As with most Pokémon titles, to become the ultimate Pokémon trainer you must visit each city found throughout the games word, in this case the Kalos Region, and defeat the Pokémon Gym leader in order to collect the Gym badge. Each leader has their own speciality which is usually hinted at throughout the game or whilst talking to NPC’s but if you’re struggling here’s a list of all of the Gym Leaders in Pokémon X/Y and the type of Pokémon they specialise in.
Before I begin, if you want to discover this information yourself, then click away now. If you’re happy to continue I’ll warn you that I won’t be listing the exact Pokémon the trainers use, just the type and how I think is best for you to tackle them.
Here I’ll be listing Gyms 1 to 4 to not give too much away, I’ll be writing 5-8 later on this week, so look out for that.
Gym #1: Santalune City
This Gym is the first one you’ll come across in Pokémon X and Y, you’ll also stumble across it fairly quickly too. This Gym contains Viola and she’s a Bug Type Trainer.
Now at this point, depending on which Pokémon you chose, you’ll be looking for either a Fire, Flying, or Rock Type Pokémon to defeat this trainer. On the way to Santalune City you’ll travel through Route 2, this is the best place to find and capture Fletchling or Pidgey. If you chose Fennekin as your starting Pokémon spend a little time in Route 2-3 levelling up your Pokémon, and if you’re lucky you might even find Pikachu.
Gym #2: Cyllage City
This second Gym Leader I found fairly easy to defeat but it took a little while to get to. The Gym in Cyllage City contains Grant who specialises in Rock Type Pokémon.
The most effective Pokémon to defeat Rock Type is Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, and Steel so on your way to Cyllage City make sure to keep an eye out for Pokémon like Honedge (Steel), Oddish (Grass), Ducklett (Water), and Groagunk (Fighting) – those are a few examples anyway.
Gym #3: Shalour City
By this time you’ll begin to learn more about Mega Evolution but before you can grab a hold of the Mega Ring which you’ll need to mega-evolve your Pokémon you’ll have to defeat this Gym leader. By now you’ve also met the Gym leader, Korrina, and if you haven’t already worked out, Korrina is a Fighting Type Pokémon.
Rock Type Pokémon are weak against Flying, Fairy, and Psychic type Pokémon and if you’ve been a keen battler on the way to Shalour City you’ll have spotted several Pokémon of this type. Way back in Route 7 you’ll have been able to find both a male and female Flabébé as well as a Swirlix or a Spritzee depending on what game version you went for.
A little further on in Route 10 you’ll find Slowpoke and Eggsecute both of which are Psychic type Pokémon. By this time too if you managed to grab either Fletchling or Pidgey to defeat Gym #1 in Santalune City you should already have fairly strong Flying type.
Gym #4: Courmaline City
If you’ve been throwing Pokéballs like crazy by this time you should have a fairly large collection of Pokémon of each and every type. Hopefully you’ve grabbed yourself a Caterpie or a Gulpin, because this Gym Leader Ramos specialises in Grass Type Pokémon.
Grass Type are weak against Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug Type Pokémon. Through your journey so far you should have definitely picked up one of each, the two I mentioned before are found in the first few routes in the game. Route 12 that leads to Courmaline City does contain the Bug Type Heracross if you’re caught short.
So there you have it, the first part of my Tips on Defeating Pokémon X/Y Gym Leaders, check back here on Lets Fix It for Part 2 which I’ll be posting later on this week.