Against The Ban

For The Ban

Pokémon Who Should Always Dynamax Ludicolo - Rain Dance (Swift Swim)

Drednaw - Rain Dance (Swift Swim), Attack Boost (if Superpower)

Arcanine - Sunny Day, Attack Boost

Mudsdale - SpDef Boost, Attack Boost, defence boosts due to ability anyway so can become quite impenetrable

Gengar - SpAtk Boost

Seismitoad - Rain Dance (Swift Swim), SpDef Boost

Gyarados - Literally an auto-win after one Max Airstream

Steelix - SpDef Boost, Def Boost, helps set up Dragon Dance afterwards

Sirfetch'd - Attack Boost, Speed Boost

Hatterene - Psychic Terrain, G-Max Smite

Togekiss - Max Airstream -> Flinch Win

Rhyperior - Rock Polish -> Dynamax -> Weakness Policy activates -> Win

Beartic - Hail (Slush Rush), Attack Boost

Lucario - Attack Boost, Defence Boost

Hawlucha - Attack Boost, Speed Boost

Charizard - Speed Boost, Sunny Day

Mewtwo - Psychic Terrain makes Psystrike unbearable, Aura Sphere for Dark-Type Pokémon

Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion - Attack Boost, Defence Boost (Cobalion), Special Defence Boost (Terrakion (Sandstorm)), Grassy Terrain (Virizion)

Solgaleo - Autotomise -> Dynamax -> Weakness Policy activates -> Win

Pokémon Who Can Dynamax If Players Don't Have Anyone In The Above Spoiler Boltund - If sets up with Bulk Up, appreciates the terrain and weather and high BP Max Moves

Crustle - Appreciates high BP Max moves after Shell Smash

Musharna - Appreciates bulk and terrain after Calm Mind

Kingler - Rain to boost STAB after Agility is a good wallbreaker

Crawdaunt - Rain to boost STAB after Dragon Dance

Gallade - Attack Boost & Psychic Terrain, but lacks the power to KO with max moves without a Swords Dance first

Raichu-Alola - Choice between Electric and Psychic Terrain is nice

Scrafty - Max Moves after Dragon Dance are nice, Moxie + Max Knuckle get to obscene Attack Stat levels but usually requires setup first to offset bad speed

Stunfisk-Galar - SpDef boosts shore up its Curse Def boosts, Def Boosts if Curse hasn't been used yet either

Barbaracle - Max Moves after Shell Smash

Braviary - Speed Boost, Attack Boost (let down by Max Knuckle being weak and not getting STAB)

Weavile - Max Moves after SD

Noctowl - Speed Boost after Nasty Plot

Sigilyph - Speed Boost, Psychic Terrain

Mimikyu - Max Moves after a SD

Turtonator - Max Moves after Shell Smash

Sandaconda - SpDef Boosts shore up Coil Def boosts

Octillery - Rain Dance, SpAtk Boost

Durant - Max Moves are accurate without a Hone Claws, and even more powerful after one, Def Boosts technically but not that useful, permits it to use Bug-Type STAB after first turn on the field

Flygon, Haxorus - Avoids locking into Outrage after its boosts, SpDef and Attack Boosts respectively

Aegislash - Def Boost, Attack Boost if Sacred Sword, usually much better after a SD

Polteageist - Powerful STAB after a Shell Smash, but Stored Power is the same BP

Falinks - Attack Boost, bulk after No Retreat with Dynamax is actually fairly good

Frosmoth - Max Moves after Quiver Dance

Mantine - Speed Boost, Rain Dance (Swift Swim)

Lapras - Aurora Veil G-Max Move, Rain Dance

Darmanitan - Attack Boost, Sunny Day

Duraludon - Defence Boosts work well with Body Press, Max Wyrmwind removes the SpAtk drop from Draco Meteor

Stonjourner - Rock Polish likes Max Moves, Sandstorm makes its atrocious SpDef more bearable, Weakness Policy (budget Rhyperior)

All Rotom Forms - Electric Terrain, all forms besides base form appreciate their secondary effects too

