Hardest Gym Leader in EVERY Pokémon Game

[@theinsanegamer1024]

Something I noticed about Sabrina in Yellow, Lore-wise, she's only meant to have 1 Pokémon. She's meant to mimic the anime, how her Abra evolved into a Kadabra in the middle of the battle, except this time her Kadabra "evolves" into Alakazam. It's like how Surge only has a Raichu, to mimic the anime. However, due to hardware limitations they couldn't have her Pokémon evolve like that, so they did the next best thing and gave her the evolution line, trying to imply that it's evolving as the fight goes on.

[@diostaku2]

That's an interesting interpretation of the battle that I'd never considered until now, I mean, a level 50 Abra? Damn! What other thematic explanation could there be?!🙃

[@teo2805]

There is no "hardware limitation". You haven't seen the crazy things from hackers are pulling off with the decomp projects and are making stuff up

[@berserkerciaran]

​@@teo2805I don't think I've seen a mid-battle evolution yet, unless you count Giovanni's Mewtwo mega evolving in Radical Red (but that's Fire Red, not Yellow. And also it probably wouldn't fit in a normal GBA cartridge, so yeah)

[@theinsanegamer1024]

@@berserkerciaran Yeah, and this was Game Freak, who are far less capable at coding, even back then. They had some ambition, but lacked the skill and hardware to fulfill it. Gold/Silver only had Kanto in it because Satoru Iwata was able to compress enough data that they had a huge amount (comparatively for the system) of space left over. Plus the fans today have had multiple decades to work on the game engine and know what it's capable of, versus the 5-ish years Game Freak had with Pokémon Yellow. That isn't even bringing up how that, for as ambitious as Game Freak might have been at the time, fans today are undoubtedly thousands of times more passionate and ambitious than they were.

[@wyattsmith391]

​@teo2805 it's a hardware limitation not a software limitation, you'd need a entirely new list of commands for every pokemon the could evolve and also one for each evo stone on games that were practically full, yellow was gbc and had a little more room.

[@allenperalez1856]

X and Y I usually have the most trouble with Grant. 2nd gym with both fossils of unique types. Amaura has Refrigerate making Take Down stab, and Tyrunt being part dragon is hard to counter if you aren't prepared

[@nickdentoom1173]

Yeah, thats the thing Gen 4 and after you really cannot say what is the Strongest GL in a region anymore. Not only has the physical/special split made that a bit problematic, it all depends on team build-up as well and especially in the later generations, you are offered a counter Pokemon to catch that is strong against the upcoming GL as well.

[@iantaakalla8180]

I have even heard claims that because of the wonky balancing, Grant is the hardest gym leader in Kalos and even by the time of the gym leaders and Diantha, it does not get much harder than Grant and you have a great team. I legitimately feel like the hardest gym leaders have to be very early in the game simply because that is when you lack counters, or they need to be so overwhelming even a diverse team can’t stand up to a spammed powerful move or maxed-out evasion or something rare but covering all niches.

[@OswaldAurelia]

Grant was the only trainer in X and Y that I lost to. And it happened twice.

[@TheAzulmagia]

Amaura has Thunder Wave for whittling you down, access to Ice and Dragon types gives solid coverage against Rock's usual weak points, and Grant makes pretty good usage of both of his abilities with Refrigerate Take Down and Strong Jaw Bite. Pretty mean for Gym 2, particularly when your options are still a bit limited at this point even with Kalos' expansive Pokédex.

[@EyedMoon]

Congrats on your cookies, you're 100% right it's Grant. For how early it is in the game, his team is pretty strong and kinda fun too.

[@DraconicLeafTalarus]

Sometimes even when you do prepare for Tate & Liza in Emerald, you can still run into snags and end up in trouble. Tate & Liza’s gym battle for Emerald was a perfect in-game demonstration of how tricky double battles can be.

[@JayClearman411]

Oddly enough first time I played emerald an ruby Watson was the one that kicked by rear…both him an brawly will spank you if you slack or sleep.

[@chainsawplayin]

Shiftry could probably solo that whole gym. The problem is that you're spending your Giga Drain TM on a Shiftry.

[@DkKobaADV]

​@@JayClearman411for me it was Juan because of that damned Kingdra

[@BookofConke]

Use 2 Dark types and it's unlosable. 2v1 target down right side of the field, Xatu cannot touch you. Very easy.

[@markobrnadic1995]

​@@chainsawplayinBro this sonfel gonna spamming flamethrower😂,

[@austinhunter7732]

Gen 7 honorable mention has to be the totem Araquanid. Full evo at lvl20 while your team is only at second stage, water bubble ability so it can't be burned while DOUBLING it's water moves, and rain is active instantly which only DOUBLES ITS POWER AGAIN. Let's repeat, that a full evo using effectively a 120BP water move against your lil goobers, and for good measure it has leech life to heal itself, summons a Dewpider that abuses the same insane powerful water move spam, and a Masquerain that tailwinds to ensure it's moving faster than you. Make no mistake that Lurantis fight is murder, and Necrozma obviously needs to be talked about (unless you caught an Alolan Muk in which case gg), but that Araquanid is truly horrific. Even if you resist you still get blown away.

[@dorik0]

came to comment this, even with prep, you can get screwed by Araquanid. Lurantis might be hard the first time but there are several ways you can deal with it (even 1 shot it with Gyarados or Flareon)

[@peachiequeen3897]

Completely agree. Not to mention that its speed also gets boosted several times over (its totem aura and Masquerain's Tailwind raise its speed, its Bubble attack and Dewpider's Sticky Web lower your speed) so the game makes absolutely sure you can't outspeed this thing. Plus its coverage is ridiculous. It's got Bug coverage for Grass types, Water coverage for Fire types, and even Aurora Beam for Flying types. I don't think they have coverage for Electric types, but those tend to be frail and probably won't survive a stab Leech Life anyway

[@Magic_Ice]

Of course Muk can beat any Pokémon on a Monday

[@mreevee7785]

Yeah and it also has a wacan berry which means the first electric type attack against it is neutral instead of super effective​@@peachiequeen3897

[@BelugaTheHutt]

