In-game trainer ranking

[Wukong]

I came across an interesting Reddit thread here that talks about how you might rank trainers in-game, across games based on their in-game achievements. It's a pretty hard topic to discuss since everyone will have their own criteria but I thought I'd give it a shot.

I think ranking across games is a bit over zealous for me at least at this moment, so I'll just focus on my favorite game Platinum. I'll separate who I believe are the top trainers in this world/region ranked into 4 separate tiers:

Champ tier - Lucas/Dawn (protagonist), Cynthia, Barry, Palmer

Elite tier - Lucian, Bertha, Darach, Aaron, Flint, Cyrus, Dahlia, Argenta, Thorton

Leader tier - Maylene, Saturn, Byron, Volkner, Jupiter, Wake, Candice, Gardenia, Fantina, Roark, Mars

Ace tier - Buck, Marley, Riley, Mira, Cheryl

Overall I put a lot of emphasis on a trainer's ace mon. How I rank a trainer within a tier is entirely based on their ace's mon matchup spread against the other trainers' ace mons in their own tier. For example, Maylene is the highest in her tier since her Lucario has a +6 matchup spread (offensive or defensive, based on typing) against the other Leaders' ace mons in her tier. While Mars is the lowest since her Purugly is a -5 against the other aces in her tier.

I consider the champ tier to be obviously the best of the best in the region. Cynthia pretty much goes without saying. I think Barry having the highest levelled roster in the game is a huge point in his favor. And I think Palmer being the leader of the Battle Frontier warrants his placement in the highest tier.

The Elite tier is reserved for obviously the Elite Four, as well as the Frontier Brains. I think Cyrus belongs there as well. His last fight in the Distortion World is the only time other than Barry when a boss throws a five mon roster at you, until you face the Elite Four. It's also probably the most difficult fight in the last half of the game other than Lucian and Cynthia, but that's a more subjective point.

The Leader tier is pretty self explanatory. I do think the Galactic Commanders belong there. Often times their fights portray them as just as much of a threat, if not more so, than their Gym Leader counterparts for their respective points of the game. Mars 1 to me is more formidable than Roark, as well as Jupiter 1 being more formidable than Gardenia, just in my opinion.

Lastly the Ace tier contains the five stat trainers who I view as the best "Ace" trainers in the game, a notch above actual ace trainers, and a step below the main bosses. They're not decorated official leaders but they are good enough to get invited to the Battleground Café, which is something I guess.

Anyway, that's a long post. Feel free to discuss this topic flexibly, I took quite a few creative liberties myself. Just curious to see what others' in-game trainer ranking criteria would be and how that framework could be applied to your favorite game, or across games, to produce a ranked list of trainers that logically makes sense to you.

 

[AltTab!]

My friend is called marley, I'm showing him this def.
Good idea tho!

 

[bdt2002]

I've thought about this topic myself before, and in a different thread I talked about how I believe there to be some sort of power hierarchy in the core series regions akin to what we're seeing right now in the Journeys anime. Depending on the region, the smaller details may vary (in the case of Alola, their ranking system is very different), but the basic idea is that the Top 13 trainers of a region consist of a combination of the eight Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and the Champion. If we are to take into account other types of trainers like members of evil teams for instance, that's where things start to get really interesting.

For the purpose of this discussion, I'd like to put forth some important questions that may come up when analyzing any given Trainer's potential ranking. I don't think it's enough to just look at "This trainer beat that trainer, but then Trainer C beat Trainer D, who in turn beat Trainer B". Eventually the circle will loop back around in rock-paper-scissors fashion with no one being "better" than the others. Looking at things like how hard it is to obtain a certain Pokémon, how long they've been training for, and what particular feats a character has accomplished in-game are just as important, if not more so.

 

[Wukong]

I've thought about this topic myself before, and in a different thread I talked about how I believe there to be some sort of power hierarchy in the core series regions akin to what we're seeing right now in the Journeys anime. Depending on the region, the smaller details may vary (in the case of Alola, their ranking system is very different), but the basic idea is that the Top 13 trainers of a region consist of a combination of the eight Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and the Champion. If we are to take into account other types of trainers like members of evil teams for instance, that's where things start to get really interesting.

