The Rental Tournament features battles using rental Pokémon. Instead of using their own Pokémon, the both player and every opponent battle with rentals.
It is unlocked by winning the Driftveil Tournament once.
Before the tournament, the player chooses one of three tickets in the lobby. The chosen ticket decides how strong both the player's and opponents' rental Pokémon will be. The player is then offered six rental Pokémon, from which they will pick three in Singles, four in Doubles or Rotations, or all six in Triples. The opposing Trainers will use the same number of Pokémon.
All Pokémon are level 50. The player's Pokémon always have 20 IVs, and opponents' IVs are dependent on the Trainer: Gym Leaders and Bianca have 20 IVs, and all other Trainers have 8 IVs.
Rental Pokémon come from the Pokémon used by Trainers on the Battle Subway's Normal Train. They are split into two pools, Weak and Strong:
| Pool | Battle Subway sets | Pokémon |
|---|---|---|
| Weak | Low Tier Set-1 and Low Tier Set-2 | 66 species, 132 sets |
| Strong | Mid Tier Set-1 and Mid Tier Set-2 | 38 species, 76 sets |
The ticket the player picks decides which pool(s) the player's six rental Pokémon come from:
| Ticket | Pokémon offered |
|---|---|
| Right | Weak |
| Middle | Strong |
| Left | 3 weak, 3 strong |
The same ticket also decides which pools every opponent's team comes from:
| Ticket | Single | Double | Triple | Rotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right | 3 weak | 4 weak | 6 weak | 4 weak |
| Middle | 3 strong | 4 strong | 6 strong | 4 strong |
| Left | 3 strong | 3 strong + 1 weak | 3 strong + 3 weak | 3 strong + 1 weak |