Most Difficult Champion?

[kij]

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED AND YOU'RE PLAYING ONE OF THE GAMES, TURN AWAY BECAUSE THERE'LL BE SPOILERS

Every Pokémon Game until now has a Pokémon League Champion, which champion is the most difficult and why?

- In my opinion, I think Lance in Heart Gold or Soul Silver is the most difficult, you almost had nowhere to train as everyone knows: Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the absolute worst when it comes to training before beating the Elite Four.

He also has 3 Dragonite, one has Fire Blast, the other has Blizzard and the other had Thunder, and each one of them had a strong Dragon-type move, also they are also all identical so you can't differ one another.
I used Mamoswine to beat Lance's Dragonite and I still remember how I LUCKILY BARELY WON against his Fire Blast Dragonite by using Blizzard, luckily outspeeding the Dragonite by the Quick Claw'd Mamoswine, AND landing a critical hit! That's how I won.

Many people say Iris, I agree with that. Iris is really difficult when it comes to her Haxorus, it was a literal faint machine and I barely won against it, but in Black and White 2, you had a larger variety of places to train, you had Audino and her Pokémon aren't as hacked as Lance's.

So, what's the most difficult champion in your opinion?

 

[Lunar]

I agree that Lance is the most difficult champion, even if you do deal with his Dragonites he has a variety of other Pokemon (e.g. Aerodactly, Gyarados etc) that cover different types and make it a really tough fight. Like you said there isn't a great place to grind in HGSS, there's the Victory Road of course and a patch of grass near the Battle Frontier that has high level Milktank but apart from that there isn't really anywhere else.

Cynthia is another difficult champion, but she only poses a threat with her Spiritomb and Garchomp, if you have the right moves and types the rest of her team is pretty easy.

 

[Del]

When I saw the thread's title, I automatically taught of Lance, and there you go, people are talking about him thought (((=

 

[Drayton]

Cynthia with her Spiritomb and Garchomp you won't survive much along as long she have those ace
also Lancer is truly diverse with bunch of flying-type that isn't dragon-type, but dragon-ish it runs a lot with gyarados

 

[Hikarin]

Definitely Cynthia. I tried and failed many times to get past her Garchomp, and even when I did, I had 2 Pokemon left. Then I did the grind to level 90 and beat it all.

 

[blue]

Cynthia is my favourite but she also happens to be the most difficult for me. Her team has a nice variety of type coverage, all of them with threatening moves and tactics that can really hurt if you don't have a strategy planned out.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Cynthia is definitely the hardest. Lance can easily be beaten with any Water or Ice Pokemon that knows Ice Beam(and Surf for Charizard). He was never really much of a challenge. Cynthia however was extremely tough with her diverse team.

 

[kingdenas]

Cynthia hands down. I had SO MUCH TROUBLE fighting her. And that's why she's my favourite Champion

 

[tokyodrift]

While Lance is difficult, I felt Cynthia was more difficult. Her diverse team made it really hard, especially Spiritomb which had no weaknesses back then, and Garchomp with it's massive attack stat and tossing Earthquakes and Giga Impacts around.

 

[Rivvon]

My answer may be different if I were to go back and replay the older games today, but Cynthia in Pearl Version was the only Champion who I couldn't beat--I had to go back years later and trade a stronger team in from Platinum Version just to say I had finally beat her (and the game).

 

[Altairis]

Cynthia, definitely. She has a more balanced team and at the time, Spiritomb had no weaknesses. I thought Lance was alright because if you brought a Steel- (I played HGSS) or Ice-type, you could do reasonably well if you survived his Pokemon's attacks.

I don't remember having trouble with the others :x Maybe because I'm older now that Champions have more balanced teams, so do I, so it's easier to deal with them? The last time I remember struggling with a Champion was when I played Sapphire for the first time with just a Sceptile and couldn't beat Steven after my first few tries.

edit: does N count? Let's count him, he technically beat Alder and earned the position at the Pokemon League. I had some trouble with him, but I don't think I ever lost. I came close, though! Yes, even with the legendary Pokemon :( But some times I didn't bring the legendary, so that's probably why haha.

 

[esperance]

I'd say Cynthia. Having faced her again recently I would that she isn't an extreme challenge with proper planning, and that a lot of her difficulty comes from the high level of her team (esp. in Diamond/Pearl). Blue in RBY also gives me a lot of trouble just because I have no patience for late-game grinding when I prepare to face him and he has a well-balanced team.

 

[Boda69]

Cynthia hands down

 

[v0id-greninja]

The only games that I've gotten to the elite four in are X,Y, and AS. (I own LG, Ruby, and i lost my diamond copy sadly.)
Steven was difficult for me. Even on my second playthrough, he was REALLY hard to beat.

