Hello out there in sunny Internetland! This is your boy David, and for today's topic, I have come to notice that there are a few Gym Leaders whose teams… Well… Stink. That might be because they have unnecessary repeat Pokemon, Pokemon that don't fit their type specialty, not enough Pokemon from their home region, or just flat out not enough Pokemon. For this doc, I will be going over every Gym Leader that I think has a team that needs some kind of improvement, and how I would fix that team.
Couple things to note here, this is a bit of a for-fun sort of thing, not for some kind of future remake or romhack. If you have ideas for Gym Leader teams that you think can be better represented, feel free to let me know in the comments below, or make your own document on this. This is a topic that has come around a lot, so I would very much like to hear people's opinions on this. The second is that I will only be looking at the species compositions of these teams, and nothing abstract like movesets or abilities. There are a few exceptions, but I'll let you guys know when we get to them. Without further ado, let's dive in.
First, let's talk about the Kanto Gym Leaders, and I will only be looking at their teams in the Kanto games. As post-game Gym Leaders in the Johto games, their teams are pretty universally solidly diverse.
Brock- All of Brock's teams consist of a Geodude and an Onix… And i would not change anything.
Misty- Misty uses a Staryu and a Starmie in almost all of her appearances. Considering the Water-types available, I find it silly that she has a repeat. Her Let's Go team has a Psyduck instead of Staryu, which I think is perfect. I think the best way to fix her teams is to make her Let's Go team the one she uses in every game.
Lt. Surge- His Red, Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen teams are Voltorb, Pikachu and Raichu, while his Yellow team is just Raichu. Like with Misty, though, his Let's Go team is much more diverse: Voltorb, Magnemite and Raichu. Just make his Let's Go team his team in every Kanto game, and we're good to go.
Erika- Erika's Red, Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen teams are solid with Victreebel, Tangela and Vileplume. Her Yellow team is unevolved despite being higher leveled, but they're still unique Grass-types, and Weepinbell and Gloom evolve through a Leaf Stone, so they are acceptable. Her Let's Go team is kind of a weird mix with Tangela, Weepinbell and Vileplume. You can make a case with any of her teams, but I think her original team is the best one she's got.
Koga- Koga's teams will be covered as a Gym Leader, not as an Elite Four member. His teams have always bothered me because most of his teams are full to the brim with repeats. Which I find ridiculous, because Poison is the most abundant type in Kanto! His Red, Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen teams are three-quarters full of Weezing line members and one Muk, while his Yellow team is entirely made up of Venomoth line members. The one team he has as a Gym Leader that I think is considered good is his Let's Go team, which has the three Poison-types he uses in other teams, plus a Golbat, a Pokemon that suits him well, since he goes on to have Crobat as his ace in the Elite Four. Like with Misty and Lt. Surge, I think the easiest way to fix his bad teams is to just make his Let's Go team his everywhere team.
Sabrina- Her Red, Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen teams not only have a repeat Kadabra, but they also have a Venomoth, a Pokemon that is very clearly not a Psychic-type. Her Yellow team is entirely the Alakazam line, which I think is silly with the Psychic-types available. Like with the others, though, her Let's Go team is a vast improvement. Alakazam and Mr. Mime are still there, but the repeat Kadabra and not-Psychic Venomoth are swapped out for Slowbro and Jynx, two good Kanto Psychic-types. Same situation as before, just make this team her everywhere team, and she's all set.
Blaine- His Red, Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen teams are half-Arcanine line, half-Rapidash line, so there is a lot of repeating there. Yellow is more diverse with Ninetales, but it drops his roster down to three, which I think is too few Pokemon for the 7th Gym Leader. This is a good time to list out the number of Pokemon that I think each Gym Leader should have. Gym Leaders 1 and 2 should have at least 2 Pokemon, Gyms 3 through 5 should have at least 3 Pokemon, Gyms 6 and 7 should have at least 4 Pokemon, and Gym 8 should have at least 5 Pokemon. Although, basically just exactly 5, since the Elite Four members don't have 6. This becomes a problem with the Unova and Kalos Elite Four, but that's not the main focus of this doc. We're here to fix the Gym Leader teams. Back to Blaine, though. Like with all the other Gym Leaders I have covered so far, Let's Go nails his team. It's his Yellow team, plus a Magmar. I think this team is perfect for Blaine. Same as the others, make this team his everywhere team, and he is good to go.
