The world of Pokemon is full of challenging gym battles that require strategic thinking and skilled gameplay. However, some gym leaders are easier to beat than others. From Kanto to Paldea, defeating these gym leaders and earning those coveted gym badges will be your main challenge.
With engaging gameplay, memorable characters, and surprise twists, the role-playing game offers a brand-new challenge with each gym battle. However, some gym leaders are easier to beat than others. Sometimes it’s the first gym leader you encounter; other times, it’s an unexpectedly easy gym leader you meet later on down the road.
9 Erika (Grass) - Kanto
Celadon City Gym leader Erika was one of the first gym leaders you probably encountered when you started playing games from the series since she’s been a part of the Pokemon universe since generation one.
She’s not considered much in comparison to the other trainers you meet on your journey because her battles were actually not that memorable since it was so easy to steamroll through without much effort with a fire starter.
Considering she’s made so many recurring appearances throughout the series, her ability to hype you up with her own failure is a welcoming sight for most who felt the first three games were rather rough to progress through.
8 Pryce (Ice) - Johto
As intimidating as Pryce’s presence felt when you first saw him in Pokemon: Gold and Silver, with his super team consisting of every giant ice-type creature you’d be hard-pressed to imagine facing without a beating in the wild, beating him was surprisingly easy.
Naturally, it depends on what team you’re carrying and whether you got lucky or not. You have to be smart about it; his Pokemon are weak to electric and rock-types. Thus, beating him was a piece of cake even though he was the seventh gym leader you come across in Johto.
He barely kept the momentum up that the other gym leaders had built up over the course of the game, and his team felt tough to handle but eventually crumbled as soon as they faced hard counters. It certainly didn’t help that his entire team was full of the same type of Pokemon too.
7 Roxanne (Rock) - Hoenn
This gym leader actually felt like she wanted to throw hands, Roxanne from Rustboro City tried her best to have you regret challenging her but if you were one of the few packing a water or grass-based team to tackle the gym, you had nothing to worry about.
She returns to the series several times, and each iteration brings with them a quote from her claiming just how viable and “rock-solid” rock-type Pokemon actually are even though she’s easy to beat despite the claims.
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, a Shroomish is a pretty viable choice for tearing down Roxanne’s entire initiative.
6 Roark (Rock) - Sinnoh
Gym leaders that feature rock-type Pokemon don’t really have the best rep for showing off just how strong they are. Unfortunately, Oreburgh’s very own Roark falls flat when it comes to delivering any sense of dread.
With the right water and grass Pokemon, he stands no chance. You can practically send him packing back to the mines with relative ease. He’s definitely the easiest trainer to defeat in Sinnoh, with the most boring gym too.
5 Burgh (Bug) - Unova
As interesting as he was upon introduction, the third gym leader you encounter in Unova is kind of a pushover when it comes to facing any of your starter Pokemon. Burgh from Castelia City Gym can be easily taken down with a leveled-up Pansear, too if anything.
Not only that, but bug-type Pokemon don’t pose as much of a threat and are fairly weak to most fire and flying-types. A great way to tackle him is by using a Pignite or Simisear, they can deal a nasty amount of damage to most members of his team, and they can tank several hits from them too.
4 Viola (Bug) - Kalos
Carrying on the tradition of affording you an easy one, this bug-type specialty gym leader is a breeze to get past on your first try navigating through the Kalos region for most players who enjoyed Pokemon X and Y.
She’s the first gym leader you’ll face on your journey and besides a few lucky hits where you might need to use a potion, she won’t have much of a comeback once you start annihilating her with a fire or rock-type Pokemon.
3 Ilima (Normal) - Alola
He’s one of the unique trainers who actually carry a team of normal types, and he’s also a legend to his peers, Ilima was a hyped-up Trial Captain who thankfully fell short when it came to dealing with your fighting-type moves, if any.
Since he’s one of the captains that you’ll probably meet at the very start of the game, where his Pokemon only feature a strength of level 12, he’ll set you up for future success as you travel through the Island.
2 Milo (Grass) - Galar
Big and burly yet weak when it comes to delivering that one-two punch with his grass-type Pokemon, Milo is one of the easiest gym trainers to beat in Galar despite his team sometimes making it hard for players who have no clue how the game works by that point.
You’ll barely struggle with the first gym leader you’ll face in this region if you’re smart about tackling his gym and go in with fire, bug, or poison types.
1 Katy (Bug) - Paldea
Bug-type gym leaders get absolutely disrespected when it comes to them being considered legitimately hard, and Paldea’s very own Katy is a big example that shows off just how susceptible they can be to common Pokemon types like fire, rock, or flying.
Even the gym challenge you are tasked to complete at Cortondo is one of the easier tasks you’ll have to face compared to what you face with the other gyms later on down the line. Katy is a walk in the park.