Who Are the Worst Gym Leaders at Every Rank?

Pokémon Gym Leaders can be great, or some of them can be lacking, but which ones are the worst by positioning in the game? It might not be the ones you think, but then again maybe you'd use different criteria so let me know how you'd go about determining the worst by station.

[@BladeXRG]

blaine when he uses super potions on pokemons with full health: big brain

[@alyssarichardson2544]

ahahahaha for real? My first Pokemon game was Yellow back in '99, maybe they fixed that since Red/Blue. That's hilarious! 😂

[@robertlupa8273]

@@alyssarichardson2544 His Arcanine also loves to use Roar, which did nothing in trainer battles on Gen 1.

[@hattruck8607]

Big blaine

[@recordedbeast4466]

@@hattruck8607 lmfao big blaine

[@originaluseername]

“pokemon” HAR DE HAR HAR AM I JOEK TO U

[@qqqqqqqqqqqq121212]

For the record, if we weren’t including trial captains - the worst 8th Gym leader is definitely Wulfric, He outright says that you may find him a pushover

[@emperorcubone]

Haha, well at least he's self-aware!

[@momom5429]

Seriously, they need to stop trying to push Ice as an end game type. I know it's one of the only types that can beat Dragon and has a lot of offensive potential but it's the absolute worst defensively and should be mid game at most.

[@qqqqqqqqqqqq121212]

@@momom5429 Agreed, Ice was once a very strong and useful type back in Gen one when nothing else could hurst Dragon, Steel didn’t exist, and Fighting was really bad - it’s like they haven’t realised just how bad it’s become 25 years later.

[@Orphen_]

​@@emperorcubone Maybe make a video on how to improve the Ice type? My suggestion is to create Icy terrain where: - Rain weather will turn into hail (It freezes) - Sunny day/Sunny weather will lose it's effects (except for sunny Super weather which will melt the icy terrain.) - All water type moves become Ice type moves (with the exception of Scald) (They freeze) - Non Ice types will have their speed lowered, except if the pokemon has thick fat. (Cold makes you sluggish) - Ice types on Icy terrain lose their Fighting weakness (because the ice hardens them to the point a punch won't break it.) I think it would give a huge boost to the ice type mostly defensively and they would become way more usefull. Making this a terrain gives it a bit more of a challange since you have to set it up. Names for moves to set it up that come to mind 'Ice Age' or 'Absolute Zero' well there could be other ways to improve the type... I think it would be a fun video.

[@cristofercruzmartinez3002]

@@Orphen_ I never though of a icy terrain, but it make a lot of sense, i think that ice types should be super effective againts fairy because most of the time, fairy is related to nature(like grass in the pokemon World)

[@marshmallowenthusiast9032]

I’m genuinely surprised none of the gen six gym leaders got picked, considering how easy they are.

[@ninjalen1836]

They are all very weak, but they are consistently weak, they dont have difficulty spikes (downwards) like the other gens...

[@michaelnelson1127]

I was sure he’d at least mention Olympia or Wulfric for their spots. I can see why he’d pick Tate and Liza over Olympia, though, but I’m sure if he didn’t pick Mina, then Wulfric would’ve been his choice.

[@AznYunHou]

@@michaelnelson1127 Maybe Wulfric's extreme high level was the reason to not pick him

[@tyrant-den884]

You have to remember them to rank them.

[@jamespatton9806]

Maybe they have comparably higher levels? It's just very easy to level up in that gen so it feels easier

[@Mixraker45]

Lance: king of Dragonite’s Clair: queen of... dragonair’s

[@igorlopes8463]

Fair enough, I'd say

[@kohinoorbanerjee4009]

I thought that Clair would have at least one underleveled dragonite. I mean, if Lance can have one at level 40........

[@andrewluscomb1519]

@@kohinoorbanerjee4009 clearly lance didnt share the gameshark with the dragon clan

[@esmer4167]

@@kohinoorbanerjee4009 I actually feel like it makes sense that Claire just has her dragonairs since she's still immature and not yet on Lance's level in a way, so it kinda makes sense if you take that into consideration? At least she has her Kingdra.

[@JCBro-yg8vd]

It's her Kingdra you gotta worry about, at least in GSC.

[@josephdavis9234]

Oh, no, how will I ever defeat these two rock-types in a double battle that I had to use Surf just to get to.

[@emperorcubone]

Right? Like for real, it's absurd...

[@adrianwoodruff1885]

Fellow 7th gym leader Blaine has the same problem.

[@jatarokemuri5443]

@@adrianwoodruff1885 but instead Blaine is not 2 Pokémon in one double battle with surf as a spreas

[@skyeplaysgames4598]

@@jatarokemuri5443 Surf being spread only weakens surfs power. In single battles, like Blaine's, you deal MORE damage with surf. And if you have just been doing single battles mostly, double battles are something you aren't as well prepared for, therefore making them a bit harder

[@MG-mq3zf]

@@skyeplaysgames4598 Is that an actual mechanic? Is surf really less power if it hits two targets? I don't think that's an actual thing.