For the purpose of this discussion, I'd like to put forth some important questions that may come up when analyzing any given Trainer's potential ranking. I don't think it's enough to just look at "This trainer beat that trainer, but then Trainer C beat Trainer D, who in turn beat Trainer B". Eventually the circle will loop back around in rock-paper-scissors fashion with no one being "better" than the others. Looking at things like how hard it is to obtain a certain Pokémon, how long they've been training for, and what particular feats a character has accomplished in-game are just as important, if not more so.

Correct. There is no indication in Platinum to show whether Cynthia defeated Palmer, for example. The goal of this thread is to simply make logical inferences based on how trainers are alluded to through dialogue or portrayal in the games, to come up with a subjective ranking of trainers that, again, makes sense to you. Which is why this such a difficult (yet fun) topic to discuss, in my view, because it's so fuzzy and subjective. I'm more interested in hearing what people's line of thinking is as far as their in-game ranking criteria rather than 100% agreeing with whatever ranking you come up with.

 

[Ironmage]

For me, I think it's hard to not put Frontier Brains in a tier of their own. Even outside of them being the only major NPCs with the ability to field entire teams of level 100s (in games before the facility level was set to 50), they're shown as being an awe-inspiring challenge within an area where just being champion doesn't mean much.

This actually leads to an interesting corollary: Alola would be, on the whole, at a lower power level than many other regions since other than Anabel (who's been doing a lot of other things than running the battle tower in the relevant timelines) and arguably Red and Blue, they're mostly using lesser categories like Elite Four/Champion and even "other major NPC" in the equivalent role. I think this does actually fit into the rest of the lore: the fact that they have only just established a League in Alola leans towards trainer v. trainer battling being less practiced in the region.

 

[bdt2002]

For me, I think it's hard to not put Frontier Brains in a tier of their own. Even outside of them being the only major NPCs with the ability to field entire teams of level 100s (in games before the facility level was set to 50), they're shown as being an awe-inspiring challenge within an area where just being champion doesn't mean much.

This actually leads to an interesting corollary: Alola would be, on the whole, at a lower power level than many other regions since other than Anabel (who's been doing a lot of other things than running the battle tower in the relevant timelines) and arguably Red and Blue, they're mostly using lesser categories like Elite Four/Champion and even "other major NPC" in the equivalent role. I think this does actually fit into the rest of the lore: the fact that they have only just established a League in Alola leans towards trainer v. trainer battling being less practiced in the region.

You bring up several good points here, and after thinking about it for a while, I think I've come up with at least a basic preliminary ranking of how each core series region fares against one another as far as important Trainers are concerned. Quick note that Galar's lower-tier placement on the list is assuming that battles take place in a neutral location that most likely doesn't have access to Dynamax mechanics, a battle style that other regions wouldn't be as familiar with.

From weakest region to strongest region: Johto, Alola, Galar, Kalos, Unova (BW), Kanto, Hoenn, Unova (B2W2), Sinnoh

As for how I'd rank certain types of Trainers, such as Gym Leaders and Champions, I think the easiest place to start this discussion is by looking at each Trainer rank in a vacuum- more specifically, how would the average Gym Leader compare in strength to the average Champion? I'll probably work on ranking the Trainers within different groups at a later point in this thread's lifespan, but for now here's what I've come up with. Trainer types I've listed here include: Gym Leaders, Elite Four Members, Champions, Rivals, Evil Team Leaders, and for now I'll also be lumping the battle facility leaders all into one group for now, with my next list ranking each of them.

From weakest Trainer type to strongest Trainer type: Trial captains in Alola are essentially just weaker Gym Leaders for the purpose of this thread, and after that I'd rank them as such- Rivals, Gym Leaders, Elite Four Members, Evil Team Leaders, Champions, Battle Facility Leaders

 

[ClaudettaSwentzel1]

I just recently started playing! I got interested in one coach! Until now, I was only familiar with this world through the TV series! Before that, I only bought keys for FIFA https://www.cdkeysforgames.com/consoles/fifa-22-ps4/. I play soccer myself. Professor Kukui, known as The Masked Royal, was once famous as the strongest coach in the Alola region. But we all know that many coaches are stronger than him, such as Volkner and Wulfric, but they are not the guys who made a list. Kukui is here for his intelligence and knowledge, coaching skills, and role as a teacher. That doesn't mean he's not strong - he beat Guzma back in pokemon school. That's all I know!