Rain being active does not double the power of Water moves. The bonus to Water moves from rain is 1.5x, not 2x. Only the Water Bubble bonus to Water moves is 2x. Taken with STAB, the bonus to the bp of Araquanid's Water moves in rain is 1.5x1.5x2=4.5x

[@greeneggsandbaky600]

the hardest gym leader in x and y is ramos because you have the bonus challenge of having to keep yourself awake while playing the game, despite the fact that none of ramos's pokemon know sleep powder

[@theeorigin4651]

For X/Y, there's no contest. It's Grant. Amaura has Thunderwave to cripple your 'Mons, and then nukes you with refridgerate boosted stab takedown (Somewhere around 175 base power) Tyrunt is the real threat here with Rock Tomb for speed control. This thing will most likely outspeed anything with -1 speed and can then fish for flinches with either stomp or bite. Bite gets strong jaw boosts. Couple that with the dragon typing and his HYPER POTIONS and you have the only league battle to pose a threat. For context, you'd be hard pressed to compose a team where nothing gets bulldose for Clemont, Honedge solos Korrina since it's immune to all but one of her attacks and Valerie's Mawile is pure set up fodder

[@marleonka.]

When it comes to XY, I believe the most difficult Gym Leader is Grant. At this point in the game, your options are still quite limited and dealing with his two fossils is quite difficult. You cant really find Pokemon thaat reliably resists both of Amaura's STABs. Your only hope is having a Fighting type, but not everyone is gonna have one at that point. (Especially if you plan around getting that Mega Lucario, so you don't have overlap. And even then let's say Hawlucha gets decimted by Ice). A Thunder Wave can also make it difficult for you. While the Tyrunt only has three moves, a Strong Jaw boosted Bite can really leave a mark on your mons, especially if they are weak to Dark. Dragon is also a very difficult type to deal with so early into the game, as it cancels out the Grass and Water weakness of Rock that you'd want to use your Starters for. Grant's team overall puts a great emphysis on typing. Ice and Dragon can both be challenging to deal with defensively and offensively respectively. You can walk in with a solid Grass/Water core expecting an easy win against a Rock specialist only to find yourself with half of your team fainted.

[@settrasurfs1780]

Yeah but their is a steelix trade in the same city that somewhat trivializes the fight

[@marleonka.]

@@settrasurfs1780 If you need a specific Pokemon to make it easier, its still the most dificult in Kalos. After all, not everyone is gonna want to use the Steelix or even knows about the trade. But everyone playing the game has to beat Grant

[@RealCutieMutie]

Iono Mismagius is insane for a 3rd gym. * 105 Special ATK, DEF, and Speed * Tera make it have no weakness * Confuse Ray to make her Hex up to almost 200 power (that if you're already not paralyzed from the rest of her team) * And it has CHARGE BEAM.

[@Zenithal1843]

Confusion doesn’t boost Hex

[@justinterry2926]

It was my 6th gym fight

[@RealCutieMutie]

@@Zenithal1843 Right, I always get that confuse (ironic enough) :3 Still a good chance for you to get there paralyzed tho.

[@ShiningJudgment666]

She's someone I had the most difficulty with in Scarlet and Violet in general. Cyclizar is a great pivot since it resists Electric and is immune to Ghost and combined with Volt Absorb Wattrel, you can potentially stall it out. It does still make it a difficult fight since they are also two specific Pokemon you need, not to mention the rest of her team that you'll have to be equipped to deal with.

[@UncleButt]

You can negate the levitate with Smack Down and then finish it off with a ground move.

[@boomerangfishcb]

Hardest thing about Pokémon XY is opening the plastic wrap it came in

[@anthonyt425]

😂

[@jbz4788]

An extra point about Whitney in G/S/C: her counters are gen 1 Pokemon. So a returning player might not have them specifically because of wanting to try the new mons over the old

[@SuperWiggler]

Just catch a Pineco, train it up a couple of levels and then use self-destruct on her Miltank.

[@AzureDragon158]

@@SuperWiggler Every gen II team should have an exploding assassin Pineco/Foretress. Works wonders against Claire's Kingdra, too.

[@veghesther3204]

About that even with Self Destruct Pineco/Foretress are still pure crap.

[@AzureDragon158]

@@veghesther3204 Don't be so cruel to my little hand grenade!

[@veghesther3204]

They are also pure CRAP to lv them up for even Pineco so it still sucks.

[@aesirshero2490]

For X and Y I would absolutely consider Grant. While you do get access to a Mienfoo and Pancham just before, having two fossil mons can be quite daunting. Especially Tyrunt who has hits like a truck.

[@ElladanKenet]

Honorary mention for Gen 4: That damn Raichu + Gyrados double battle in the mist. Thunderbolt, Double Team, Dragon Dance and Ice Fang. You better have De Fogged before hand

[@anthonyt425]

Ugh I’m about to face them shortly and already trying to strategize my team for them.

[@Xestern]

oh god you've unlocked some terrible memories for me, that misty route still haunts me

[@samuelebertinazzi4468]

The other Gyarados double battle in the RAIN before the 4TH GYM(in DP and BDSP before the 3RD)almost endend one of my nuzlockes

[@TheForeverRanger]

The secret is to make it a 1 v 1 rather than a double battle.

[@TheForeverRanger]

@@samuelebertinazzi4468 Just battle them individually.

[@mistergrool3941]

As someone who did a mono-flying run in crystal, mud slap definitely does NOT make for a consistent whitney fight lol. I see your argument for Clair being the toughest but if a gym leader boils down to "go out of your way to get one of three pokemon to cheese the fight or lose" then it is a challenging battle

[@reillywalker195]

You don't need to "go out of your way" to get a Pokémon that can handle Whitney if you actually take your time to look around and not blow past everything-or if you took either Totodile or Chikorita as your starter. Geodude and Onix are both available early and easy to find, as is the trainer with Muscle the Machop and the Pokémon he wants. You can also use either Sandshrew or Cubone depending on your version of the game. As for Clair in Gen II, the only reliable counters to her available in all versions without trading and not dependent on starter choice are Jynx and Lapras. That said, Lapras is fairly slow, and Jynx is fragile to physical moves.