[@armaggedon390]

"We'll go with the first time we see these characters." "Burgh from B2W2." What?

[@kingoflions827]

B2W2 returning gym leaders are special since they change their lineups so counting them twice for their appearances and rating them both individually is how to go about imo and how he went about it.

[@GameBreaker1055]

In their respective games. He means the first time you challenge them in a game, thus not talking about fights like in the world tournament or the re-match if there is one.

[@marcoscarvalho6195]

Yeah. And he used that reason for both Brock and Erika but disconsidered for Burgh. Ramos being tougher than erika... What a joke

[@GhostWriter520]

@@marcoscarvalho6195 yeah, this is super inconsistent. He complained about Brock's gen 1 appearance move set, then suggested giving his gen 1 Geodude a gen 2 move, and suggested giving Onix a move that it actually is given on the remakes

[@ModificationAlpha]

He brings up how you go through Chargstone Cave to get to Skyla’s gym, but that’s how almost the entirety of Unova is designed, having the area before the gym give you Pokémon with an advantage over the next gym

[@sirlimpsalot0-010]

Yeah. Like you can catch Sawk and Throh and Timburr before Nacrene cities gym. Or like how you can catch a grass type pokemon for Driftveil or a ground type like Sandile for Nimbasa city. The list goes on

[@18bluecat]

Kanto was like that too.

[@elpirataretro8734]

Ok but Skyla's ace pokémon is 4x weak to electric.

[@TunaBear64]

@@sirlimpsalot0-010 I don't see a Ground type being that helpful against Elesa though

[@beanslinger2]

@@TunaBear64 that's why there's rock types in that desert too, such as dwebble.

[@Shalakor]

I think you've forgetting about how broken binding moves were in Gen 1. Tangela's shallow move pool isn't a weakness, it's a curse that makes taking repeated chip damage while being unable to act even more likely if you don't oneshot it with a faster Pokemon. I'm sure there were some other overlooked contexts, too easy to overlook something, but that is the one that stood out to me.

[@viperv6768]

Really appreciate this format. Not a common way to talk about the gym leaders

[@Ricendeans]

Liza and Tate in Emerald though? That’s a completely different story. They could be pretty difficult if your core team was not properly leveled. I always had to do a good bit of grinding to combat that Claydol properly.

[@skycastrum5803]

Was confused about that, but now it makes sense. Mostly played third gen on emerald. Especially with nuzlockes it was a danger zone, since double battles had more potential for things to go very wrong.

[@anotherhetalian8499]

Yeah very true! My first pokemon game was Emerald and at that time my strongest pokemon were Blaziken and Gardevoir... I got screwed over real hard hahah! Didn't continue it for a year. So true though, that Claydol is so annoying...

[@tinkerermelon6599]

I was confused as well! Emerald was the only version I'd played through in that Gen and I remember them being pretty tough.

[@quinnbell2388]

even in ruby/sapphire, the level jump at Liza and Tate can be a bit shocking, I've often gone into that fight 5 or even sometime 10 levels down, not sure they should be called the worst

[@mattutter3525]

@@quinnbell2388 Thing is even if you are a bit under-levelled, you still have a massive advantage by the fact that you'll be guaranteed to have surf in your team's movepool, which hits both at once super-effectively.

[@arthurxavier3515]

Regarding Erika's tangela, bind in gen one wasn't as bad as it is now (and you said you were considering their first appearance). It used to do regular damage for the following turns (instead of the 1/8 of the foe's max HP) and the enemy couldn't attack for the 2-5 turns the Pokémon was trapped. Enough to change who the worst gym leader should be in this case? Don't know, but bind is not as terrible as it seems

[@mitkru16]

Yup, I was looking for this comment. I would argue that next to Koga's Minimize, Bind made Erika's Tangela one of the most annoying fights in Gen I and that's without your Pokemon already being poisoned by her Victreebel and Vileplume. To me, Ramos still lives on as the easiest Gym Leader as compared to the player's progression.

[@zLumiNeonz]

Was thinking the same thing, it was actually incredibly OP on the competitive level and was why Pokémon like cloyster and victreebel were OU. Less useful on an NPC because they don’t take advantage of the free switch but still, super annoying. This list seemed to view every generation from a gen 8 perspective ... the game was a ton different in gen 1.

