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The highest-ranked member of the Gym in the Pokemon franchise is a Pokemon Gym Leader. Pokemon Gym Leader's main motive is to examine if the trainers are qualified enough to participate in the Pokemon League challenge or not. When a Gym Leader is defeated, the trainer receives a Gym Badge that plays a vital role in the entire Pokemon Franchise.
Responsible for their gym maintenance and being the driving force for almost every Pokemon game in the Franchise, Pokemon Gym Trainers pave the way for trainers to end up as the Elite Four. The most common path for trainers in the Pokemon world is to battle and win against multiple Pokemon Gym Leaders until they are finally titled the Champion.
The Pokemon franchise has several influential Gym Leaders to fight against. In this thread, we will discuss 10 of the most powerful ones in the entire franchise.
This article reflects the personal views of the author.
Sabrina and Koga with eight most potent Pokemon Gym Leaders of all time
10) Wallace
Debuting as the Sootopolis Pokemon Gym Leader in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Wallace later went on to become the Pokemon Emerald’s Hoenn Champion. He has a set of five powerful Pokemon that can fight with good synergy and powerful counters.
Wallace’s original appearance showed two of his Pokemon with the ability Swift Swim, and their speed dramatically increases when the weather is rainy. While making rainfall is fairly easy for this trainer with his Pokemon Wishcash ability Rain Dance, the Pokemon can also attack with a devastating Earthquake.
9) Tate And Liza
Mossdeep’s psychic twins, Tate and Liza, are the only tandem Pokemon Gym Leaders in the entire franchise. They performed best in Generation III double battles as they fought marvelously together. With a team only of Solrock and Lunatone in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, they added a Claydol and a Xatu to their Pokemon Emerald team.
The offensive and defensive abilities of Psychic-types are potent, and Tate and Liza take full advantage of those powers. Every Pokemon on their roster can perform mighty Psychic-type moves, and on top of that, Tate and Liza's Xatu and Solrock both can execute the move Sunny Day that can charge Solrock’s attack, Solar Beam.
8) Norman
Powerful Pokemon Gym Leaders are abundant in the Hoenn region, but 5th Gym Leader Norman performs more effectively than any other trainer. When paired with his Slaking, Norman becomes the ultimate powerhouse in battles. Slaking attacks heavily and can also perform as a tank at times.
Putting its rival to sleep with the move Yawn, Slaking became a mighty fighter on Norman’s set of Pokemon. The only thing that can get past this barrier is a solid and speedy Fighting-type Pokemon.
7) Clair
In the Elite Four, most Dragon-type Pokemon have their seats reserved, but Clair, as the Blackthorn City's Pokemon Gym Leader, makes a difference by using Dragon-types in the Johto League. In Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, Clair has a team of one Kingdra and three Dragonairs as her fighters.
All of her Dragonites attacks with Slam, Dragon Breath, and Thunderwave. They also know other moves like Ice Beam, Surf, and Thunderbolt for more coverage during battles, providing her with enough options to fight off different types of opponents.
6) Jasmine
Jasmine and her staple Steel-types debuted as Pokemon Gym Leader in Gold and Silver. As the pokemon world’s defensive heroes, Steel-types have very few weaknesses, high defensive stats, and total immunity to Poison-type attacks. This is also why most Steel-type trainers become a part of the Elite Four.
In the game, Jasmine, as the Pokemon Gym Leader of the Olivine Gym, introduces players to new Steel-type Pokemon. With only Ground-types as an exception, the two Magnemites in her set terrorize the battles toppling off any other Pokemon-types you throw at them.
With a powerful Metagross and Empoleon as her aid in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Jasmine started way stronger than before with a complete set of six Pokemon.
5) Whitney
Starting as a Normal-type Pokemon Gym leader in Generation II, Whitney and her Miltank was making waves. Despite being low, Pokemon fans consider her Miltank's Rollout legendary on the platform as it can win against most players easily.
Whitney in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver has an entire team of 6 Pokemon. For maximum battle coverage, Pokemon Girafarig and Bibarel play a vital role. As for her Miltank, it reaches the level of 58 and stands as a strong pillar.
4) Koga
Pokemon Gym Leader Ninja Koga started the legend of the Poison-type’s danger in the Pokemon Franchise. The invisible walls in his gym already give anyone a difficult experience while exploring.
With one of the strongest status effects, Poison-types inflict extra damage throughout the entire battle, making it even harder for the opponent to battle. After having such a difficult ordeal exploring Koga’s gym, fighting the powerful set of Poison-types takes a massive toll on anyone aiming to win.
In Pokemon Gold and Silver, Koga became a part of the Elite Four and showed immense power, proving his role as a gym leader just a tiny fraction of his real power.
3) Brock
Brock’s place in the Gym Challenge order makes him one of the more powerful ones rather than the Pokemon he has in his set. Before most players can build a well-balanced Pokemon team in the Kanto region, they must face Brock as a Pokemon Gym Leader.
As a new player, you will either get Flying or Bug-types in the game, which can easily get defeated by the Rock-type attacks of Brock’s team. For Pokemon Red and Blue players that pick Charmander or Pikachu as their starter Pokemon, Brock can hit extra damage and make them vulnerable.
2) Sabrina
Pokemon game meta has favored Psychic-types since the beginning of Generation I. With a type advantage against every other Pokemon except its Psychic-types and Bug-types in the first few games of the Pokemon franchise, Psychic-type Pokemon were more than buffed but functioned like a glitch bagged wins in numbers.
Kanto region Pokemon Gym Leader Sabrina has a pool of powerful and impressive Pokemon in her arsenal. She is a master in Psychic-type battles and can easily win against most enemies with a type advantage that mostly feels broken.
Apart from the powerful set of Psychic-types in her set, she also has a Venomoth whenever someone wants to take advantage of the Psychic-type weakness.
1) Blue
In the original Pokemon Games, Blue started as a rival for the players to win against. Later in the Johto region games, he became the Viridian City Gym leader after successfully taking over Giovanni’s position. The Pokemon gym leader, Blue, has a versatile team that can battle through any given situation as a rival in the Pokemon games.
With powerful fighters like Arcanine, Gyrados, and Alakazam, Blue’s team can get through most of the tough situations and come out as a winner. He can adapt to any situation in battles as he can summon three different weather conditions at his will. In future games featuring Blue, he battles with powerful new Pokemon like Tyranitar, Machamp, and Mega Charizard.