Giovanni- He is the only Kanto Gym Leader whose Let's Go team, in my opinion, needs a bit of work. His Red and Blue team is almost solid, but he has a Rhyhorn, which is silly because he has Rhydon. His Yellow team has a Persian, which I can understand is a bit of a nod to the anime, but I still don't think it fits. His FireRed and LeafGreen team is the same as his Red and Blue team, but his Rhydon is unevolved, which I think is very stupid. Finally, his Let's Go team has no repeats, but he only has four Pokemon. And as I said, I firmly believe the final Gym Leader should have five. How I would suggest fixing his team is by taking his Red and Blue team and swapping out his Rhyhorn with Sandslash. My other options include either Golem, Onix or Marowak. But with Golem and Onix, they're more Brock's Pokemon. As for Marowak… Well, considering how Team Rocket treated Marowak earlier in the story, that would be kind of awkward…
Next up are the Johto Gym Leaders, the group that inspired this doc, because… They- almost all of them have bad teams! So many of them don't have any Johto Pokemon? What?!
Falkner- His team is just Pidgey and Pidgeotto, no Johto birds to be found. My first instinct is to replace Pidgeotto with Noctowl, but Noctowl is much stronger than Pidgeotto, and stronger than every other first-Gym ace Pokemon, aside from Milo's Eldegoss. Milo is a very late first Gym Leader, though, whereas Falkner is very early, so Noctowl would be a bit unfair. Instead, I think swapping Pidgey for Hoothoot works well. However, I think an ideal team would be Hoothoot and Natu. Natu isn't too powerful, and both are Johto Pokemon.
Bugsy- Like Falkner, he uses no Johto Pokemon, which bothers me. I'd say keep the Scyther, since it's a good ace for him. But then swap out his Kakuna and Metapod for Ledian and Pineco. To be clear, I think it's fine if Johto Gym Leaders have Kanto Pokemon on their team. But with Bugsy specifically, why focus on just Kakuna and Metapod, when there are a few other Bug-types that he can focus on instead? And yeah, Ledian would be underleveled, but Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, heck even Champions at points do it all the time.
Whitney- Surprisingly, she is the only Johto Gym Leader whose team I actually think is totally fine. Her Clefairy is a bit of a weird situation, though. Because if we go by modern day mechanics, Clefairy is a Fairy-type now, which means if the Johto games get the Let's Go treatment, it will have to be replaced. My suggestion for that is Teddiursa. And yeah, Whitney will have two Pokemon when I said the third Gym Leader should have three. But with Whitney specifically, her Miltank is like three Pokemon by itself, so I think she's fine.
Morty- Morty is the first person that comes to mind when people say Johto Gym Leaders have bad teams. I mean, seriously, four Pokemon, and they are all Gengar-line. But you know what? I'm gonna stick up for my boy. He's not a game dev, he can't help that there are two Ghost-type lines to pick from. So to spice up Morty's team, we're gonna get a bit creative. First off, I'm gonna do what should've been done from the beginning and swap out his Gastly for a Misdreavus. Something should be done about Misdreavus' encounter spots too, but like I said about the Unova and Kalos Elite Four, that's not the purpose of this doc, that's the eventual remakes' problem. As for his Haunter, since there are no Ghost-types left, I'm gonna get creative and give Morty Pokemon that fit his esthetic. So, they should be swapped out for Stantler and Murkrow. Even if he does evolve the Misdreavus into a Mismagius somehow, it still has a lower base stat total than Gengar, so I guess Gengar will stay as Morty's ace.