[@StevenTLawson]

@@zLumiNeonz That’s what hurts this video the most. He’s taking the pokemon at their first introduction but completely ignoring how those games used to function. Brock was never the easy gym leader. If you chose charmander you either had to over level or get a mankey or nidoran to fight through his pokemons ludicrously high defense. Where as Falkner was always easy since no matter what your starter was you can get a free onix in the same town just by trading a bellsprout which was incredibly simple with the sprout tower in the same town. Erika was a nightmare to deal with if she outsped you since Bind was near impossible to beat and it was HEAVILY nerfed in later generations which was not taken into account

[@hellsingfan89]

Yea this comment needs more upvotes. Erika also had gen 1 crits with victreebell's razor leaf which always crit.

[@adrianwoodruff1885]

Gen 1 also allows you to get a free switch out of it. The binder skips if the target switches in gen 1. Combine that with constrict being only 5 power...

[@Dr._Heinz_Doofenshmirtz]

therapist: bronix dosnt exist it cant hurt you bronix: 2:47

[@robertlupa8273]

Now imagine this as his sleep bag.

[@bdt2002gaming]

Hey Google, where can I find “Bronix body pillows”? I’m kidding, I’d rather die than have one of those.

[@arielmccarthy4892]

😂😂😂

[@Oshwatton]

I kinda find hard to say Erika's Tangela is that bad in it's debut game because of how bind worked in Gen 1.

[@baza8929]

*shudders violently*

[@sun332s7]

*laughs in starting charmander*

[@jatarokemuri5443]

@@sun332s7 laughs in Brock

[@ZimVerse]

@@sun332s7 *Laughs In Rival's Pokémon*

[@ryann42]

To be fair, later generations shaving off a fourth move on boss mons seems to have been some kind of way to avoid having the A.I. make some weird call in move choice and hard throw a battle, but then again, improving the A.I. and giving them an extra coverage move both seem like good ways to improve the late leader fights.

[@sd80mac]

While I love Gen II more than any other generation, it really is criminal how under-represented all of the "new" Pokemon were in Johto.

[@shinesoul7472]

Kanto, Jhoto, and Unova tied with 2 each. Hoenn and Alola only had 1 each. And finally Shinnoh, Kalos, and Galar got off scot-free.

[@toetail8665]

Sinnoh and Galar have pretty balanced and difficult Gyms for the most part. Kalos should have had that old grass dude for sure on this list...

[@koxufoxu9989]

I think Johto should have less of them. I mean yeah theya re easy, but second gen has not 8 gym leaders but 16 so naturally first 8 will be easier than in other games

[@Raz3477x]

Yeah, the irony of Kalos getting away with no leader included on this list. Lol.

[@battlecatdota2376]

clicked faster than I lose to Whitney's Miltank

[@peppermint_8]

Lol yup

[@pastel_pink]

Am I the only one who hasn’t had trouble with it

[@shenzhong3078]

@@pastel_pink no i one shot it with quilava

[@kamiwriterleonardo6345]

Idk man, her Miltank was easy to deal with for me

[@I.T.Acoustics]

Impressive. You appear to be rather talented.

[@Dark_Side_Productions]

Here’s an idea for a new video- top 6 best and worst gym puzzles!

[@marleonka.]

My favorite puzzle has to be Pewter Gym

[@richardf.4023]

I would like to see that. There are some great puzzles in the games and than there is Jasmine's Gym. Just walk straight to the laeder... Ok...

[@alyssarichardson2544]

@@marleonka. yeah man, that was BRUTAL. took me weeks to figure that one out o_O

[@alyssarichardson2544]

Awesome idea Florrie!

[@DigiRangerScott]

@@richardf.4023 Isn’t Brock’s gym also “just walk up” but with a trainer in the way?

[@LunarWingCloud]

If we are using the logic of only the first real encounter in their debut generation, we can't give Brock's Geodude Mud-Slap as it didn't exist at the time, and the remakes remedy the issue entirely anyway with Rock Tomb

[@Compucles]

How about giving Brock's Onix Dig like they did in the anime, and then Geodude could have Rock Throw? Yeah, Dig was as powerful as Earthquake in Gen 1, but Onix surprisingly only has a very puny 45 Base Attack stat.

[@skycastrum5803]

Brock was solid in the originals. You had to go out of your way to find something effective since an army of pidgey and rattata aren’t doing much. In later games he became a pushover due to how much easier it got to access effective moves.

[@Frikiman_H]

@@skycastrum5803 I'd say it depends. He's definitely a pushover if your starter is Squirtle (4x weakness to bubble), he's fairly easy if you go with Bulbasaur (if you have vine whip by that point that's also a 4x weakness, but even if you don't there's still leech seed), but he's a major roadblock if you go with Charmander (there's basically nothing you can do, no wonder they gave it metal claw in FR/LG). The problem is that, at that point of the game, you don't have much of a choice but to throw your starter at him. Nidoran learns double kick at an early level, but only in Yellow (in R/B it's level 40 something), and the only special attacker you're able to get is... Butterfree.

