10 Hardest Pokemon Gym Leaders, Ranked from Hard to GameBoy Out the Window

9. Falkner

Falkner is another Gym Leader that you wouldn’t expect a challenge from, as he’s the leader of the first Gym in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. However, the tricky part about his team is that it’s Flying-type, which doesn’t offer up any advantages for the starters, and is a bad matchup for Chikorita.

Things get even trickier when you realize his Pidgey and Pidgeotto both know Mud-Slap — a Ground-type move that’s super effective against Cyndaquil and the Onix you can obtain before the Gym.

The move also lowers accuracy, so this fight has the potential to be much more challenging than it has any right to be for one that happens so early on.