The Hardest Gym Leader In The Pokémon Series

A large number of Pokémon fans seem to be in agreement on who the toughest gym leader of all time is. It's quite a title to take, considering how many incredibly tough leaders have been included across the series' many titles. Including the recently released "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet," there are nine different generations of main-series Pokémon titles, each with at least 8 Gym Leaders to face.

Often times, these leaders are quite easy to take down. Since gym leaders' Pokémon teams typically have a common type, it's usually pretty simple to build your team in a way that exploits that type's weaknesses. However, when it comes to the Gym Leader that most Pokémon fans believe to be the toughest of all time, there are no such easy answers. Normal Type Pokémon are notoriously difficult to counter, which is where this Second Generation Gym Leader comes into play.

In various discussions on Reddit regarding the most difficult Pokémon leader, one name seems to come up more than any other: Whitney from "Pokémon Gold," "Silver," and "Crystal." And to be honest, it's one Pokémon in particular from her team that gives players a hard time. No, not Clefairy. Rather, it's Whitney's Miltank that players dread. "If you think you've experienced hell, then you've never faced Whitney in battle," one Reddit user quipped.

Milk Drink, Miltank's signature move, restores up to 50 percent of the user's health. Another move that makes Whitney's Miltank particularly troublesome is its Attract, which has a chance of completely immobilizing any male Pokémon during battle. This then leaves them open for a hit from the Miltank's Rollout attack, which doubles in power over the course of five turns. "Milk Drink doesn't matter when you're Rollout'd before you can land a single hit," another user wrote.

Gamers may be able to make short work of Whitney's Gym with a decently-leveled Fighting Pokémon and plenty of potions, but she's known to steamroll over novice trainers.

In fact, Whitney continues to haunt gamers to this day. 870 Reddit users took part in a Reddit poll asking who "The Hardest Gym Leader" of Pokémon was. Whitney received 305 of the votes, almost double the second place contender. Fans continue to debate whether or not the Gym Leader was softened in the "HeartGold"and "SoulSilver" remakes, but one thing's for sure: Every Pokémon trainer fears making their way to Goldenrod City.