Best Team Builds against Pokémon Gym Leaders Scarlet and Violet

Gym leaders are essential in every Pokemon game. They’re highly skilled in their chosen Pokemon type. We have gym leaders who are restaurant owners, make-up gurus, and even influencers. In Pokemon Scarlet and Violet you are given a task to take down eight gym leaders to earn badges. These badges will help you to unlock Victory Road so you can become a champion. The Pokemon you gather on your adventure will help you take down these leaders. There’s tons of Pokemon you can chose from, so that leaves us with this question. What’s the best team you can use in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet for every gym leader? We’ll break it down so you can fight these leaders with ease.

Gym leaders in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Around the region there are eight gym leaders you have to battle in order to be able to capture high leveled Pokemon, beat the main story line, and use high leveled Pokemon in battle. If you capture a Pokemon that’s above you, they will ignore your commands in battle; it’s quite embarrassing. The different gym leaders are located in Cortando, Artazon, Levincia, Cascarrafa, Medali, Montenevera, Alfornada, and Glaseado. They are focusing on these different types, which are a huge indicator on which types of Pokemon you need. The list below will also give you an idea on the route you need to take.

• Cortando: Bug Type (level 15)
• Artazon: Grass Type (level 16)
• Levincia: Electric Type (level 24)
• Cascarrafa: Water Type (level 30)
• Medali: Normal Type (level 36)
• Montenevera: Ghost Type (level 42)
• Alfornada: Psychic Type (level 45)
• Glaseado: Ice Type (level 48)

Cortando Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

A team build you want to focus on should be fairly simple with Cortando being the first gym you come across. This is basically a tutorial on future gyms and you’ll be battling Katy. She uses three different Pokemon and they are Nymble, Tarountula, and Teddiursa. Honestly, this battle is pretty straightforward and finding Pokemon to use is pretty easy. We recommend just grabbing some of the Pokemon around the zone and level them up by battling trainers and fighting other wild Pokemon. If you really need a list we recommend using:

• Starter Pokemon (preferably Fuecoco fire weakness)
• Hoppip (flying weakness)
• Diglett (rock weakness)
• Lechonk

You don’t need a lot of Pokemon for this fight. Just grab a few, level them up, and beat the first gym.

Artazon Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Brassius is another pretty straightforward gym leader you will face. After you have completed the Sunflora mission, you’re going to want to have a team to take down his grass type Pokemon. This fight will require you to have a team around level 17 if you want to beat him. Since he specializes in grass type Pokemon you will want a team that is made up of fire, ice, poison, flying, and bug types. If you really need a team we recommend using these Pokemon for the fight.

• Starter Pokemon (preferably Fuecoco fire weakness)
• Starly (flying weakness)
• Nymble (bug weakness)
• Dunsparce (poison weakness)
• Spewpa (bug weakness)
• Tarountula (bug weakness)

Levincia Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Probably one of our favorite gym leaders is from Levincia. Iono is the gym leader in Levincia and she’s an influencer who specializes with electric type Pokemon. If you have ground Pokemon you’ll be fine taking down her team. The two Pokemon you’re going to want to focus on are Mismagius for his levitation abilities and Wattrel. Just hit Wattrel with some rock moves and you’ll be all set with that one. Make sure your team is around level 25. It should be an easy fight, but just in case, start building up your team.

• Starter Pokemon
• Silicobra (ground weakness)
• Rockruff (rock weakness)
• Nacli (rock weakness)
• Spoink (Mismagius weakness)
• Pawmo (Dig ability unlocked at level 15)

Cascaraffa Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

This has got to be one of the most wholesome gym tests in the game. Your mission is to deliver a wallet to the gym leader at the auction house in Porto Marinada. He forgot his wallet and after you have successfully ordered the ingredients he needs it’s time to battle. You’re going to want to bring grass or electric type Pokemon to this battle since gym leader Kofu is a water type gym leader. You’re going to want to bring Pokemon level 30 or higher to this battle. Don’t worry! He only has three Pokemon Veluza, Wugtrio, and Crabominable. Should be an easy enough gym if you have the right move sets to deal great damage.

