Pokemon Scarlet gym leaders: order, types, and strategy notes
Eight Pokemon Scarlet gym leaders stand between a trainer and the Champion assessment, and the order in which a player challenges them reshapes every party decision that follows. Unlike a fixed-track adventure, Pokemon Scarlet lets the player pick which city to visit first, which means the difficulty curve is partly the player’s responsibility. Choosing the wrong opening gym can leave a team under-leveled for a later route, while starting with a well-matched type can snowball into a smooth mid-game. This guide maps every Paldean gym leader in Pokemon Scarlet, the recommended level range for each, the team that each leader fields, and the type matchups that decide whether a battle feels trivial or punishing.
For players who want a structured plan rather than a vague recommendation, the next sections move from the unlock conditions of the gym challenge, through the full order and recommended level windows, into type-by-type strategy, and finally into team-building rules that hold up regardless of which gym the player tackles first. A short comparison table for each leader sits next to the strategy notes, so the reader can see at a glance which Pokemon to lead with and which to bench.
How the Victory Road challenge works in Pokemon Scarlet
The Victory Road challenge in Pokemon Scarlet is the modern framing of the classic gym circuit. Each city in the Paldea region hosts a gym run by a specialist trainer, and clearing all eight unlocks the path to the Pokemon League. The twist is the open structure: after the opening tutorials, players are free to walk, ride, or fly to any gym in any order, which turns the gym challenge into both a route planning problem and a battle planning problem.
Three mechanics shape how the gym circuit plays out:
- Auto-battle: Koraidon can clear wild encounters while the player focuses on direction and pacing, which lets the active party stay close to the gym’s recommended level without grinding.
- Level scaling: each gym leader’s team is tuned around a target level band rather than a single number, so the closer the player’s team is to that band, the more reliably type matchups decide the outcome instead of raw stats.
- TM crafting: defeated gym leaders hand out TMs, and those TMs feed the crafting system at the Pokemon Center, which makes each victory a small roster upgrade as well as a badge.
The result is a circuit where route order matters, but never so much that a careful player cannot recover from a rough start. Treating each gym as a level checkpoint, rather than a fixed gate, is the most useful mental model for planning a run.
There is also a soft progression baked into the cities themselves. The southern half of Paldea holds the lower-level gyms and the calmer routes that introduce the player to type matchups one at a time, while the northern half holds the harder specialists and tighter level bands. A player who treats the map as a simple sandbox will still drift toward the intended curve as long as they follow the roads in roughly the right direction, which is why even an inexperienced trainer can stumble into a workable order by accident.
Pokemon Scarlet gym leaders in recommended challenge order
The order below groups the eight Pokemon Scarlet gym leaders by the level band each one is tuned to, with the easiest gym first and the hardest near the end. Players can break this order, but the level windows assume a linear progression through the routes between cities.
| Gym leader | City | Type | Recommended level | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katy | Cortondo City | Bug | 14-15 | Bug Badge |
| Brassius | Artazon City | Grass | 16-17 | Grass Badge |
| Ioni | Levincia City | Electric | 23-24 | Volt Badge |
| Larry (first battle) | Mesagoza (East Side) | Normal | 24-26 | Plain Badge |
| Tulip | Cascarrafa City | Psychic | 28-29 | Psychic Badge |
| Larry (second battle) | Medali | Normal | 30-32 | Normal Badge |
| Ryme | Montenevera | Ghost | 34-35 | Ghost Badge |
| Grusha | Glaseado Gym | Ice | 36-38 | Ice Badge |
Two Normal-type gyms sit in the middle of the run, which is the most common source of route-planning confusion. Players who prefer to face each specialist type in a clean Grass, Fire, Water, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark style will need to break that up, because the Paldean circuit does not line up with the older type rotation. The practical implication is that team-building cannot rely on a single elemental coverage plan: a balanced squad with at least one strong physical attacker, one special attacker, and one utility Pokemon handles the mid-game better than a hyper-specialized team.
It is also worth noting that the two Normal gyms share a single trainer, which means the second Larry battle assumes that the player has already seen his strategy once. By the time the second fight rolls around, the player should expect fewer surprises and a tighter level band, so a rematch with the same Fighting-type answer that worked the first time usually works again with only minor adjustments to the held items.