Tyranitar - Max Moves after Dragon Dance

Kommo-o - Attack Boost, Max Moves after Dragon Dance

Blastoise - Max Moves after Shell Smash

Kyurem-Black - Max Moves after Dragon Dance, avoids locking into Outrage

Slurpuff - Max Moves after setup and Unburden activate

Mew - Psychic Terrain, Speed Boost, Attack Boost, better after a Swords Dance

Celebi - Max Moves after Nasty Plot

Zekrom - Max Moves after Dragon Dance, Electric Terrain

Lunala - Psychic Terrain, Max Moves after calm Mind

Zeraora - Electric Terrain, Attack Boost

Third Tier of Dynamax, If Players Don't Have Anyone From The Above Spoilers Inteleon - Rain Dance, Speed Boost

Cinderace - Sunny Day, Attack Boost

Vileplume - SpAtk Boost

Pelipper - Speed Boost

Mamoswine - SpDef Boost isn't awful, and Attack Boost but without STAB

Roserade - SpAtk Boost

Hitmons - Attack Boost

Goodra - Max Moves

Wishiwashi - Max Moves, Rain Dance

Pangoro - Attack Boost

Machamp - Attack Boost

Coalossal - Sandstorm for the SpDef boost is kind of OK to help with setting up hazards afterwards, but has to waste 2 turns of Dynamax for this boon

Conkeldurr - Attack Boost

Barraskewda - Rain Dance (Swift Swim) and Attack Boost, but it's already faster than almost everything and powerful enough to KO most things without the attack boost.

Espeon, Jolteon, Leafeon - Terrains boost STABs, Espeon and Leafeon have setup moves they can use beforehand

Meowstic-F - Psychic Terrain

Farfetch'd - Speed Boost after a Swords Dance

Toxicroak - Attack Boost

Whiscash - Appreciates Max Moves after Dragon Dances

Throh, Sawk - Attack Boost

Gothitelle, Reuniclus, Beheeyem - Psychic Terrain

Chandelure - Sunny Day, powerful Max Moves

Torkoal - Max Moves and bulk after a Shell Smash, but often better to have Recover handy if it has it

Hippowdon - SpDef Boosts

Heatmor - Low BP moves normally so Max Moves are good, Sunny Day

Heliolisk - Electric Terrain, Rain Dance for Dry Skin

Rapidash(-Galar) - Sunny Day and Psychic Terrain respectively

Basculin - Move freedom, Rain Dance, Attack Boost

Galvantula - Max Moves

Seaking - Rain Dance (Swift Swim)

Ribombee - Max Moves after Quiver Dance (assuming webs are already set which is priority)

Passimian - Attack Boost

Gardevoir - Psychic Terrain

Copperajah - Signature entry hazard is cool but it's not enough to trump the above Pokémon

Manectric - Gives options to switch between moves, more powerful Max Moves, Electric Terrain, Sunny Day

Grapploct - Attack Boost

Escavalier - Def Boost, Attack Boost, move freedom

Snorlax - Bulk and power after Curse, Attack Boost or SpDef Boost depending on set

Dhelmise - Low BP moves so Max Moves are pretty nice, Def Boost

Kyurem - Max Moves

Kyurem-White - Max Moves

Alcremie - Bulk after Calm Mind

Mr. Rime - Psychic Terrain, but usually better off sticking bulky and using Slack Off

Gigalith - Attack Boost, SpDef boost (but automatic Sandstorm usually means it isn't necessary)

Darmanitan-Galar - Max Moves and high speed to make use of it but loses use of its Choice Scarf

Eiscue - Hail resets Ice Face

Tsareena - Attack Boost, Grassy Terrain, loses Synthesis and no way to boost Speed can leave it vulnerable when Dynamax finishes

Dragapult - Max Moves

Venusaur - SpAtk Boost

Hydreigon - Max Moves

Klinklang - Defence Boosts and Electric Terrain after a Shift Gear

Oranguru - Good after a Trick Room and/or Nasty Plot

Keldeo - Rain Dance, Speed Boost

Flapple - Max Moves after Dragon Dance, offsets Hustle inaccuracy

Decidueye - Max Moves after Swords Dance

Bisharp - Max Moves after Swords Dance

Golurk - Gets functional Ghost-Type STAB, SpDef boosts

Perrserker - Max Moves after Swords Dance

Incineroar - Sunny Day, Attack Boost

Primarina - Rain Dance

Melmetal - Attack Boost, Defence Boost

Should Not Dynamax Rillaboom - Grassy Surge obsoletes Max Overgrowth

Orbeetle - Wall

Butterfree - Prefers having Sleep Powder at the ready, not powerful enough to break everything even in Dynamax