• Starter Pokemon (Meowscarada preferably)
• Pawmo (electric weakness)
• Bramblin (grass weakness)
• Flaaffy (electric weakness)
• Skiddo (grass weakness)
• Pikachu (electric weakness)

Medali Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Larry is a normal gym leader who honestly is the best just for being so upfront and honest about his position as a gym leader. He approaches you in the restaurant after you did the gym test and lets you know he’s getting paid to do this. This is just a job. It’s refreshing seeing someone just working a normal job and having a normal reaction to being disturbed during dinner time. For this team you’re going to need to battle three of his Pokemon: Komala, Dudunsparce, and Staraptor and they are around level 36. Time for you to bring companions who are around this level and who focus on fighting moves. At this point we personally don’t like using our starter Pokemon because we like to try out all kinds of new ones we’ve ran into.

• Starter Pokemon (Meowscarada preferably for Komala)
• Primeape (fighting weakness)
• Breloom (fighting weakness)
• Pawmo (fighting weakness)
• Skiddo (grass weakness)
• Capsakid (grass weakness)

Montenevera Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Ghost type is probably one of our favorite types. It’s up there with psychic and fairy. To get the ghost badge you’re going to want to face off with gym leader Ryme. If you’ve paid attention in class you’ll learn that gym leader Ryme is actually the sister of your math teacher! Ryme will have you perform on stage with her after she has performed a rap battle. She has four Pokemon you need to destroy and they are: Banette, Mimikyu, Houndstone, and Toxtricity. Dark Pokemon, it’s your time to shine! The highest level here is 42 so bring Pokemon around that level to beat them successfully. Honestly, this was probably the easiest fight for us.

• Deino (dark weakness)
• Sneasel (dark weakness)
• Murkrow (dark weakness)
• Donphan (ground weakness)
• Tinkaton (steel weakness)
• Lokix (dark weakness)

Alfornada Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

This gym battle was the hardest battle we came across. Probably because we did the mistake of coming here before defeating the ghost type leader. That’s our mistake. This battle was incredibly hard if you have Pokemon below level 45. Honestly, our Pokemon were around 50 because this battle was difficult. Tulip is a make-up artist first and a Pokemon gym leader second. Her biggest threat in this fight? Gardevoir, at least for us it was always Gardevoir the dual psychic/fairy Pokemon. In this fight you’re going to need patience and Pokemon who can handle those fairy moves. She has a total of four Pokemon and they are: Farigiraf, Gardevoir, Espathara, and Florges. Good luck. You’ll need it.

• Starter Pokemon (preferably Meowscarada)
• Tinkaton (steel weakness)
• Murkrow (darkness weakness)
• Houndstone (dark weakness)
• Lokix (bug weakness)
• Scizor (steel weakness)

Glaseado Gym in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

The last gym and thankfully it’s not as difficult as the previous gym you needed to take care of. Glaseado gym is catered to ice type Pokemon. The leader of this gym is a professional snowboarder, Grusha. In this battle you’re going to want to use fire all the way with a dash of fighting, rock, and steel. If you leveled up your Pokemon 48 you should be fine. You need to watch out for Altaria with those dragon moves! That’s why picking Pokemon with steel or rock moves can greatly benefit you in this battle. Grusha uses these Pokemon: Frosmoth, Beartic, Cetitan, Altaria.

• Starter Pokemon (preferably Skeledirge fire weakness)
• Tinkaton (steel weakness)
• Lycanroc (rock weakness)
• Salazzle (fire weakness)
• Arcanine (fire weakness)
• Naclstack (rock weakness)

That’s everything you need to know about gym leaders and who you need to bring in battle with you in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet! For more Pokémon Scarlet and Violet content, be sure to check out our posts! We’re covering everything about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

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