Bug gym: Katy and the Cortondo team
Katy is the first real gym leader most players face in Pokemon Scarlet, and her Bug-type team is a fair introduction rather than a soft warmup. Her ace is Tarountula at level 14, supported by a Nymble at level 13, and she leads with a strategy that punishes passive play. The recommended counter plan is simple, but it is the plan that most beginners need to learn first.
| Slot | Pokemon | Level | Role | Suggested counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Nymble | 13 | Fast special attacker | Fire- or Flying-type |
| Second | Tarountula | 14 | Sticky Web support | Any Fire, Flying, or Rock move |
The matchup lesson that Katy’s team teaches is that Bug is weak to Fire, Flying, and Rock, and that the early game usually has at least one of those three move types on a starter or a regional bird. Players who pick Fuecoco as their starter get a clean Fire-type answer from turn one, while Sprigatito players need to lean on the Pawmi they can pick up on the road to Artazon. Quaxly players usually solve the gym with the Buizel they meet on the way south, using a Water-type to soften Bug-types before switching into a Flying move for the knockout.
Katy’s gym test, the olive-picking mini-game, also teaches a habit that pays off in every later gym. Completing the test before the battle gives a small stat boost and a free healing item, which means the player walks into the actual fight with a level of preparation that the badge screen does not measure. Players who skip the test can still win, but they usually burn more resources than they need to and start the next route in a worse position than they realize.
Grass gym: Brassius and the Artazon team
Brassius runs the Artazon gym, and his Grass-type team is where type matchups start to bite. His ace is a level 17 Sudowoodo, which is a Rock-type in disguise and a frequent surprise for new players who expect pure Grass. The rest of his team includes a Petilil and a Smoliv, both at level 16, with a Sudowoodo closer that punishes over-relying on Fire-type coverage.
| Slot | Pokemon | Level | Type | Best counter approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Petilil | 16 | Grass | Fire, Ice, Flying, or Poison |
| Second | Smoliv | 16 | Grass/Normal | Fire or Ice with priority |
| Ace | Sudowoodo | 17 | Rock | Water or Grass coverage |
Sudowoodo is the moment when a Fire-only team starts to crack, because Rock resists Fire. The cleanest counter is a Water-type or a Grass-type with strong physical attacks, and most players already have at least one of those by the time they reach Artazon. Sprigatito users, in particular, get an early chance to use their starter’s own Grass coverage against the Rock-type closer, which is a nice payoff for a Grass starter that struggled against Katy’s Bug team.
Brassius’s pre-battle art challenge is more than flavor. Solving the sunflower quiz before the fight gives a small stat boost to the lead Pokemon, and that extra edge is often the difference between a clean sweep and a drawn-out third slot. Players who ignore the art test usually end up using a revive on the Sudowoodo turn, which is fine but burns a resource that the next route will need.
Electric gym: Ioni and the Levincia team
Ioni is the first gym leader in Pokemon Scarlet whose team uses held items and strategy more aggressively. Her Electric-type lineup is built around Volt Switch pressure, and her level band of 23-24 assumes a player who has moved through at least two gyms. Her team rotates between a Pachirisudon lead and a dedicated closer, and the gym test before the battle rewards players who learn to use the Let’s Go feature to pivot around Electric-type weaknesses.
| Slot | Pokemon | Level | Strategy | Counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Pachirisudon | 23 | Volt Switch pivot | Ground-type with high physical defense |
| Mid | Rotom | 24 | Special attacker with status | Ground-type or bulky Water |
| Closer | Luxray or similar | 24 | Physical sweeper | Ground-type, often a Mudsdale or Clodsire |
The type lesson for the Electric gym is that Ground is the only type that is fully immune to Electric damage, and a single well-leveled Ground-type turns Ioni’s team into a free win. The catch is that Ground-types in Paldea tend to be slow, which means players who rely on a glass cannon Ground move need to plan around speed control or use a slower pivot to bring the Ground-type in safely. This gym is also the first place where the TM for Bulldoze becomes a real asset, because it gives a non-Ground Pokemon a useful answer to Electric-types without committing a roster slot to a dedicated counter.
