Moral of the story, don't underestimate the normal type.

I love how volkner has an luxray in platinum. came at him with a gabite only to be dealt with by a vicious ice fang. great stuff

I think it's high time we get a Normal-type Elite Four member, or even a Normal-focused Champion.

I mean, now you obviously have to rank the gym leaders of each type specialty.

About Sabrina, ghosts and bugs can’t stop her because in gen 1, the only attacking ghost type attack, lick, was only 30 base power. That doesn’t even matter, because, for some reason, psychic was immune to ghost, instead of weak to it, which was definently a mistake. And bugs aren’t stopping it because the only good move was twineedle, and only beedrill could learn it, who had horrible stats and was weak to psychic because of that poison typing.

I think clair deserves at least honorable mention. Shes a dragon type trainer but with two water types which mitigates her ice weakness. I admittedly wasn't running the best team for her (typhlosion, togetic, sudowudo, ambipom, sunflora, politoad) so my view point is probably a bit skewed but I think she put up a strong fight.

Grant is the gym i always struggle with because amaura always thunder waves and hax and tyrunt resists water and grass. In a nuzlock he is tough if you don’t roll a flabebe or fighting type

I’d love to see a best and worst gym leader of every type

"With Sabrina you should probably just assume that she's out of your league..." Dreams... crushed!

It would be a cool challenge to have to face these Gym Leaders in order. It’d be a cool mod to have their teams replace the gun leaders in one of the newer regions

For the second gym leaders, I remember Brawly, especially in Emerald, being brutal with his nearly unkillable Makuhita and Bulk Up spam

I always figured Raihan was tougher than Volkner

Lenora's Herdier and Watchog are quite strong to go up against in a Nuzlocke. Herdier with Take Down and Watchog with Retaliate. You basically need Roggenrola to defeat her.

Honestly, I’ve played tons of Pokémon games and the only gym leaders that actually gave me a hard time where Norman and Raihan. I genuinely lost to these gym leaders countless times.

When I was young, I was playing two Pokémon games alternating, those being HeartGold and Platinum. I reached the third gyms, and while Whitney was rather annoying, Fantina was the bane of my 6-year-old existence. It was probably just my inexperience at the time, and even though she may not seem that bad now, the Platinum rendition of Fantina will always remain as my hardest third gym leader.

The best pokemon content. ❤️

9:34 Is she foreshadowing Gold/Ethan's arrival?

I love the Gym Leaders! I’ve suggested this before, but I think you should rank the best and worst gym puzzles. It could be really fun to compare the most and least interesting trials that lead you to a ranking!

I am currently playing pokemon Black 2 withouth a starter and oh man, Cheren is hard, and when i deleted water gun on psyduck i tried soo much that i realized that if i wanted to win i needed water gun i tried 12 times withouth that move

Whitney .... (Curls up in corner and starts rocking back and forth) ..... Whitney

I think Nessa is a really hard second gym leader. All her Pokémon have Water, Dark and Normal coverage, and I don’t think any Pokémon you can get up to that point resists all 3, and her Dreadnaw has a 75 Base Power STAB coming from a 115 attack stat outside of Dynamax, and a 130 Base Power move in Dynamax that sets up rain for it’s swift swim, it will OKO or 2 hit KO most Pokémon on your team, from my experience, even outside of dynamax, and it’s very bulky too, so unless you pick Grookey you have to get a strong grass type to kill it, and in a Nuzlocke, often that isn’t possible. Out of all my Nuzlocke attempts at the game, she was the trainer I most consistently lost Pokémon too, and in my original playthrough, I had to use more potions on her than the champion.

Obviously Sabrina is the runaway winner for the sixth gym, but I feel like Winona deserves honorable mention. She has surprisingly strong type coverage (that Skarmory is a tank!), and you’d better go in with a plan for her Altaria or else she’ll set up Dragon Dance and sweep through your team. I’ll also give a shout-out to Tate and Liza’s Emerald team. They’re kind of a joke in Ruby and Sapphire with only two Pokemon, but just that extra Claydol alone skyrockets their difficulty.

