highlighting the insane ones most battles Kyogre just clicks water spout and this guy dies but these insane
• 03:30 - 04:00 matches were not uncommon 204 wins 3,000 losses the worst performing okay I got to explain I know I know I know it doesn't make a lot of sense for Spectre to be ranked below boun Suite but hear me out hear me out hear me out hear me out Spectre is not here because of its amazing you know special attack amazing speed amazing typing amazing ability the amazing move pool etc etc etc uh Spectre
• 04:00 - 04:30 is here because he's stupid the AI is stupid literally the entire I couldn't believe it when I when I was looking at the results he just spammed curse the entire time like I like to think that the AI gave every Pokemon a fair Shake right uh I mean the results are generally I think pretty good but for some godforsaken reason this Pokemon just got shaft
• 04:30 - 05:00 and here's a list of every single starter Pokémon from worst to best uh overall water types are going to be your best choice in terms of typing with grass types being the worst and I don't know what they were smoking with the Gen 8 starters but they ranked on average the best of any Generation by a long shot and the worst performing set of starters were Gen 6 uh for some reason dude they really underperformed I don't know it was my fault before we continue I have to issue a formal apology to Greninja
• 05:00 - 05:30 fans I thought battle Bond would work I thought assumi you have to KO a Pokemon it turns out to transform and in a 1 V one format that just he he just didn't have an ability the entire when he could have had protein and Cinder rase is the strongest starter uh because of labero I mean really being able to change your type you're defensively malleable you get stab on everything you have insane coverage like a lot of Pokemon got
• 05:30 - 06:00 screwed over just because of the format right like being 1 V one yeah like whimsic got's a great example it's mostly a support Pokemon so in a 1 V one scenario where offense and speed is like really emphasized it just didn't do well when I hear the word Innovation there's only one product that comes to mind the handyman is the most compact and precise razor we have ever developed do dual blades with skinsafe technology
• 06:00 - 06:30 gives you a close shave at a moment's notice as a razor it's good as an experience it's good her over 10 million men put their shaving routine into the hands of manscaped and they feel that Innovation every single day yeah I mean normally I use a a handraiser cuz I like to get really close to the skin but the handyman was able to do that uh and more and it didn't hurt as much I got real s sensitive skin so uh yeah it was real
• 06:30 - 07:00 real tight real tight and cool and red with over 60 Minutes of battery life you can get up to six shaves on a single charge or 20 if you're really fast so go to manscape.com use code asteroid and get 20% off the handyman now back to uh Pokemon we're about to crack top 1000
• 07:00 - 07:30 who's going to crack it I already know the answer I'm just pretending we got delad now the thing with Del caddy is it's just not good it's like one of the only Pokemon that can't hit anything for super effective damage at all and the eeve evolite eeve I don't know how to pronounce it I I've just been pretending this whole time just like trying to like imagine a lot of the pre-evolutions have like obviously a violite so like that kind of changes things
• 07:30 - 08:00 if what if violite a lot of these pre-evolved Pokemon had an A violite or an eite which allowed them to tank hits that other Pokemon just couldn't out of the Gen one starters which do you think is the best the best line we have Venusaur for Gen one feraligator for Gen 2 Swamper for Gen 3 Gen 4 you're looking at Infernape Gen 5 you're looking at embor yikes uh Gen 6 you're still looking at Greninja even though I he just didn't
• 08:00 - 08:30 have an ability the primarina line in gen 7 the cinder rase line in gen 8 and then the mowar line in gen n protein and labero is so good oh no um dang it okay I I just got a notification it looks like fbe Mega pincer and Mega Metagross unfortunately are unable to attend they said they got sick that sucks okay yeah I mean we'll have
• 08:30 - 09:00 to call a rain check on them but uh maybe for the next one they'll they'll get in and it's definitely not cuz I just forgot to forgot to add them a lot of solid dis base form Pokemon coming up now Helioptile hi is crazy this thing it beat origin Pia three out of three times so aini is already pretty bulky but you give it the aite and it actually becomes insanely specially bulky it was tanking Draco meteors and then combining that with toxic and rest bergmite showed up
• 09:00 - 09:30 that's good glad he can make it oh ditto o ditto is interesting so on paper ditto sounds like an amazing Pokemon for this it just takes every single 1 V one that he's in and turns it into a straight up mirror match the thing is though he does not copy their HP stats so his HP is still like whatever like middle of the road and then also he only has 5 PP per move now he did have the choice scarve which allowed him to outspeed pretty much every Pokemon that he mirrored which was really good so he was able to win against a lot of like really wrong Pokemon that could oo themselves SL
• 09:30 - 10:00 Frank I hear you asking what is the best and worst type in the game uh dragon well also like keep in mind like these rankings aren't just based on like the type as a whole it's also based on like how many good Pokemon are in that type right that's how I'm I'm averaging it so yeah so so obviously dragon has like mostly legendaries where bug is the worst type in the game having a lot of Pokemon that just generally aren't great regardless of their typing Mega Absol right under Leafeon um yeah Mega