Ioni’s pre-battle gym test, the battery-charging mini-game, is a short detour that rewards a free healing item and a small experience boost to the lead Pokemon. Players who clear the test usually walk into the actual fight with a full restore already in the bag, which is enough to swing a tight third slot into a comfortable win.
Normal gyms: Larry and the Mesagoza and Medali teams
Larry is the only gym leader in Pokemon Scarlet who appears twice on the circuit, first as a Normal-type specialist in Mesagoza and later as a second Normal-type specialist in Medali. Both battles feel similar on paper, but the level gap and team composition push the Medali fight into a much tighter window. The Normal-type angle is the most important planning moment in the entire run, because Normal has only one weakness: Fighting.
| Battle | City | Level band | Lead Pokemon | Closer | Counter plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | Mesagoza (East Side) | 24-26 | Komala | Dudunsparce | One Fighting-type sweeper |
| Second | Medali | 30-32 | Staraptor | Komala or similar | Fighting-type with priority |
Because both Normal gyms sit in the middle of the level curve, having a single strong Fighting-type available by the time the player reaches Mesagoza is a major quality-of-life improvement. Pawmot, Lucario, Flamigo, and the Primeape line are all realistic options by this stage, and each one trivializes both Larry battles. Players who skip the Fighting-type will lean on coverage moves like Low Kick or Brick Break, which works but leaves fewer options for the late-game Dragon, Dark, and Steel encounters in the Star Tournament and the final Titan storyline.
Larry’s role as a working stiff who moonlights as a gym leader is also a soft signal about how the Normal-type matchup plays. His teams are deliberately straightforward, which is why the two fights feel less like a puzzle and more like a sprint. That simplicity is exactly why the level band matters: at 24-26 the fight is a warmup, but at 30-32 the same Normal-type roster starts to threaten a team that has not kept pace with the curve.
Psychic gym: Tulip and the Cascarrafa team
Tulip’s Psychic-type team is the first major difficulty spike for players who ignored the level band warnings. Her lead is a level 28 Espathra, a high-speed special attacker that punishes teams without a Dark-type, and her closer is a level 29 Farigiraf, which mixes Psychic and Normal coverage into a bulky mid-game wall. The fight is a clear test of whether the player built a balanced team or a single-element team.
| Slot | Pokemon | Level | Type | Counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Espathra | 28 | Psychic | Dark, Ghost, or Bug |
| Second | Florges | 28 | Fairy | Steel or Poison |
| Closer | Farigiraf | 29 | Psychic/Normal | Dark or Bug with priority |
The Psychic gym is also the place where a Fighting-type build starts to show its limits, because Psychic resists Fighting. This is the moment most players add a Dark-type to their roster if they have not already, and a level 28 Houndour or a fully evolved Murkrow lines up almost perfectly with the recommended band. A second quiet lesson from Tulip’s team is that Psychic is not the only type in the fight: Florges is a Fairy-type, so a single Steel-type or Poison-type gives the player a clean answer to the mid slot without burning a switch.
Tulip’s pre-battle test, the mirror maze, is short but punishing for players who rush. Solving it before the fight gives a small stat boost and a free status-curing berry, which is useful because Espathra’s Lumina Crash can leave a team stuck in a bad matchup. Skipping the maze is possible, but the fight then turns into a coin flip on turn two.
Ghost gym: Ryme and the Montenevera team
Ryme is the Ghost-type specialist in Montenevera, and her team is the first in the run where the type chart alone is not enough to win comfortably. Her level 35 closer, Toxtricity, is not a Ghost-type, which catches players who assume the entire team follows the gym type. The fight is more about which Pokemon the player can keep alive through the mid-game song mechanic, because Ghost moves hit hard and the level gap is real.
| Slot | Pokemon | Level | Type | Counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Toxtricity | 34 | Electric/Poison | Ground or Psychic |
| Mid | Glimmora | 34 | Rock/Poison | Ground, Water, Psychic |
| Closer | Houndstone or similar | 35 | Ghost | Dark or Ghost with priority |
Ghost is weak to Ghost and Dark, and a strong Dark-type carried through the mid-game is usually the cleanest answer. The bigger planning lesson is the level band: a level 35 closer is unforgiving if the player’s team is still at level 30, so the Montenevera gym is a natural point to grind or to catch up using auto-battle. Players who came from the Psychic gym with a Dark-type in the 32-34 range usually clear this fight without losing a single Pokemon, while a team stuck at level 30 will lose at least one slot to a critical hit from a Ghost move.