[@verbalengine95]

If you build a mono-flying team and complain about the gym that spams a rock move idk what to tell you dude Don't play gens 1, 3 or 4 either I guess 🤷

[@mistergrool3941]

@verbalengine95 you missed the point. This video claims that mud slap is a valid, consistent strategy when in fact it is not. You're right that the mono-flying made it slightly worse against Rollout but I can assure you that the miltank will be about as effective against any pokemon trying to use mud slap, except for the few that already resist Stomp

[@BardockSkywalker]

Exactly. If you need to go specific options to make the fight easy, then the fight isn't easy Especially if the supposed BEST option isn't even that good since Machop is slower than Miltank & moreover, it's frail... in short, Miltank can either land an unlucky crit, or worse, Flinch Stomp your Machop to death So your only true options for Gen 2 Whitney are Geodude & Onix, that's it

[@137Furon]

Not doing an honourable mention of Morty’s gengar when it has hypnosis dreameater

[@IamMeHere2See]

My pick for hardest XY leader is Olympia. Valerie is scarier, but only because I believe she is secretly a Hydreigon hiding from Fairy-types right under their noses. Seriously, she _never_ puts her arms down, and you can talk to her hands & she will respond as if you were talking to her head. AND THEN THERE’S HER SOULLESS, HYDREIGON EYES. But yeah, Olympia has great coverage with great abilities in Infiltrator, Oblivious, & Magic Guard to aid her heavy-hitting special-attacking team. Even bringing a Dark-type is not guarantee enough.

[@robertlupa8273]

Valerie is quite unnerving indeed.

[@intergalactic92]

It’s her eyes.

[@IamMeHere2See]

@ Her Hydreigon eyes 👀…

[@_-Bane-_Main]

There really isn’t a single leader in XY that’s difficult, but I have to at least give Grant credit for trying to stop the starters from steamrolling him. Amaura’s ice takedown is probably going to obliterate the grass starter, rock is a bad matchup for fire, and Tyrunt is neutral to water, while having a potential speed advantage against Frogadier if Amaura paralyzes it.

[@charginginprogresss]

8:15 I have flashbacks to those lv 31 wild Pelippers spamming Protect

[@solanceDarkMOW]

For X&Y i think I have to go with Grant. Refrigerate Takedown on Amaura is quite strong, as is Tyrunt's base attack. They also both have typings that are hard to deal with if you were banking on using a Grass or Water type like in earlier games.

[@OswaldAurelia]

There's also the fact Tyrunt and Amaura like to use Rock Tomb, slowing you, and then Tyrunt has Bite Edit: forgot Amaura also has gotdman Thunder Wave

[@KeroTheInvincible]

For Fantina's Platinum fight, you don't just have fewer options because it's earlier, you also have fewer options because you're playing Platinum. Stunky, Misdreavus, AND Murkrow were made unavailable in Platinum, leaving you seriously lacking for Ghost-type counters at that stage in the game.

[@waldo109]

Since Tate and Liza are two gym leaders, both their aces get Sitrus Berries instead of just one ace. They also get twice the amount of potions than other gym leaders - they get FOUR Hyper Potions Calm Mind on two of her team mates is also unprecedentedly strong. For perspective, Juan's whole team only gets Double Team and Amnesia.

[@bigrockerending7711]

Slight correction for Korrina. You don't get Mega Lucario until after you defeat her gym battle. HOWEVER, her team is next to USELESS against Ghost types, so I'd still say she's far from the best. Now as for the Gym battles I remember having the most trouble with... FRLG: Don't remember HGSS: Clair BW: probably Lenora? B2W2: I guess Cheren? XY: Wulfric, funnily enough ORAS: either Roxanne or Wattson SM/USUM: Lurantis (though honorable mentions to Togedemaru on my first USUM playthrough) SwSh: probably Raihan BDSP: ...don't remember having trouble at all, except with maybe Roark LA: If we're specifically talking the Noble Pokémon, Arcanine was the one I had most trouble with SV: Don't remember

[@s0lsticefr4]

I haven't played a lot of X/Y but I immediately knew it was wrong when he said it lmao. I agree she isn't that strong tho

[@MarshPoketrainer]

10:09 I love that everyone is just using jaiden's clip of dragon dance now. it's funny and adorable. Everyone should use it

[@jamaalhooks8256]

I gotta say, other than the Gen 2 gym leaders on this list, my first time battling these gym leaders was always so easy. Now, after playing the games over and over, eventually, I found myself with teams that did not match up well and had to feel the full force of these teams mentioned.

[@PC-ni6bp]

Sabrina is so funny in gen 1 because bosses overwrote their third move when customs were added, so she literally overwrote PSYCHIC for PSYWAVE lmao. They fixed this is yellow, but still a funny way they nerfed her Alakazam lol

[@billylin8800]

i actually struggled far more on some of my SWSH playthroughs with early leaders like nessa and kabu than raihan simply due to the fact by the time you reach raihan you've had so much time to fine-tune your uber-team of fully evolved mons, the double battle just lets you cream him twice as fast.

[@GoikOShea]

I think Grant is underrated in Gen 6 as a 2nd gym leader with thunder wave, refrigerate take down and strong jaw bite.

[@Fredward0216]

@4:00 level 7 Ivysaur

[@_M_4]

Viridian Forest Glitch

[@NRF3703]

I love that you put the Light Velocity song from Gran Turismo 3 when talking about Whitney. Get it? 'Cuz 3. She's the THIRD gym leader of Johto? Haha. At least that's the connection I made, lol. Great video!

[@pacmax4454]

Grant probably takes the title. He’s got a refrigerate Amaura that’s hitting with essentially somewhere in the 100 BP range with take down and has thunder wave to cripple switches. Then Tyrunt resists the two most commonly associated rock weaknesses and hits pretty hard. The main issue he has is you have a few fighting types before him but overall you lack the greatest options for his team (except the trade steelix but let’s not worry about that)

[@OswaldAurelia]

There's also the combo of Amaura doing para and Tyrunt with bite for flinch, and huge damage with strong jaw

[@snowyzorua]

Shoutout to Crystal Claire and Emerald Brawly being the only gym leaders to ever wipe me on a Hardcore Nuzlocke run (at least, as of this moment).

[@LocalMaple]

8:09 I dare you to find the statistical probability of not getting a Wingull, Dustox, Torkoal, Corphish, or Sableye in a Nuzlocke before Norman. Because by level 27, they all learn Protect.

