Single Battles have always been the traditional battle format of the Pokemon series. Originating in the original Pokemon Red & Blue, this is the general way battles go through the main story in each game, and the competitive online battles and Battle Tower end up being extensions of this classic way to fight.
Training a competitive team for higher-level battles can be difficult and time-consuming, but thankfully Pokemon Sword & Shield has a spectacular rental team feature for those who don’t have the time to make their own team or want to experiment with new teams. If you want to take on the single battle ladder, these Sword and Shield rental teams can be downloaded to fight with immediately through the online Ranked Battle system.
Updated June 22, 2021 by Gene Cole: After finally leaving Series 8 and its inclusion of restricted legendaries, we've finally moved back to a more traditional metagame that's returned to a more even level of power. That said, much has changed in the metagame over this time, and while many of these rental teams are still playable in the current ranked battle format, we felt it would be good to update a few of them. We've also added a little more detail in how to play these great Series 9 Rental Teams for single battles, so that you can dominate the Ranked Battle ladder.
10 Slow Burn
- Leads: Lapras or Grimmsnarl
- Tanks: Alcremie, Registeel, & Drifblim
- Sweepers: Dragonite
Our first rental team for sword and shield singles is a fairly slow style of battling more traditionally known as a stall team, using heavy tanks that resist damage to become invincible fighting machines. The first Pokemon you should be using are either Lapras or Grimmsnarl, which can set up defensive walls for your team through Grimmsnarl's Reflect & Light Screen, and Lapras's Gigantamax move G-Max Resonance.
With these walls, your bulkier Pokemon like Alcremie, Registeel, and Drifblim can use status moves to build up their defenses further, and use their healing moves and items to recover from any damage. As some extra insurance, Dragonite with its hidden ability Multiscale can dish out tons of physical damage without any set up, and is a great last resort against aggressive foes.
9 The Galar Star
- Leads: Scizor & Rillaboom
- Tanks: Bisharp & Rillaboom
- Sweepers: Urshifu, Cinderace, Scizor, & Inteleon
This rental team is an extremely traditional set for those who love the starters of the Galar region, all of which are exceptionally powerful compared to past games. They each lack many weaknesses and are all about offense, and between Inteleon’s high critical hit rate and Cinderace’s changing types through its Hidden Ability, it’ll surely give your opponent a hard time through unpredictable and uncounterable strategies.
The other members of this team are fairly equal in power, mostly as finishers for what you can’t take down with your starter trio. Urshifu and Scizor can attack remarkably fast thanks to a combo of priority moves and items, and Bisharp can survive any hit with its Focus Sash to hit foes in return even harder. Even though Scizor and Rillaboom work as the best starts, you have a lot more versatility in who you choose for this team than the others on this list.
8 Switch Flip
- Leads: Grimmsnarl & Oranguru
- Tanks: Appletun & Milotic
- Sweepers: Sirfetch'd & Coalossal
One of the most common strategies in competitive Pokemon lately is Trick Room, a powerful status move that causes the turn order of all Pokemon to reverse. Often this is strongest in Double Battles where one ally can attack or protect whoever sets up this effect, but Single Battles can use it just as well to set up later Pokemon for impossibly strong turns.
The main goal is to put Oranguru or Grimmsnarl at the front, as its defenses will almost always allow it to get Trick Room or some Paralysis into play. After that, just let it deal as much damage as it can until it dies, as you now can let your tanks and sweepers run over your fast opponents before they can make a move on you. It's surprisingly simple of a team, but highly powerful and difficult to counter.
7 Mr. Al Rent’s Basic Team
- Leads: Haxorus & Togekiss
- Tanks: Rillaboom & Gengar
- Sweepers: Inteleon & Cinderace
Battle Teams can often get replaced or taken down, so it’s hard to keep up with which ones are still going to be here in a few years. Thankfully, Pokemon Sword & Shield has a surprising amount of rental teams from an NPC in the Battle Tower that will always be available, and at least three of them are surprisingly worthwhile.
The basic team is a very simplified version of the Galar Star list, but with a couple of older powerful classics and less hidden abilities. The real stars of this set are Gengar and Togekiss, both of which deal quite a lot of damage and abilities to entirely stop a Pokemon from functioning through Gengar’s Destiny Bond and Togekiss’s flinch-inducing Air Slash.
6 Mr. Al Rent’s Tough Team
- Leads: Rotom & Hippodown
- Tanks: Aegislash & Snorlax
- Sweepers: Dragapult & Mimikyu
The other team from Mr. Al Rent worth checking out is the Tough Team, which is much more similar to a typical team from before Pokemon Sword & Shield’s DLC was released. Alongside an exceptionally powerful Dragapult that can break through defensive walls with its Infiltrator ability, it also has a spectacular Hippowdon that can make a sandstorm and keep itself eternally healthy through Slack Off.
