Which gym leader do you think is the strongest so far?

[Palteau]

I've done 3 playthroughs so far, cause I thought I lost my 1st save file (which I didn't and still have) and I lost my 2nd (for real)

1st playthrough (stopped after Noel)

I had real trouble against Shade. His Gengar was so fast that I had to set up 2 DDs with Gyarados to outspeed it and his Chandelure (always sent that after Rotom fainted) wouldn't let me set up 2. I won by sheer luck, when he sent out Golett instead of Chandelure, for some reason.
I also had trouble against Noel, mostly because of his Cinccino KOing things it wasn't supposed to, by flinching them to death.

2nd playthrough (lost file after Charlotte)

Luna gave me hell, even though I had Scrafty, probably cause I was kinda underleveled (57-58lvl). I grinded my mons a bit and gave Gardevoir Moonblast to beat her.

Charlotte completely annihilated me on my first attempt, but then I just taught my Crobat Rain Dance and she became easy mode.

3rd playthrough:

Was prepared for everyone (too much actually) and, to my disappointment, some were even nerfed, like Shelly, Radomus and Serra. Doubles make it easier to deal with G.Gardevoir and Heather, because you can gang up on them. I only lost to Serra, cause I always battled her before field effects were introduced. So, I figured I'd have to battle her in an Icy Field, in doubles, with a permanent Ice Body/Snow Cloak crap and trained a Flygon just to remove the field with EQ. So, I lead of with that, and I was really surprised to see no special field, a singles battle and a freakin' Cloyster that swept me (so much for preparation :[ ). I won the rematch though.

My point is, that Reborn isn't fit to be played by having "your team" with which you can beat everyone (like most other pokemon games). It's not even supposed to be that way. One must use different mons to match the situation. And in that spirit, all gym leaders are beatable or can give you hell, depending on what your team is when you battle them.

[Another Felix]

Shade. I didn't have any good types against him and my strongest Pokemon were Psychic, Normal, and Fighting.

[zareason]

I've done 3 playthroughs so far, cause I thought I lost my 1st save file (which I didn't and still have) and I lost my 2nd (for real)

1st playthrough (stopped after Noel)

I had real trouble against Shade. His Gengar was so fast that I had to set up 2 DDs with Gyarados to outspeed it and his Chandelure (always sent that after Rotom fainted) wouldn't let me set up 2. I won by sheer luck, when he sent out Golett instead of Chandelure, for some reason.

I also had trouble against Noel, mostly because of his Cinccino KOing things it wasn't supposed to, by flinching them to death.

2nd playthrough (lost file after Charlotte)

Luna gave me hell, even though I had Scrafty, probably cause I was kinda underleveled (57-58lvl). I grinded my mons a bit and gave Gardevoir Moonblast to beat her.

Charlotte completely annihilated me on my first attempt, but then I just taught my Crobat Rain Dance and she became easy mode.

3rd playthrough:

Was prepared for everyone (too much actually) and, to my disappointment, some were even nerfed, like Shelly, Radomus and Serra. Doubles make it easier to deal with G.Gardevoir and Heather, because you can gang up on them. I only lost to Serra, cause I always battled her before field effects were introduced. So, I figured I'd have to battle her in an Icy Field, in doubles, with a permanent Ice Body/Snow Cloak crap and trained a Flygon just to remove the field with EQ. So, I lead of with that, and I was really surprised to see no special field, a singles battle and a freakin' Cloyster that swept me (so much for preparation :[ ). I won the rematch though.

My point is, that Reborn isn't fit to be played by having "your team" with which you can beat everyone (like most other pokemon games). It's not even supposed to be that way. One must use different mons to match the situation. And in that spirit, all gym leaders are beatable or can give you hell, depending on what your team is when you battle them.

I disagree a bit with you, it's true that you can't have the same team and go through every badge. But with a balanced team i went through the first 8 gyms without any changes specific changes. I did do a couple of changes though they weren't to face a certain a gym and that set me back level wise. Out of my 8 current badges i had blaziken sweep through 4 and meowstic do the rest.

Though i had significantly more trouble then you. Training and leveling up mons from the go is so time consuming -.-, i wouldn't be where i am without blazikens speed boost.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I see that said a lot about Reborn. That you can't just go through with the same team and you have to expand beyond the usual 6, but I've gotten from the beginning to the end of E14 with the same team, and a team of 4 at that. I had 1 Pokemon up until the Mareep in Jasper, and then 2 up until I added my third and fourth just before Serra. I'm just now training my last 2 team members, because I was indecisive on who I wanted until about a week ago. I've struggled with specific battles where my team isn't a good matchup, but for the most part it's been about 5/10 difficulty which is around the range of what I can handle.

I play Reborn the same way I play the official games, because while I think encouraging people to use and appreciate Pokemon they'd never otherwise consider is awesome, I have moderate obsessive-compulsive traits and insecurities that won't be let go even if it makes my normal way of doing things unconventional.