Elesa is even harder when you consider that her team counters all three starters. Both her Emolga have flying attacks to take on Servind and Pignite, Zebstrika has Flame Charge for Servine and all have electric attacks for Dewott, assuming that’s the stage they’re at for the leveling.

I mostly agree with these picks. But similar to the weakest list I disagree with your pick for the 8th gym. Volkner may not have been one of the easier 8th leaders but I don't think he's the hardest. Claire seemed to give a lot more grief to players despite being right after an ice area, probably due to her use of paralysis and the difficulty in grinding in Johto. Raihan was also a bit of a challenge since he used pretty good doubles strategies (which seems like a situation where changing your strategy is a bit more mandatory than Volkner's).

Ok so here’s the thing about Norman Use protect every non loafing turn. None of the Slakings can hit you.

Emperor Cubone Sir!! Love the Fascinating Video Title as I'm watching it while commenting! Keep Up The Great Work As Always!! 🙂

“Her greatest tools are [her two Emolga].” In a game where the idea of people using Pokémon as tools is a major plot point, and something frowned upon. Wow.

Waking up with a new Emperor Cubone video always make my day 100% better

Most of them don't even have a contest. I would give the second rank to Misty, because her Starmie is difficult even with a Bulbasaur, and thank Arceus GF didn't gave her ace a Psychic move, forcing you to get a Pikachu instead. Depending on your starter, Flannery could give Elesa a run for her money, but only on Emerald, and that's out the window. Even with a Marshtomp (which only has a single Fire resistance, not a double one), Overheat can be brutal. The difference between her RS team and her Emerald team is night and day, with that Camerupt that gives quite a fight. Her Torkoal now has Attract (*Triggered*) and Body Slam, a White Herb for one stat-reduce-free Overheat, and even a possible Light Screen effect that further reduces Water damage. As for Rock or Ground, that 140 base defense will make them laughable. Might as well attack with a neutral special type, like Psychic or something. Not to mention, if Flannery does actually battle Elesa, she might sweep her entire team with her Camerupt alone. Most of Elesa's arsenal will be worthless, and none of her Pokemon can take an Overheat so well. Also, Elesa's Zebstrika is male, which means Attract will devastate him. I also think fifth rank should be Fantina, and eighth should be Claire. Honestly, her Kingdra literally has no weaknesses.

Norman is the first in-game Trainer to get me to EV train. how i beat him years ago, i don't know.

Oh and in oras, one of his slakings have retaliate which does devastating damage after you just knocked out a Pokémon.

I always pick up Rock Tomb at the desert before Nimbassa, nd teach it to Krockorock/Excadrill to handle Elesa's Emolgas.

8:30 Hey, dont underestimate that Eiscue! Legit killed my DMAX EXCADRILL in a nuzlocke, that thing is a PAIN to fight in the hail!

'Jasmine could be tougher' Me who used to struggle more with Jasmine than Whitney or Claire: ... Admittedly this is before I realized that Quagsire can just own her gym.

This video only proves how good Gen 5 is.

I had a full team before the second Kalos gym. It was still difficult.

Nice to see another one of your uploads

For me (based on experience): First: Cheren Second: Lenora Third: Fantina (Platinum) Fourth: Elesa 5th: Norman 6th: Sabrina 7th: Tate and Liza (Emerald) 8th: Raihan

I disagree on Volkner he may have a Octillery on his team but he's to slow and his only water type move has a base power of 60 and and accuracy of 85 which makes him easy to counter meanwhile Clair is a far more challenging Gym Leader since you most likely don't have a Pokemon that can do suppereffective damage to her Kingdra by the time you're on Blackthorn City

I love Volkners Electivire in Platinum. It knows Ice Punch.