Before I go any further, I need to talk about this weird situation with Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce. As their section of Johto is non-linear and you can pretty much face them in pretty much any order you want. But their levels are kind of offset from each other, so I'm gonna do what TheSmithPlays did for Crystal Legacy and have them scale up to the order you fight them in. And because of the requisite of team size for the Gym Leader positions, I'm gonna give them all four Pokemon for simplicity's sake.
Chuck- His team is just Primeape and Poliwrath, no Johto Fighting-types to be found. My first instinct is to swap out Primeape for Machoke since it's his training partner in the anime. Second thing would be adding a Hitmontop and making it his ace. Third thing, because of the mandate that he's getting four Pokemon, would be giving him a Heracross.
Jasmine- She has the new-at-the-time type of Steel, and yet her team is Steelix and two Magnemites… Yeah, her team needs some work. First off, swap out one of her Magnemites for Skarmory. It's kind of a crime that she doesn't have one of those already. Next, I think she can keep her other Magnemite since it's a cool way to show off its new typing, but it should be evolved into a Magneton, since it's at the point where it would evolve. Finally, she needs a fourth Pokemon, and this is where we hit a snag. The only Steel-types left are Scizor and Forretress, and adding one of those would overlap with Bugsy. I do have a solution to this, however. Her fourth Pokemon would be Amphy the Ampharos. It's obviously not a Steel-type, but it's still one of Jasmine's Pokemon and she clearly cares for it a lot. To the point where she drops her Gym Leader duties just to help it get better.
Pryce- Oh Pryce, how Gen 2 did you dirty… Not just with the leveling but also the fact that he has a repeat. A repeat that wasn't evan an Ice-type to begin with. I'm not joking. He's got a Seel, Dewgong and Piloswine, none of which have moves that cover for Fire or Rock types. Like…what are you doing, my guy? Anyway, let's get the most obvious flaw out of the way first. Seel. It should be swapped out for Delibird. Next, he needs a fourth Pokemon. The best pick for that is Sneasel. To put some extra difficulty when following modern mechanics, he can evolve Sneasel and Piloswine into Weaving and Mamoswine respectively, but I don't think they're absolutely necessary.
Clair- Last of the Gym Leaders is Clair, and she is in a weird spot. She's a Dragon specialist when there are only two Dragon-type lines to pick from, and there is another Dragon specialist in Lance, who is the freaking Champion. Like, seriously, what were they thinking? Alright, let's see what we're working with. In Gold, Silver and Crystal, her team is just three Dragonairs and a Kingdra. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, one of her Dragonair was swapped out for Gyrados. Just…why? Why a Gyrados when Lance has one? Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done about that due to the reasons I just said. Oh boy, Clair, you are making me work for this, are you? First off, swap out another Dragonair for a Dunsparce. She can evolve it into Dudunsparce for good measure, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. Finally, as the eighth Gym Leader, she needs a fifth Pokemon. It's a bit goofy, but I'm gonna give her a Lapras. It's obviously not a Dragon-type, but it's Dragon-like, and Iris goes on to use one as Champion. This is a weird team for Clair, I will admit, but for all the reasons I just listed, this is as good as it's getting.
The next few regions have done a far better job with their Gym Leaders, in terms of how many Pokemon they use, and the species composition. Hoenn, especially, since every Gym Leader has an acceptable team to work with, so little to no fixing needed.
Roxanne- Roxanne's teams include a Geodude and a Nosepass, with a second Geodude added in Emerald. I thought the extra Geodude was unnecessary, so I actually prefer her Ruby and Sapphire team.
Brawly- His teams include a Machop and Makuhita, with Meditite added in Emerald. I think his Emerald team is better, but his other team could still work.