• 10:00 - 10:30 Absol ranked way lower than I thought it would and is actually the worst ranked Mega in the game the computer wasn't great at playing around um Sucker Punch like it just kind of saw ooh you know good good dark type stab and clicked it but like like the ai's intelligence was consistent across the board but there's just certain moves and certain abilities and certain situations that it just fumbled the bag and if your Pokémon you know ended up in that situation more often than others then it was
• 10:30 - 11:00 immediately at a disadvantage gy there he is also sorry super exciting to see him but ranked 748 ranked 748 best legendary in the game rank 748 what happened well I mean listen we're definitely I'm already working on it there's an investigation happening within the league I feel like there might have been some maybe tamper right with the results I can't say much now I mean my lawyers are off off cam telling me to you know I I'll post a comment if
• 11:00 - 11:30 if things change but uh yeah for right now we're going to have the we're going to have the professionals handle it we're going to do that investigation and we're going to figure out what the's going on here so Pikachu 718 kind of fell off even with the light bul heikes because of things like intimidate and burn I think physical attackers across the board are just generally weaker I don't know if that's like a crazy thing to say I probably I don't have any I didn't do the math to like get the data for that but that's what my gut is telling me like a lot of the top Pokémon are special attackers oh oh my God Tang
• 11:30 - 12:00 growth tang grth and zygard are responsible for the longest battle in the entire simulation I don't know what it is about why I do know what it is with with this pair up it's the combination of gigar drain and rest and leftovers and the fact that Tang growth just soaks up thousand arrows and the fact that when Zygarde gets below 50% HP he transforms into the complete form which then gives him just an absurd HP stat and then combining that with the fact that tangle with his sleep powder and it is it is just it is so
• 12:00 - 12:30 126 turns 126 but Frank what are the best and worst Pokemon of each type I'm D I'm dying to know uh arus is the best normal type with pedo being the worst raram is the best fire type with panser being the worst the best flying type is Mega Rayquaza and the worst being P damn two for two Cartana was the best grass type in the game with sunkern being the worst kidon is the best fighting type with
• 12:30 - 13:00 rolu being there Pia is the best water type with Magikarp of course being the worst maridon is the best electric type toxil is the worst we got genes topping the bug charts with Caterpie uh there patran yeah we're getting to like the top of great Pokemon and like bottom of like legendaries you know what I mean and and Hitmonchan I guess I don't Reggie gigas
• 13:00 - 13:30 actually did I mean surprisingly well ranked 271 top 300 I mean he was able to outdamage like Lugia right with like knock off and dude reboot hold up and there's in world this is what protein and labero does to a Pokemon Mega Gom is actually um one of the honestly a couple megas that ranked below their normal like their normal form I think just cuz like some of these Pokemon just do better with an item like Garchomp would rather have choice scarf than you know become a slower slightly tankier version
• 13:30 - 14:00 of itself mega Gyarados actually made it surprisingly High uh with intimidate plus you know insane coverage in Dragon dance like yeah and then whoa who saw that one coming uh by a landslide it's actually insane just barely cracking the top 200 who could it be ultra necros what a shockingly low performance I mean I mean really a lot of people
• 14:00 - 14:30 would put real tangible money on this guy taking the entire thing and I was one of those people I was like he's breaking at least top 10 for sure but bro lost to ccon decisively he lost to Cricket tun to put this ranking into perspective he doesn't even break top 20 in his own generation and on top of that every other necros even base necrozma outranked him and I think it's a simple
• 14:30 - 15:00 case of the AI just not knowing how to handle setup Pokemon like against cricet tuni Dragon dances turn one cricodon gets a free bug bite does a lot of damage he goes for Stone Edge uh-oh cricodon is sashed one more bug bite and and it's lights out you know like merro was able to beat him cuz he would D Dance and then Foul Play just pretty much one shot him Yas was able to beat him got a willowisp off and the AI just played him so dirty coming up here on your left you're going to see terion who
• 15:00 - 15:30 is the strongest swords of justice uh which I mean yeah ente is the strongest legendary dog I mean yeah sacred fire uh monkey Dory is the strongest evildoer I I don't know what the actual name of them are the evil guys yeah famosa top 150 let's go this is huge magnes the worst Ghost type is dpy with the best being flutter man worst dark type is zor best being Evel worst fairy type is
• 15:30 - 16:00 auril best is fluttering the worst dragon type is dy and the best is oh did that get bleeped out whoops it's the strong I just don't want to spoil the end of the anyways we are getting to the top 100 folks this is it this is it dude Zapdos actually got a win on Mega well first of all strongest legendary bird second of all got a win on Mega Rayquaza which is insane dodged a VC create landed a hurricane got a
