Pokémon: Unova Gym Leaders, Ranked By Difficulty

Pokémon‘s Generation V brought the Unova region into the series. With a compelling storyline and new Pocket Monsters for gamers to catch, the games Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 presented an enjoyable experience for fans. One of the better parts of this experience was the Gym Leaders that trainers need to defeat to progress through the games.

Some Gym Leaders are more challenging to defeat than others. Whether they are present in one set of games or both, the most challenging Gym Leader battles make trainers earn their badges. (Note that the teams from Black 2 and White 2 will only be those from Normal Mode, as this is the default setting.)

11 Cheren

First appearing in Black and White as a rival, Cheren becomes the Gym Leader of Aspertia City in Black 2 and White 2. Despite the character’s importance to the story of the initial games, Cheren provides the easiest Gym Leader battle in the Unova region.

He only has a Patrat and a Lillipup, neither of which has super-effective attacks against any of the starter types. As Black 2 and White 2‘s first Gym Leader, it makes sense that Cheren would be the easiest, helping new players to gain a better grasp of the Gym battling system. Cheren is a fascinating character who helps contribute to Unova being one of the coolest Pokémon regions.

10 Roxie

If players chose Snivy at the beginning of their Black 2 or White 2 journey, Roxie’s team can be concerning, but it is otherwise a relatively easy obstacle to overcome. Neither her Koffing nor Whirlipede should present many issues to players, even at the level at which players battle her.

Her Whirlipede is relatively bulky for this point in the games, but it does not have the offensive stats to capitalize. If players have two or more team members that are reasonably leveled, they should have little trouble dealing with Roxie’s team.

9 Lenora

Lenora, the Leader of the Nacrene City Gym and the second Gym Leader in Pokémon Black and White, specializes in using Normal-type Pocket Monsters. Her team consists of a Herdier and a Watchog. Though under-leveling can make the Gym more of a challenge, the battle generally presents few problems.

Both of Lenora’s Pokémon have only Normal and Dark-type attacks, neither of which has an advantage against any of the Unova starters. For the point at which players battle it, Watchog is reasonably strong, which can be concerning, but trainers should be able to take it down after several turns.

8 Cilan/Chili/Cress

In Pokémon Black and White, trainers face one of the three Gym Leaders from the Striaton City Gym. The trainer faces the Gym Leader whose ace Pokémon has a type advantage against the player’s starter Pokémon. Aside from this, however, all three Leaders are the same. They each have a Lillipup and an elemental monkey Pokémon.

This battle can be more challenging if the player’s Pocket Monsters are under-leveled, which is not out of the question because Striaton City holds the first Gym that players can encounter in the initial game. It is not the most challenging Gym in the region, especially if players pick up other team members before the battle, but it can present issues for the unprepared.

7 Brycen

Even the strongest pure Ice-type Pokémon can struggle significantly, and Brycen’s team is only composed of pure Ice-types. He only appears as a Gym Leader in Black and White, and though his ace, Beartic, can be intimidating because of its stats, the Gym Leader’s team runs into trouble because of the typing itself.

Ice only resists itself and is weak to four types: Fire, Rock, Steel, and Fighting. Brycen’s team has a couple of moves to counter Rock and Fire-types, but the Pokémon that use the attacks are often too slow to properly utilize them.

6 Elesa

Elesa, the Leader of the Nimbasa City Gym, specializes in using Electric-type Pokémon. There is only a slight variation between her team in the original Unova games and the sequels, and all three of her Pocket Monsters have the move Volt Switch, which can be frustrating.

Volt Switch is the most effective when she uses it on her Zebstrika or her Flaaffy, the latter of which is only on her team in Black 2 and White 2, because she can then send in her Emolga, which is immune to Ground-type attacks due to its secondary Flying typing. Aside from this, her team is relatively easy to take down, with few coverage options to deal with a large number of types.

5 Clay

In both the original Unova games and their sequels, Clay presents a decent challenge for players. Against both iterations of his team, Grass and Water can be extremely effective, though Water is only neutrally effective against his Palpitoad on his Black and White team.

The most intimidating part of facing Clay is his ace Pokémon, Excadrill, which has a high Attack stat and enough bulk to withstand a large chunk of damage. It also knows the move Hone Claws, which boosts its Attack and accuracy, making it even more of a threat.

4 Burgh

Burgh, of the Castelia City Gym, uses Bug-type Pokémon in his battles. As he is the third Gym Leader in both Black and White and its sequels, his team changes slightly between them, but it maintains a similar level of difficulty. A Flying-type or a Fire-type could take out everything on his team except his Dwebble relatively easily, but this Pokémon presents the issue of having the Rock-type move Smack Down to retaliate.

Burgh’s other major strength is his ace Pokémon, Leavanny, which has high stats for the point in the story at which trainers battle Burgh. Bug is generally not believed to be one of the strongest Pokémon types, but Burgh’s Gym shows that there are ways for creatures of this type to deal with their weaknesses.

3 Skyla

Between the original Unova games and the sequels, Skyla trades in her Unfezant for a Skarmory, which provides more defensive capabilities against Rock-types, but her team otherwise remains relatively unchanged.

As with any Gym Leader, players gain a major advantage by exploiting Skyla’s type weaknesses, but her Swanna has the Water-type attack Bubble Beam to combat the Rock-type Pokémon that would be super-effective against it. In Black 2 and White 2, Skarmory can do the same with Steel Wing, and its primary Steel typing makes Rock-type attacks neutral against it. Skyla’s Pokémon are not the most powerful in the games, but if trainers do not have an Electric-type team member, they can be intimidating at the point in the games in which they appear.

2 Marlon

Marlon takes over in Black 2 and White 2 as the eighth Gym Leader of the Unova region. Specializing in Water-type Pokémon, Marlon has a Carracosta, Wailord, and Jellicent.

The team members do not have many excellent moves to deal with their type weaknesses, but Jellicent can be incredibly frustrating to face because of its access to Recover, which restores half of its maximum HP. Carracosta also has Sturdy as its Ability, so it can essentially always survive at least one hit and retaliate with its high Attack stat.

1 Drayden/Iris

In Pokémon Black, Drayden is the eighth Gym Leader, and in Pokémon White, it is Iris. Both Leaders of the Opelucid City Gym have the same team composition, with essentially the only variations being two of the Pokémon’s Abilities. This changed in the sequels, in which Drayden became the seventh Gym Leader and Iris became the Champion.

Specializing in Dragon-types, they provide one of the biggest challenges, especially because the Fairy-type did not exist at the time to counter Dragon. Their teams also include a Haxorus, which, though not a pseudo-Legendary, is still one of the strongest Pokémon from the Unova region.