The best team for Pokemon Ruby

Being in the midst of another Pokemon craze, replaying old Pokemon games is officially an American pastime.

Feeling a bit nostalgic? Playing through old Pokemon games like Ruby or Sapphire is a great way of dealing with that.

The Generation III Pokedex is amazing and is filled with strong Pokemon for the player to use during their journey through Hoenn. Here is the best team for Pokemon Ruby.

Note: This list is subjective and reflects only the opinion of the writer.

The perfect team for Pokemon Ruby

#6 - Swampert

An important piece to any Pokemon journey is the starter. Swampert makes for an amazing start to a player's journey.

With a great typing of Water/Ground, its only weakness is Grass-type. So supporting the team with ways of dealing with those pesky Grass Pokemon is a must.

Swampert can easily crush most battles in the game and is the best centerpiece to a Champion's team. It can even learn Blizzard or Ice Beam to deal with Grass Pokemon by itself, but it isn't incredibly fast, so be careful.

#5 - Swellow

What would a team be without a famous early game bird Pokemon? Taillow can be found as early as Route 104 and can be evolved at level 22.

With HM Fly being a necessity for travel and a strong attack, a Flyer is almost needed. Of course, this list will feature one more Flyer, but Swellow makes for an amazing Flying Pokemon for the player.

It also gets Steel Wing to deal with Rock Pokemon that may give it a hard time, but maybe let Swampert just deal with them. If the player goes hard enough, they can even get Double Edge via Move Tutor in Fire Red/Leaf Green.

#4 - Gardevoir

Ralts can be found as early as Route 102 and can crush the competition. Training this Pokemon is a task but well worth it. It has amazing stats and can dish out huge blows with powerful Psychics.

Players can fully evolve their little Ralts at level 30 and demolish the rest of the game. Gardevoir gets a bunch of attacks for either support or straight-up damage. However it's used, it makes for an amazing addition to any team.

#3 - Breloom

This fighting mushroom can be a pain to the opponent with Stun Spore and its ability, Effect Spore.

Keeping the opponent at bay with paralysis is great, but this one can also dish out big blows with Sky Uppercut and even Mega Drain. The special split makes it weird, but it's a great addition to the team.

Shroomish can be found incredibly early in the Petalburg Woods and evolved at level 23. So it can be fully evolved very early in the game.

#2 - Ninetales

The lack of Fire-type Pokemon in this game is unfortunate. However, Ninetales is an incredible pick. Flamethrower or Fire Blast can deal huge damage, and it's very fast. Luckily, it can be evolved as soon as the player obtains a Fire Stone.

This also rounds out the basic typing core of Fire/Water/Grass, which just gives a basic type advantage against most Pokemon. Ninetales can also be very annoying with moves like Attract and Confuse Ray.

#1 - Salamence

One of the best Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon of all time, Salamence. It may be a pain to find, but it'll prove its worth in battle.

Even as a Bagon or Shelgon, it will work for the mid-game. It is unfortunate that it doesn't evolve to Salamence until level 50, but it's extremely worth it.

Salamence is one of the best Dragon Pokemon of all time, and in the remakes, it can even Mega Evolve. Its Mega Evolution is incredible, but even without, it's a force to be reckoned with.

Edited by Shaheen Banu