[@skycastrum5803]

@@Frikiman_H Squirtle is the only low effort option. Bulbasaur needs to hit lvl 13 for vine whip, which can take some grinding. I’d say only 1 of three options being easy, w/ yellow version not even having the easy route, keeps Brock’s gym from being super easy. I’d judge the waiter trio as easier, since the game gives you a monkey with type advantage.

[@Compucles]

@@Frikiman_H Yeah, if you chose Charmander, you basically had to rely on Butterfree with Confusion. Yellow Version is a similar case, although at least there they also gave you the option of Mankey with Low Kick as well as that Nidroran option if you grinded them for a little while.

[@mlb7798]

I hope that someday an ice gym is one of the first 2 or so in the game. Even if ice is one of my favorite type, Pryce, Brycen, and Wulfric all could have easily been chosen for how bad of a matchup ice types are in the late game against a well diverse team. Although, I do think that Candice can be quite a pain to battle

[@robertlupa8273]

Candice is pretty tough.

[@artimist0315]

I think actually making ice types strong would be way better than making route 217 an early route. Actually, ice is tied for the worst type in pokemon. Something as strong, dangerous and magical as ice shoudn't be outclassed by a bug or a rock. I would say they should add resistances to grass, water, bug, fairy and poison and make ice neutral against steel and water. those are all logical changes, both in term of game design, balance and internal logic and it would make ice great a ... at least a bit better.

[@milesandrews6711]

@@artimist0315 I don't think ice is considered worse than bug

[@artimist0315]

@@milesandrews6711 It is definely wors than bug (at least in 6vs6 I don't know for double). bug has two really important resistances in pokemon, fighting and ground, the two best offensive types in the game and it is one of the two type to resist thousand arrows. Offensively, while it is heavily carried by U turn, it is still fairly usefull. A lot of the time bug is considered as terrible because it has a lot of pokemon with mediocre stats (a lot of early route mons) but it has good nich uses and some pokemon really profit from the gain of bug type (comes to mind water/bug and steel/types such as scisor or araquanid). Ice is defensively so terrible, it is without contest the wors type in the game. it has only one resistance to itself for four weakness to 3 out of the five best offensive type in the game (rock, fighting and fire) and to the best type in the game (steel). It is always a detriment to your defensive synergy, even it's ice resistence is totally outclassed by steel and fire types. offensivly it is a bit better but it is resisted by steel and water, the two best defensive types of the game and is mostly usefull on none ice type pokemons. Bug is far from being great, in my opinion the third-fourth worst type (tied with psychic types) but is is far better than ice. If you don't trust me go check smogon's overused, the only 6 good ice types in pokemon (kyurem, weavile, mamoswine, ninetales, cloyster and galarian darmanitan) are either carried by their other types or hold back by ice type.

[@artimist0315]

also ice types really lacks diversity, a lot of gym leaders have either mono-ice or water-ice pokemon. your always end up one)shoting all of their pokemons.

[@iamresh]

I find it interesting that you'd use bw2 burgh over bw1, but then stick to the original releases for the rest (not even using emerald for tate and liza). I feel like using frlg as a base for gen 1 leaders would be fair since it does fix the issues you have with some of the leaders without giving them moves that are *too* updated to count. you could make an argument for the same happening with hgss too for gen 2, but they definitely aged better than rby leaders so that's debatable for hgss.

[@LuxyHugs]

Wouldn't surge be the worst by your logic for Skyla? Digletts Cave is super accessible and dugtrio is available

[@gustavoschiller6852]

Exactly Tynamo is very weak when you catch it so you're gonna struggle using him against Skyla more than Dugtrio against Lt Surge

[@ShinyShilla]

Sonicboom could still be a problem but then again,as you said... You can find DUGTRIO

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

@@ShinyShilla in ADDITION to what you just said rock tunnel AND Mt moon have geodude onix n Cubone to choose from And oddish or bellsprout are north of cerulean or in the area

[@MrSonicHedgehog]

Mina isn't the only time we have to deal with a legendary before the last gym you know

[@dragoljubalbijanic7901]

Yeah but Huann/Wallace have 4 or 5 pokemon who are good level... and similar to other games.

[@neelauckbur1902]

Volker from D/P/P you literally defeat/catch the gods of Space, Time and Underworld( Albeit Palkia being a secondary water type) before fighting him

[@damiluaer8859]

@@Spark472 Not to mention, he is an effing ice type gym leader whilst simultaneously being the last gym. That combination was doomed to fail. Of course, giving him an Abomasnow of all things didn’t help.

[@exequielbreton4393]

@@dragoljubalbijanic7901 Juan*

[@jatarokemuri5443]

The ribombee is easily one of the strongest

[@titankiller5287]

I get the Liza and Tate pick, but I think you gotta say Price, the dude is literally the least scary gym battle no matter what kind of team you have

[@gamerman796]

I assumed the twins were pretty tough because of the level spike.

