Dominate Hoenn: A Comprehensive Guide to Beating Every Gym Leader in Pokémon Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire

Embarking on a Pokémon adventure in the Hoenn region is an exciting experience, but overcoming the challenges posed by the formidable Gym Leaders can be daunting. Whether you’re a seasoned trainer or a newcomer, this comprehensive guide will equip you with the knowledge and strategies to conquer every gym and earn those coveted badges in Pokémon Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire.

We’ll delve into each Gym Leader’s team, their strategies, and the best Pokémon to counter their strengths. Get ready to become the ultimate Hoenn Champion!

The First Step: Preparation is Key

Before facing any Gym Leader, it’s crucial to be prepared. This involves:

• Leveling Up: Ensure your Pokémon are at an appropriate level for the upcoming challenge. Grinding experience in the wild is essential.
• Type Advantages: Familiarize yourself with the elemental type chart. Knowing which Pokémon types are strong against others is paramount.
• Diverse Team: Don’t rely on just one type of Pokémon. A well-rounded team with diverse movesets will give you an advantage.
• Item Management: Stock up on healing items like Potions and status-healing items. Hold items like berries can also prove useful.
• Plan Your Strategy: Think about how you’ll approach each battle. Don’t go in blind!

Detailed Gym Leader Breakdown

Let’s dive into each Gym Leader, starting with the first and moving to the last.

1. Roxanne (Rustboro City) – Rock Type

Roxanne’s Team:

• Geodude (Level 14)
• Nosepass (Level 15)

Strategy:

Roxanne is a Rock-type specialist, making Water, Grass, Fighting, and Ground type moves incredibly effective against her. However, those can also be weak against rock attacks she uses. For those who chose Treecko, they will be at a severe disadvantage unless they have another grass type or a different type alltogether, making Mudkip or Torchic the ideal starter for this gym.

• Water or Grass Type Starters: If you chose Mudkip or Treecko, level up to around 16. Their initial evolutions (Marshtomp or Grovyle) can easily handle Roxanne’s team. Marshtomp has a dual typing that can be an advantage for the battle.
• Makuhita (Route 104): This Fighting-type Pokémon can be found early and is effective against Rock types.
• Tail Whip/Sand-Attack: if you are using a fire type or something without a type advantage, these status moves can lower the opponent’s stats and help you win by attrition

Key Tip: Focus on dealing super effective damage with your Water, Grass or Fighting-type Pokémon. Be cautious of Rock Throw from Geodude, which can be surprisingly strong early on.

2. Brawly (Dewford Town) – Fighting Type

Brawly’s Team:

• Machop (Level 16)
• Meditite (Level 17)

Strategy:

Brawly’s Fighting-type Pokémon are vulnerable to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy-type moves. However, since Fairy types were not yet present in gen 3, your best bet would be Flying or Psychic types. He will also use Bulk Up to increase his attacks so using a status move to lower his attacks or stats will be crucial.

• Flying Types: Wingull or Taillow (Route 104 and Route 105) can be easily caught and are effective against both of Brawly’s Pokémon. Try to use them to weaken them before unleashing stronger moves.
• Psychic Types: Abra (Granite Cave) is available to be caught but it is extremely hard to catch early game. It is a very strong psychic type though so if you manage to get it you have a massive advantage against him.
• Poison Types: If you somehow managed to catch a poison type, they have a resistance to fighting type moves and can last longer in the fight, but lack the type advantage.
• Status moves: He will spam bulk up to increase his stats so status moves like growl or sand attack can greatly help.

Key Tip: Avoid using Normal types, as they are weak to Fighting moves. Focus on quick, super effective hits.

3. Wattson (Mauville City) – Electric Type

Wattson’s Team:

• Magnemite (Level 22)
• Voltorb (Level 20)
• Magneton (Level 24)

Strategy:

Wattson’s Electric-type Pokémon are weak to Ground-type moves. However, he’s known for using status moves to inflict status effects, so having some status healing items will help.

• Ground Types: Geodude (Granite Cave) or Sandshrew (Route 111) can be found easily and are perfect for this battle. They will be immune to electric attacks and dish out super effective damage.
• Grass Types: While not resistant to electric moves, they can still deal neutral damage to Wattson’s team and survive.
• Status Items: Paralysis can be annoying as it can prevent you from attacking. Stocking up on status healing items will be crucial.
• Avoid using Flying types: Flying types will be very weak to Wattson’s electric attacks and will be easily taken down.

Key Tip: Ground-type moves are your best bet. Be cautious of Magneton’s higher attack power and Volt Tackle from Voltorb.

4. Flannery (Lavaridge Town) – Fire Type

Flannery’s Team:

• Slugma (Level 26)
• Slugma (Level 26)
• Torkoal (Level 28)

Strategy:

Flannery, a Fire-type specialist, is vulnerable to Water, Ground, and Rock-type moves. She has very high defense and attack but a low speed stat. Her ability to use Sunny Day can increase the power of her attacks so it’s important to either deal damage fast or use a status move to lower her speed.

• Water Types: Marshtomp (evolved from Mudkip), Wingull, or Tentacool are perfect for this gym.
• Ground Types: Geodude or Sandshrew will work but they will be at a disadvantage due to their secondary rock typing making them take more damage from her fire attacks.
• Rock Types: If you have a good rock type with decent defense it could work but they are also weak to her fire attacks.
• Status Moves: Sunny day will boost her fire attacks so using a move to lower her stats is useful.

