Most Annoying/Aggravating/Frustrating Gym/Elite 4 member

[pyrexpyramids]

As the title suggests,

which gym leader/elite 4 member or even league champion was the most annoying for you to battle in any generation?

Whitney the Goldenrod City Normal type gym leader in G/S/E & HH/SS and her f****** Miltank will forever go down as the bane of my existence. I jumped for joy once I beat her!!!!!

 

[Nah]

It kinda depends on what Pokemon you're using. Gardenia was such a ***** to deal with on my Rock monotype in Platinum, but she's pretty easy on all my other playthroughs in Sinnoh.

And I'm pretty sure that Whiteny's Miltank was the bane of everyone's childhood Pokemon journey back in the day {XD}

But someone who's consistently never been that easy for me is Cynthia. That Garchomp was evil in the PWT I tell you.

 

[pyrexpyramids]

It kinda depends on what Pokemon you're using. Gardenia was such a ***** to deal with on my Rock monotype in Platinum, but she's pretty easy on all my other playthroughs in Sinnoh.

And I'm pretty sure that Whiteny's Miltank was the bane of everyone's childhood Pokemon journey back in the day {XD}

But someone who's consistently never been that easy for me is Cynthia. That Garchomp was evil in the PWT I tell you.

omg i'd had pleasantly forgotten about that hax Garchomp.........now I'm having 'Nam flash backs:|

I think I did a back flip when I finally beat it.

 

[FSNW5yiFrXVXqv]

Whitney and Clair were generally problematic with Miltank and Kingdra (though the latter much less)

Champion Gary (R/B/Y), Cynthia, Burgh (Leavanny), Tate & Liza (emerald), Elesa (Volt Switch Emolgas), and Lance (both Elite Four appearances) may catch you off guard without prior knowledge of their teams as well. What makes them so distinct from the others is that they all have the tendency to destroy you over and over.

I won't go through the PWT, as many revamped teams wrecked in there, but will mention the Frontier Brains Dahlia (second battle), Anabel and Brandon (either battle for both) as they, too, will probably wreck your teams on your first few tries.

 

[Hiatus]

For Gym Leader, I would say Volkner from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. Although some did find him to be easy (his team members weren't that difficult to take down; one - two Earthquakes per member would do the trick), none of my Pokémon knew any ground-type attack when I had first faced him, causing things to be a bit frustrating. Plus, they were also sort of under-leveled, as I didn't find myself training enough.

Elite Four member---definitely Lance from Kanto. His team's consists of dragon-types, fully, many of which are bulky and hard-hitting. Even if your Pokémon knew moves such as Ice Beam, they would still endure, somehow, and strike back at you even harder; it was tough. To get him defeated, it took me approximately four to seven tries, which is a lot! I've had to rely on recovery items, too.

As for Champion, it's also got to be Lance. Aside from him, however, I would say Steven; like Lance, his crew is both bulky and offensive, making it difficult to defeat. Due to similar reasons, Wallace is also pretty tough.

 

[Odyssey]

Whitney's easy, if you ask me. All you need is a female Machop/Heracross and spam Fighting type attacks.

As for me, I find these Trainers to be hard...

Sabrina (Gym Leader, RBY/FRLG)
Lorelei (Elite Four, RBY/FRLG. Never got to the Champion thanks to her.)
Clair (Gym Leader, GSC/HGSS)
Brawly (Gym Leader, RSE/ORAS)
Flannery (Gym Leader, RSE/ORAS)
Tate and Liza (Gym Leader, RSE/ORAS. I have difficulty in them only in Emerald, however.)

 

[FSNW5yiFrXVXqv]

Whitney's easy, if you ask me. All you need is a female Machop/Heracross and spam Fighting type attacks.

Thing is, it wasn't that simple for many:
1) machop wasn't actually available before Whitney (G/S/C) afaik. Plus, many probably don't even know the new NPC in HG/SS Goldenrod's Dept. store that trades one for a Drowzee
2) Heracross can take hours to find. Heck, it only appears during the day/morning and not all trees particularly have it. For the old games, nearest place you can find it was in Azalea in Crystal...players on other versions would literally have to walk all the way back to the first two towns to get it. Not everyone gets that detail of information.
3) i don't completely recall movesets, but I don't think there were so much options for fighting moves that early in the game either.
4) Players who haven't played the series before or avoid guides will almost definitely not get those, and they'd usually end up relying on their starters' strength.

now, I do not disagree with you. Disregarding #4 and assuming that trading was also an option, then you could say that Whitney is, after all, easy to defeat once you think about it. Mud Slap/Sand Attack is the easiest counter, for example.

 

[Odyssey]

Thing is, it wasn't that simple for many:
1) machop wasn't actually available before Whitney (G/S/C) afaik. Plus, many probably don't even know the new NPC in HG/SS Goldenrod's Dept. store that trades one for a Drowzee
2) Heracross can take hours to find. Heck, it only appears during the day/morning and not all trees particularly have it. For the old games, nearest place you can find it was in Azalea in Crystal...players on other versions would literally have to walk all the way back to the first two towns to get it. Not everyone gets that detail of information.
3) i don't completely recall movesets, but I don't think there were so much options for fighting moves that early in the game either.
4) Players who haven't played the series before or avoid guides will almost definitely not get those, and they'd usually end up relying on their starters' strength.

now, I do not disagree with you. Disregarding #4 and assuming that trading was also an option, then you could say that Whitney is, after all, easy to defeat once you think about it. Mud Slap/Sand Attack is the easiest counter, for example.