[@damiluaer8859]

And the unexpected double battle. Considering most teams aren’t built to handle them.

[@GameBreaker1055]

@@damiluaer8859Your chances of having water-types in Hoenn is pretty high though

[@damiluaer8859]

@@GameBreaker1055 true, and surf is pretty much guaranteed on one of your Pokémon at that point in the game.

[@ericgabrielalvesdecarvalho3496]

@@damiluaer8859 i literaly sweep them with swampert with surf

[@evansmith9670]

Wow you’ve been nailing it with the video ideas lately! Props to you!

[@emperorcubone]

Thank you! I have been having great fun with them!

[@TDogGames56789]

Fr. I could definitely see this guy getting a lot of subscribers if he just got his editing better. Honestly some of the most creative Pokémon lists I’ve ever seen from this guy.

[@shannongrummisch8881]

This video makes me (and possibly others) want to see a Poké gym leader free-for-all.

[@emperorcubone]

I'm sure that's a Pokemon world pay-per-view special!

[@jacksoncherry9383]

I love how interested I always am in these very niche kind of ranks for Pokémon

[@ajithnarayananr8096]

I would like to take a peek in this Guy's brain, he just has the most creative ideas. Keep the good work up man! 🙌🙌

[@braydensmith2053]

I’m about to go to school, but this first!

[@rlivesshoddy]

Ha, I didn’t go to school today!

[@thatguyoverthere11]

"At least his Pigeotto has gust..." Forget it. Brock's potential damage-soaking advantage with rock types that early in the game can and has been brutal for aspiring players everywhere. Everyone and their mother got past Faulkner on the first try.

[@hindubanodhruvnahi779]

So you mean chikorita also?

[@thatguyoverthere11]

@@hindubanodhruvnahi779 Maybe not if you managed to wander in with next to no experience on it or other pokemon. But in that case, I think pretty much every first gym leader has your number.

[@groudonvert7286]

About Mina, you talked about her trial but not the fight against Totem Rubombee (who has +2 in every statistiques). Totem Rubombee is harder to beat than Giovanni or Wulfriec.

[@zachmali4071]

You were mentioning a lot about levels but one thing to look at is the level scaling, diffrent games have diffrent level scaling.

[@kalemjade5258]

he must have been stoked to find out about fire red and leaf green, when onix was a lot harder with rock tomb (obv i know brock was ranked based on his first appearance, but it was weird to hear him talk about how he would fix brock when fr/lg pretty much already did what he was talking about)

[@emeraldqueen1994]

I’d like to see you do a video like this for the post game rematches (as a part 2 to this) and for the champions... (excluding the player characters)

[@MagillanicaLouM]

Very cool idea to discuss gym leaders. Would be cool to see one for e4

[@christopherpetricca691]

Obviously not doing a deep dive, but keep mechanics in mind for Gen 1. Brock is a challenge since Bide causes issues for anyone who tries to brute force with too weak of Pokemon. Bind (from Erika’s Tangela) is one of the most brutal moves in the game because slower pokemon who get hit by bind literally can’t attack until the opponent decides to use a different move. Not sure if that would improve Brock or Erika’s standing enough but it’s a thing.

[@johnathanbarnes8639]

The Dragonium Z trial doesn't have a Captain cause they say it's the "First" trial ever and they want to uphold traditions by making you just go and get the thing yourself and survive a Kommo-o.

[@5Porygon]

Thank you so much for all videos you made. You are one of my absolutely best youtubers ever. :) Jsi borec. Mám moc rád tvoji tvorbu.

[@temo4901]

Your content has gotten me through this semester

[@emperorcubone]

Oh well I'm glad I could help! You're almost there!

[@jacobreichert6239]

I feel some of the earlier versions of gyms were done dirty by this list just because of early game mechanics and might have been more successful if you had looked at remake teams as I would think they have better and more modern move sets.

[@leastlikelysuspect5122]

4:18 Heracross would be really strong on his team, it’s even caught near there

[@princeapoopoo5787]

You can literally catch one right outside his gym. Does he not even leave his workplace? Lol

[@daniel6678]

Ruby/Sapphire Tate and Liza are definitely pretty easy, but they're way tougher right away in Emerald with their two extra team members.

[@SaraphDarklaw]

I had an easier time on emerald, but that’s mostly because I was aware I’d have a double battle. I got crushed in sapphire a few years before.

[@lexsellsmerch3512]

Yeah I remember thinking when I first played Ultra Sun that Mina’s trial was a bit lackluster. I forgot it doesn’t happen till after the Ultra Necrozma fight. Good to know because I’m in the middle of an Ultra Moon Nuzlocke rn

[@KururuJi]

IDK, Korrina can be walled by a ghost-type (except for Machoke). And one Ghost which is super popular in the game? Honedge. Who also learns Aerial Ace by level.