Wattson- His Emerald team is solid, but his other teams are just awful. A pair of repeats, and no Hoenn Pokemon?! I kind of get why Johto Gym Leaders have Kanto Pokemon, because Johto is treated as an expansion of Kanto, and all of the Kanto Pokemon are available in Johto. But Hoenn is its own place far away! Why is a Hoenn Gym Leader using only Kanto Pokemon? His Emerald team is much better however. It has a Voltorb, Electrike, Magneton and Manectric. I think it could still be better, though. Just swap out the Voltorb and Electrike for Plusle and Minun. And while I am at it, since they're in the first two slots… Make Wattson's battle a Double Battle! Sure, at this point, a Double Battle might seem rather difficult. But by this point, you have probably had Double Battles with other Trainers. Not to mention, Double Battles debut in Hoenn, and I think it's a great way to introduce that.
Flannery- Her Ruby and Sapphire team is awful. Why two Slugmas when Numel is a more obvious option? Her Emerald team is better, but I think the underlevelled Camerupt is unnecessary. Her ORAS team is acceptable, though, as it's her Emerald team minus the underlevelled Camerupt, and she doesn't need 4 Pokemon in the 4th Gym position. I'd say make her ORAS team her everywhere team. I could take her Emerald team and swap out the Camerupt for Vulpix, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary.
Norman- His non-Emerald teams are pretty bad. Entirely repeats within the Slaking line. I personally think that having both Slaking and Vigoroth is fine, since they both have different fighting styles, and I think it's kind of a cool way to show that off. But having two Slakings, that's just silly. His Emerald team is great, though. It does have the repeat of Vigoroth and Slaking, but as I said before, I think it's a fine repeat. We just make his Emerald team his everywhere team, and we are good to go.
Winona- I don't have any major gripes with Winona's teams, but I have a small issue with her Emerald team. Her non-Emerald teams are great, but her Emerald team has a repeat Swablu. She'd be perfect if her Emerald team just removed the Swablu, or if she just used her non-Emerald team.
Tate and Liza- Tate and Liza's Emerald team is solid, but I have to bring them up because their non-Emerald team is just Solrock and Lunatone, entirely too few Pokemon. I get that it was part of their gimmick of their Gym Battle being a Double Battle, which as I mentioned in Wattson's entry, originated in Hoenn, and it's kind of a cool way to show that off, but as a pair that share the position of the 7th Gym Leader, I kind of expected a bit more from them. Emerald perfected their team, however, by giving them a Xatu and Claydol, two strong Psychic-types, so it frustrates me that they didn't keep it that way in ORAS. Just make their Emerald team their everywhere team, and they're good to go.
Wallace and Juan- I have no issues whatsoever with Wallace and Juan's Gym Leaders teams. They both have five strong Water-types that don't repeat. I suppose Juan's ace could've been a Gorebyss instead of Kingdra, but that Kingdra is so annoying to fight, that it fits as the ace of the final Gym Leader. Seriously, so many Double Teams…on top of Rest! This Kingdra is tougher than most of the Elite Four Pokemon!
Next up is Sinnoh, and like Hoenn, they did a far better job with their Gym Leaders compared to most of the other regions. I have zero issues with the teams of the first five Gym Leaders. Those Gym Leaders being Roark, Gardenia, Fantina, Maylene and Crasher Wake.
Byron- While his teams are great in the composition part, as the 6th Gym Leader, I think he needs a 4th Pokemon. When updating the teams of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, I will be using the Platinum Dex, even when I am trying to fix their Diamond and Pearl team. That's because I have a moral opposition to the Diamond and Pearl Pokedex, because it is terrible, does not include so many of the new Pokemon, and is way to limited, it's just awful! A lot of Trainers in Diamond and Pearl have bad teams just because the dex is bad, not because they had better options and didn't use them. Case in point, Flint of the Elite Four, who had the bright idea of being a Fire-type specialist when there are only TWO fully-evolved Fire-types in Diamond and Pearl! One of which being the starter! Seriously, the remakes should've used the Platinum Dex from the beginning, it would've made things so much smoother, and they wouldn't be as lambasted as they are now. So, I'm pulling a Thanos and doing it myself. With access to the Platinum Dex, it makes filling out Byron's team easy. Just take the Bronzor from his Diamond and Pearl team, and put it on his Platinum team, and he is all set. Well, actually, I think it should be a Bronzong since it is above its evolution level.