[@robertlupa8273]

Huh, didn't know about Corphish being part of the Protect gang.

[@s0lsticefr4]

You can't get Corphish before the 5th gym, can you? you need the super rod that is only available after you beat the gym.

[@REALmikegordan]

Pretty sure Viola's before you get the EXP. Share, which was absolutely broken in Gen 6 and is the main reason the level curve in X and Y is so high. OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire don't really address this though as the level curve in those games remain mostly the same as in Ruby and Sapphire.

[@anthonyt425]

I consider Tate & Liza from Emerald to be S tier. Great team synergy and really needed a strategy to overcome them.

[@dramaticScar]

Another thing worth noting in HGSS Clair… You can now get Dragon Claw at the goldenrod department stores on Sundays… which a Feraligatr can learn and it really helps

[@veghesther3204]

About that I still chose Cyndaquil on those versions of the game but even on the DS remake Chikorita is still pure CRAP.

[@H1_R3Z]

When terastalization was first announced in the build up to SV's release, I was hoping that the gym leaders would use it in interesting ways to benefit their teams, like for example, having a fire leader with sun strats tera a grass type into a fire type to get a Chlorophyll boost plus stab on a fire type move it has plus solar beam being super effective on all of fire's weaknesses plus resisting the now powered up fire type moves from the player. Larry does alright by getting the double stab Facade on Staraptor, but Iono having a Mismagius with no weaknesses is almost exactly what I was looking for.

[@IamMeHere2See]

Now I want an FlashyYellow Legacy . . . which would probably just be called FlashyYellow.

[@Temp2390]

I'm going to have to watch this again! The classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 music you have playing in the background keep grabbing my attention and making me relive my childhood!

[@LocalMaple]

1:29 Gotta catch ‘em all, Pokémon!

[@ValinLenoir]

So glad to see Iono as the hardest in ScVi! She was the fist gym leader battle I've lost first try in many generations, it was nuts first time through!

[@Rudy6005]

Whitney is comparable to SSBU Abomasnow, to quote Alpharad, 'It is not the fact that it is easy to avoid, it is the fact that you have to avoid it' You have to counter Whitney, so is isn't hard. The Abomasnow is a free combo if it hits you, however it has to hit you. Claire is impossible to avoid, so she is harder, by logic, however the fact that Whitney must be countered makes her hard

[@demi-femme4821]

Of the X and Y Gym Leaders, Clemont is usually the most troublesome, which says a lot about how easy the rest are given that there were multiple Ground-type options including Dugtrio on the last route.

[@phineas81707]

To expand on USUM Lurantis, because there's something about that thing that's absolutely terrifying: That Comfey has the Ability Flower Veil. Most people have no idea what Flower Veil does- it's only available on Fairy types and only works in Doubles. Flower Veil makes it so that, when a Flower Veil Pokemon is on the field and has a Grass type ally, the Grass type ally's stats can't get lowered. If Lurantis summons Comfey (thankfully, the video is wrong- Comfey replaces Castform as the low HP summon, Trumbeak was replaced by Kecleon), *you can't even use Baby-Doll Eyes anymore.* A lot of the USUM Totems deserve mention, though. Araquanid has permarain Bubble, Leech Life, and Aurora Beam, Marowak has *Thick Club Flame Wheel/Brick Break,* Togedemaru has Tailwind flinchhax and +2 Def to ignore Bulldozes, Ribombee *will* Quiver Dance sweep you unless you have something to hit it hard with Poison/Steel Physically... The USUM totems were playing to win. Honestly, Lurantis loses points because, in Ultra Sun specifically, you can get the Totem Marowak *just* before her, and that has Will-o-Wisp and Fire Punch.

[@ivanbluecool]

I'd love to see a rotom based gym electric gym leader who has all the types. But buff them up with more moves of their appliance to learn or hidden power to give them more coverage.

[@keltzy]

The trouble with rating scarlet and violet is that it's so easy to do the gyms in an unintended order. my first playthrough, I somehow wound up fighting the bug lady last. And on my current playthrough, I fought Iono fourth with a mono-bug team. Her Mismagius went down in one hit. Glad to see Norman up here though. He's the only battle in the entire franchise that ever got me to use those X attack items.

[@Firescizor]

Maybe not the whole gym... but the single hardest Pokémon to defeat belonging to a Gym Leader in XY deffo is Clemont's Heliolisk, solely on the fact that it's an electric type with grass coverage 👀

[@KamenRiderGumo]

So in Gen 1, I was always able to take Sabrina out with a Primeape. Alakazam's weakness is physical defense, and Primeape has ATK in spades, so if you can outspeed Alakazam and lay in a heavy attack like Body Slam, it's more or less over.

[@reillywalker195]

You don't even need to outspeed her team. I watched someone sweep her team with a Parasect that set up Swords Dance and then spammed Leech Life.

[@shadowdragonlord2295]

To be fair even with Charmander as your starter Brock isn't all that hard since both his pokemon have low special stats and don't have any rock moves. Just level up Charmander to at least lv 13, lower their attack with moves like growl and avoid attacking when Onix uses Bide.

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

I heard this is the case because Brock was originally intended to be a sort of "tutorial boss" when the games were developed, which also explains why Onix was given such a low attack stat despite how big and scary it looks. Basically, the whole idea is that at that point in the game, most moves your Pokemon will have will either be normal type, or otherwise something else that doesn't really do much damage to a rock/ground type Pokemon, or even no damage at all if you caught a Pikachu in Viridian Forest. Because of this, once the player realizes that they are getting nowhere with what they have, they will try something else, such as a grass or water move depending on rather you chose a Bulbasaur or Squirtle, which will destroy Brock's Pokemon with basically no effort; of course, if you chose a Charmander instead, although it's weak against rock types (both offensively and defensively), because they don't want a new player to worry too much, they avoided giving his Pokemon actual rock type moves so that they can't do that much damage to Charmander in return. It's in Yellow where Brock gets tough, mostly because you start with Pikachu, which is absolutely TERRIBLE against him to the point of being more or less useless, and you don't have access to any of the starters from the original games yet, forcing you to try to get something else, such as a Mankey or one of the 2 Nidorans with double kick to even out the odds -- because let's face it, you're not getting anywhere against Brock with just your Pikachu

[@ahmedal-kloda7640]

Omg, I was worried Tate Liza would not receive the credit for a moment, but they did, good job!

