There are a total of 8 gyms in Pokemon scarlet and violet, and there is a specific order of tackling the gym based on the pokemon levels. The gyms are dispersed across the region of Pladea. The game provides the players with the freedom to challenge any of the gyms first. But since the difficulty level is constant, hence there is a specific order to beat the gyms, which is as follows.
Key Highlights
- There are a total of 8 gyms in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
- There is no specific order of challenging the gyms, but their levels are constant, so players should go from the weakest gyms to the strongest for a smoother adventure.
- All gyms have specific type strengths and weaknesses that the player should keep in mind before entering the battle.
Gym Order
Cortondo
You can find the cortondo gym in cortondo town, and it is the gym with the weakest pokemon (in terms of level). Therefore, this gym is the ideal one to start your Victory Road journey and hence the first in order in our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet best gym order guide.
The gym leader, Katy, here uses Bug-type pokemon and the three Pokemon she has are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Nymble | 14 | Bug |
| Tarountala | 14 | Bug |
| Teddiursa | 15 | Normal + Bug Teratype |
This will be a piece of cake for players who chose Feucoco, the fire-type starter, since fire has the type advantage over bug type. But those who chose Sprigatito – the grass type, should make sure to overcome the type advantage through level difference or catch some wild pokemon with the type advantage. Basically, fire, rock, and flying-type pokemon will give you an edge in this battle.
Artazon
Situated in Artazon Town, Artazon gym is home to grass-type pokemon under the gym leader Brassius. This gym comes in second last place in terms of levels of Pokemon; hence a good second gym choice in order for gyms in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
The three pokemon Brassius has are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Petilil | 16 | Grass |
| Smoliv | 16 | Grass + Normal |
| Sudowoodo | 17 | Rock + Grass Teratype |
Again, players with the fire-type starter, Feucoco, might find this gym easier for the first two battles, that is. But in the third battle, while facing sudowoodo players might get in trouble. This is because sudowoodo is originally a rock type, and even after terastallization it has access to rock-type moves and rock-type counters fire type. Just be sure to be slightly above a level or two, and you should be fine.
Lavincia
The next gym in order in pokemon scarlet and violet is the electric-type lavincia gym in Lavincia Town. There is a noteworthy level difference in pokemon in this gym, as compared to the last 2. And the gym leader, Iono, has 4 pokemon ready to fight the challenging players.
The 4 electric type pokemon Iono has are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Wattrel | 23 | Electric + Flying |
| Bellibolt | 23 | Electric |
| Luxio | 23 | Electric |
| Mismagius | 24 | Ghost + Electric Teratype |
Keep in mind that bellibolt, even after being purely electric type, can use water moves. The ideal choice for this battle is having a Paldean Wooper on your team. This is because ground-type pokemon are strong against electric type, and the water moves of bellibolt will just increase the hp of the wooper. So by having a strong wooper or its evolution claudsire, you can make the battle easily in your favor.
Cascarrafa
The water-type cascarrafa gym, which comes under the gym leader, Kofu, is next in order. Situated in Cascarrafa town, this gym might cause a little trouble for those players who go unprepared.
The three water type pokemon Kofu has which are ready to fight are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Veluza | 29 | Water + Psychic |
| Wugtrio | 29 | Water |
| Crabominable | 30 | Fighting + Ice + Water Teratype |
The veluza alone can be a big problem, but the Kofu’s ace, crabominable is a whole new challenge. Crabominable is a very bulky, defensive type of pokemon, and players should strategize before the battle. If your main pokemon is your starter pokemon and if you chose the fire type feucoco, then you might have a hard time here since water is the obvious counter to fire types.
The best options for players in this gym are grass or electric types. Both can nuke the first 2 pokemon but crabominable electric types have the upper hand. This is because crabomianble’s ice attacks are super effective against grass types.
Medali
In pokemon scarlet and violet, the next gym in order of level difficulty is the medali gym. Normal Type pokemon are found in this gym under the gym leader Larry.
Larry’s 3 normal type pokemon are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Komala | 35 | Normal |
| Dudunsparce | 35 | Normal |
| Staraptor | 36 | Flying + Normal Tera type |
The obvious counter strategy for this gym has fighting-type pokemon. Fighting types deal a massive amount of damage against normal types. Be mindful that staraptor loses its flying type when it terastallizes, but can still use flying moves. This means that electric, ice, and rock types lose their advantage. And the staraptor’s flying moves are super effective against the fighting types that you are going to bring to win this gym battle.
So the best strategy is to bring any non-fighting type pokemon which can use a fighting type move (either through a TM or otherwise). This will give you a path to destroy staraptor without receiving considerable damage yourself.
