Every Pokémon Gym Leader and Elite Four Team

Each leader builds around a single type, which is both a hint and a trap: knowing the type tells you what to bring, but it does not tell you the exact roster. The teams below are the ones used in the most widely played version of each region.

Teams are listed as unique species (the games sometimes run two of the same Pokémon). Use the type column to plan your counters, and remember that a leader's signature Pokémon is usually the last one out.

How the gym order works

For the first eight generations the gyms are a fixed staircase. You beat them in a set order, each one is tuned a little above your expected level, and the badge you get raises the level cap on traded Pokémon and unlocks a field move outside battle. That structure is why the early gyms feel like tutorials and the last two feel like a wall.

Kanto is the clearest example of the design: Brock teaches you type matchups with Rock, Misty punishes you for skipping a Grass or Electric answer to Water, and by the time you reach Sabrina in Saffron the game assumes you have a full team with real coverage. Johto rearranges the same idea across two halves, since beating its own eight leaders sends you back to Kanto for a second set.

Paldea broke the staircase. In Scarlet and Violet the eight gyms are open from the start and do not scale to your progress, so it is possible to walk into a level 45 gym with a level 20 team. The practical advice there is to check a leader's level before the battle rather than assuming the game has balanced it for you.

Reading a team from its type

Every roster on this page follows a few quiet rules, and once you know them you can guess most of a team without looking it up. A leader almost always runs their declared type on every Pokémon, so a single off-type slot is unusual and worth noticing. The last Pokémon out is the highest level, usually holds an item, and is often the only one with a second type.

The second type is where the interesting design lives. Rock leaders lean on Rock/Ground, which stacks a second Water weakness. Water leaders reach for Water/Flying or Water/Ice to patch the Grass problem. Poison leaders tend to pair with Bug or Dark, because pure Poison has almost no offensive reach. If you can name the pairing, you can usually name the Pokémon.

Levels rise in a tight band inside one team, typically two or three levels between the first and last Pokémon. A roster that spreads across ten levels is either a late-game rematch or not a real team at all.

Spotting a fake team member

Our Spot the Fake Team Member game shows a real leader's roster with one impostor added, and the fastest way to solve it is to check type first. If a Fire leader's line-up contains one Water Pokémon, you are done. That is the giveaway in a large share of rounds, so always sweep the types before you start thinking about anything subtler.

When every Pokémon shares the right type, move to generation. Leaders can only use species that existed when their game shipped, so an Alolan or Paldean Pokémon standing next to Brock's rock snakes is the impostor no matter how well the typing fits. This is the second most common tell and the one people miss most often.

The last check is role. Gym rosters mix a couple of low-stat filler Pokémon with one clear ace. Two obvious aces on the same early gym team is a contradiction, and the more famous of the two is usually the one that does not belong. Kanto, Johto and Hoenn leaders are the hardest rounds precisely because their real teams are full of forgettable species, so the fake often looks more plausible than the truth.

How to prepare for a gym

Bring at least one Pokémon that hits the gym's type super effectively, and one that resists it so you have a safety net. Status moves (paralysis, sleep, burn) trivialize most leaders because the AI rarely plays around them.

Elite Four members hit harder and carry better items than gym leaders, and you fight them back to back with no shop in between. Stock potions and revives before you walk in, and save a full restore for the champion.

One more thing that is easy to forget: the Elite Four is a gauntlet with no healing between rooms, so the deciding factor is usually how much of your team survives the first two members rather than how good your answer to the champion is. Going in with six healthy Pokémon and average coverage beats going in with two strong ones.