4th Gen Who is the hardest Gym Leader In D/P/Pt?

Since we already have a thread like this covering HG/SS, we should have one covering D/P/Pt as well.

So, who do you think was the hardest Gym Leader in D/P/Pt and why? Could it be because of a certain strategy they use? A Pokemon that you just can't beat? Finding yourself underleveled? Or because they seem overpowered?

Vote in the poll and give reasons as to why you found that Gym Leader the hardest in the game.

Maylene and Candice both posed serious challenges. Maylene really frustrated me with her Lucario who'd easily sweep my Staravia. Candice's Abomasnow was really tricky to take out, especially with Staraptor and Infernape, since it kept using Grasswhistle.

Ohhh.... gosh. Hardest gym leader? Wow, honestly I would like to say 99.9% of them were real challenges, but my top picks are Candice, Gardenia and Volkner. Candice is honestly the only gym leader in any of the several Pokemon games I've done a complete playthrough of, that made me want to scream in frustration and smash my DS at the wall. (although that isn't very sensible, so I didn't ;___;.)

Her Froslass, with the world's most irritating move- Destiny Bond, was such a pain. With Abomasnow's ability that made it hail plus a powerful blizzard, all of my Pokemon were goners. Even with a reliable fire Pokemon alongside me, I still found it difficult to knock her Pokemon out. And then there's Abomasnow! The only thing that I was bothered about was it's irritating Grass Whistle which seemed hacked after all the times it successfully used it.

Now there's Gardenia. I have to admit, her first two Pokemon were a piece of cake. A quick Wing Attack and both of them were goners. But her last Pokemon, Roserade ;_;, was almost impossible. It used a strategy, of poisoning, using powerful moves and paralyzing. Such an evil Pokemon, even with all the attacks I could possibly used, it took ages to knock it out.

Last up is Volkner. Being the last gym leader, I'd already expected he would be a difficult opponent. But not as difficult as this. I never had an interest in ground-types so I didn't have one to help me in the fight. His Pokemon were speedy, with a diverse range of attacks and I was always paralyzed, quick attacked and caught off guard. I only managed to win, with a lucky critical hit at the end :), so if it wasn't for that I'd still be facing him to this day.

Yeah, so that's who I found particularly difficult in D/P/Pt, although I would like to say all of them except Roark are hard D:.

Gardenia's Roserade was able to out-speed me no matter what Pokemon I threw at it. So she was pretty tough.

Wake's Gyarados, or any Gyarados for that matter, was usually pretty difficult, as I didn't pick up a Pachirisu or whatever the only other electric Pokemon there are in the game. ;P

I went with Fantina, Candice and Volkner for the following reasons:

Fantina is one tough cookie, especially in Platinum (given she's now fought earlier on) and that powerful Mismagius of hers really annoyed me with its strong special-based attacks, which forced me to level grind like hell just so I could get to a sufficient level. I eventually defeated it by luck thanks to my Monferno scoring a critical hit with Flame Wheel.

Candice has an annoying strategy of abusing the hail. Her Pokemon can land 100% accurate Blizzards once her Abomasnow gets its Snow Warning ability going, also some of her Pokemon have Snow Cloak which makes it hard to land an attack when hailing. On top of that, she's tough to beat if you didn't start with Chimchar and don't have any Fire-types with you. Hardest Gym Leader ever in 4th Gen.

Volkner was tougher than I thought, but given he's the last Gym, it fits. His Pokemon are quick, and have strong attacks, and in D/P he didn't even have a mono-Electric team (he had an Octillery and Ambipom back then), he's easier to handle in Platinum if you have a Ground-type but still his Electivire's wide movepool can prove a tough challenge.

For me it's Bryon and his bastion.

Bastion[probably spelled wrong] keep knocking out my only super effetive pokemon against that type.

Just Fantina. On both Diamond and Pearl and also again on Platinum.

On D/P Gengar was overpowering, Drifblim was a jackass...and da rest of her pokes, can't say I actually remember.

On Pt, I think her only hardest Pokemon was Mismagius. But got damn was it was a monster, not only did it outsped everything, its attacks hit like a missile ripping into a marshmallow. :'{

Since I had a Drifblim, Staraptor and an Emploeon on my team, the last gym leader named Volkner was very difficult. I actually remember that I trained my Emploeon 15 levels higher than Volkner's strongest Pokemon and the other 3 members of my party 10 levels higher than his strongest Pokemon.....i barely survived.....both in Pearl (I had Emploeon, Luxray, Staraptor and Driblim on my team) and in Platinum (I had the four listed plus I added a Gengar and Rapidash on my team).


:t354:TG