[@Xelltrix]

All of these options to beat Miltank is why I absolutely never got why so many people struggled with her lol. Then again, my first game was Yellow so I guess I already understood the assignment by then. I suppose a kid a couple years younger than me playing their first Pokemon would have a harder time.

[@TheKabuto90]

For me at least it simply comes down to an absolute refusal to use mons that I don't intend to have on my final team.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

Considering Whitney still requires you to get another mon specifically for her AND grind it up still makes her the hardest gym leader. Every other gym in the series is an easy win for the right starter with decent spamming.

[@Xelltrix]

@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 Well, that's the same as Brock if you started with Charmander or Pikachu. Whitney had as many or more options to beat her as Brock did.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

@@Xelltrix Brock is actually easy with Charmander. As long as you spam Ember and don't attack Onix while it charges up Bide, even a level 12 Charmander has a chance of almost 100% to win the battle, which is also even earlier than Bulbasaur learns Vine Whip. Brock in Yellow is an absolute nightmare for Pikachu and might deserve that spot just as much. I guess the fact that he was deleveled by 2 levels was the reason he didn't get the spot.

[@reillywalker195]

​@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 You don't need to really go out of your way to get any of the counters to Whitney's Miltank available in Gen II if you're not rushing through the game. If you picked Totodile as your starter, you already have a counter to Miltank, and odds are you'll encounter a Geodude or Onix or be able to get a Sandshrew or Cubone. Having a Ground-type on your team is good, anyway, for taking on Electric and Poison-types.

[@awqweird]

Whitney honestly is the most overrated gym leader of all time. Glad you went with the demon kingdra instead.

[@thisrandomdude2880]

I always look for a heracross before fighting her and it's a breeze. Or if I don't really want to grind for a rare encounter, I just pick the water croc and rage takes care of her big cow.

[@saucymongoose7246]

My Crocanaw never fails to solo her. Also, Bayleef with Synesthesis, Poison Powder, Reflct makes her a piece of cake.

[@sdgdhpmbp]

@@saucymongoose7246 Yeah, Pokemon isn't difficult if you know what you're doing. You don't need anything too fancy casually, just have Geodude for most physical encounters.

[@GnitnitWodniw]

Whitney was impossible for me at 7 lol. She really forces you to learn a strategy other than spamming your highest damage move and that's a lot more than what most trainers in any pokemon game does

[@Sithplayer]

Right? She’s only hard if you go in under level

[@atomicpunk2360]

As a kid, I explored in Goldenrod City a good amount before fighting Whitney. I saw the Machop trade before the gym battle and I picked it up, so when I fought Whitney and knew Fighting is super effective, I just used it and won. I never realized as a seven year old back then, I used a specific counter a lot of other people never knew to use.

[@variumi]

I think Drayden is a consideration in black and white 2, his dragon dance haxorus is scary, druddigon can usually take a hit or two and hit any ice types with a double powered revenge, and flygon can also do a lot of damage if you don’t have an ice move.

[@gameboyn64]

I would say in bdsp roark is the hardest gym leader especially if you are playing a nuzlocke. It's the only battle where something can go wrong even if you do everything right. It's also one of the few gyms that requires you to go out of the way to reach specific level benchmarks. Fantina for example is very consistently swept by a trained haunter and maylene is consistently swept by kazza the trade abra.

[@ZingoBananaa]

Pokemon X&Y Olympia. Because she's the only one who's entire team of pokemon actually know four moves.

[@user-2023CatNior]

You're so right about Raihan..he flattened me with his Duralodon the first time I faught him and earned himself the nickname big dork for that,lol If you had covered the teams (Rocket, Star) you encounter I;d give Atticus the title, he uses Poison types and he beat me the first few times I tried to take him down,lol

[@beauvogames]

I think for HGSS Morty is the toughest due to his Gengar alone. The physical/special split made it a beast for a 4th Gym where you're in the low Lv20s and you just aren't really given anything to deal with it since you can't even use Ground types anymore either (it's sort of the Fantina argument but with fewer counters and options). Stantler is one of the only nearby Pokémon that shut it down really well and that's kind of it. Also, because free cookies sounds nice, I think in Gen 6 there's an argument for Grant since secondary typings of Ice and Dragon - types usually left for 7th and 8th Gym Leaders - is pretty busted for a second Gym Leader 😊

[@reillywalker195]

You can get other counters to Morty in HGSS besides Stantler. Girafarig was made unavailable in Crystal but made available again in HGSS before Morty since you can go through Mt Mortar to get it. Normal/Psychic typing and Ghost and Psychic moves make Girafarig a solid counter to the Gastly line. Raticate is another good counter to Morty with its pure Normal typing and access to physical Dark-type moves. If you didn't catch a Rattata, you can catch a Raticate on Route 38 instead.

[@ma.2099]

People hating on Whitney… well ya, when you’re 30-40 and been playing the game for over 20 years now knowing it inside and out, it’s going to be easy lol. Now give that game to. 10 year old with no knowledge and see who stops them entirely in their tracks.

[@TheArquean]

Gotta give a gen 1 shoutout to Koga, if only for his minimizing Muk. That thing was a menace.

[@cattienated]

He isn't a gym leader but Kieran's final team in the Scarlet/Violet DLC was by far the hardest battle for me. Granted, I'm not a competitive person by any means but he was certainly a challenge that's for sure.

[@r-18altaccount85]

Tate and Liza would be really hard if there wasn't a guy in the same city who hands you a Super Rod, and if lv35 Sharpedo weren't catchable in the same city. Remember, there is no species clause in a casual run, and a team of two neutral-natured Sharpedo with average IVs cannot possibly lose here

[@matthewmoser1284]

Misty in the Gen 3 remakes is actually kind of fun. I like matching the number of Pokemon each gym leader has, and you can actually beat Misty with a level 15 Oddish and Bulbasaur. Take out Staryu with Bulbasaur, then Leech Seed Starmie before it takes out Bulbasaur. Send out Oddish and spam Absorb. Combined with Leech Seed, Starmie cant do enough damage because it eventually has to use Recover, which lets you regain full health while Starmie is very slowly losing 2ish HP each time. Its not the most efficient strats, but i like roleplaying that fight and imagining that Brock is watching the fight and eventually tells her to throw in the towel. She has no hope of winning and shes just letting her Pokemon prolong its suffering.

