10 strongest Pokemon Gym Leaders of all time, ranked

Gym Leaders are the most iconic bosses from the Pokemon franchise. These leaders are located in the many Gyms scattered across the series' regions to test the battling prowess of the player, ensuring they are ready before continuing their journey. However, some of these trainers stand out much more among their peers.

With every main series game varying in quality and difficulty, many Gym Leaders end up missing the mark for many players. Thankfully, this makes the truly excellent stand out from the rest.

Here are the 10 strongest Gym Leaders from the main series Pokemon games.

Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer

Ranking Pokemon's 10 strongest Gym Leaders

10) Raihan - Pokemon Sword and Shield

Raihan's team revolves around double battles and the sandstorm weather condition (Image via TPC)

While Pokemon Sword and Shield say Raihan is a Dragon-type specialist, he actually specializes in the sandstorm weather condition, with each creature he has benefiting from it.

In addition, his Gym also entirely features double battles, which is a format typically reserved for online fights and optional side trainers.

9) Blue - Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver

Blue is the original rival and champion of the franchise but became a gym leader after losing to the player (Image via TPC)

Blue was the first Gym Leader in the franchise to not be restricted to one type of creature. Rather, he features a team closer to his original adaptation as a rival trainer.

However, in Heartgold and Soulsilver, they structured Blue's team to play around Trick Room. Being a new condition at the time of these games' release, it was very interesting to see Trick Room being used so effectively.

8) Winona - Pokemon Emerald

Winona's Emerald team revolved around sunny weather (Image via TPC)

Winona was a difficult trainer in Ruby and Sapphire, but Emerald cranked that difficulty up to 11 by introducing her Tropius, which could set up with Sunny Day.

This may initially seem like an odd choice for Winona's Flying-type team. However, Sunny Day actually lowers the accuracy of Thunder, a very strong move that many players would purchase in Ruby and Sapphire in an attempt to easily sweep the Gym Leader's team.

7) Wattson - Pokemon Emerald

Wattson is very dangerous for his ability to paralyze the player's team (Image via TPC)

Wattson is another Gym Leader that got a strong buff from Ruby and Sapphire to Emerald. This time, he opens with a Voltorb that has Rollout and Self-Destruct. His last two creatures have Thunder Wave, a move that paralyzes its target, which can randomly skip their turns.

While this battle may not be as difficult for trainers that chose Mudkip, it can still be quite a difficulty spike.

6) Lenora - Pokemon Black and White

Lenora features a special gimmick that she can use to decimate unprepared teams (Image via TPC)

Lenora is a Normal-type Gym Leader from the Unova region who utilizes a team of only two Pokemon. However, both of these creatures are fully evolved, which is uncommon for the second Gym in any game.

Additionally, both of her party members have access to Retaliate, a base 80 power move that deals more damage if a teammate was knocked out on the previous turn.

5) Whitney - Heartgold and Soulsilver

Whitney is known for her team's usage of attraction (Image via TPC)

Whitney is a Normal-type Gym Leader who is surprisingly challenging, considering how uncommon Fighting types are in the Johto region.

In Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver, Whitney's Clefairy became a serious threat, with Metronome's expanded roster of possible moves and its new Cute Charm ability. Miltank is still her true carry with its access to Attract and Rollout. It can potentially stunlock the player's creature while it takes massive amounts of damage.

4) Elesa - Pokemon Black and White

For whatever reason, Elesa's team was made much weaker in Black and White 2 (Image via TPC)

Elesa from the original Unova games was incredibly difficult to take on due to her creatures having immunities to Ground-type attacks, the kind most players would think to bring to an Electric-type Gym. Each of her Pocket Monsters also have Volt Switch, making her entire team extremely hard to predict.

Zebstrika could switch into a creature immune to Ground-type attacks at any time with Volt Switch.

3) Flannery - Pokemon Emerald

Flannery's White Herb Torkoal is notorious for its team-sweeping capabilities (Image via TPC)

Flannery's team utilizes Sunny Day to increase the damage of her team's Fire-type attacks. Half of her team also has access to Attract, which can stall out the player's team.

Flannery's Torkoal can be a serious threat in the sun due to its White Herb held item giving it a turn to use Overheat without reducing its stats. This means it can effectively fire off another before suffering its side effect.

2) Fantina - Pokemon Platinum

Fantina's team in Platinum is fought much earlier when access to creatures with favorable match-ups is much lower (Image via TPC)

While Fantina is the sixth Gym Leader in Diamond and Pearl, she is the third in Platinum. This makes her much harder to take on since creatures with a better match-up against Ghost-type foes are much rarer.

Fantina's team also features different types of moves like priority, status affliction, and various coverage options.

1) Candice - Sinnoh Games

All of Candice's teams across the various renditions of Sinnoh each have the capacity to be total progress walls for unprepared players (Image via TPC)

In Diamond and Pearl, as well as their remakes, Candice, the Ice-type Gym Leader, uses a Medicham, a Fighting-type critter, with Bulk Up and Ice Punch.

In Platinum, she uses a Froslass that gains 100% accuracy with Blizzard, a 120 base power move with a chance to freeze the target, as well as an evasion boost, thanks to her Abomasnow setting up hail with its Snow Warning ability.