Vikavolt - Offensive types are easy to switch around and still frail in Dynamax so it's usually wasted

Corviknight - Body Press trumps Max Knuckle, prefers to just keep using Bulk Up and Roost

Greedent - Prefers to continue setting up, Gyro Ball > Max Steelspike

Unfezant - Not powerful enough and prefers to try and use Super Luck + Scope Lens for crits

Thievul - Prefers having Foul Play and Parting Shot available

Obstagoon - Might as well just stick to Facade and Knock Off, likes having Bulk Up available

Dubwool - Relies on Body Press

Shiftry - Has no real use for Dynamax

Liepard - Utility moves just turn into Max Guard

Diggersby - Prefers having priority open to it, powerful enough without dynamaxing

Cincinno - All moves are 125BP anyway

Ninetales(-Alola) - Already set up weather, Alola likes Aurora Veil any time

Delibird - Lol

Glalie - Moody trumps Dynamax. Dynamax can technically help get Moody boosts up, but if you have to waste your Dynamax on setting its Moody up you've misplayed your Glalie completely

Froslass - Wants utility moves access

Claydol - Utility / Wall

Xatu - Not powerful enough after maxing, always wants access to Roost

Abomasnow - Technically can be used for a little bit of additional bulk, but Blizzard / Wood Hammer are fine and usually wants to keep Leech Seed open as an option if it has it

Quagsire - Wall

Ninjask - Too weak to make use of it

Shedinja - Lol

Vespiquen - Wall

Bronzong - Wall

Drifblim - Needs access to its utility at all times

Eldegoss - Wall / Utility

Cherrim - Overcast is utility, Sunny already has Sunny Day and doesn't need more power on its STAB or Weather Ball

Skuntank - Max Ooze boosts wrong stat, better off just keeping Sucker Punch open

Dusknoir - Wall

Dusclops - Wall

Milotic - Wall

Garbodor - Utility

Centiskorch - Prefers just using Coil and its normal moves. It technically can work for Dynamax but in my experience it's been a waste 100% of the time and Centiskorch performs just as well without it, since it's so matchup reliant anyway

Dugtrio - Too weak to use Dynamax properly

Dugtrio-Alola - Same, plus has more utility and if desperate Iron Head flinch chance can be the most useful this mon ever is

Swoobat - Stored Power is just as good as Max Mindstorm, doesn't really need Psychic Terrain or speed boosts, likes having access to Roost

Persian(-Alola) - Prefers having access to Hypnosis whenever, too weak after a NP to OHKO in Dynamax anyway so stick to 2HKOing outside of Dynamax

Ferrothorn - Wall / Utility

Gourgeist - Utility / Choice Band is more of an offensive pivot than a sweeper and Dynamaxing doesn't allow it to sweep, so it's a waste

Pikachu - lol

Vaporeon - Wall

Umbreon - Wall

Glaceon - Wants Wish

Sylveon - Wants Wish

Appletun - Wall

Meowstic-M - Utility

Aromatisse - Wall

Araquanid - Offensive pivot, webs utility

Wobbuffet - lol

Lanturn - Offensive pivot, wants access to utility moves

Stunfisk - Needs access to healing at all times, technically enjoys the SpDef boosts but it's not good enough to capitalise on it sufficiently

Shuckle - lol

Gastrodon - Wants Recover

Golisopod - Prefers utility / priority

Corsola-Galar - Wall

Corsola - Pivot

Cursola - Needs Strength Sap at all times -- way too vulnerable after coming out of D-Max and always gets KO'd immediately

Grimmsnarl - Utility / Bulk Up sets can kind of use it but it's usually unnecessary. G-Max Snooze is nice but it's a waste more often than it's a play