Candice- I'm oddly deciding not to count Candice here. Her non-Platinum teams are clearly awful, but her Platinum team is great. If Diamond, Pearl, and their remakes had the Platinum Dex from the beginning, we would've gotten her Platinum team from the beginning. So, you know what, let's just pretend her non-Platinum teams just don't exist.
Volkner- Once again, a lackluster Diamond and Pearl team, only being half Electric-type, but a very solid Platinum team. He only has four Pokemon, so he needs a fifth one as the final Gym Leader. Toss on a Pachirisu, and he is good to go.
Next stop on the tour is Unova. The triplets, Lenora, Cheren, and Roxie all have stellar teams in my book.
Burgh- He has a solid BW1 team, but his BW2 team has a repeat. I suppose he had to replace his Whirlipede since it's now Roxie's ace, but there were a lot of options he could've gone with besides having a repeat Swadloon. Just give him a Karrablast like on his Challenge Mode team.
Elesa- Her BW2 team is fine, but her BW1 team has a repeat Emolga. They have the exact same moveset, which also bothers me. My instinct is to replace one of them with a Tynamo. It's weaker than Emolga, but it has no weaknesses due to its Levitate ability, so it's basically Emolga with extra steps. She has one in the anime, which gives it better precedence. Well, if you want her to keep her Volt Switch strategy, I think Joltik is also a good option, since it's able to use Volt Switch via TM.
Clay- No changes necessary.
Skyla- Her teams are solid in composition, but as the 6th Gym Leader, she needs a 4th Pokemon. My suggestion would be to add Rufflet to both teams.
Brycen- His team is also good in composition, but he needs a 4th Pokemon. The problem here is that in BW1, Brycen is already using a member of every non-Legendary Ice-type line in Unova. I am uncomfortable with this, but I value number of Pokemon over repeats, so I think adding a Cubchoo would work best. It evolves into Beartic at Level 37, so a Level 36 Cubchoo would work best.
Drayden- Drayden is kind of a weird case because he was co-Gym Leaders with Iris in BW1, and then became a sole Gym Leader in BW2, and his Gym position changes depending on the version. However, they shared the same team in BW1, with the only differences being gender and one of Iris' Pokemon having a different Ability. So any changes I make with Drayden's Black team will also apply to Iris' White team. Drayden is the final Gym Leader in BW1, yet he only has 3 Pokemon. He needs two more Pokemon, but the Unova Dragon-types are very limited. First, I think we can add on a Zweilous. It would be under its evolution level, but Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, and even Champions at points, do that all the time. Also, its evolution level is ridiculous. Think of this as a protest against Deino's evolution levels. I think this may be the first and only time that Ghetsis and I agree on something. For the fifth Pokemon, I would give him Archeops. It's obviously not a Dragon-type, but it's Dragon-like, and Iris goes on to use one in her Champion team. There isn't really anything I can do about the repeat Fraxure due to our options being so limited, so this is as good as it's getting. In BW2, Drayden is the 7th Gym Leader, so he only needs 4 Pokemon. Altaria is a Dragon-type in BW2 dex, so that's the clear choice to add.
Marlon- He is the final Gym Leader in BW2, yet he only has 3 Pokemon. Unlike Drayden, however, I have a TON of options for Water-types. I think two good ones would be Golduck and Mantine.
Next up is Kalos, and these are the bunch that people say are the worst second only to the Johto Gym Leaders, but there aren't really a lot of problems with them from where I am standing. I have zero issues with the first five Gym Leaders: Viola, Grant, Korrina, Ramos, and Clemont. A few additions could be added like Binacle for Grant, Trevenant for Ramos, and Dedenne for Clemont, but they aren't absolutely necessary.
