Pokemon Let’s Go is a game that returns to the basics. This means that, unlike the Sun/Moon games, this one has you collecting eight gym badges from across the land, and then taking on the Pokemon League’s Elite Four.
Gym Leaders are tough battles—in fact, relative to the difficulty of the rest of the game, they might be tougher in Let’s Go than they have been in any recent Pokemon game. To take them on, you need to have the right Pokemon, and you need to make sure they’re prepared for the battle.
This guide deals with gym leaders, and making sure you are leveled enough to face them.
LEVELING UP QUICKER
Leveling in Let’s Go works a bit differently from previous games in the series. For starters, EXP All is enabled by default, and you cannot turn it off. This means that, unless they are fainted, every single Pokemon on your party will earn a share of the EXP from a battle or encounter, regardless of whether or not they actually participated. Additionally, you also get EXP from catching Pokemon, like in other recent games.
Let’s Go hands out enough EXP for simply progressing that you will never have to grind to level up, but there are certain ways of ensuring your EXP gain is maximized:
Catch combos. Catch combos are when you catch multiple Pokemon of the same species in a row, without a break. These end up stacking as multipliers for the EXP you get at the end of the encounter. If you want some quick “grinding” so to say, you should engage in catch combos. The easiest way to do this is to go to an area where only one or two species of Pokemon spawn (such as Diglett Cave), and start catching them.
Larger or Smaller Pokemon. When Pokemon show up on the overworld, you can see whether they are larger or smaller than the average size for their species by the red or blue stripes that show up around them (red means bigger, blue means smaller). Catching a larger or smaller Pokemon nets more EXP.
Bonus EXP. You get bonus EXP for how you catch a Pokemon, and what you caught. So, a Pokemon with higher CP means more EXP. A Pokemon caught with a Nice, Great, or Excellent throw means higher EXP. Use these multipliers, and stack them with the Catch Combos and Larger/Smaller Pokemon bonuses, for maximum EXP gain.
GYM LEADERS
There are eight gym leaders through Kanto:
- Pewter City: Rock Type (weak to Water, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Fighting types)
- Cerulean City: Water Type (Weak to Electric and Grass type)
- Vermillion City: Electric Type (Weak to Ground and Ice type)
- Celadon City: Grass Type (Weak to Fire, Flying, and Bug types)
- Fuschia City: Poison Type (Weak to Psychic and Ground types)
- Saffron City: Psychic Type (Weak to Ghost, Dark, and Fairy types)
- Cinnabar Island: Fire Type (Weak to Water, Rock, and Ground types)
- Viridian City: Ground Type (Weak To Water and Grass types)
Once you beat the gym leaders, you get access to the Elite Four of the Pokemon League, west of Viridian City. The four trainers of the Elite Four are:
- Lorelei: Ice Type (weak to Fire and Fighting types)
- Bruno: Fighting Type (weak to Flying and Psychic types)
- Agatha: Ghost Type (weak to Dark and Fairy types; additionally, since all of Agatha’s Ghost Types are Ghost/Poison Pokemon, they are weak to Psychic attacks too)
- Lance: Dragon Type (weak to Fairy, Dragon, and Ice types)