Why didn’t Ash use Donphan against Brandon’s Registeel?

[Paulisthebest]

I mean it would make perfect sense to do something like that, but then again this is Ash we are talking about. Brandon told him who he was going to use, but Ash went on ahead and used Torkoal (Heat Wave was a nice touch to make it a great match).If it knew Amnesia to match its Iron Defense it could have won with strategy and high defenses.

Donphan would not be affected by Zap Cannon or Sandstorm. It could use Defense Curl against its Metal Claw and Hyper Beam attacks (or have a Hyper Beam counter resulting in a beam struggle or something). The only thing it would have to worry about would be a Lock On/Hyper Beam combo.

It knows how to use Earthquake and it would be super-effective and give Ash the advantage. If he used it against Brandon I think he would have won that match hands down.

 

[PlatinumDude]

It's called, "plot." The writers wanted Ash to try something new for once (like bringing back one of his Oak'ed Pokemon for an episode or two for a battle).

 

[Dexter]

Yeah Ash was thinking that he would use his Torkoal since he hadn't used it in the Battle Frontier up until that point. Donphan was used against Lucy at the Battle Pike.

 

[Iteru]

Donphan would have been a more logical choice but as the others have said, Torkoal had not had a BF match. Also, Torkoal is awesome. It should have got more use and stayed for the BF team. /Torkoal fan

 

[Aladar]

Well, aside from plot, Torkoal is a Fire type after all. It's not like there's no advantage over Registeel here.

 

[Ash6K]

Pretty much plot. Torkoal also needed the redemption for its treatment in Hoenn. Also, it seems that when it comes to going up against steel types, a fire type is usually the type initially mentioned to be the one to battle. So it made sense to go with Torkoal.

Not to mention, as the initial poster has said, Donphan would be the best choice. Probably too good for it to be used. Ash was supposed to lose that battle and I guess the writers found it easier to make Torkoal lose (but still do really good to redeem itself) than Donphan considering Donphan's offensive and defensive advantages.

 

[dman_dustin]

I think some of you our overlooking the fact that even if Ash chose Donphan against Registeel, it most likely would've had a different moveset. The writers are cheap (because they can be cheap), they know the moves a Pokemon can learn. and usually make a Pokemon that is usually superior to the main casts Pokemon.

Take a 4th gen Ninetales battle, and Ash chooses Buizel. There is a high chance that the Ninetales would know energy ball.

So even if Registeel (as far as 3rd gen is concerned) has no super effective move against Donphan, that doesn't mean it can't have all neutral attacks. Like Brick Break, or even hidden power (which could've been a move super effective against Donphan).

 

[Ash6K]

I think some of you our overlooking the fact that even if Ash chose Donphan against Registeel, it most likely would've had a different moveset. The writers are cheap (because they can be cheap), they know the moves a Pokemon can learn. and usually make a Pokemon that is usually superior to the main casts Pokemon.

Take a 4th gen Ninetales battle, and Ash chooses Buizel. There is a high chance that the Ninetales would know energy ball.

So even if Registeel (as far as 3rd gen is concerned) has no super effective move against Donphan, that doesn't mean it can't have all neutral attacks. Like Brick Break, or even hidden power (which could've been a move super effective against Donphan).

That's true. I was only going by what we know of Registeel but if Ash were to pick any other pokemon besides Torkoal, the writers would've probably changed things so that Ash could lose anyway.

Still, if I had to choose between Donphan losing to Registeel vs. Torkoal losing to Registeel, I'd probably pick Torkoal only because I think it was a good way to give Registeel a more diverse movepool (it's not totally at a disadvantage) while letting Ash lose while also giving Torkoal some redemption.

 

[Cybersai]

Donphan is guaranteed to be in the Sinnoh league it seems.