Which of the main girls is the best trainer?

[Azureth]

Basically, if Misty, May, Dawn and Iris were to compete against each other, who do you feel would end up winning?

Personally, I think May would. She has the better skills and pokemon.

[AWsquared]

I think May would win. Her team was well constructed and she has great skills as a coordinator.

Then it would be either Dawn or Iris. I think Dawn has an excellent team too given the power Mamoswine has and Togekiss' moveset. Though Iris could win team with that stupid, sillyDragonite since it's high-powered.

Though in the end, I think May would win.

[DarkRisingGirl]

I'd have to say May or Dawn. Although Misty has the most experience, May's team (as already mentioned) was well constructed as was Dawn. They both have a lot of variety. The only thing Iris has is that Dragonite and Excadrill really.

So a Tie between May & Dawn

[Hikari10]

I voted Dawn cos of her character development, like how she was treated as a pseudo-Ash compared to the other girls. I also think May is good cos she had a well-constructed team.

It was a hard one but I think in the end it might be Dawn.

[AzaleaLightning]

May, she's had the most development of any of the girls.

And, she's my favorite uwu

And Blaziken is just pure badass.

[LividZephyr]

Misty's a gym leader, but is monotype, so that seriously hinders her chances of beating May's Beautifly and Venusaur. Although Misty's Gyarados knows Flamethrower.

Dawn also has two powerhouses in Togekiss and Mamoswine and those two would be tough for the others to deal with. Iris has Dragonite and Excadrill, but although both are extremely powerful, they have each had severe listening problems, which shows how Iris is still growing as a trainer. Her Pokemon don't always listen to her.

So let's say these were the teams used, based on each character's favoritism:
Misty: Gyarados, Politoed, Corsola
May: Blaziken, Venusaur, Glaceon
Dawn: Piplup, Togekiss, Mamoswine
Iris: Excadrill, Emolga, Dragonite


Iris could get owned by May's Glaceon and Dawn's Mamoswine, and it wouldn't surprise me if Misty had an ice attack on her Politoed by now, to deal with Grass-types. I honestly think Iris doesn't have a change.

Misty is a gym leader and has undergone intense training, so I wouldn't count her out. It's really difficult to call - all of them have their pros and cons, and it might come down to luck in a round-robin tournament...

[RoreyG]

Misty or Iris.

One's a Gym Leader with some tenure in the anime and the other was a Gym Leader and, as of B2/W2, is the League Champion

[Laugh]

Dawn was the reason I got into Pokemon, therefore I'm casting my vote on her. Misty didn't really catch my attention when Kanto and Johto were first premiered. May, I thought, was just a pretty face who wanted to be top coordinator. Dawn changed my whole point of view on Pokemon, because she was a little like me. Big dreams, and I was 10 at the time. Piplup was my favorite Pokemon, before Reshiram, and I was delighted to see that Dawn picked Piplup as her starter Pokemon. Bah, I guess I'll shut up now.

[gimmepie]

Misty is at a distinct disadvantage really since Dragon types resist Water and Iris has Emolga, May has Venosaur and Dawn has Pachirisu. She has some powerful pokemon ie. Starmie and Gyarados but I higly doubt she'd come off on top.

May has a very well balanced team and some very powerful pokemon with Blaziken, Glaceon and Venosaur on her team. So she'd have a very good chance of winning. Although the others do have various methods of countering her.

Dawn has a very varied team and powerhouses Mamoswine and Togekiss (as well as a Pikachuesque Piplup) although she may not be as varied as May I'd give her a fairly good chance. As seen in the anime she is better at coming up with strategies and techniques than the others though.

Iris, like Misty, is at a rather serious disadvantage since two out of three of the others have an Ice type and Misty's pokemon can pretty much all learn ice moves. She has powerful pokemon on her team with Excadrill and a pseudo-legendary (Dragonite) but there are some behavioural issues on her team.

So to sum it up either May or Dawn would be most likely to win in my opinion. Iris would have a small chance due to the sheer power Dragonite offers her but quite frankly her crippling weakness to Ice types and her pokemon's disobedience would put her in a fairly bad position. Misty would have the smallest upon smallest of chances. The three others all have some method of countering water type moves and seem to have generally more powerful pokemon. I'd give her a shot at beating Iris since Excadrill is weak to Water and her whole team is weak to ice (which water types can almost all learn for memory).

[YungKnowledge]

I love Misty, but I have say Dawn I just like how she worked with her pokemon but next have to say Misty because she was gym leader.