I remember trying to cheeze norman with protect. but his vigoroth killed it

What keeps me alive during Tuesdays

I gotta say, Norman is laughably weak, just use protect every other turn and you easily crush him

Yay I was hoping this was coming!

For second gym leaders, I'd have probably put Misty personally, since her Starmie was a step above anything else you fought at that point, especially in gen 1. After that I agree with everything until gyms 7 and 8, and in both those cases, my change has a similar reasoning. Emerald Tate and Liza are a double battle and use extremely challenging earthquake strategies most trainers wouldn't be ready for. They're a run ender for a lot of nuzlockes, and take new players multiple tries to get through. Raihan in Sword and Shield similarly has the diverse sand team for his double battle so if you go in expecting to just take on some dragons, you'll be in serious trouble.

What about Misty gen 1? The starmie is hard unless you pick bulbasaur

6:18 Chuck actually was really difficult for me because of the Hypnosis and Focus Punch combo on Primeape.

Funny thing about Grant, is that he becomes a complete pushover when you realize you can trade a Luvdisc for a Steelix right before his gym.

I would argue for Raihan as nearing the top of the 8th gym leader bracket. For the most part, you’re batting 1v1 but that changes with Raihan when it’s a double battle and he has a real strategy based on sandstorms.

I always just kinda assumed the gym leaders would have their Platinum teams in the remakes. Excited by the idea they could have their original teams

*cue the Happy Meatball Dance*

Raihan loves to eat my Pokémon in the various challenge nuzlockes I do. When both Pokémon decide to attack one of mine, that one almost always ends up going down. He's really the toughest spot of any SW/SH locke I do, so he personally gets my designation of the hardest 8th gym.

If we're talking about 3rd gym leader , then fantina deserve a spot as well She's INCREDIBLY tough in platinum and even more than Whitney depending of your team Mismagius has an absurd coverage, stab and base stats for so early in the game

I actually never found any difficulty with Whitney tbh There are many counters like: cubone, geodude.......etc ........ Heck even if you spam rage on double slap on clef and you will get a +100 base power more

I had to like. I agree with every single choice. Edit: I also consider Fantina in Platinum to be the toughest third Gym Leader because of her status condition strategies and level 24 Mismagius

This video is educational. I didn’t realize Boldore was a pure rock type, I thought it was part ground. Huh neat

@8:16 i love how their color palette is so cohesive. Pastel blues, pinks and purples So satisfying

Drayden’s position wasn’t exactly a demotion; it was just put in the 7th position due to Victory Road’s former entrance being blocked off due to a landslide. Humilau City had to take over for the final gym city after that of course, and we even got Route 23, before finally reaching Victory Road.

Why are the 3rd Gym Leaders (except in Kanto and Kalos) always the hardest? Also, why are they always in bigger cities than the previous Gym Leaders?

This video will make my lunchtime that much more enjoyable

What you can do is rank each of the elite 4 from weakest to strongest and then compair them to the others of the same rank from each game. You could even do this to the games you have to fight in order to give a more even playing field.

The generations in which the hardest Gym Leaders are are in Gens 5, 6, 2, 5, 3, 1, 5, and 4. Take the first 7 of those, swap the 2 and 6, and delete the middle 5. And you get 526315. Do you recognize that number?

Very good list! I personally disagree with Norman tho. If u have a pokemon with Protect you can easily cheese the Slakings. Pokemon such as Torkoal, Pelipper, Anorith and Corpish learn it in their lvl 20's for example.

You talk about Norman's Slakings and Vigoroth, but his Linoone was actually what used to give me the most trouble because of Belly Drum and it's high speed. Sure, Belly Drum is fairly easy to prepare for, just make sure to take it out first turn when it looses half it's health to set-up. But if you don't do that, if you're saving your stronger Pokemon for Slaking and give Linoone the chance to set-up on your weaker Pokemon, or if it's your first playthrough and you just aren't expecting it, it can easily pull off a Belly Drum sweep. His Spinda is definitely his easiest to deal with but it's Teeter Dance can still be incredibly frustrating if you have bad luck.

