5th Gen Favourite 5th Gen Gym Leader!

[AquaMarine8]

It's hard to choose between Elesa and Skyla since they both are so cool, but I think I have to go with Elesa from B2/W2. I just love her design.~

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes to my favorite fifth gen gym leaders, these are my favorites:
Cress
Elesa
Clay
Skyla
Brycen
Iris
Drayden
Marlon

 

[JJ Styles]

For some reason, Elesa and Clay remain to be some of my most favorite gym leaders ever in any of the core pokemon games. While I'm pretty adamant about my love for the Hoenn and Johto GLs, Elesa and Clay were two gym leaders that actually managed to slap me hard and tell me that if I play really bad, I'll get owned really hard.

Elesa. Good lord. For some reason, both in BW and BW2, Elesa remained to be one of those more challenging gym leaders relative to the time you face them, especially in the BW where most options to counter her team were very limited while the moves on her pokes have the necessary coverage to help act against threats such as those Emolgas having Aerial Ace, a 60BP Move on stab, which they have but most likely the player will not ever have, and her Zebra's flame charging shenanigans. Elesa was that gym leader that thought me how to actually play better even on a casual in-game playthrough.

Clay. I have nothing more to say about him other than how cool he is and how simple yet terrifying his lineup was. In both games once his Excadrill was set up with its boots and its teammates had already punched holes in your party, it was strong enough to sweep an unprepared player.

As much as I wanted to say about their portrayals as characters, i think everyone has already said what i wanted to say about them. Also there's Drayden, my 3rd favorite gym leader because of how awesome he is. If you thought Zangief was a badass for wrestling bears? Drayden was wrestling Dragons. Also, he gives of this whole "tough geezer" look which i really like in many supporting characters. He could even look like Zeus for all i care. Not to mention, his gym tenants are my favorite trainer classes in the game after the Ace Trainers, the Veterans. That's how awesome Drayden is.

 

[Golurks Were Meant to Fly]

I liked Lenora a lot in her design and character. I like normal types a lot, and her gym was a neat interpretation of the "trivia" puzzle. Her hair is pretty cool too!

 

[LucarioFan3]

Elesa, mostly because she was the only Gym Leader in BW (and so far, BW2) that actually was difficult.

 

[esperance]

My favorite will always be Elesa, she was pretty entertaining in BW and I loved the revamp she got in BW2. Apart from her I also thought both Skyla and Roxie were cool.

 

[robin_notabird]

Mine is Brycen. I really like Ice types. His gym is cool (no pun intended), his badge is awesome. And also bonus points for Beartic

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

Lenora and Burgh were my favourites. I loved both of their gym puzzles and characters. Also the part where Burgh is introduced to you after Lenora's gym is really cool :)

 

[CountingStars]

I LOVE Cilan. He is my favorite.

 

[Dragon]

Oh gosh, haha. The 5th Gen Gym Leaders were all so memorable in general! But yes, from the bunch of them, I'll indeed list my twp favourites!

Like Skyla here. Skyla was really pretty, and you know, I did really like her gym! But yes, sadly, she wasn't much of a challenge if you had an electric pokemon, or heck, maybe she wasn't even a challenge for you in general. Either or, maybe they should make her have some other flying types that would cover her weaknesses, like Gliscor, or something. Either or, liked her very much!

And of course, Elesa! Just like everyone else, haha. I think I preferred her look from Pokemon BW than B2W2, but yeah, she's pretty, and she's actually pretty tough as a gym leader if you don't know how to handle her Emolgas, and that Zebstrika, aah. Like, she was pretty much the only electric type gym that was a bit of a challenge for me, but even then, it took a really good ground pokemon with rock moves to persevere! But that's the thing - you'd need preperation to face her properly, haha.

 

[mikey]

I liked the new addition of Gym Leaders. It was pretty cool. I wish they replaced more of them to be honest. However, I wish they made Cheren the eighth Gym Leader. He was way too easy as the first.

 

[Hikamaru]

I was happy about the change to the Gym lineup in this game, plus it introduced two of my fave Gym Leader baes aka Roxie and Marlon. The changes to the Gym puzzles and the different remixes to the Gym theme fitted each type and design as well.

 

[DforDragoz]

I liked Cheren as a Gym Leader, but kinda pity him. He had his team reset so that new challengers can have a chance. I know he was just new, but his Gym felt...pathetic. But at least it does give us an idea about the situation of a Gym Leader when he's newly appointed.

I think Roxie was somewhere between Okay and Meh for me. I liked Marlon's addition the best, but sadly he didn't get a lot of screentime.

 

[Gandhi Savage]

Cheren is the first new Leader introduced to us, and unfortunately he replaces Lenora who is one of my favourites from Unova! I disagree with the people saying he should've been 8th and everyone else bumped down one, it'd be too reminiscent of Blue (GREEN!!!!) in G/S/C, he is a new leader after all! His team was a little upsetting after seeing how far he came in the original B/W, would've been cool to see a little more of him throughput the plot.

The next new Gym Leader that was presented was Roxie, I really like that our first time seeing her is her arguing with her father about him juggling too many things at once. She comes across as slightly embarrassed and is kinda rebellious I guess you could say. Her being in a band and specialising in Posion is cool to me, as I really feel that's an undervalued typing.

Finally, Marlon was the last new Leader shown, and last Leader in all of Unova. Him specialising in Water types is cool, but I just feel like Drayden suits being the last challenge before the Elite Four a little more. I get why they didn't do this though as Drayden and Iris both are Dragon Tamers and would've been too similar to Wallace and Juan in Emerald!​

 

[llysender]

Cheren being the first gym leader is important as he teaches the importance of buff/debuffs like how both his patrat/lilipup will one-shot the intire team if given the chance to set up.

That being said my fav gymleader is Clay because he is the representation of power.

 

[Sun]

I like the Gym Leaders from BW and I love most of them from B2W2.

I welcome all the new additions as well, since it signifies a progress in a storyline.

My favorites include Roxie, our overall second Poison-type Gym. I'm not sure if that father-daughter moment was a mirror for Janine and Koga. Not saying it's a copy, in fact it shows the relationship in a different aspect, yet they still care for each other. :')

Marlon's laid back attitude is cool, but we could have get more of him. I don't mind if we're flooding with Water experts.~

Cheren is still the old Cheren that we know from BW, but I like his semi-mentor like role in the sequels.

While I'm not a fan of Clay, he's undeniably a sucessful person and tried his best to promote Driftveil.

 

[esperance]

I definitely like the gym leader changes! I'm not really sure why everyone is so disappointed with Cheren, though. Having him as the first gym leader really does fit with the whole "teacher" aspect they were trying to push. If he had his super-powered team from the previous game, not only would he not fit as a gym leader (who have single-type teams), it would feel a bit more forced to me, honestly.

As for Roxie, she was definitely a cool addition. Much more exciting going to her rock-and-roll gym than Lenora's museum. But... a Poison-type gym that early in the game? Game Freak wasn't pulling any punches with that one. {XD}

 

[Hikamaru]

Cheren being the first gym leader is important as he teaches the importance of buff/debuffs like how both his patrat/lilipup will one-shot the intire team if given the chance to set up.

Cheren is harder than most first Gyms in the games because of that Work Up strategy he does there, and you don't really have much that can easily counter him at that point. I don't find Patrat as threatening, but the Lillipup does become a total monster if you let it get Work Up going because it will wreck your entire team.

What I do enjoy about Roxie is that I love how she brings something fresh to Poison-type Gym Leaders in that she's the first one to not be from Kanto. I also love the design of her Gym, how it doubles as a music club. Such an awesome Gym Leader in terms of design and personality.