06: Beginner's Guide to Conquering The Pokemon League!

Before we can break down the Pokemon Leagues and how to challenge and defeat them, we need to first run through each of the leagues. There are currently Six Pokemon Leagues, one in each region. Clicking the spoiler below will give you a breakdown of the eight gyms that compile it as well as the Pokemon League itself. Clicking each name will take you to the appropriate section of the forum. Note that Kanto and Johto both share the Indigo Plateau as their final destination, but functionally it works independently, with a different elite four and different champion.

Kanto:

Johto:

Hoenn:

Sinnoh:

Unova:

Kalos:

Each Pokemon league has the same simple structure: Eight "Gyms" spread across a certain region. Beating each gym will earn you a badge. Once you have eight badges from that region you can challenge that region's pokemon League. The pokemon league is comprised of five elite Trainers. The Elite Four and the Pokemon League Champion. Beating all five will earn the player the title of Pokemon League champion for that district.

Pokemon gym leaders as well as the Elite four have two distinct pokemon parties they use depending on the opponent: The Beginner's Lineup and the Veteran's lineup. For the eight gym leaders, the Beginner's lineup is a team of three pokemon balanced towards giving a challenge to up and coming trainers, while the Veteran's lineup is a complete team of six pokemon which will give a veteran pokemon trainer a challenge. To represent the different skill levels required, if a gym is beaten using the veteran's lineup the badge will be a unique "Veteran" version. Once a pokemon trainer has eight badges all future gyms they challenge will automatically use the Veteran's lineup. In addition they can rechallenge the gyms they've already beaten to upgrade their old badges to veteran badges.

Pokemon badges can be held by pokemon, and when held will give unique effects. The effects are stronger if it is a Veteran's badge. There are also three unique badges known as Conquer's badges, Held by Master Red, Master Blue and Master Green, the only three trainers to beat every pokemon league. If a trainer manages to beat any of these trainers, they will be given a Conquer's badge. This badge lets the trainer bypass the eight gyms in every district to challenge the pokemon league directly.