Valerie- Her team clearly needs work. Her Mawile can be swapped out for Granbull and Florges can be added on. But I think Mawile would be fine to keep if it is given STAB moves.
Olympia- As the 7th Gym Leader, she needs a fourth Pokemon. A good choice would be Malamar, since it is the only non-starter non-Mythical Psychic-type introduced in Gen 6 that she doesn't already have. I also think a male Meowstic would work well. While technically a repeat, it's a different form and battles differently.
Wulfric- Ugh… This guy. One of, if not the most, egregiously bad 8th Gym Leaders in all of Pokemon. Sure. He has 3 Pokemon, as do the 8th Gym Leaders in Unova, and Drayden and Iris have repeats. Their teams are bad too. But with Wulfric, there is one specific thing that makes his team super bad: He does not have a Mega Evolution. A lot of people harp on this topic when they discuss how bad X and Y are, but to summarize, all of this negativity boils down to Mega Evolution being the central mechanic in X and Y, yet so few boss battles have them! I can kind of understand why it's not throughout the entire game since a lot of Megas are known to be very strong and maybe you don't have a fully-evolved team yet. But once you fight Lysandre and his Mega Gyrados, every major boss battle for the rest of the game should have a Mega Evolution. Your team is over Level 50, they should basically all be fully-evolved by this point, you have Mega Evolution yourself, the training wheels should be off! But instead, the only Mega Evolutions you fight throughout the main story are Mega Lucario vs Mega Lucario, Lysandre's Mega Gyrados, and Diantha's Mega Gardevoir. That is IT. No Megas for the Elite Four, no Mega for the 8th Gym Leader. And I think that is so dumb! Let's get the most obvious change out of the way first. Mega Evolve his Abomosnow and make it his ace. As the last Gym Leader, he needs 5 Pokemon. I think the best choices are Mamoswine and Cloyster.
Next up is Galar, which means, yes, I am skipping Alola. When people discuss Gym Leaders, they count the Kahunas as Gym Leaders. But the whole system with how many Pokemon they should have really breaks down with the Kahunas, because…the numbering system is different.
Milo- Milo uses both Eldegoss and Gossifleur. Considering that he uses Gigantimax Flapple or Appletun in the Champion's Cup depending on the version, I think an Applin would work in place of Gossifleur. And yeah. It's a Dragon-type in the first Gym of the game. A Dragon-type with 6 weaknesses, you'll be fine!
After Milo, however, I have no other issues with the other Galar Gym Leaders. They did a good job with creating diverse teams with enough Pokemon in those teams, with all of their aces being new Pokemon. And yes, Gigantimax forms count as new Pokemon. And yes, this includes Raihan, even though he has four Pokemon when I said the last Gym Leader should have five. I'm okay with his team because the reason for wanting five Pokemon is the added difficulty. And Raihan's battle is already difficult by nature of being a Double Battle, a battle format that playthrough teams are rarely built for. Plus, him having four Pokemon is a nod to how many Pokemon you can bring to a competitive Double Battle, which Raihan's battle is intended to show off. Plus, it's not easy giving him a fifth Pokemon. There aren't any other Dragon-types in the Galar Dex outside of the Expansion Pass that aren't hurt by Sandstorm.
Finally is Paldea, and since canonically, Geeta is responsible for the lack of level-scaling in Scarlet and Violet's main story, I will be looking at the Gym Leaders in their designated Gym positions. In which case, there is only one Gym Leader whose team I have an issue with.
Grusha- His team is solid in composition, but as the designated final Gym Leader, he needs a fifth Pokemon. Toss on an Arctibax, and we are good to go. Well, actually I think it should be a Froslass, since Hassel of the Elite Four goes on to have Baxcalibur as his ace.
So there you have it. That is how I would fix the Gym Leaders throughout the series. If you have different ways to fix their teams, feel free to let me know how in the comments below, or feel free to make your own document on this topic. This is David, signing off. And I'll see you next time!