 

[AliceBlaze]

I remember having the most trouble with Cynthia in Platinum, but I found out recently that Wallace can be difficult in Emerald if you're not at a high enough level.

 

[Khoshi]

Cynthia was a challenge because her team was so widespread and ready for anything I could chuck at her, which made her a nightmare to battle. Steven was a challenge because his team was solely one type and ready for anything I could chuck at him, which made him a nightmare to battle.

I'm really crap at building in-game teams as I tend to stick with what I catch early on, aha.

hahaha I gotta love how this whole thread said Cynthia.

I think she's given plenty of people who've played through Gen IV and V some nasty memories...she's definitely done so for me. Cleanly swept me with that Garchomp alone at one point. ;_;

 

[ddrox13]

I think the only champion I've never lost to is Stephen (and Wallace, but I've only played Emerald once and was using only Grass types).

Blue was probably the hardest to beat the first time I tried, but that was because I was noob and my team consisted of an on-level Blastoise, 4 level 30s, and a lv17 Spearow. Eventually I won by letting MVP Spearow abuse the AI with Fly to run out the PP on all his Venusaur's attacking moves (only Solarbeam). Further encounters were much less stressful, although I did have to reset once or twice on his Charizard during my Monograss.

Lance is a dick. Also, dragons. I had a very appropriate team for him my first HG run, and the only other time I've battled him was in Storm Silver during my Monograss, and I won because Dual Screens Meganium.

Wallace/Stephen have been discussed above

Cynthia is GF's best designed NPC to date. Between her personality, music, and team, she was the best character in a Pokemon game, outside of possibly PMD2 Grovyle. Also, Garchomp is broken. Unlike all of the above, my Monograss actually had my easiest time with Cynthia because for all her types she couldn't handle the tri-weather squad. My first playthrough of the game was ridiculously hard, and that fight took FOREVER even with my overlevelled and buffed squad. Hardest champion. Fun Fact: Every time I've defeated Cynthia to date the final blow was dealt by a Torterra.

Alder I've never faced, but Ghetsis was meh.

Iris is a dick. Also, dragons. I mean. Gen 5 is set up so that I get a SD Sweeper on every team and just win, so...

Diantha has actually beaten me. Once. On a Gallade solo. Then I taught Gallade Poison Jab.

 

[LilyGardy]

Lance was definitely the hardest Champion for me. In my Heart Gold Grass Monotype I had great difficulty in beating his three Dragonites. Of course in HGSS there is nowhere to train your Pokemon so the only Pokemon I had anywhere near his level were Dual Screen Meganium, Bellossom with Sleep Powder and my Ace Vileplume. On my 4to go I got lucky by Critical Hitting his Blizzard Dragonite with Sludge Bomb and getting his Final Pokemon Thunder Dragonite poisoned and confused itself with Outrage before the final blow was dealt with a Desperation Sludge Bomb. The other three members of my team (Parasect, Weepinbell as I had only one Leaf Stone and Jumpluff) were just fodder so Vileplume and Bellossom could damage him.

The only other Champion that gave my MonoGrass teams any issue was Blue and his Charizard. The others were straightforward including Cynthia whose Lucario fell to Torterra's Earthquake, Roserade to my Roserade, Garchomp to an Avalanche and Ice Shard from my underlevelled Abomasnow and her last Pokemon Gastrodon inevitably falling to Roserade's Petal Dance.

 

[Ducolamia]

Lance pops into the minds of many, but I don't see him as much as difficult because it's more of a matter of being freaking cheap. Having 3 illegal Dragonite is unfair to the player. You can easily beat this guy if you caught the Red Gyrados or you have Ice Fang on Feraligatr.( At least for me).

Cynthia on the other hand, she doesn't need any of that crap. She doesn't need to be cheap to be difficult. If you took away Lance's Dragonite's he's way easier to beat. But...you can't do that with Cynthia. All of her Pokemon are threats. Even alone, each Pokemon can wipe the floor with your ass. The only way to beat her is to be well-prepared and smart. With Lance I could spam Ice Beam and win. With Cynthia, she could easily switch to her Garchomp and kill me.

 

[Eden]

You can easily beat this guy if you caught the Red Gyrados or you have Ice Fang on Feraligatr.( At least for me).

The problem with that though is that one of his Dragonites has Thunder. If that hits and you're underleveled, you're very likely screwed.

Lance can be horrifying if you don't have a plan for him. In my recent HG playthrough I only beat him because I used a Choice Scarf Feraligatr with Blizzard. It ended up OHKOing all of his Dragonites.

Cynthia's a close second (in Platinum at least.) Her entire team is solid and has a little bit of everything to throw at you. I'd always either almost get swept by her Garchomp or stalled by Milotic. Togekiss is a huge bother too...