Edited March 30, 2015 by StrawberryLoveIntervention

[Palteau]

Though i had significantly more trouble then you. Training and leveling up mons from the go is so time consuming -.-, i wouldn't be where i am without blazikens speed boost.

That's how I went through on my first playthrough, only instead of Blaziken I had Gyarados or Alakazam and then Infernape or Magnezone to clear the rest. Like Strawberry I went only Gyara + Monfenro till Florinia and beat her even though they were overleveled and didn't obey me. For a while, I even had battle style to Set instead of Swift, which is what I do on easier games but I realized it wasn't gonna work.

On my second playthrough, I had the same team until the end (ep 13), but I knew what I'd be up against and decided on the team beforehand. And even then, I felt that I'd struggle against a water type gym or that my Magmar (or Magmortar later) would be kinda useless without TMs for coverage (T-Bolt, Energy Ball, Focus Blast etc). Which is why I trained a lot of pokemon waiting for ep 14 (and it all went to waste when I lost my file :[ ) You need some real powerhouses like Gyarados or Blaziken to be able to deal with most teams, but those have been placed later on. So, unless you want to pick Torchic as your starter you don't have anything really powerful early on.

Training is time consuming at first but with exp. share and the Tauros/Boufalant it becomes easy later on. Plus, I know I'll have to wait a long time to get a new episode so I took things slowly on my recent playthrough.

[Reno]

Did you know? Shade's Gengar was called Corey. I was literally like O-O

Anyway, Corey had his super fast Crobat and Shade had his super fast, painful Corey. They were really hard for me to deal with.
Noel's Swellow was a pain though but died real fast and I had a fit when his uber wall Clefable came out.
What's even harder though, was Charlotte and her Speed invested team. My Metagross had lots of Speed EVs in it and could barely outspeed half the team and my Noivern with its messed up EVs couldnt outspeed so many of them. Real terror especially when Thyplosion and Larvesta both had Grass moves and I think someone, Charizard?, had Solarbeam. Seriously, my only Water type was Swampert with his 4x weakness.

Didn't really have trouble with anyone else, Radomus, Aya and Samson were really easy for my team.

[MooGoesTheMaid]

Gym leaders I struggled with were Aya and Florinia.

The easiest for me were Charlotte (I didn't know she was the hardest until I checked the forums ._.; ), Serra, Terra, Kiki, Samson, Luna (am I the only one who uses Gardevoir w/ Moonblast?) and Radomus.

With everyone else it took a couple of tries sometimes.

Edited March 31, 2015 by MooGoesTheMaid

[Monochrome_Complex]

My current playthrough I've beaten up to shade first attempt each leader except Shelly who confused haxxed me to failure lol.

Shade is easier than ever now due to 14.6 glitching his field. I beat him with Typhlosion/Raticate/Gourgeist/Murkrow last night.

[Red'sCharizard]

Terra was a pain in the ass, but only because of the field effect...

Otherwise, Serra was the strongest.

[BIGJRA]

I don't see how Charlotte was that hard...? It maybe took me like 5 tries. Then again, I did remove her field effect so I guess that makes it a bunch easier. On a different note, how the heck did you guys cakewalk Samson? This literally took me two hours (and my family thought I was crazy when I started screaming when I won). All of his moves were basically one-shots with that Big Top field effect.

[Kithros]

I don't see how Charlotte was that hard...? It maybe took me like 5 tries. Then again, I did remove her field effect so I guess that makes it a bunch easier. On a different note, how the heck did you guys cakewalk Samson? This literally took me two hours (and my family thought I was crazy when I started screaming when I won). All of his moves were basically one-shots with that Big Top field effect.

I can kind of understand having difficulty with Samson after my 2nd playthrough of the game - basically if you're using pokemon that are supposed to be kind of tanky the fight is going to be really difficult because practically nothing can tank his hits, but if you're using fast/heavy hitting pokemon (particularly flying/psychic pokemon) you can just KO his pokemon before they get a chance to act. Fast pokemon that can learn bounce are especially effective due to how the field affects bounce (in addition to bounce being a flying attack).

[Tyr]

I found Charlotte easy. My Arcanine with flash fire and heat wave and swampert with rockslide destroyed her whole team. the hardest gym for me was Terra. i had nothing for her Garchomp and it took a lucky crit from my Gallades close combat to beat her

[WSGreen]

I found Charlotte easy. My Arcanine with flash fire and heat wave and swampert with rockslide destroyed her whole team. the hardest gym for me was Terra. i had nothing for her Garchomp and it took a lucky crit from my Gallades close combat to beat her

I agree Charlotte was easy (surf op in her battle field) The only was i was able to beat Terra was because both my shiftry and greninja both could learn icy wind (also my greninja had protean was a bonus).