I’m glad we got a Kalos rep in this video. I love Kalos, but we all know it isn’t the toughest game, so seeing it in the video because of Grant was a welcome and pleasant surprise.

My Torkoal learning protect in the middle of norman’s gym battle was so freaking clutch

These two videos prove helpful in a sort of tier list I’m trying to make right now. More specifically, I’m trying to compare every Gym Leader in Pokémon relative to each other and organize them by strength/difficulty levels.

Totem Kommo-o?

Misty is my favorite gym leader. Like many i love her in the anime and nostalgia since my first game was firered my charmeleon and i lost to her alot at first. Plus shes one of the characters in terms of humans that makes me feel better after a bad day. Which happened alot growing up like most pokefans.

I love the best gym leader video.

Very nice video!

Best poketuber

I feel like Misty was a fairly strong second gym and deserves mention

To rank the choice elite four you could do it from left to right 1 to 4

I was honestly expecting Raihan as the last slot since Double Battle Sandstorm team is pretty unexpected. I think Melony is the strongest Ice leader but can understand why she didn't get the 6th slot cause Sabrina is a beast. Eiscue replenishes it's defense with hail, Galarian Darmanitan has Zen mode coverage and Lapras is one of the strongest Gigantamax I've faced, using my Gigantamax Machamp it took the battle passed the 3 turns due to Lapras Gmax move protection effect

3 of the 8 are Unovan with Elisa on the list, I am pleased

I'd put Clair as the most difficult 8th gym leader. Her Kingdra, with it's one Dragon weakness, makes whatever type diversity you've acquired up to that point irrelevant. It's incredibly powerful, plus it's water typing can deal with any Piloswine you've managed to catch at that point. Add in three strong Dragonair, and she is certainly one of the most difficult challenges in Johto.

In order from easiest to hardest: 1st Gym Leaders: Brock (non-Pokemon Yellow), Roxanne (non-Pokemon Emerald), Striaton Brothers, Viola, Falkner, Roxanne (Pokemon Emerald), Milo, Roark, Cheren, Ilima, Brock (Pokemon Yellow) 2nd Gym Leaders: Brawly, Roxie, Nessa, Gardenia, Misty, Hala, Grant, Bugsy, Lenora 3rd Gym Leaders: Lt. Surge, Maylene, Korrina, Burgh, Fantina, Kabu, Mallow, Wattson, Whitney 4th Gym Leaders: Ramos, Olivia, Erika, Maylene, Allister, Wake, Bea, Morty, Elesa 5th Gym Leaders: Opal, Clemont, Wake, Sophocles, Koga, Fantina, Clay, Chuck, Norman 6th Gym Leaders: Skyla, Valerie, Gordie, Jasmine, Byron, Melony, Acerola, Winona, Sabrina 7th Gym Leaders: Tate & Liza (non-Pokemon Emerald), Pryce, Blaine, Brycen, Piers, Nanu, Tate & Liza (Pokemon Emerald), Candice, Olympia, Drayden 8th Gym Leaders: Giovanni (Generation 1), Marlon, Wallace, Giovanni (non-Generation 1), Volkner, Hapu, Juan, Wulfric, Drayden/Iris, Raihan, Clair VURP!: Brock, Falkner, Roxanne, Roark, Striaton Brothers, Cheren, Viola, Ilima, Milo Misty, Bugsy, Brawly, Gardenia, Roxie, Grant, Lenora, Hala, Nessa Surge, Whitney, Wattson, Fantina, Maylene, Burgh, Korrina, Mallow, Kabu Erika, Morty, Flannery, Maylene, Wake, Elesa, Ramos, Olivia, Bea, Allister Koga, Chuck, Norman, Wake, Fantina, Clay, Clemont, Sophocles, Opal Sabrina, Jasmine, Winona, Byron, Skyla, Valerie, Acerola, Gordie, Melony Blaine, Pryce, Tateliza, Candice, Brycen, Drayden, Olympia, Nanu, Piers Giovanni, Clair, Wallace, Juan, Volkner, Drayden/Iris, Marlon, Wulfric, Hapu, Raihan Until Gen 8, the 6th Gym Leader was the only one that was the same between all games of the same region.