An additional mention should be given to Mimikyu, who is another unstoppable force in Pokemon Sword & Shield’s online battles even today. Its ability prevents it from taking damage on the first hit, meaning you can safely do Swords Dance before using Dynamax to pound your opponents into the ground.
5 The Rose Tower Victors
- Leads: Regieleki, Landorus, & Grimmsnarl
- Tanks: Celesteela & Venusaur
- Sweepers: Urshifu & Landorus
This team was actually the winning team for a doubles tournament held by Rose Tower VGC, made by the talented trainer Cantfly with some stellar staples of the competitive Pokemon scene. It's also one of the newest teams you'll be able to use, featuring some excellent sublegendaries like Regieleki and Landorus for some aggressive starts.
What makes this rental team so great, though, are mainly its tanks, as Venusaur can dish out obscene damage through Frenzy Plant and Earth Power while Celesteela is almost impossible to defeat thanks to its Assault Vest. Unlike most teams, you should use your Dynamax on Venusaur and Celesteela instead of your sweepers, as it will add to their bulk and provide great secondary effects to boost your team like weather and stat changes.
4 Might & Magic
- Leads: Klefki & Togekiss
- Tanks: Bewear & Alcremie
- Sweepers: Togekiss & Urshifu
This is a general variety team comprised mostly of heavy Fighting-type hitters and tricky Fairy-type tricksters that should give your opponent a few challenges. You ideally want to start with Klefki to put up walls for your team, or Togekiss to deal some fast super effective hits against your opponent's leads, both with the option to use Trick or Switcheroo to ruin your opponent's slow tanks that rely on items or various status moves.
After this, you have all kinds of aggressive fighting-type Pokemon to finish the job, such as the invincible Bewear and Hitmontop or the greatly overpowered Urshifu. Lastly is an adorable Alcremie, whose Aroma Veil ability prevents it from being taunted so as to set up gigantic stat boosts through Calm Mind and Acid Armor.
3 The New OP
- Leads: Dreadnaw & Gallade
- Tanks: Aegislash & Corvinight
- Sweepers: Dragapult & Mimikyu
This team is all about the strongest Pokemon you can get in Pokemon Sword & Shield, with many being dominant forces in the past and current metagame. Dragapult is another expert option, and with a Choice Scarf item it can outrun essentially any Pokemon in the game, including the new legendaries that arrived in the Crown Tundra.
Corvinight, meanwhile, takes a much more defensive route by maxing its defenses and slowly eats at opponents with Brave Bird while using Roost to recover from recoil. The main Gigantamax target is your main lead of Dreadnaw, who can set up spikes with either its Stealth Rock move or its Gigantamax move Stonesurge on the first turn, while alsoresisting damage through its excellent all-around defenses.
2 Stall Stinger
- Leads: Galvantula & Corsola
- Tanks: Pyukumuku, Clefable, & Bewear
- Sweepers: Dracovish
Much like Slow Burn, this team focuses on many slower foes that can slowly eat away at your opponent, but through much slower and more cautious means. Galarian Corsola and Pyukumuku are the key members of this list, as they can defend themselves and self-heal with either Strength Sap or Pain Split while opponents are hurt by the respective effects of Night Shade and Toxic.
If you just need to hit them harder, you’ve also got a speedy Dracovish and an aggressive Clefable to hit your opponents back with a vengeance whenever your slower members get knocked out. You can also start your team with Galvantula if you need a quick bit of Paralysis against Poison-type foes that Pyukumuku can’t poison, and even a Bewear with the marvelous Pain Split move to drain health in a more unique way than your other teammates.
1 The Traditional OP
- Leads: Rotom & Incineroar
- Tanks: Ferrothorn & Toxapex
- Sweepers: Dragapult & Conkeldurr
This last rental team is a huge change of pace from the new faces we’ve been seeing lots of, as it uses some of the most classically powerful Pokemon in competitive play history and a wide variety of strategies. Your main leads involve Incineroar and a Water-type Rotom, each of which has moves that can swap themselves out while also having options to diminish your opponent’s stats.
Once you swap out, you can replace them with either the heavy and Dynamax-ready Conkeldurr and Dragapult, or the defensive stallers of Toxapex and Ferrothorn to chip at your opponent slowly. These showcase all the earlier-mentioned strategies at once, and those wanting to try everything on offer in Pokemon Sword & Shield will surely find this team fun to fiddle with.