Montenevera
The Ghost gym in montenevera town is the next gym in order. Players should be ready to face the ghost-type pokemon under the gym leader Ryme here. And the unique thing about this gym is the double team battles that take place.
The 4 strong ghost type pokemon Ryme has are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Mimikuy | 41 | Ghost + Fairy |
| Banette | 41 | Ghost |
| Houndstone | 41 | Ghost |
| Toxitricity | 42 | Electric + Poison + Ghost Teratype |
You should avoid bringing fairy-type pokemon in this battle since toxitricity deals tremendous damage against them. The best choice would be to bring a dark-type pokemon to fend off the ghost-type threat and poison or steel type for the mimikuy threat. Sneasel at level 42 with the beat-up move is kind of a cheat against the last 3 pokemon in this battle.
Alfornada
Tulip leads the alfornada gym with psychic-type pokemon in Alfornada town. This is a long journey from montenevera town, but keeping the level of difficulty in mind, this gym is next in order after the montenevera gym.
Tulip’s 4 psychic type pokemon are:
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Farigiraf | 44 | Normal + Psychic |
| Espathra | 44 | Psychic |
| Gardevoir | 44 | Psychic + Fairy |
| Florges | 45 | Fairy + Psychic Teratype |
Pokemons you could bring, which are super effective against psychic types, are bug, ghost, or dark pokemon. Avoid bringing any fighting or poison types in this battle since psychic types deal tremendous damage against fighting and poison types. A good strategy is to bring in Lokix, which is a psychic bug type. The bug moves will give you an upper hand against the psychic pokemon, while the damage from the enemies would be normal.
This should be a great gym for players who chose Sprigatito – the grass-type pokemon as their starter.
Glaseado
Located in Glaseado Town, the glaseado gym is the strongest in terms of levels of pokemon. Hence it is in last place in order to fight gyms in pokemon scarlet and violet. The gym leader Grusha here, has 4 Ice types of pokemon ready to fight against the challenger.
| Pokemon | Level | Type |
| Frosmoth | 47 | Ice + Bug |
| Beartic | 47 | Ice |
| Cetitan | 47 | Ice |
| Altaria | 48 | Dragon + flying + Ice Teratype |
The key to beating this gym is bringing multiple fire-type pokemon since they will have a type advantage against ice. Altaria has access to fairy-type moves, so be vary of sending in your fighting types.
Additional Notes
Every gym leader terastallizes his last pokemon, which boosts the attack damage of the move according to what the teratype of the pokemon is. Keep in mind, although the type of pokemon changes after terastallization it can still use its previous types’ moves.
Players would have to complete a gym test before being able to challenge the gym leaders. All 8 gym tests are different and add a twist to the classical approach of simply challenging the gym leaders. Players might also encounter Nemona, the rival in pokemon scarlet and violet, at any point due to the non-linearity of the game.
Upon defeating the gym leaders, each leader gives the player a unique TM, which are usually the moves their pokemon used during the gym fight. The player is also awarded the gym badge after defeating the gym leaders and pokemons till a certain level will start to obey the player’s commands. You also unlock more classes at the academy, options to buy in the shops, and craftable TMs upon defeating the gym.
After defeating the 5th gym, in whichever order you like, you will be able to unlock tera blast. Tera blast is extremely useful since it gives an extra tera move to your pokemon during terastallization. After the 6th gym battle, Jacq, the professor, will give you a lucky egg that doubles the experience gained by the pokemon holding it. And finally, after defeating each of the 8 gym leaders, the players can now move on to challenge the elite four and take on the champion assessment.
Which Gym Is The Hardest
Of course, if we judge by the level of pokemon each gym has, then Grusha is the strongest and hardest to beat. But the difficulty of each gym in pokemon scarlet and violet also depends greatly on your team composition. For example, if your team has a greater trend of fire-type pokemon, then the Cortondo gym and Artazon gym would be a piece of cake, while Cascarrafa gym might be the hardest to beat.
This is why players should always strategize before taking on a gym battle head-on and keep the type of advantages in mind.
Summary
The Pokemon franchise is back with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with a whole new generation of Pokemon to fight, catch and train. Players get to choose from the new starters of generation 9 and explore the region of pladea. Players are accompanied by a legendary pokemon which is different in scarlet and violet, and can also choose from 3 different paths to pursue in their journey.
One of these paths is the Victory Road path, which includes defeating the 8 gyms in the pladea region. And after reading this guide, you will have complete knowledge of which gym to challenge first. And the proper strategy to equip during each gym battle.
There are although multiple strategies players can deploy in a pokemon battle. Let us know in the comments if this guide helped you with your Victory Path journey and the most helpful strategy for defeating a gym.
Pokemon Scarlet and violet are also troubling players on startup; if you are also facing this problem, find more details in this article on performance issues on launch.
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