Key Tip: Water-type moves are your best option. Be cautious of Torkoal’s powerful attacks.

5. Norman (Petalburg City) – Normal Type

Norman’s Team:

• Spinda (Level 27)
• Vigoroth (Level 27)
• Slaking (Level 31)

Strategy:

Norman’s Normal-type Pokémon are weak to Fighting-type moves. He is arguably the most difficult gym to face. Slaking is an incredibly powerful Pokémon but it only attacks every other turn, which is key for taking him down. Vigoroth is not as powerful but has high speed. Spinda is the weakest of the bunch but it can confuse you so be careful.

• Fighting Types: Makuhita (Route 104) is the easiest option here since it’s readily available early game. But a higher level fighting type can be used, just be sure they are a decent level.
• Status moves: It is possible to poison or paralyze normal types. If you are having trouble defeating them this might be a good option for you.
• High Speed Attacks: Quick attacks or other fast attacks will deal enough damage to bring them down quickly, especially if the pokemon uses bulk up before attacking.

Key Tip: Fighting-type moves are your best option. Take advantage of Slaking’s Truant ability (attacks every other turn).

6. Winona (Fortree City) – Flying Type

Winona’s Team:

• Swellow (Level 29)
• Pelipper (Level 30)
• Skarmory (Level 31)
• Altaria (Level 33)

Strategy:

Winona’s Flying-type Pokémon are weak to Electric, Ice, and Rock-type moves. She is an extremely annoying gym since her pokemon have high speed, so your best bet would be high attack type Pokemon that deal high damage quickly. Skarmory also has a steel typing so watch out for that.

• Electric Types: Magneton (evolved from Magnemite) will do wonders here due to its high attack and super effective electric attacks.
• Ice Types: Ice types are difficult to get before Winona so this is not a good option.
• Rock Types: A high-level rock type can do wonders here, but they are a bit slow so you may need to use a high attack pokemon with a move that is super effective against flying types.
• High Damage Pokemon: Normal or other types with high attack can quickly bring down Winona’s team.

Key Tip: Electric and Rock type moves are your best bet. Be cautious of Altaria’s powerful Dragon-type moves and high defense.

7. Tate & Liza (Mossdeep City) – Psychic Type

Tate & Liza’s Team:

• Xatu (Level 42)
• Claydol (Level 42)
• Lunatone (Level 41)
• Solrock (Level 41)

Strategy:

This is a double battle, and Tate & Liza’s Psychic-type Pokémon are weak to Bug, Ghost, and Dark-type moves. Since dark types are difficult to get before this fight, bug or ghost types will be better.

• Bug Types: Shedinja is great here since most of their psychic moves wont deal damage to it and it can deal super effective bug moves, but it is very difficult to find in the game. A higher level bug type can still do work here.
• Ghost Types: Sableye or Duskull are great ghost types to use for this battle.
• Dark Types: Dark types are hard to find before this fight, so they are not ideal to use.
• Status Moves: Using confusion or paralysis will also be useful for this fight since it makes your pokemon harder to hit.

Key Tip: Focus on using the double battle mechanics to your advantage. Take out their Psychic-type Pokémon quickly before they can set up and deal too much damage.

8. Wallace (Sootopolis City) – Water Type (Ruby/Sapphire) / Juan (Emerald)

Wallace’s Team (Ruby/Sapphire):

• Luvdisc (Level 40)
• Whiscash (Level 42)
• Sealeo (Level 40)
• Milotic (Level 43)
• Tentacruel (Level 40)

Juan’s Team (Emerald):

• Luvdisc (Level 41)
• Crawdaunt (Level 43)
• Whiscash (Level 43)
• Kingdra (Level 46)
• Milotic (Level 45)

Strategy:

Wallace (Ruby/Sapphire) and Juan (Emerald)’s Water-type Pokémon are vulnerable to Electric and Grass-type moves. For wallace he has 2 pokemon with a secondary type, making grass types not the best. Juan however only has one dual typing, which makes grass types viable. Both of them can use Rain Dance to increase the power of their water attacks so be cautious. Also, Milotic is extremely tanky so keep that in mind.

• Electric Types: Magneton will be useful for both versions of this fight. Be sure to use electric attacks to deal as much damage as possible.
• Grass Types: For the emerald version, using grass types are incredibly useful. Since the water moves are boosted by rain, grass types will do well due to their resistance to water moves.
• Status Moves: Because of how strong Milotic is, status effects are a great way to deal damage or weaken its defense.
• High Damage Pokemon: High attack pokemon with super effective moves can quickly take them down.

Key Tip: Electric and Grass-type moves are your best options. Be cautious of Milotic’s powerful moves and Rain Dance.

General Tips for Success

• Save Often: Save before each gym battle so that you can redo if you are defeated.
• Experiment with Different Team Compositions: What works for one gym may not work for another.
• Use Items Wisely: Don’t be afraid to use healing items and status-healing items during battles.
• Don’t Give Up: If you lose, analyze what went wrong and try again with a different strategy.
• Talk to NPCs: They often provide valuable tips and hints about the gym leaders and their teams.

Conclusion

Conquering the Gym Leaders in Pokémon Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire is a challenging but rewarding experience. By understanding each leader’s team, strengths, and weaknesses, and by strategically preparing your team, you can become the champion of the Hoenn region. Good luck, trainer!