In Pokemon, Gym Leaders are supposed to be the cream of the crop, the absolute best at what their chosen type of battling is. In fact, they're supposed so good at it, that the Pokemon League sees fit to fund them a Gym and Gym Trainers hang out in eternal servitude to rough up badge hunters. So why are so many of these Gym Leaders so pathetically easy to beat?


Despite years of intense training, Brock's best Pokemon is barely stronger than the ones you just picked up this morning.


This thing bugged me at the very start of the series, Pokemon Red and Blue, when Brock and his Onix fell to my Bulbasaur with nary more than a Vine Whip and some Tackle attacks. I'm not going to bother getting into the physics of it, but I'm pretty sure that whipping some plant vines around shouldn't be able to render a 30-foot tall, 400-pound rock serpent unconscious. The same thing with Squirtle's Bubble Attack. Bubbles? Really? How is getting a Rock Pokemon a little damp a damaging battle tactic?

Charmander's Ember, at the very least, I could understand doing some damage. You can burn stone. That's a fact. I can test that without much more than some space on the sidewalk and magnifying glass.


Imagine the slaughter that would've occurred if you taught Squirtle how to use a Super Soaker or a nearby garden hose.


But still, Brock, like so many other Gym Leaders, must have a secret room where he hides all these Badges, since beating his "rock solid" Pokemon takes roughly an hour or two of Pokemon training. If you really wanna nerd out on the topic, Gym Leaders are approved by the Pokemon League, and that organization is crawling with trainers hauling Level 50 Zubat, for crying out loud.

At the very least, Gym Battles finally got a bit tougher as the games went on, but not by much. For Pokemon veterans, the Gym Leaders are positively wimpy. Except Norman of the Petalburg Gym. That guy's a monster, even if you're 10 levels up on him.


Meet Slaking. He's going to eat your Pokemon alive, take your money, and call your mother names while you're out cold on the floor.

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ZanonX

Whats with all the pokemon stuff last few weeks lol

Kicks pikachu in the nuts.

Swarley92

If you played the Yellow version of the first Pokemon games Brock was easily the hardest gym leader of all time. The only Pokemon you could get up to that point are all extremely weak to Rock type.

xAluru

Swarley92 wrote:
If you played the Yellow version of the first Pokemon games Brock was easily the hardest gym leader of all time. The only Pokemon you could get up to that point are all extremely weak to Rock type.

Not Butterfree.
Confusion does plenty of damage to rock/ground types, especially if their special defense is low (like Geodude and Onix's). Plus, with poisonpowder, sleep powder and/or stun spore (depending on what you wish to keep), they make Brock easier to beat.

xAluru

Why do gym leaders seem like they suck as trainers compared to regular trainers? Well, some math and reminiscing may be able to help clarify things...

Let's say 256 trainers beat all the gym leaders in their region and make it to the Pokemon League, which would mean the leaders lost 256 times each in that year. It's assumed they battle many trainers everyday, so if we were to say they battle 8 trainers a day for every day of the year, multiply 8 * 365, and you get 2,920 battles/year. The leaders lost 256 times out of 2,920 battles, which is approximately an 11.5% loss ratio. Not bad at all.

Don't forget that Ash in the anime has lost to gym leaders before, but returned later after some training and/or learning a new trick or two, such as having Pikachu use agility against Lt. Surge's Raichu, getting Haunter to battle Sabrina's Kadabra (though not used like he wanted), and so on.

This all shows that the leaders are actually tougher than most believe. Why especially in the games they seem abnormally easy to beat is simply because you can face them with a team of Pokemon that are much stronger than what the leaders use, since they must stick to their special type (water, grass, etc.), not to mention you can always train your Pokemon to much higher levels and also have a full team of six, and the leaders can't do anything about it (strictly in reference to the games).

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