Oh, I see. Thing is, I've only played the remakes, and one of the Pokémon I used was a Heracross. So yeah, I've never really experienced the pain of battling Whitney because I never played the originals. I could now see why people find her Miltank to be frustrating, however.

 

[FSNW5yiFrXVXqv]

Oh, I see. Thing is, I've only played the remakes, and one of the Pokémon I used was a Heracross. So yeah, I've never really experienced the pain of battling Whitney because I never played the originals. I could now see why people find her Miltank to be frustrating, however.

That, I understand. I really haven't seen many of the "next-gen" players complain about Whitney in the past few years, so I guess it was just a thing of the past. I'm thinking because she now seems somewhat "nerfed" thanks to the new movesets, the phys/spec split, and the -1 level Miltank got (w/c means something, considering her base stats --speed, most importantly)

 

[DRCM]

Tate and Lisa in R/S/E. In ORAS, I beat them pretty much with Skarmory alone, but in the originals I had almost unbelievable amounts of trouble. Blaziken was the rock of my team, and he consistently got destroyed.

 

[Dedenne1]

Whitney and Clair! No more needs to be said... Whitney's milk tank scarred me for life lol.

 

[pkmin3033]

MISTY.

Misty in the original games, the first time around, gave me so much trouble I nearly stopped playing the game entirely. I picked Charmander, which didn't help. Brock was torturous, but I had a Butterfree, so it wasn't TOO bad. But that bloody Starmie of Misty's, and her tendency to use healing items...even afterwards I've always felt like I've struggled with Misty, even if only slightly. I can train and overtrain and I still feel that twinge of anxiety going up against that Starmie...

 

[Altairis]

MISTY.

Misty in the original games, the first time around, gave me so much trouble I nearly stopped playing the game entirely. I picked Charmander, which didn't help. Brock was torturous, but I had a Butterfree, so it wasn't TOO bad. But that bloody Starmie of Misty's, and her tendency to use healing items...even afterwards I've always felt like I've struggled with Misty, even if only slightly. I can train and overtrain and I still feel that twinge of anxiety going up against that Starmie...

I have to agree with you, though it's really my fault that Misty was difficult, as I never EVER picked Bulbasaur and usually only went with Charmander :p

Cynthia was actually hard as well. Her team full of baddies including Spiritomb and Garchomp were pretty difficult to take down and could also deal a lot of damage to my team. Took me a couple tries the first time.

 

[Warspirit]

Cynthia destroyed me 4 times in Diamond, partially due to my Pokemon being underleveled but even still when I did level them up she was still hard.

 

[Cerberus87]

Cynthia is Champion so she doesn't count. She's definitely the hardest Champion though, and not just because of Garchomp.

I remember having trouble with Lucian in Platinum. His Alakazam has Focus Blast, and when it hits, it murders the Dark-types I usually use against him.

I think Wattson in RSE is a bit difficult, but that's the game's fault for not offering you a Ground-type Pokémon other than Geodude before the fight. Mudkip players have a BIG advantage here.

 

[Hiatus]

Yeah, Cynthia was definitely one of the toughest, no doubt. Her Spiritomb was very bothersome; fairy-type moves exist now, back then, we didn't have them, causing this Pokémon to not have any weaknesses in any way. Plus, its bulk was very top-notch; it took some decent amount of hits to have Spiritomb finally taken down. Before it was defeated, though, it would already cause some good portion of damage to your team, and unless you've had any recovery items with you, it would make sure that things become easy for other party members of Cynthia; they would proceed to defeat you with little to no sweat.

Garchomp was another obstacle; it was pretty tough to out-speed, and its offenses were severely high. This Pokémon was able to take down any of your member with just a single blow, which is saying something. If it had access to some stat-boosting moves such as Dragon Dance, then it would have been even more difficult.

Cynthia was especially challenging on my end because when I had first faced her, my Pokémon were rather under-leveled; I didn't put much time into training, and wanted to complete the story-line as soon as possible.

 

[Pendraflare]

I do remember beating Cynthia in Pearl on my very first try, but that was over seven years ago, wow. And in my most recent play of Platinum (my Blue Mono-Color), I managed to defeat her without too much trouble despite being a couple levels below her, but that's irrelevant to this thread.

Anyway, I think Clair's Kingdra makes her one of the most aggravating Gym Leaders for me. I wanted to smash my 3DS with a hammer after what happened six months ago in a certain challenge of mine. ):<

 

[Astraea]

For me the toughest gym leader was Whitney from gsc, cause if the roll out miltank and when its close to death it used milk drink which was always frustrating, had to put many attempts before I could kill it and in e4, toughest one was loreli, she was like a wall with bulky pokemon, though somehow defeated it. And for champion blue was the toughest one, all other were easy for me just that blue was a little bit more powerful than Me every time I would battle him.

 

[Hikamaru]

Anyway, I think Clair's Kingdra makes her one of the most aggravating Gym Leaders for me. I wanted to smash my 3DS with a hammer after what happened six months ago in a certain challenge of mine. ):<

I surely remember said challenge, a HeartGold Wedlocke. She killed your Noctowl and Hypno with critical hit Hydro Pumps breaking through your Light Screen, and it was even more scary thanks to her Sniper ability.

I do have to admit Clair is one of the hardest Gym Leaders ever because of said Kingdra, whose only weakness was Dragon and you didn't get much in the way of that type around the time you faced her. Whitney comes close with the annoying moveset present on her infamous Miltank.

 

[ChikoritaCheezits]

I always found Clair to be frustrating. Her Kingdra's only weakness is not exactly the most common type in the game. I found her harder than Whitney since I have a strategy on dealing with her.

Oh, and Liza and Tate in Emerald. Their Emerald team has coverage on everything.