• 16:00 - 16:30 confusion hit itself landed another Hur it's insane Mega DNC is the first Pokemon to break the top 100 I mean yeah fast great typing Diamond storm like the best unevolved Pokemon and the only unevolved Pokemon to break the top 100 is Porygon 2 um I mean amazing typing he's fat as hell he's got a lot of really good habits that brought him here so and then right above him is is Mewtwo w yeah Mewtwo fell off hard honestly I'm
• 16:30 - 17:00 just well I'm not like surprised but Power creep is real folks the strongest Generation by a mile is Gen n with every single Gen Pokemon just get stronger and stronger uh here's all the fossils if anybody cares uh shieldon is by far the weakest with uh Draco Vish being the strongest uh I mean he's just insane with vicious Ren and strong jaw and yeah as we move our way into the top 30 are getting crazy if you're not a boxer
• 17:00 - 17:30 legendary you might as well retire we got RI quazo rank 35 Primal groud on rank 34 and then right above it we got Reggie Drago with dragon B dragon energy which is pretty much koing anything that's not a fairy type lerion with the intimidate yeah best Genie we got the best ruin dude we got Meloetta how did Meloetta get here okay say you're in GameStop it's 2007 you got to pick between Pia and Diaga which are you going with who's the stronger one it's Pia it's FIA so pick pick Pearl if you want more advice uh you go Lugia over ho Kyogre over Groudon you go reer instead
• 17:30 - 18:00 of zon over y lunala over Soo uh what's the other guy breaking into the top 20 we have regular Dean who outranked mega DNC by 70 ranks I mean it makes sense right it's super bulky Choice spec hits harder than regular DNC I mean it's slower but it's a lot bulkier oh my God I accidentally gave it levitate looks like the mythical Pokemon
• 18:00 - 18:30 are here just in time too I was getting Nancy is by far the worst mythical Pokemon but that's not the crazy part the crazy part is when it evolves into Mel metal it becomes the second best and then of course rcus is uh number one so yeah if you were wondering how good D you would be with a ground immunity congratulations it's your lucky day as we approach the top 15 I'm sure you're seeing a lot of similarities with the Pokemon it's Pokemon that just hit hard do damage have coverage and if you haven't placed your bet yet on who you
• 18:30 - 19:00 think is number one place it just leave a comment I cuz I you're probably right I mean we've narrowed him down a lot so you could probably get it slacking ended up cracking the top 15 which is kind of crazy I thought Trant would hold it back way more than it did it turns out Choice band stab 150 base power Giga Impact most battles it didn't even get to turn two so from cosmog to lunala he had the highest jump in ranks by Evolution he literally went up one how many ranks ,85 ranks just from evolving and just
• 19:00 - 19:30 barely scraping the top 10 we have arus incredible stats incredible typing incredible coverage what do you want me to say insane special attack insane speed insane typing only weak to Dragon and fairy insane move pool hydropump Draco meteor with that special attack stat hello and uh-oh geomancy power herb geomancy plus two special attack special defense and speed for basically free you know it turns out when you can hit almost everything for super effective
• 19:30 - 20:00 damage at a 135 special attack stat you just win I that's news to me I had no idea and we got regular pokia showing up in the top 10 twice for mostly the same reason I think the only reason why this pokia ranked higher was just cuz it had access to choice scarf if you don't outspeed or you're not lucky enough for blue flare to miss you just lose you just lose did somebody say lose uh sorry these transitions aren't that great but the fourth best Pokemon in the game is mega
• 20:00 - 20:30 Rayquaza who would have thought I mean bro busted he can hold an item while he mega evolves for free and the only requirement is a base 120 power stab Dragon Ascent move sure yeah oo's 90% of the game um it's just unfair it's just actually an unfair I mean he created his own tier of Pokemon like it's actually three generations later he's still doing this um anyways kidon is number three dude just hear this out choice scarf Sun boosted orcom pulse attack boosted flare Blitz 20 base power what
• 20:30 - 21:00 the am I reading so his ability sets up the sun gives flare blits a sun boost gives gives an attack boost not even a plus two xerus could outspeed it and flare Blitz just kills maridon is an absolute freak of nature Pokemon it doesn't even make sense like from a game design perspective why they let this thing exist it it baffles me 100 base power life War boosted electric terrain boosted hadron engine boosted if it's super effective it's boosted 135 special
• 21:00 - 21:30 attack stab Electro drift turn one turn one what you what are you what are we even doing who thought this Pokemon was fair like it doesn't it doesn't I like it genuinely makes me mad like like what the why does it need so many Buffs why does it need that it doesn't need that and he's not even the strongest Magic C beat Caterpie dude this is so
• 21:30 - 22:00 interesting okay okay hang on who's the strongest I'm scared to look oh okay so wait now I just need to sort data the objectively strongest Pokemon is Holy [Music] sh I mean of course right it's the one Pokemon that's so busted you can't even you can't even catch it uh uh it's just a boss battle and that's kind of it but
• 22:00 - 22:30 anyways hope you guys enjoyed here's a video that YouTube says you'll like if if you I mean you could whatever minut it's your life right um anyways have a good one