[Personthing]

I think that without the right Pokemon to stomp through their fights, that Charlotte and Samson are the strongest Gym Leaders. (Charlotte's biggest weakness IMO is Flash Fire, and Samson's is really fast hard hitting Pokemon that take advantage of his field effect) They just hit so damn hard that almost nothing is going to be able to survive more than one hit, and most of Charlotte's team is quite fast. Samson is easier because his team is overall meh speed wise, but he also just hits so hard that trying to tank him becomes useless. He's pretty weak to fast, hard hitting Pokemon though.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Mighty Kamina

[Masquerain]

Charlotte was the one that gave me the most trouble so far...that field and her team work way too well x_x

[Vinny]

Julia and Serra

When i first played Reborn, i wasn't used to the idea of the first gym leader with 6 useful pokes. So, it took me a while to realize that i should be using more than... idk, my starter in the the first gym :I

Serra also gave me trouble, cuz i didn't use Sunny Day/pokes with Drought.

No problem with the other leaders, cuz i had Godrados and yeah...

[Cyclonegale]

I agree that Serra was the hardest gym leader for me. I went into her fight with a fully trained Adamant Infernape, and he got KOed easily be her FREAKIN AVALUGG(The second thing she threw out). A fire/fighting type got served by an ice type gym leader. Serra's team is a monster. I would smack it on the head with a Close combat that was boosted by black belt, iron fist, and STAB, and it would barely take half hp. One avalanche and my Infernape died. I still think Serra was no joke. The only gym leader I couldn't auto-win against with my infernape's insane amounts of physical power.

[Odybld]

I beat Charlotte yesterday in my second/first playthrough (the real first stopped right after Kiki, so it doesn't really count). And in my second/third I'm about to face Radomous.

Charlotte was not that hard, even with an underleveled team and some mons that are not typical matches against fire (Ampharos and Machamp). That immortal Rotom was annoying, it better be smacked down and then have a ground attack against it, it tanked a freaking lot even against SE attacks without STAB.

The one that was a real pain in the second playthrough, although I knew what I was about to face, was Noel. That bloody Pixi was even harder to go down. Although later I found a certain pokemon that could match his Clefable, if I start a third one later I'll bring him Crobat with Cross poison and Screech. Good luck, Nomos.

Serra was also a hard battle in the first time and a really easy in the second, once you know what she is gonna throw to you and what you can hit, what you can zap and what you can burn. And I can't wait for her getting a field effect and maybe that old double battle where she was a pain, as I have read around here.

[Fabled Asian]

Charolette by far. I mean really, starting off with a fast Typhlosion with Eruption and a Choice Scarf Darmanitan /w Sheer Force Flare Blitz on a burning field with a 2nd tier. This girl doesn't play around. Thank helix for Light Screen.

2nd would be Shelly since I had no good counters at the time, and most of my attackers were Special (ugh... struggle bug)

Corey was just obnoxious with his field

Julia - Light Screen

Florina - Only Cradily (just burn it... and smokescreen...)

Serra - Get Lava Plumed

Radomus - Can't touch Drapion

Noel - Get Lava Plumed

Samson - Is tough unless you have a reliable Psychic type, and he got Lava Plumed

Kiki - Not even Medicham is safe from a +4 Psyshock

Aya and Shade were moderiatively difficult

Edited April 6, 2015 by Fabled Asian

[Monochrome_Complex]

Thing about serra is that physical attacks don't do jack against cloyster and avalugg, you need strong special moves instead.

[bamboozler]

Considering that I didn't pick a fire-starter, Florinia was the hardest

goddamn that field, took me like 5 tries to beat her

[Zeroneos]

Charlotte is easy enough for me since I made up team mainly composed from rock/ground type and some fire pokemon that have flash fire ability. The one who wreck me most is Aya. She unusually have very high chance to inflict poison to my team. I still remember that I took nearly 10 tries against her.

[Masquerain]

I really have to keep saying it's Charlotte, especially since nowadays most gym leaders look like a joke I:

[DJWongTong]

I personally love Noel's team and find him to be a respectable but not impossible challenge, not to mention he does not even get his own force win field like some of the other leaders do, imagine if he did xD

[sound of silence]

I agree Charlotte is still hardest as you do need to invest considerably in strategy or hope the AI decides not to use certain coverage moves against you. It doesn't help that there are no flash fire pokemon other than ninetales once you pass agate city checkpoint, and ninetales can only be obtained if you caught stunfisk earlier in the game. She is still quite beatable though, and it helps a bit that darmanitan no longer has a choice scarf.

I'm thinking though Serra is possibly the worst now as while she can be taken advantage of, the whole evasion manipulation tactic isn't the sort of thing you can counter that easily without pokemon that have access to flash cannon/mirror shot (or nature power). Even if you break her field you have to deal with the fact that due to brightpowder and snow cloak + Aurorous, you aren't guaranteed to land the hits on her that you need to, which makes setting up any smart play a major pain.

Still waiting for the day the AI can get its head around doubles, and watching everyone cry their eyeballs out against Shelly though

Also looking at Samson, if the AI could properly abuse Blaziken and its speed boost ability, that would also be great.