[Ash493]

Haruka. Her team is most balanced of all. Even though Iris' Dragonite would give her a lotta troubles, I believe she would win.
Hikari's team also isn't bad at all but... Piplup? No chance. That stubborn penguin still did not evolve so there goes Hikari's chance.
And Kasumi? No point even bothering. She's a Gym Leader so paradoxically she has the least chance as she has monotype team.
Imo: Haruka would win and Iris and Hikari would be battling for the second place.

That's from game point of view.
If we took anime point of view into consideration, anything could happen.

[Ashist_Wilketch_mark_april]

Misty or Iris.

I would say because of their position of being gym leaders.. or I can see something in them. But based on the contests, I would have to say either between Dawn and May. Dawn seems got skills and good battling skills with her pokemon..

[Ducklighter]

I'd have to say May for reasons already started. Plus, she had the most travel time and we got to see her grow and develop the most in two different regions whilst Misty really didn't improve in the time she traveled with Ash and Brock.

[DBZ fan]

Its a tie between May and Misty for me.

May: because she showed to be rather strong trainer having quite impressive collection of pokemon. When you take a look at her Venusaur, Blaziken who has been longest lived and most experienced member on her team, Wartortle or gracious Glaceon you can say she has diverse and well balanced team. Granted she didn't battled much in real trainer battles which could represent handicap for her in those kind of matches, but she showed impressive skill and innovative approach in combing techniques to bring surprise over opponent(such as Psychic power up or focus ball) in contest battling rounds, could could bring her an edge over other opponents.

Misty: because as trainer she displayed wide amount of knowledge being skilled which knows how to turn unfavorable position in her favor and establish strong bond with pokemon. As she showed through battles(one which comes to mind was against Molly, having Staryu counter whirlpool and bubble beam with rapid spin in different direction, being on equal ground with powered up by Unown pokemon).
She also had several notable achievements doing well in big tournaments she entered, being one of few which weren't rookies when meeting Ash beating him.When taking in account fierce Gyarados, versatile Corsola or Staryu, strong Politoad, full of potential Starmie or Psyduck etc you know she has powerful team which can give hard time to any opponent.
Not to mention she probably trains and battle a lot as gym leader giving her lot of battling experience.

Granted as mono trainer this would put her at disadvantage against more diverse teams, but in nutshell it doesn't matter if you have evolved or un evolved pokemon, nor how many different types you have. What counts is how skilled trainer is, how strong his pokemon are and if they posses lot of battling spirit.

E4 members all use one type and they are among best trainers in world, most gym leaders use one type, even some champions like Wallace. So its not like mono trainer cannot be formidable force.

Originally Posted by Ducklighter

I'd have to say May for reasons already started. Plus, she had the most travel time and we got to see her grow and develop the most in two different regions whilst Misty really didn't improve in the time she traveled with Ash and Brock.

Misty definitely improved during her travels to become water pokemon master (although that dream was left unfulfilled). In Johto her skills became a lot better compered to Kanto days, she achieved several things like coming top 8 in Whirl Cup, winning Seaking championship, Alto Mare race etc with several trainers like gym leader Dorian, Andreas, Trinity etc recognizing her battling abilities.

[AlexOzzyCake]

Iris may have two completely over-powered Pokémon in Excadrill and Dragonite, but I think the win would go to Dawn. She has so much more command over her Pokémon and they trust her entirely, plus with her quirky contest moves she'd be able to surprise even the best trainers with the combinations. Got a Dragonite to fight? No need to worry, ice chandelier will take care of it! Although I think if it was a 1v1 battle, she doesn't really have any Pokémon which are that strong on their own so I'd probably give that one to Iris just due to the sheer power of her Pokémon. As for Misty and May, I've never really seen either of them as being that great for multiple reasons, but I just think Dawn and Iris are in a whole different league.

[Nintendork15]

I'd say May. She seemed more of the battling trainer.
Where as Misty didn't really fight much except agaisnt Team Rocket and Dawn was in it for competitions.
I've not seen iris yet though.

But yeah, May seemed init to winit.

[SNOR(es)LAX]

Misty, a Gym leader, definitely have the most experienced out of all the main girls. May is in 2nd place for me, she actually won Ash in the battle against Sceptile and Blaziken, although that can be argued because of the typing, but still, a win is a win. Dawn is like more of a contest-driven trainer, so she's probably last. Haven't really see Iris yet, not sure if she's a gym leader in the anime, although she is in the White game, but that's just in the games.

[SchwarzRozen]

I put my vote on Misty, she is strong, experienced, and has a lot of Pokemon (according to the Anime), some which are off-screen.