Ryme’s rap-based gym test is the longest in the game, and it is worth running through the full sequence rather than skipping the late rounds. Clearing the test gives a permanent stat boost to the lead Pokemon for the rest of the run, which is more useful than the small one-shot reward the screen suggests at the end. Players who rush the test usually arrive at the actual fight with a level band that is one notch lower than the badge implies.
Ice gym: Grusha and the Glaseado team
Grusha closes the Pokemon Scarlet gym circuit, and his Ice-type team is the level-38 stress test for the entire run. His lead is a Cetitan, a high-HP physical attacker that punishes teams relying on special walls, and his closer is a Beartic or a similar Ice-type with a strong priority move. The level band of 36-38 means a player who has not kept pace with the curve will feel the difference in raw stats, even when the type matchup is correct.
| Slot | Pokemon | Level | Type | Counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Cetitan | 36 | Ice | Fighting, Rock, Steel, or Fire |
| Mid | Beartic | 37 | Ice | Fighting or Rock with priority |
| Closer | Altaria or similar | 38 | Dragon/Flying | Ice or Dragon with strong STAB |
The Ice gym is where team-building choices made at level 14 pay off, because Fire-types and Fighting-types that survived the early game are now over-leveled and can sweep the fight. The reason this gym feels easier than its level suggests is that most players arrive with at least one Fire-type from their starter, and Fire hits Ice for quadruple damage. A Fighting-type starter line or a heavily invested Fighting-type picked up along the way also works, because both Fighting and Rock are super effective against Ice without sharing a weakness with the player’s existing team.
Grusha’s pre-battle gym test, the snowfield search, rewards a free revive and a small experience boost. It is short enough that skipping it is not catastrophic, but the revive is the most useful pre-battle reward in the game because the Ice gym is the most likely place for a player to lose a Pokemon to a priority Ice Shard from a slightly over-leveled Beartic.
Recommended team composition for the full circuit
A balanced team that holds up across all eight gyms in Pokemon Scarlet usually has the following shape. None of these slots are mandatory, but each one covers a weakness that shows up somewhere on the circuit.
- Starter Pokemon: a Fire, Water, or Grass starter that has been kept within two levels of the next gym’s recommended band, with a coverage move for at least one weakness outside its own type.
- Ground-type pivot: Clodsire, Mudsdale, or a similar bulky Ground-type for the Electric gym, used sparingly before that point to avoid wasting experience.
- Fighting-type sweeper: Pawmot, Lucario, or a similar mid-game Fighting-type that handles both Normal gyms and the late Ice gym.
- Dark- or Ghost-type attacker: Houndoom, Murkrow, or a similar Dark-type for the Psychic and Ghost gyms, ideally with a priority move for the late-game.
- Steel- or Poison-type utility: a defensive pivot for the Psychic gym’s Fairy slot and the Ghost gym’s mid game, often a Tinkaton or a Toxapex.
- Flexible sixth slot: an Ice-type, a Dragon-type, or a coverage-heavy special attacker that the player enjoys using and that fills whatever gap the rest of the team leaves open.
The point of this composition is not to copy a competitive team but to make sure that for every gym, the player has at least one Pokemon that hits the gym’s type for super effective damage and at least one Pokemon that resists the gym’s strongest coverage move. Teams that skip the Ground pivot, the Fighting sweeper, or the Dark attacker usually hit a wall at the third or fourth gym and need to backtrack to grind.
Held items are the second layer of the same plan. By the time the player reaches the Psychic gym, every Pokemon on the roster should have a relevant held item: a type-boosting item for the dedicated attackers, a status-curing berry for the support slots, and at least one Choice item or pinch Berry for the closer. The gym circuit is balanced around players who do this homework, and the difference between a one-shot and a close call usually comes down to whether the held item slot is empty.