Salazzle - Utility

Weezing(-Galar) - SpAtk Boost is on the right STAB, but they're utility Pokémon and will never sweep anyway

Sudowoodo - Prefers just having Sucker Punch access and isn't bulky enough to capitalise on D-Max

Clefable - Wants healing

Whimsicott - Utility

Mandibuzz - Utility

Drapion - Like Skuntank, this typing is just awful for a physically-oriented Pokémon. Almost always a waste even after a SD and better off saving the D-Max

Malamar - Superpower > Max Moves, wants access to Rest moves

Sableye - Utility

Mawile - Too weak even after SD, wants Sucker Punch

Maractus - Utility

Qwilfish - Utility

Jellicent - Wall

Toxapex - Wall / Utility

Cramorant - Only use is its ability, which D-Max nullifies

Cofagrigus / Runerigus - Wall / Utility

Trevenant - Prefers Horn Leech healing to Max Overgrowth, usually bulky enough without D-Max. Can use it but it's usually a waste because of typing

Shiinotic - Wall / Utility

Morpeko - Aura Wheel is powerful enough anyway and provides speed boosts, likes access to Foul Play

Togedemaru - Not powerful enough after D-Max, wants Wish and Spiky Shield

Wailord - Click Water Spout instead

Lunatone / Solrock - Access to healing is too important, or Will-o-Wisp for Solrock

Dracozolt / Arctozolt / Dracovish / Arctovish - Bolt Beak / Fishious Rend are better, can't do enough with the D-Max to make it worthwhile

Type: Null - Just ResTalk

Jirachi - Flinch win instead

Dynamax has no use for defensive or utility Pokémon, only offensive Pokémon

How good a Pokémon is at abusing Dynamax roughly correlates with how good the Pokémon is to begin with, the primary exceptions being certain weather abusers

A significant portion of the top 2 tiers use Dynamax after already setting up with stat-boosting moves

Certain Pokémon who were big offensive threats in Gen VII cannot take advantage of Dynamax well, and are thus left in the dust

