With Winds and Waves releasing next year and covering scam after scam recently I wanted to get to something familiar. So this list will not cover Elite Four or Champions as that may be for another time. So what are the worst Gym Leaders.

Gen 1- Blaine

When it comes to the original 8 there is little challenge unless you picked Charmander, but there is one Gym Leader that really is no challenge no matter the starter and that is because of the steps you need to take to reach him. Cinnabar Island is only approachable by using HM Surf in the original games and both Pikachu and Eevee have access to water type moves. Surf is a high powered move espicially for an HM you only need to teach it and spam it to win added to that the puzzle in this gym is just a few questions that are very easy to get right and you can be done with this gym battle very quickly.

Gen 2 – Morty

Surprised Whitney is not here, but that simply is because she is an actual challenge that requires grinding, preplanning, and an idea on how to get past her. Morty is right after Whitney and usually by the time you are done with Whitney Morty provides no challenge. He speciallizes in Ghost types, but it really doesn’t help as the preplanning and grinding you did for Whitney makes you way overleveled for Morty’s gym so long as you aren’t using Fighting type or Normal type moves here you should win.

Gen 3 – Roxanne

I know going for the first boss in these games is sort of mean, but I think Roxanne is the worst. None of the starters have any trouble here given each one is about to evolve and Torchic gains a Fighting type advantage and even if they do Shroomish is common in Petalburg Woods. With Brock if you are starting with Charmander or Pikachu you have to think, but with Roxanne there is nothing stopping you.

Gen 4 – Candice

Ice is the worst type in these games behind Bug and even though Pryce and Brycen are arguably worse Candice still takes the cake here. Now she does come from the region with the least amount of fire types, but at this point you could have already travelled to Iron Island and gotten the gift Riolu and even evolved it, second her Pokemon have so many common weaknesses and such low defence that her fight isn’t hard in the slightest, third you just made your way through Mt. Coronet and most of the Pokemon there have some sort of advantage against her.

Gen 5 – Burgh

When it came to Gen 5 I wanted to consider both games. That is what saved Brycen his B2W2 fight is optional and several gyms were added or swapped around. Burgh is fought at the same time with the same Pokemon and same strategy to win. Even his impact on the story was dialed back from helping the player in find the stolen fossil in Nacrene City, finding Bianca’s lost and stolen Pokemon in Castilia City, and showing up to help in the Pokemon Leauge to standing there giving the third gym badge.

Gen 6 – All of them

Not a single gym stood out in Gen 6 in fact even after you unlock Mega Evolution I rarely even had to use it. Most gyms were push overs and route trainers were often harder. It didn’t help that the lack of new Pokemon meant that I was using less new Pokemon and more Pokemon I’d used in the past. Fairy typing was the new thing added and while things were easier they also made the gyms boring and simple. I do like some Gen 6 Pokemon and they have been mainstays on my teams in recent years Fletchling and Pancham lines are always fun, but the sheer ease of this game makes the actual bosses unmemorable.

Gen 7 – I decided that Totem Pokemon kind of count: Raticate

Much like Black and White and their sequels I wanted to consider both the base Sun and Moon and the Ultra games. Now you could argue I am putting the first and easiest boss from Pokemon games again but I would argue it is physically impossible to lose this. With Roxanne I can see some new players struggleing, but this fight is so impossible to lose it is amazing. First once again your starter is not far from evolution and for Raticate that is worse than you may think. Popplio has fairy, Litten just learned Double Kick a decent early fighting type move, and Rowlet while not having moves specific to gain type advantage is defensible enough that it doesn’t matter. What is more both Machop and Makuhita can be encountered very early as well as numerous Fairy type Pokemon all of which have advantage to normal and dark type Pokemon.

Gen 8 – Gordie/Melody

In Pokemon Sword and Shield depending on version two of the gyms can change and if the battle was just terrible in one game that would be fine. Bea and Allister are fine for how early they are in game being the fourth gym leaders. At gym 6 though you encounter Gordie or Melody Rock or Ice. Rock is one of the worst types in the game very few Pokemon are good with it and Ice has so many weaknesses a good water, grass, electric, or fighting type will make these battles seem like jokes. It isn’t so much that the typing is bad for how late you battle them you likely have a counter to every one of their Pokemon without much thought.

Gen 9 – Brassious

It is very rare for me to use the exact same strategy for two different gyms one after another. Brassious is a grass type gym leader and he comes during a normal playthrough as the second gym and third challenge (if you go for the rock titan first). Katy is the first gym leader and due to grass and bug having common weaknesses in fire and flying you could actually go in with the same strategy and very little changes. Bug and Grass have had gyms in the same region before, but usually much further apart. None of the starters even struggle here and that is simply because all three have ways to get past here. You can even catch Fletchling in the first few minutes of the game and at that point Brassious may as well give you the badge.

Let’s hope Gen 10 has some good battles for bosses I have advoided leaks till now so I want to make some predictions on the starters and everything from the trailers. I know I will only be proven wrong when the games actually release, but that is the fun of speculation.