How gym order affects leveling and pacing
Choosing the order of the eight Pokemon Scarlet gym leaders is partly a personal preference and partly a math problem. The level band table above assumes a linear progression through the routes between cities, so a player who jumps straight to Glaseado at level 18 will face a level 36 closer and lose quickly. The reverse problem is also real: a player who clears every gym in numerical order may find that the later gyms feel trivial because the level band is so forgiving on a first run.
Three pacing rules keep the run feeling fair:
- Always keep at least one Pokemon within two levels of the recommended band for the next gym the player plans to face.
- If the next gym is more than three levels above the current team, do one short auto-battle loop on the route between cities before entering the gym.
- If the next gym is more than three levels below the current team, consider taking a detour to a Titan storyline or a Star Tournament battle first, which gives extra experience without breaking the level band.
These rules are not strict, but they hold up across most runs. A player who follows them usually clears the circuit with a balanced team in the level 38-42 range, which is high enough to take on the Champion assessment without needing to grind for a single level.
There is also a hidden pacing lever in the auto-battle system. The player can leave weaker Pokemon in the active party while Koraidon does the fighting, which slows experience gain for the bench but keeps the route efficient. Slowing the bench on purpose is a useful trick when a single over-leveled Pokemon would otherwise force the rest of the team out of the recommended band, and it is the kind of small adjustment that turns a rushed mid-game into a clean run.
Type matchup reference for the Paldean circuit
The table below condenses the type matchups that matter most for the eight Pokemon Scarlet gym leaders, so the player can scan it before a fight without rereading the long-form notes above.
| Gym type | Super effective on | Resisted by | Immune to | Common counter pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bug | Grass, Psychic, Dark | Fire, Flying, Rock | None | Fire-type or Flying-type |
| Grass | Water, Ground, Rock | Fire, Ice, Flying, Poison, Bug | None | Fire-type with a Water backup |
| Electric | Water, Flying | Electric, Grass, Dragon | Ground | Bulky Ground-type |
| Normal | None | Rock, Steel, Ghost | Ghost | Fighting-type sweeper |
| Psychic | Fighting, Poison | Psychic, Steel | Dark | Dark-type with priority |
| Ghost | Psychic, Ghost | Dark | Normal | Dark-type or Ghost-type |
| Ice | Grass, Ground, Flying, Dragon | Fire, Water, Ice, Steel | None | Fire-type or Fighting-type |
The single most useful habit this table supports is checking the resisted column before picking a lead. A Fire-type that looks perfect for the Grass gym will do almost nothing against Brassius’s Sudowoodo, and a Fighting-type that trivializes Larry will bounce off Tulip’s Espathra. Reading both directions of the matchup before the first turn is a small habit that prevents most surprise losses in the mid-game.
Common mistakes to avoid in the gym circuit
Most failed gym runs in Pokemon Scarlet come from a small set of recurring mistakes. Listing them out makes the planning step faster for new players.
- Building a single-type team around the starter: this works for the first two gyms and then collapses when the third or fourth gym types do not match.
- Skipping the auto-battle leveling system: leaving the active party under-leveled for the mid-game gyms makes the Psychic and Ghost fights feel random.
- Saving TM materials until late: each gym hands out a TM that solves a specific coverage problem, and using those TMs immediately keeps the team balanced.
- Ignoring held items: by the third gym, the player’s Pokemon should have at least a type-boosting held item, which is the difference between a one-shot and a close call.
- Forgetting the gym test: every gym in Pokemon Scarlet has a small pre-battle challenge, and skipping it is fine, but completing it usually rewards a useful item or a free level.
Avoiding these mistakes is less about optimization and more about pacing. The gyms in Pokemon Scarlet are designed to be cleared with a balanced team that is within the recommended level band, and most losses happen when the player either over-specializes the team or under-levels the roster.
Two more mistakes are worth calling out because they only show up on a second playthrough. The first is over-relying on the box Legendary once the player has access to it, because the game quietly reduces the experience yield of box Legendaries to keep the level band honest. The second is assuming that the second Larry battle will be as easy as the first, which leads players to over-extend their team before Medali and then run out of resources for the Ghost gym that follows.
