All Water-type Gym Leaders in the Pokemon games, ranked

Gym Leaders are some of the most iconic aspects of the Pokemon franchise. These boss trainers typically specialize in one of the game's many elements and have much stronger creatures compared to the average trainer. Being one of the most common elemental typings in the franchise, Water-type Gym Leaders are some of the most common in the franchise.

With so many memorable trainers throughout the franchise, there have been many characters who stand out from the rest of the standard cast of background fights. These Water-type Gym Leaders are no different, with most still loved years after their debut.

Here is every Water-type Gym Leader ranked from weakest to strongest in terms of difficulty.

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Ranking Pokemon's Water-type Gym Leaders from least to most difficult

8) Cress

Cress is the weakest Water-type due to the free Pansage players can get to directly counter him (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Cress is the least difficult of the Gym Leaders, but not due to his creatures' levels. His Lillipup is quite strong since it can set up with Work-Up, but his ace, Panpour, is directly countered by a gift Pansage players can receive from visiting the Dreamyard, an area just west of Striaton City.

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7) Kofu

Kofu would be a great Water-type Gym Leader if his team had monsters with four moves (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Kofu is the most recent Water-type Gym Leader and was relatively underwhelming, to say the least. This is largely due to the creatures in his party only having three moves each. With many of them being very good choices for a casual playthrough of the game he is in, Kofu's team had a lot of wasted potential.

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6) Nessa

Nessa's team of lackluster, weak, fish Pokemon makes her a very underwhelming Gym Leader (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Nessa's team's potential is also wasted, but they have all of their move slots filled. With Goldeen and Arrokuda instead of their evolved forms, her team lacks any serious threats outside of her ace, Gigantamax Drednaw. This ace also suffers from the lack of Rock Tomb in its moveset, which Drednaw learns upon evolving from a Chewtle.

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5) Wallace

Wallace was promoted to the region's champion in Emerald (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Wallace may have been the champion in Pokemon Emerald, but in the original Hoenn games, as well as their remakes, he was the eighth Gym Leader of the region. Wallace's Milotic is incredibly tanky, being one of the best competitive monsters from the generation. His Luvdisc can also be annoying with Attract if it is not knocked out in one turn.

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4) Marlon

Marlon was a new Gym Leader exclusive to Black and White 2 (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Marlon can pose a challenge if players enter his fight unprepared. He also has a new creature in his party, depending on whether or not they have Challenge Mode enabled. Enabling Challenge Mode, Marlon's team is a powerhouse, with each creature having more overall bulk and coverage options.

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3) Misty

In her original incarnation, Misty was a huge difficulty spike for many trainers (Image via The Pokemon Company)

In the original Kanto games, Misty and their respective remakes were a threat due to her ace, Starmie, a fully evolved Pokemon, which should be the first sight for many trainers' playthroughs in the region. This also means Starmie will have substantially higher stats, as well as access to better Water-type attacks.

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2) Crasher Wake

Crasher Wake has various defensive options on this team, with many of his party members covering each other's weaknesses (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The man with his own theme song, the legendary Crasher Wake is arguably one of the best Gym Leaders in terms of difficulty. Floatzel with Ice Fang and Aqua Jet made it a brutal attacker and a perfect teammate for Quagsire, who is weak to Grass-types. Gyarados' Flying typing also makes it vulnerable to Electric-type attacks, which Crasher Wake would switch his Quagsire to nullify the damage.

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1) Juan

Juan is the new Gym Leader taking Wallace's spot as the eighth (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Juan is everything Wallace was but upgraded in every possible way. Not only does Juan have Attract Luvdisc for support, but he also uses a Whiscash with Rain Dance to set up for his ace, Swift Swim Kingdra. With no Fairy typing at the time of Emerald's release, Kingdra was only weak to other Dragon-type attacks.