[@Pimpidimp]

Another genius idea. Best gym leader of every rank?

[@emperorcubone]

Hah, it's on the table, that's for sure...

[@adityak935]

That scythed with U-turn gave me serious problems..

[@jesucristo8016]

Dude, Fire Red and Leaf Green are a thing, so most flaws you said about gen1 gym leaders (like brock or erika) get fixed in those games. I think you should have considered the movesets from those games cause Brock has rock type moves and Erika's Tangela gets some new moves.

[@Player-sz8jk]

He said it was ranking only their first time in a game

[@jesucristo8016]

Yeah true, I noticed that later tbh. I just thought it's kinda stupid to point out things that already have been fixed lol

[@skycastrum5803]

Brock was decent. Geodude and Onix were tough to handle without seeking out the right moves. Used to always level up butterfree for confusion.

[@thaiangquoc9505]

Then there is water type and grass type

[@edmg7]

I actually really liked this way of comparing the gym leaders and thought most of the picks were reasonable. But yeah, there are two I disagree with, the first and last ones. Brock is certainly one of the worst, but in generation 1 where everyone has fewer moves to work with (including the player) a limited move pool isn't as much of a hindrance against players who started with either Charmander or Pikachu. Roxanne on the other hand can be easily beat by any of the 3 starters (since you can easily have Combusken at that point) even more so than Roark, so she'd be my pick. I get where you're coming from with Mina (other than your complaint about her being after the legendary battle since that has been done in lots of games prior) but you forgot one important detail about that Ribombee: all its stats are boosted. If you go into that fight without knowing what to expect and don't have something faster that's super effective or a really tanky steel type it can sweep your team easily. I gotta say Wulfric would be my pick for the worst. Too few Pokémon for the last gym, one of the worst types in the series, and nothing special to make them more difficult to fight.

[@diogi_1736]

Very interesting video concept. I like it.

[@taylord2006]

Great video man!

[@theorycrafters7281]

I would like to see you create your own region like some of the other content creators have. I'm thinking about making me a region as my pokemon section of my channel

[@emperorcubone]

Oh believe me I've thought about it a lot, it's just a matter of getting it all together...

[@BabusGameRoom]

I actually had a rough time against Tate and Liza in Gen 3! They were my "Witney's Miltank" of Gen 3.

[@shuuichissaihara]

I felt this

[@robertlupa8273]

They were the hardest Gym Leaders that I haven't lost to on my first playthrough. It was *this* close. (i lost to brawly once, but i was underleveled, ok?)

[@BabusGameRoom]

@@robertlupa8273 I think Liza and Tate were the last gym leaders I lost to. Brawly (if he's the GS dude) got me too. I wasn't ready for Dynamic Punch...and I hadn't memorized my type chart. Probably went in with no SE types, and several Rock types! Lol

[@NAPLEGROVE]

Always click as soon as I see a video, always great ideas and discussion

[@genderenigma8276]

What I liked about Burg was the fact he taught us the importance of not underestimating Poison. In a bug type gym

[@olimor1]

Most of the complaint about the gen 1 gym leaders were lack of moves, but considering it was the first generation, you should probably have taken the remakes into account, just for the new moves.

[@jordandashiell9600]

Honestly Burgh’s downgrade in B&W 2 is crazy - he was one of the absolute hardest gym leaders for me in the originals, but in the sequels I breezed past him.

[@bakes1324]

You should do a video on the most interesting event only moves. I think a lot of people would be interested in that and you could do multiple videos on it.

[@harrymanocha4533]

You have some seriously unique video ideas; I've always loved that about this channel. Still makes me very uncomfortable being called an imperial every time though...

[@emperorcubone]

Hah, sorry, you can skip over that part. But thank you for the support!

[@hauntedhaunter6148]

I think you’re underrating Bugsy a little. That scyther can do damage.

[@alex__zander]

I've seen people lose their Geodude to stacked up fury cutter attacks on nuzlock playthroughs to bugsy's scyther. If you one shot his Kakuna and medopod then he saves his potions for his scyther and makes it easier to stack up his fury cutter hits.

[@pokemonviolet5418]

I’m shocked it wasn’t just all the gym leaders from Kalos

[@jacksond7956]

Could you do a ranking on best gym leaders based on post gym battle matches?

[@lillipup_tamer1148]

I love Kalos, but Wulfuric is worse. In Ultra Sun and Moon, you may have a team that doesn’t deal as well with fairy, especially since none of the starters are super effective against it. Meanwhile, you have two chances to get a super effective fire starter in XY and the game gifts you a Mega Lucario that is also super effective against Wulfuric.