I actually was thinking that Milo would be the strongest first gym leader since his Eldgeoss is the strongest first gym leader ace and is Lv20.

"...and frail Ice types." I see someone forgot about Mamoswine

imo 1. Brock, little did I know getting a charmander would have me suffer throughout the Kanto gym challenge 2. Lenora, dear god that watchog.... 3. Whitney that monster 4. Elesa, great team construction 5. Fantina, idk why she just terrorized me. 6. Sabrina was elite four level truly 7. Candice's medicham was deadly 8. Tie between Giovanni and Volkner

Whitney is a nightmare. I still remember when I took her on in SoulSilver and RNG decided that her Clefairy's Metronome shall dish out a Roar of Time. Yes, a Roar of Time. That was not a fun battle.

There are three 5th gen gym leaders and people used to complain about it. Just saying 😂 Tbh I love them and am really glad you chose them, overall your final lineup is solid and your video is, too!!

If you want to do the Elite Four, you can just simply go in clockwise order for the 5th, 6th, and 7th Gen Members.

2:32 Every 2nd Gym Leader (including Olivia), except Grant, has a name that ends in Y or A (or the Y sound).

Idea for a video : what if every gym leader was a contest trainer. Basically saying what category they'd perform under, the Pokémon they would use and the moves said Pokémon would have that helps it perform best. We've seen gym leaders like Wallace, Fanteana and Jasmine take part in contests, so I think it would be cool to see how other gym leaders would do. Just an idea🤷‍♂️

I kinda wish the Sinnoh remakes had used the gym leaders' Platinum teams. Volkner was a nightmare for the Electivire he never had in Diamond & Pearl.

for second gym i say misty, in the orignal she spammed recover alot. so annoying

Cheren is a piece of cake. Work up is only a problem if they survive long enough to hit you after using it.

When I clicked on the title, I though you would rank more how fleshed out the characters are. And for most trainers, Sun/Moon is just head and shoulders above the other there. That being said, I definitely remember running into Flannery and was a bit unprepared. I did beat her, but that was a very tough fight

I actually beat Drayden on my first try because my Golduck got a freeze on the Haxorus with Blizzard.

For me, Grant was actually easy. I swept his team with a level 24 Lucario I managed to evolve before the fight with him- yet another reason why you should catch Riolu on Route 22 when you play X or Y.

Volkner is actually closer to the bottom than the top of my 8th Gym difficulty rankings. In my opinion only Wulfric and Giovanni are definitely easier.

I love how you said ‘by default’

I believe Roark deserves some attention for toughest 1st gym leader. I usually start with Piplup, and I still end up losing to him on my first try. Cranidos has one of the highest attack stats in the game, and combine that with some strong moves (I remember him using headbutt quite a bit), and the fact that your weak water moves probably won't be enough to OHKO him (he is not 4X weak to water like the rest of his team) and you have a nice challenge for so early in the game.

Still gotta say my favorite is Pierce. He may not necessarily been the strongest but at the same time it was the 1st major battle in sword and shield where dynamaxing was not an option. I being a seasoned player was able to take it down without much of a problem however it was the only gym my son had to give me his switch and have me beat for him on his 1st play.

Cheren is pretty challenging. He probably one ups Lenora in challenge. It’s also interesting how the lilipup line is the ace this time.

Clay’s gotta be the hardest 5th gym leader. That Excadrill is insane

The best gym leaders are in this list!!! 💖

Maybe a best and worst type expert of each type? It will bring some discussions for who's the best Dragon trainer etc:-)