Ash Ketchum is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable characters of gaming history. His quick thinking and optimistic attitude make him a great icon for the Pokemon series, and his battle style showcases this through trusting his Pokemon and knowing their strengths in battle.
Other times, though, he sometimes can win thanks to some unstoppable Pokemon he’s caught that don’t need his skills and personality to win battles. There are tons of overpowered competitive Pokemon that he’s included in his teams over the years, and many of them blow his other partners straight out of the water.
10 Staraptor
One of the biggest traditions of the Pokemon anime is that Ash will usually catch each new region’s common bird Pokemon, and many of these from Pidgeot to Talonflame have been great powerhouses. However, few have been as powerful as Staraptor, one of the most pushed Normal and Flying-types in the entire series.
This Pokemon has an absurdly high Attack and Speed stat, and even boasts the powerful Intimidate ability to lower a foe’s Attack stat when Staraptor enters the battle. This, alongside some odd moves like Close Combat to cover a wide set of opponents, makes it absurd compared to its other Flying-type peers.
9 Charizard
It’s impossible to talk about Ash’s strongest Pokemon without mentioning Charizard, the most famous and iconic of his starters and the only one to fully evolve. Even though it spends most of its time sleeping and acts quite indifferent to Ash, its rare returns make for powerful inclusions to his team, even defeating Gary’s Blastoise in the Silver Conference.
Outside of Ash’s party, Charizard has been almost infamous over how powerful it’s remained in each game. Fire and Flying-type combinations give access to tons of moves, and Charizard’s always had enough stats and alternate forms like Gigantamax and Mega Evolution to keep it strong and relevant.
8 Krookodile
Krookodile is one of Ash’s more underrated teammates, being more notable as a comical inclusion due to its odd accessory of sunglasses. However, beneath these goofy shades is a ridiculous powerhouse of Ground and Dark-type moves, two types that Ash rarely adds on his team to begin with.
Krookodile has tons of strategies in the games as a physical attacker, both in a utility-based style with moves like Stone Edge and an Intimidate ability, but also with a Moxie ability that lets it raise its Attack when downing an opponent. Either way, it can absolutely run over and chomp through all kinds of enemies.
7 Goodra
Ash has historically owned very few Dragon-type Pokemon, but Goodra is one of his earliest and strongest inclusions before his recent Dragonite in Pokemon Journeys. Goodra is instead a much more defensive creature with tons of odd abilities, and many less-commong Water and Poison-type attacks.
It’s also a much more defensive Pokemon than most of Ash’s other Dragon-types, with Gible and Noivern being far more aggressive than bulky. It’s a massively different inclusion than many of his later allies, and is one of his more dark horse examples of competitive Pokemon.
6 Melmetal
While the anime has treated Melmetal and its pre-evolution Meltan as just a rarer Pokemon, the games generally consider this to be a legendary. It’s banned from online play and only just recently received its long-awaited Gigantamax Form, much because its power is too high to put with most average Pokemon.
The fact that Ash is free to use it in tournaments almost feels unfair, as this Pokemon would likely storm the online metagame if it were ever let loose. As a result, it’s a unique entry of Ash’s roster based entirely on its inability to be tested in any official tournaments.
5 Gliscor
Ash’s Sinnoh adventures in the anime led to an obscene number of powerful Pokemon ending up in his party, much thanks to the many new evolutionary forms of classics that Pokemon Diamond & Pearl had to offer. One of these was Gliscor, the new Gligar evolution that gave way higher stats to an infuriating type combination of Ground and Flying.
The only other combined Ground and Flying-type Pokemon is Landorus, an unbanned legendary that runs rampant in any metagame it exists in thanks to its low list of weaknesses and high stats. Gliscor shares all of these traits, and can easily be a menace against foes who rely on their Super Effective hits.
4 Infernape
Besides Charizard, many of Ash’s starters have ended up being the most powerful competitive starter of each region. The other Flying-type example of this is with Infernape, the second Fighting and Fire-type combination starter and one of the only Fire-types in Sinnoh to begin with.
Not only was it one of the only species of its kind for the region, but it was also one of the most absurdly powerful. Its speed and strength were unmatched by many other Fire-types alongside some Fighting-types, and can easily take down the other Sinnoh starters thanks to much more versatile moveset.
3 Pikachu
It’s probably quite relieving to know that Ash’s Pikachu is as powerful as it is cute, and it’s only gained more strength since the anime’s debut. Early episodes of the anime showed Pikachu winning through impossible strategies like electrocuting a Ground-type Pokemon, but newer episodes have shown that Ash really just knows how to work with Pikachu on a close and passionate level.
In the games, Pikachu has received tons of buffs in each iteration, with new items and moves that can give it enough strength to match nearly any competitive Pokemon. It’s still a little behind in stats to most opponents, but the easy access to strange moves like Surf and Draining Kiss give it way more range than you’d expect from a pre-evolved Pokemon.
2 Greninja
One of Ash’s most powerful Pokemon of all time is arguably one of the most overpowered in the entire series, that being his Greninja from Kalos. This tongue-tied ninja is so powerful and so close with Ash that he even takes on a Battle Bond form that resembles Ash’s outfit, putting it way above any of his other Pokemon in terms of raw power.
In the games, Greninja is just as much of a menace thanks to its high stats and Protean hidden ability, which changes its type to whatever move it just used. This could prevent any opponent from hitting with Super Effective attacks, but also boosted each move by additional Same Type Attack Bonus damage, making it unfairly intense with any of its moves.
1 Dracovish
Ash’s newest overpowered inclusion is quite new, but already a competitive staple in the world of Pokemon Sword & Shield. This would be Dracovish, a powerful Water and Dragon-type that lacks a little speed in exchange for a ludicrous Attack stat and a powerful Strong Jaw ability, giving it one of the highest potential damage amounts in the entire game with some of its biting moves.
Dracovish is hardly the most spectacular Dragon-type Pokemon in Ash’s party, but it’s easily the most competitively-viable option and a remarkable choice for his first Fossil Pokemon. It’s likely not going to be as absurdly fast as one in the games holding a typical Choice Scarf, but it’ll likely chomp down on many opponents easily as the new series goes on.