[@FiboSai]

Watson is my least favorite gymleader. Not neccessarily the hardest, but he is the most matchup fishy fight in any game. Magneton is close to impossible to take down for about 80% of the available encounters at that point. So you are very much forced to use at least one of the available counters that make the fight very easy. In my very first nuzlocke, I chose Treeko as my starter for the extra challenge, and then failed to find an encounter that learned even a neutral move against steel types.

[@ThePika78]

I don't remember exactly how I beat Claire as a 7 year old child with a Typhlosion, Golem, Graveler and three others I do not recall, I only remember using Explosion twice on her, and Kingdra surviving the last one just for me to throw everything at her until Flame Wheel from Typhlosion took her out from how overleveled I was and how weakened I got her.

[@CyberDrewan]

I would say the hardest gym in XY is probably Grant (not that it’s super hard - it’s just not a walk in the park). I believe he is the earliest gym leader to use either Ice or Dragon types, Amura’s takedown is Ice type, which is stab and can catch grass types off guard, and Tyrunt is at least neutral to all the starters (including the ka to starters, where even Bulbasaur’s poison doesn’t help). Both can be worn down easily with a team of 6, and are particularly vulnerable to Fighting and Steal types, but they are probably the least intuitive Pokémon to deal with at their time.

[@Pokellectibles94]

I get the argument against Whitney in gen 2 but I think a major contender is morty. Yeah Claire's kingdra can be a pain but you're in the end game at that point and you've got tons of options. Morty buckles to a croconaw with bite but good luck if you picked another starter. His whole team is immune to normal moves, 2 of them have curse, 2 of them have hypnosis and the AI is good enough to hypnosis/dream eater lock you with gengar. I just never had an issue with Claire but it wasn't uncommon for me to wipe to Whitney or morty.

[@25fan]

For XY, I'm honestly not sure any gym leaders pose enough of a challenge to be the HARDEST in the region (for the respective point in the game) except Viola - she does use Pokemon advantageous against two starters' types (bug/flying>grass, water/bug>fire) while neutral on the third (water), which does at least encourage newer players to get a second Pokemon. As for PLA, I think the title would probably go to either Ingo or Zisu, for their roles in the Training Grounds. As for SV, I honestly would've given it to Larry despite Iono's Mismagius. Larry's Dudunsparce and Staraptor can, between them, wear down a team quite quickly, but I've only found Iono's Mismagius to be a particular threat, myself, with the three preceding Pokemon to be comparatively weak. I've also found my levels to be more on-par for Iono than Larry, perhaps due to the next objective back on each side of Paldea being three levels higher (Mela's base being before Levincia) and six levels lower (Kofu before Larry) for their highest-leveled Pokemon.

[@bukojoetheslapsoils8273]

Same. I've seen so many content creators and streamers that were destroyed by Dudunsparce and Staraptor.

[@CaptainObliviousV]

I had a hard time with Larry myself, but I always found it odd how they went from the 3rd gym leader having a team of 4 (Iono being the lowest ranked gym leader to have that many btw), to the 4th & 5th going down to 3. Yeah, Kofu & Larry’s teams are all fully evolved compared to Iono’s, but I personally don’t think that’s any excuse, especially when they have Atticus at a lower level than Larry with 3 fully evolved mons + the Navi Starmobile.

[@25fan]

@CaptainObliviousV To be fair, Veluza and Komala are unable to evolve. I don't think that it's that notable that Kofu and Larry are with fully evolved teams, hence - Iono has just as many Pokémon evolved at least once and fully simultaneously.

[@HermanTG]

THANK YOU! Elesa is so tough in a B/W nuzlocke, and people don't respect her enough. If you dont have your own Zebstrika, you usually don't make it out without a casualty. And I've actually wiped against her before.

[@carringtont7632]

Not going to lie, the last time I played HGSS I did a PokeWalker only challenge and while Whitney was a joke, Bugsy was a massive wall. Trying to level up a whole team of six ment I was seriously under-leveled compared to Scyther. And given the lack of anything reasonable to grind against, it was a serious hard fight.

[@NiGHTSnoob]

In Emerald you can literally catch level 35 Sharpedo in the same town as Tate and Liza. They come with Crunch, can learn Surf, and are immune to Psychic. If all else fails just catch two of them and run straight through the twins.

[@ShiningJudgment666]

Sharpedo is quite frail though and Claydol is pretty bulky.

[@KnightVision68]

I've seen a lot of Poketubers say this about Whitney: 1) you're right. It is one of the first fights you really have to stragtegize for. 2) Miltank is freaking strong for your level in the game. I had no idea its BST is so high (for the point you face her in the game)

[@ilikeutubeful]

7:25 Smith: Clair is the hardest Gen II Gym Leader because, unlike Whitney, there are no simple counters to beat Clair. Jynx: Am I a joke to you? 23:40 Smith: Iono is the hardest Gym Leader in S/V. A Terastallized Electric - Type Mismagius with no weakness whatsoever. Jolteon with Normal as its Tera Type: Allow me to introduce myself.

[@jtyler9130]

Sorry let me correct Smith for you. Iono is the hardest as you have to have one specific Pokémon with a specific Tera type that you find at random or have bought a Tera shard for

[@reillywalker195]

Jynx probably won't survive a Hyper Beam with her mediocre HP and poor physical defence. Kingdra has decent bulk and physical attack power, and the fact it's only weakness is Dragon means it's difficult to one-shot, so Jynx would need to take a hit or hope Hyper Beam either misses or doesn't finish her off. Lapras is bulky with its high HP and decent physical and special defence, but it has the disadvantage of being slower than Clair's team before stat experience and DVs are factored in.