These days I'm predominantly a random battles player. Last gen I basically exclusively played a variety of random formats and ZU, and since ZU hasn't been created yet in Gen VIII I've been playing various random formats for the last few months since SwSh dropped. I'm also #23 on the annual Random Battles roomtour leaderboard, so I think I have enough clout to comment on this.I'm in favour of banning Dynamax. However, not a racist brought up a great point which is that if Dynamax is banned in Random Singles, I don't believe this means it should also be banned in Random Doubles. Dynamax was clearly created with double battles in mind, and it's entirely balanced in RanDubs. However, it over-simplifies gameplay in singles way too much and makes playing the games unfun. Finally, I think it'd be unfair to the RanDubs community to have a mechanic banned from their game because of a suspect test that didn't occur on their ladder. I think it's important to have clarification over whether this suspect test affects both singles and doubles. I don't think it would change the outcome (those who want it banned in singles would likely take the hit to doubles as collateral damage) but I do think it's much preferable to suspect test the two formats individually.First, I'd like to play devil's advocate and consider reasons why Dynamax may be balanced.The most common argument surrounding why Dynamax is balanced, which we also saw in every tier's discussion when they considered banning Dynamax, is that the mechanic counters itself. Sure, Dynamax breaks through Protect, but if you Dynamax your own Pokémon you get Max Guard which it can't break through. If your opponent boosts their speed too much with Max Airstream, you can use your own Max Airstream and even the speed out. If your opponent boosts their defence or offence too much with max moves, you can just boost the opposite corresponding stat to wield their blows. This means that the mechanic cannot be overpowered, because both players have the exact same overpowered mechanic going into the battle.In past generations, sometimes it seems like players lose when the teams are rolled. Even with Dynamax, certain threats like Zacian can be the equivalent of an auto-loss depending on the other player's team. Dynamax gives these players who seemingly have a significant disadvantage a trump card that can turn the tables. Furthermore, every Pokémon can use the mechanic which means that theoretically, even Farfetch'd can become a threatening sweeper, diversifying the roles that Pokémon play and adding dynamics to the course of the battle. This is also pertinent to Monotype Random Battles, where a player who starts out with a type disadvantage can use the one Pokémon who has a favourable matchup against the opponent and tear apart those holes.Proponents of the mechanic usually praise the additional complexity it provides in battling. It essentially adds 4 moves to each Pokémon's moveset -- a Raikou with Calm Mind, Thunderbolt, Scald and Aura Sphere also has Max Guard, Max Lightning, Max Geyser and Max Knuckle to use, if it so chooses to activate Dynamax. This therefore makes battling more fun.It's very easy to misplay Dynamax. Especially in randoms, where team preview doesn't exist, a Dynamax which is intended to sweep can be stopped totally by a faster Substitute user. A Dynamax which is intended to boost stats in preparation for a sweep can be stopped by a Ghost- or Steel-Type for attack and special attack respectively. And if you don't secure your W with your Dynamax, chances are your opponent will afterwards with their own. Dynamax isn't an auto-win button, but requires timing, and that's just an additional skill that players have to harness and take into account.--------------This is a fairly good case for keeping Dynamax around, but I believe the counter-case is more persuasive. I'll go into detail about it now.Let's be real, Dynamax is not even balanced within itself. The effects of the types that lower the opponent's stats (Normal-, Bug-, Ghost-, Dragon-, and Dark-Type) are far worse than their counterparts which boost the user's stats (Fighting-, Flying-, Poison-, Ground-, and Steel-Type). Hail is an inferior weather compared to rain and sun, and situationally sandstorm if the special defence boost to Rock-Type Pokémon is pertinent. Misty Terrain is, for the purposes of Dynamax, worse than the other terrains because Dynamax is an inherently offensive mechanic, and Misty Terrain doesn't boost the power of Fairy-Type moves whereas the other terrains do for their respective types. This means that even though theoretically every Pokémon can use Dynamax to great effect, in reality this isn't the case, and most teams have one Pokémon who as soon as the battle begins the player identifies as their Dynamax user. Think Gyarados, Togekiss and Hawlucha at the extremes, but in the spoiler is a more comprehensive list:I believe that list includes every single Pokémon in Gen VIII Random Battles and the purpose of it is to demonstrate that there is a clear hierarchy in the utility that Dynamax has, depending on the Pokémon. Of course, my perception isn't law and you may disagree with particular placements for certain Pokémon. However, the main takeaways are:This leads me into my second pointGone are the days of scouting out your opponent's team before figuring out what your team's best counter is, because if you have any Pokémon who are good at abusing Dynamax, all you need to do is set up and win because matchup no longer matters and the Pokémon can just OHKO its would-be counters. This makes offence vs offence matchups pretty stale, because every game is centred around a set-up sweeper and the only win condition that either player is working towards is getting their Dynamax abusing ace set up the fastest. Even worse than this, however, is that offence is now, bar none, the premier playstyle. And this is exclusively standard offence -- hyper offence loses to powerful Pokémon who speed boost, and bulky offence loses to Pokémon who boost their offences too much, and if you're hoping to win with a bulkier team when your opponent has one of the top tier Dynamax users, you have an extremely unfair uphill battle that usually is lost no matter what you do. In a format where players don't even get to choose their own teams this is awful, and removes loads of strategy from the game. The whole purpose of random