[@asmith2957]

Plus he has 3 Pokémon without full movesets. It doesn’t help that he doesn’t have mega evolution and his lineup is just kinda bad. I feel he’d be a tiny bit harder if he had a Mamoswine or Lapras or something that isn’t pure ice

[@Jred657]

really shocked the first wasn’t Viola, but the only normal moves argument with brock is a solid one

[@emperorcubone]

A Rock solid one? Eh?

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

@@emperorcubone ...........No, not really. If anything, Brock is easy because 2 of the 3 starters you can pick are 4x strong against both his Pokemon, making it extremely easy unless you choose Charmander

[@Compucles]

@@matthewkuscienko4616 ...or Pikachu in Yellow Version. With Charmander and Pikachu, you basically have to rely on a Butterfree with Confusion (just imagine if Brock actually did have Rock Throw in R/B), or in Yellow you can also get a Mankey with Low Kick.

[@reesh2257]

I was watching one of your old vids and suddenly saw the notification

[@emperorcubone]

Ah, thank you! What great timing...

[@dreamyboyblue]

I’d love to see this video again but with the most updated version of the gym leaders

[@nazeersadek6705]

I fully agree with in regards to not counting the rematch teams but you should really have looked into the enhanced versions Brock did get rock tomb in fire red and leaf green while the hoenn twins got a buffed team like you suggested

[@jeffreygao3956]

Poor Erika, Skyla, and Bugsy! You hurt their feelings!

[@arhkadian2389]

Ramos is far worse than Erica, imo. I literally struggled to even remember who the even was, let alone his east gym challenge. Lol

[@ToasterNiggow]

great video!!

[@morgankundrick8289]

Interesting video, i wonder what the best would be. For 1'd say most likely milo for being so high level compared to everyone else

[@cypressmicnovicz9541]

“Atleast his Pidgeotto has Gust!” Which isn’t a flying type move until gen3

[@robertlupa8273]

It was Normal only in Gen 1. They changed it in Gen 2.

[@ultlifeform]

I think it would be interesting to revisit this idea, but using their movesets from the most recent remakes, since older gens, especially gen 1, suffer heavily from limited move options. That would help close the gaps in a lot of these. Also, complaining that Mina occurs after the Ultra Necrozma events is pretty unfair, considering the Legendary Pokemon and/or Villain Team events of every game happen before the eighth gym. So that complaint would apply to all of them, not just Mina.

[@robertlupa8273]

It's just that Ultra Necrozma is much harder than the other Legendaries/Villain Team bosses.

[@pinkprincess6136]

I actually love Brock because he's one of my favorites in the anime and he's funny but he is very easy to beat but I actually thought Falkner will be chosen his gym is so easy too. But good video I like it.

[@JamesJohnson-sl6zc]

I think it would be interesting if you compared its gym type to other regions of the same gym type. An example would be Blaine, Flannery, and Kabu are all fire types. How do they rank against each other?

[@KnightSoulsG]

The most interesting Poketuber indeed ❤️

[@jodygrottino8257]

I would have picked the whole kalos league for this one 😂 Can't wait for the top version to came out too

[@Eevolie]

someone PLEASE help me what's the theme that's playing in the beginning? I KNOW it but I can't for the life of me remember where it's from or what it's called I have a feeling it's from pokemon ranger for some reason?

[@apratimshambharkar6394]

Tate and lisa crushed my ruby nuzlocke, but that's mainly duento me have 2 hm Pokemon and being underleveled cause the level jump is kinda scary and not doing enough research

[@SouthfieldJodye]

First time being this early for an Emperor Cubone video 😁

[@Dark_Side_Productions]

Me too

[@emperorcubone]

That might be because it took longer to upload, but regardless welcome!

[@nazeersadek6705]

Didn’t Fire red and leaf green give Brock the rock tomb attack?

[@connerfarr8072]

I'm going to say I've had the hardest time with most of the OG gen 2 gym leaders mainly because grinding in that game can be a little tough especially for the last 3 gym leaders. Though that might be why it's my favorite gen. All the other gens have been a bit too easy.

[@dannigro8794]

Random question the song that plays at the beginning what’s the name of it.

[@KageNoTenshi]

I think if I recall correctly, bind was broken in gen1

[@bvd_vlvd]

Bugsy is only ever easy if you pick Cyndaquil. Also Whitney isn't as difficult as people make her if you *don't* pick Cyndaquil But here we are, living in an illusion where everyone picked the weakest starter and got to a point where Whitney is hard and Bugsy isn't

[@benwilsher6684]

I get your point, but Bugsy gets pooped on by more than just Cyndaquil and Quilava honestly - Pidgey, Spearow, Geodude, Gastly, Mareep and probably more all leveled up to 14-16 can all solo that gym no problem

[@devilkera]

im gonna argue your burgh pick for the reason you specified him in BW2 eventough you´ve previously established you would only judge their first appearances meaning BW1 Also love that you had to respecify at skyla that you don´t judge on personality or any of that stuff cause that would put her way higher for sure XD