Post-game: what changes after the eighth gym
Defeating Grusha at the Glaseado gym unlocks the path to the Pokemon League, but the gym circuit does not end there. The Area Zero storyline introduces a set of high-level encounters that use the same type matchups the player has been practicing, and the Academy Ace Tournament is a series of rematches that scale with the player’s level. The team that cleared the eighth gym with a comfortable margin is usually the team that handles both of these late-game challenges without rebuilding.
For players who want a smoother post-game, two adjustments are worth making before the final gym:
- Add a level-40 dedicated wall to the bench, even if the wall is not used in the gym circuit, because Area Zero’s boss fights favor defensive pivots.
- Confirm that at least one Pokemon on the team knows a status move like Thunder Wave or Reflect, which trivializes several of the Ace Tournament rematches.
These adjustments are not required, but they reduce the amount of grinding needed in the post-game. Most players who finish the gym circuit with a balanced, in-band team find the post-game easier than the mid-game gyms, because the type lessons from the eight gym leaders are exactly the type lessons that the Area Zero and tournament content tests.
There is also a small but useful reward loop after the eighth gym. The Academy Ace Tournament rematches give a small amount of money and a small amount of experience, and the player can run the loop once per in-game day. A team that clears the loop a few times before tackling Area Zero usually arrives at the final boss with a comfortable level cushion, which is the cheapest way to handle the hardest fight in the game without grinding in the wild.
Frequently asked questions
How many gym leaders are there in Pokemon Scarlet?
There are eight gym leaders in Pokemon Scarlet, one for each city in the Paldea region. Clearing all eight unlocks the path to the Pokemon League and the Champion assessment.
Can you challenge the gyms in any order in Pokemon Scarlet?
Yes, after the opening tutorials the player is free to travel to any gym in any order. The level band of each gym assumes a linear progression, so jumping to a high-level gym early is possible but punishing for an under-leveled team.
Which Pokemon Scarlet gym leader is the easiest?
The Bug-type leader Katy in Cortondo is the easiest fight, both because of the level 14 team and because most starters or route Pokemon have a clean counter. The Ice-type leader Grusha is often called the easiest for an experienced player because the type matchup heavily favors any Fire- or Fighting-type carried from the early game.
Which gym is the hardest in Pokemon Scarlet?
For most players, the Psychic-type leader Tulip in Cascarrafa is the hardest mid-game fight, because the level jump to 28-29 is steep and her team mixes Psychic and Fairy coverage. The Ghost-type leader Ryme is a close second because the level band of 34-35 is unforgiving for teams that fell behind.
What level should my Pokemon be for the Pokemon League in Pokemon Scarlet?
A team in the level 40-45 range clears the Champion assessment comfortably, especially if the team has at least one Pokemon that hits each common type for super effective damage. Players who finished the gym circuit at the recommended band usually arrive in this range without extra grinding.
Does the version matter for the gym leaders in Pokemon Scarlet?
No, the eight gym leaders are identical between Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. The only version-exclusive gym content is the post-game Area Zero storyline, which has different professor and historical NPCs but the same gym structure.
What is the best starter for the Pokemon Scarlet gym circuit?
All three starters are viable for the full circuit. Fuecoco gives the smoothest early game because Fire handles Bug and Grass, Sprigatito gives the strongest late game because Grass and Dark coverage handles Ice, Psychic, and Ghost, and Quaxly is the most balanced because Water and Fighting-type coverage hits every gym type at least neutrally.
Do gym leaders rematch in Pokemon Scarlet?
Yes, after the main story the player can enter the Academy Ace Tournament, which features rematches against every gym leader. The rematches scale to the player’s level and use updated movesets, so they are a useful benchmark for a finished team.
Are gym leader TMs worth using immediately?
Yes, gym leader TMs are tuned to solve the coverage gaps that show up in the next two gyms. Holding a TM until late game usually means a wasted material, because by the late game the player has access to stronger versions of the same move through TM crafting.
Can you skip a gym in Pokemon Scarlet?
No, the eight gyms are required to reach the Pokemon League. The player can change the order, but every gym must be cleared before the Champion assessment unlocks.
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