[@ilikeutubeful]

@@reillywalker195 True, but if you use Jynx against just Clair's Dragonair trio, which are slower than Jynx, then you can save your best fighters for when Kingdra comes out. Yeah, Kingdra may still be a pain, but if you are lucky enough to paralyze it, like with Magneton's' Thunder Wave followed by Smokescreen from another Pokemon like Weezing, Clair can do little besides spam Hyper Potions, which she only has two, and without her Dragonair as backup, she can't swap out for an accuracy reset. Additionally, you could use Confuse Ray from Crobat or the aforementioned Lapras, possibly even Attract as well, to really mess up Clair, and with so many odds stacked against her, Clair could be surprisingly easy if you set up just right. Or, if all else fails, have Jynx take out the Dragonairs, then swap in Lapras once Clair's down to only Kingdra, have it use Perish Song, and clean house.

[@ilikeutubeful]

@@jtyler9130 I was just making a funny joke because I recently learned you can catch Eevee early on in the game, and its default Tera Type is always Normal. Therefore, because Pokemon don't change Tera Types upon evolution, you could hunt for a Thunderstone, evolve Eevee and basically troll Iono because her Mismagius only has Charge Beam and Hex as its attacks. Jolteon's Normal Tera type would prevent damage from Hex and its Volt Absorb Ability would allow it to heal from Charge Beam. Yeah, Mismagius also has Confuse Ray, but if Jolteon's constantly being healed from Charge Beam, Confuse Ray won't make a difference. The only way Iono might've gotten around this is if Mismagius had a fourth move, like Mystical Fire, Magical Leaf or Psybeam.

[@F14thunderhawk]

The hardest gymleader of XY is to start the game and then pick a name, because as we learned from the Mega-leak you were NEVER intended to face the base 8 gyms and elite 4

[@g.williams2047]

What do you mean by never being intended to fight the gyms and elite 4?

[@punmasterShag]

Great video! For LA, I’d argue Mai’s early game warden battle is harder than Kamado’s. The game gives you zero defensive resists for Munchlax’s rollout, and all the resources available are pretty frail defensively. It’s difficult to 1v1 since it’s tanky and can snowball quickly. Basically Whitney with less counterplay. Compare to Kamado, for whom you have access to the entire map at this point in terms of resources.

[@aAaRePLaY]

Would love to see a list like this for the spin off games(mystery dungeon etc.) as well!

[@addambarcelos]

Totem lurantis was one that surprised me when I played sun/moon. That one was a hard to beat

[@Drako2k0]

2:21 did you forget about pikachu from viridian forest?

[@THATCRZYKING]

The twins in Emerald had me at a hard stop for a while. The Solrock and Moon just annihilated me with their giant AoE attacks.

[@WhiteRaven696]

When it comes to the outliers of Alola and Hisui, I consider the Trial Captains to be the Gym Leaders (if you count Molayne despite being retired, there are 8 Captains and thus 8 "Gym Leaders"), and then I consider the Wardens to be the Gym Leaders (despite there being 10 Wardens, and only 5 of the 10 Nobles can be fought).

[@NovaBombardment]

I always considered the Kahunas the Gym Leader stand ins, considering it plays the gym leader victory theme when you beat them, and they raise the level in which Pokemon obey you.

[@WhiteRaven696]

@ But there’s four of them and they’re literally the characters approached to be the Elite Four by Kukui (except Hapu, who wasn’t appointed Kahuna in time). Only reason Nanu isn’t an Elite Four is because he turned it down, which means he was still approached for the position.

[@NovaBombardment]

@@WhiteRaven696 Doesn't have to be eight of them. There's also not eight even by your logic because the one guy is retired and strictly isn't a trial captain. Larry in Scarlet and Violet is also both a gym leader and an elite four member, so the games clearly don't have rules against that happening. Two of the Gym Leader stand in fights in Sun/Moon just happen to also be Elites.

[@cursedswalot9713]

The toughest XY gym leader is grant,first of all, his amaura can paralysis your Pokémon,has a refrigerate boosted take down to kill your grass type and rock tomb to drop your speed,secondly,he has a tyrunt which is really tricky to defeat because it’s typing resists water and grass moves and also has rock tomb to drop your speed but in addition has stomp and a strong jaw boosted bite to flinch you,tbh all the gyms suck but Grant certainly is cooking with his Kalos dinos,he’s the toughest gym leader in my opinion

[@dillonphipps582]

For X and Y, I have an unorthodox (and definitely incorrect) pick: Wulfric. But here’s the catch-it can only be the Wulfric from my first fight with him. He froze every time he used an Ice-type move. It got to the point I thought they changed Hail to always allow freezes. So that Wulfric, with those fake head canon alterations to Hail, is the hardest XY gym leader. Otherwise, Grant is kind of surprisingly difficult if you don’t know what you’re up against.

[@Nethaura]

I played gen 5 on an emulator with savestates, and Elesa STILL whooped me several times. Every emolga triggers PTSD now ;-;

[@OswaldAurelia]

"emolga used volt switch"

[@kildawg]

I figured out that the best Elesa counter in B2W2 only is Trapinch due to it learning Rock Slide at 25. Stopping those rodents from volt switching is a top priority

[@s0lsticefr4]

@@kildawg Also he has base 100 attack which is insane for a base form pokemon

[@ObiClon]

For me back in the era of Red/Blue Misty & Sabrina were difficult for me. In Gold while I had trouble with Whitney (like many others) it was only when I was using Cyndaquil. The gym that was difficult for me was Bugsy as I started with Chikorita. I will say that Winona, Crasher Wake/Fatina in Platinum and Lenora were tough for me when I played the respective games they appear in the first time

[@robertlupa8273]

Wake kicked me ass when I first played Platinum a few years ago. 😭 When it wasn't his Quagsire successfully stalling me out, it was Gyarados flinching my Luxray, frustrating me to the point of resetting. Next time I play Platinum, I'm bringing in Roselia for that Quagsire. :v

[@intergalactic92]

12:38 Misty can be trivialised if you pick up one of the readily available grass types. Bullet seed spam destroys her. I know this from experience, I was worried about her when I went to fight her for my recent nuzlocke, but it turns out that bellsprout sweeps her.