[@RockStoneLee19]

"Whitney.. ugh.." XD LOL

[@domidoodleYT]

Now you gotta do the elite 4! Or maybe even the “strongest” version of the gym leaders

[@ThomasSH]

I like how you had to reiterate the thought process and reasoning after picking Style for all the crazy hetero skyla simps

[@David-gj9qr]

I didn't realize people were crushing on her but if they are I don't think it's just hetero people. Cuz lesbians exist and it's possible they also crush on her

[@arlen7726]

Brock’s team is even more sad and pathetic when you realize that all but one of the Rock types in Generation 1 had at least one 4x weakness, and that Onix and the Geodude line are 4x weak to both Grass AND Water type attacks! (The only Generation 1 Rock type without any 4x weaknesses is Aerodactyl.)

[@SJrad]

Clair has a kingdra as well, you know, her ace. Mina while having 3 moves and 3 Pokémon, uses the fairy type which is actually one of the best types in the games. mawile is quite a good Pokémon with steel now being neutral damage, immune to poison, and despite gaining weaknesses to ground and fire(which already resisted fairy) mawile gains so many more resistances. if the mon you were expecting to sweep with were physical attackers, you’ll have to deal with 2 instances of intimidate. she also packs lots of good coverage with the 3 moves each got. Granbull covers both steel, poison, fire, and rock with earthquake, stone edge deals with fire, bug, flying, and ice. Ribombee has psychic which helps deals with poison types. Personally wulfric is my choice as ice is such a bad type with lots of weaknesses, also only has 3 mons, only coverage is 2 steel moves, grass, and crunch. Yes steel and grass deal with rock types, but his team still does nothing against the more dangerous fire type as well as nothing for steel and fighting types. Why not slap something like earthquake on both abomasnow and avalugg at the very least?

[@RocketJo86]

I feel like you HAD to include AI into this one especially. And game mechanics. While I see how most of your picks work, I heavily disagree on Chuck and Erika for those reasons. Blaine is by far the easiest Number 7, both due to his lack of intelligence and because you have to have a Pokemon with Surf to get to him. Chuck can at least be a bit tricky sometimes, if you come in unprepared. About Erika, yeah, Tangela is a push-over. But Victribel is not. And Vileplume can be tricky too. Ramos, on the other hand, should never have become a Leader in the first place. He is one of the weakest over-all.

[@christopherbennett5858]

Yeah, this makes sense. Normal is an underestimated type. I was going to object to Mina but, since she has Mawile and Granbull, which are 2 of the weakest fully evolved fairies, I can understand the placement. Can we agree though that Game Freak has a habit of giving their female gym leaders most of the worst personalities? Johto is the biggest offender in this. It has wained from X and Y onwards but wow do they seem to get all the brats in gen 1 to 5.

[@groudonvert7286]

Well, since most of Trial Captain doesn't have any battle against the players, it would've been better to consider Totem Rubombee instead of the fight against Mina.

[@medd7630]

Instant like for this not being yet another bit of Fantina slander. Very much appreciated.

[@Alexifeu]

Black was my first pokemon on my Pokemon DSi I got when I was 10❤️😍 And Pokemon White 2 is my favorite Pokémon game 🥰🥺 I also Have Y with my Pokémon 3DS XL 😌✨ After hearing the music, I'm really happy thank you. You reminded me of good times. 😊

[@SaraphDarklaw]

That so cute. It makes me feel old though lol. I got black when I was 20. My first was red when I was 9.

[@LukeFaulkner]

Falkner is the worst gym leader, but it's ok. I write music these days.

[@Saviarai-Dravolika]

Norman's normal types: is hard af Lenora and that meerkat: is not as hard af but is still hard Whitney's Miltank: Hold my beer.

[@vlassispolitis-a]

Just get the trade machop or catch a heracross with headbutt.

[@hbb1939]

Except in Emerald where They made everyone else harder and norman worse

[@werisekk3]

It would help if you specified which exact iteration of a Gym Leader you are talking about if there are more than one and their teams differ, like with Brock and Erika (who has Onix with a STAB move in FRLG and LGPE) or Bugsy (whose Scyther has U-Turn in HGSS and the cocoon mons have only one move, an attacking move, which is weirdly an improvement). Also, Surge was absolutely a contender for the worst rank 3 spot - the one with only Raichu, that is. All you need is a decently defensive mon with STAB Raichu doesn't resist and it should fold quite easily.

[@segunthepikachufan1470]

I would love to see this video use the Firered and Leafgreen, Heartgold and SoulSilver teams instead of the original Gen 1 and 2 nobody plays cuz they are dated

[@emperorcubone]

I'm willing to bet people have played the virtual console versions at least as much if not more than the GBA versions, but I get your point...