battles is to adapt your playstyle based on what team you have, but with Dynamax the optimal option for every player in every battle is to try and turn their team into offence somehow, even if it isn't catered to that style. It stales gameplay immensely.It's always been true that sometimes players essentially lose randbats when the teams are rolled, but in past generations that's either due to extremely unlucky matchup, or if facing an extremely small number of threats such as GeoXern, which there is still counterplay against for the most part due to requiring a turn of setup. In Gen VIII the number of matchups which are critically disadvantageous to a given player is way higher, because there are 20+ Pokémon who outright abuse Dynamax, and if any of them have a good matchup against your team you're pretty much done if the other player plays even reasonably well, and most Pokémon from Tier 2 and 3 Dynamax abuse can steamroll an advantageous matchup as well if played correctly. This means that while it's valid to say that Dynamax theoretically evens matchups because the player who starts on the backfoot has a powerful trump card, the inverse tends to be truer in practice: Pokémon who already have a good matchup abuse the hell out of Dynamax and win games without even trying.Above a rating of 1400 or so on the ladder, both players should have more than a sufficient handle on when it's optimal to Dynamax. It's a deceptively simple mechanic: we all know what Pokémon are broken with Dynamax, and we all know whether or not that Pokémon's first Max Move will either OHKO the opponent opposite it on the field, or get the counter that switches in into 2HKO range. If the answer to both of those is yes, you Dynamax and set up a sweep. If the answer to both of those is no, you consider whether any Pokémon on your team could do that, and if the answer is no then you Dynamax anyway if it beats enough holes into the opponent (excluding if they have a sufficient defensive Dynamax in which case you save it). Furthermore, you consider your opponent's own considerations of these questions, and if they're ever in a position where their answers are yes, you Dynamax defensively. That's really all there is to this mechanic generally, which is a large part of why it makes games so stale -- the theoretical extra dimension it provides to battling is extremely shallow, not to mention restrictive.This is a controversial statement, but hear me out. It's true that if the opponent uses their Dynamax prematurely, your own Dynamax is a valid counterplay in terms of neutralising the threat. However, it is, outside of a faster Substitute or sleep user, the only valid counterplay, and once you have used your own Dynamax defensively, you lose the option to use it offensively. This means that in the best case scenario, where the defensive Dynamax occurred on the same turn as the offensive Dynamax, the mechanic has just been mostly wasted for both players. In the second-best case scenario, the opponent who pulled the trigger first still gets the benefits of that first Max Move, before the defensive Dynamax is used on the subsequent turn. Furthermore, Max Guard fails 50% of the time when used in succession, meaning the offensive Dynamax still gets 2 opportunities to set up or boost most of the time, still presenting the offensive Dynamax with a clear advantage. Overall, this means that defensive Dynamax functions more so as a check than a counter to offensive Dynamax, limiting what the offensive Dynamax can do but not outright beating it. But it may even fail to qualify as a check because it still disadvantages the defensive Dynamax player by removing their own offensive Dynamax option. Finally, Dynamax is weighted far too much towards favouring offence, while the best Pokémon to use Dynamax defensively are defensive Pokémon, naturally, as they can either heal off the damage of the offensive Dynamax afterwards, or are the only option who can endure Max Moves after Max Knuckle of Max Ooze. This means that they don't get any mileage out of the Dynamax to then turn around and use offensively, because they're not offensive Pokémon. This paragraph is based on the assumption that both players use their Dynamaxes competently, which is a necessary assumption when discussing balance, so examples where your defensive Dynamax allowed you to turn the tide of the game just means that your opponent misplayed their own.The fact that your opponent can become a behemoth, both literally and in terms of gameplay, at any moment forces players to always be ready to counter that option. This prevents long term plans where players can save a set-up sweeper for an opportune moment, for instance, because that Pokémon may be forced to act defensively against a Dynamax due to nothing more than its typing being good against the opponent who Dynamaxed. Strategy games are supposed to be based around making long-term plans, which Dynamax restricts massively by suddenly giving one side too much power and forcing the opponent to adapt there and then. And this still isn't interesting, because if the opponent has the tools to adapt then they can do so very easily, and if they don't then they lost due to matchup.I'm glad that some people find this mechanic fun but, trying to measure "fun" as objectively as possible, it simply isn't. I believe most of us will be in agreement that a game that is a battle of skill and wits is more fun than playing the lottery. Most of us will agree that the charm of random battles is catering your playstyle depending on what team is rolled, which Dynamax directly detracts from. That beginning on a roughly even playing field is more enjoyable than steamrolling the opponent, or being steamrolled yourself. That certain Pokémon being able to win regardless of matchup makes the game stale. It's great that this mechanic is fun for some people, but insofar as it's possible to measure fun, Dynamax really isn't it.----------------I hope this is a good starting point for the discussion surrounding this mechanic in the context of Random Battles. I tried to present both sides based on the discussion I've seen of them in the past, but this is naturally biased toward banning Dynamax because to me there's a far stronger case for it. On an even skill level, Dynamax dilutes and restricts each player's ability to demonstrate their skill. Therefore, the mechanic should be banned.