[@Rytex-nh7pm]

I’m just wondering why you have a lv 7 ivysaur for the Sabrina fight in yellow

[@tintage7233]

I am so glad you don't have a sound effect for everytime you change the music Also i seem to see people have trouble with grant in XY

[@JJwzp808]

Thanks for this really liked this 🙌🏻

[@erichb414]

I agree with the other people below that the hardest X/Y gym leader is grant. 100%

[@LeonSKennedy-b9v]

To be honest, Clair has just as consistent counters as Whitney has. You can catch Jynx in Ice Path and Jynx obliterates her Dragonairs rendering their paralysis shenanigans useless and holds its own against Kingdra with Lovely Kiss and hard-hitting Ice Punches. Jynx in general is an absolute beast in gens 1, 2 and 3(frlg) so its not like you don't want to have it either

[@reillywalker195]

Jynx is fragile to physical moves, though, and the Dragonair are less of a problem than the Kingdra. Lapras handles the Kingdra better, as does Gyarados.

[@LeonSKennedy-b9v]

Jynx is overall much better than Gyarados in both Johto and Kanto though and you don't care that much about Physical moves when you one-shot most things in the game. Ice/Psychic is also a much more desirable type in-game than Water/Ice or Water/Flying. The Elite Four crumble to Jynx, so does the champion, most gyms in both Kanto and Johto and most trainers in the game. Jynx is almost unstoppable. And it's not like you can't use Gyarados with it anyway. Lapras is kinda meh, unfortunately. Too slow, not as hard-hitting after the special split

[@reillywalker195]

​@@LeonSKennedy-b9v Jynx's lack of physical bulk makes her a liability against physical moves, and Hyper Beam is physical in Gen II. Lapras is also available much earlier, as is Gyarados.

[@snappylunarwave]

I'd just like to note, in X and Y you get the Mega Lucario after Korrina's gym, not before it. I think Grant deserves a mention. Not sure who I'd pick as better between Grant and Korrina, but they both are fairly challenging for X and Y standards. For Grant, Amaura has decent moves, including Thunder Wave, and while Take Down isn't the best Refrigerate makes it hit pretty hard. Tyrunt then has Strong Jaw to boost Bite and Stomp to flinch. Then Korrina's entire team has set up strategies, along with Fake Out on Mienfoo, Machoke having Guts to punish statusing it, and Hawlucha having Flying Press as a unique move it can go with. Neither team is perfect and has flaws (for example why does Hawlucha have both Power-Up Punch and Hone Claws?), but for X and Y standards these two are easily the toughest, especially when adding in megas after gym 3. Thanks for taking the time to read this, have a great day!

[@dallinhunter7385]

Whitney nearly had me in tears as a child Good point about Claire. In a recent Crystal Nuzlocke, she nearly wiped my entire team and ended my run. Went on to win the game, but still, it was close. I had a single pokemon left after her gym.

[@Val_1992]

4:55 yeah, that's the case - most players will always have their starter as the strongest pokemon, and starters have 87.5% chance to be male... :/ And I agree, Clair and her Kingdra is real nightmare. As you said, there are counters to Miltank (Machop being the best imo), but Clair is just "be stronger" strat

[@revalentinemashups510]

For XY, it goes to Grant. He has many means to slow the player's pokemon and his Tyrunt has flinch moves. Amaura's refrigerate take down hits like a truck, and both pokemon are awkward for the starter types to hit. I'd give Clemont a second place-he may be copying Elesa's homework, but its helped by his heliolisk having grass knot. Unfortunately for the ones you mentioned, Valerie's lead is complete setup fodder and Korrina...its bad if im more intimidated by the random black belt in the cave before her. Major disservice to not discuss usum's other totems. Lurantis i'd argue actually gets easier. Compared to Castform, Comfey is just walled by whatever walls Lurantis, and with access to Roost the player has a lot more options to wall Lurantis. Meanwhile- -You lose the fairy Z-move against Kommo-o, while it gains actually strong allies, a Roseli berry and a threatening physical moveset. -Togedemaru has beastly defenses thanks to its buff, and with spiky sheild and torment its extremely annoying to hit anyway. -Mimikyu remains pretty on par with the original. -Double omniboost Ribombee w/quiver dance and good allies is only brought down by having low IVs and poor coverage on its own. -Marowak meanwhile has great coverage and detect, plus the poison/hex combo with salazzle. You really wanna get that thick club away from it ASAP. -Araquanid is RIDICULOUS. Extremely good coverage, rain boosted water attacks, WATER BUBBLE...and your team is barely in the 20s. It's probably my pick for the toughest totem.

[@JakeSPuwuowo69]

"[Misty is a notable exception], and MAN is it a bi--" "tch?" "big one" "... Oh. Right."

[@jbz4788]

For X/Y the hardest was gym 2 (Rock gym) by a landslide for me. Everything else was ran over without slowing down. The double fossil team though was a pretty decent challenge.

[@vinsmokejadzki7346]

I am trying to remember if I ever struggled with Claire? I know Whitney mopped the floor with me, even with a Machop.

[@vinsmokejadzki7346]

Raihan was way to easy, i felt insulted. I loved his team it was amazing team. but he just felt like an insult.

[@nataliariu621]

There is a simple way to beat Norman's gym. The way is to use the protection attack with your strongest pokemon. When it is going to attack you use the protection attack, when you lazy attack if you do it right, it won't even attack you.

[@Stunprefo]

Was not expecting the Gran Turismo 3 music during the gold/silver/crystal section, not going to lie.

[@Brogie_21]

I remember seriously struggling with the togedamaru totem because I didn’t have a fire type on my team. The skarmorys were immune to ground and the dedenne would boost it with discharge and paralyze me

[@hyprz5]

In my first ever Pokemon playthrough (sapphire) i remember getting really stuck on brawley, i kept going down to bulk up/arm thrust and just couldn’t figure out how to deal with him for ages

[@joshuabradford6957]

I actually beat Sabrina with a slightly underleveled Parasect with Leech Life and Spore. It isn’t poison like most of the available grass or bug types, so isn’t weak to Psychic attacks. Leech Life is STAB and a Physical Move. So it punches through their soft physical defenses.

[@uncleasmo657]

XY could be the first gym, a fully evolved bug with infestation is ruthless, but you do get access to litleo, fletchling and other flying types. The one I reckon actually takes it though is the rock gym, both fossils from this game are pretty strong and the tyrunt is part dragon which stops a large part of the standard counters.