Pokemon Lunatic Crystal v1.6 - Gym Leader Lt. Surge

After defeating Lance and becoming Champion, the player makes their way to Kanto where the first Gym Leader is Lt. Surge.

Technically, with the exception of Blue you can challenge the gyms in any order you wish, but looking at the levels and the location, Surge is intended to be the first Kanto leader to be fought.

Lt. Surge's team is Lanturn, Hitmonchan, Mr. Mime, Ampharos, Raichu and Jolteon. As you would expect there are some really fast hard hitters like Jolteon or Raichu, but there is are bulkier Pokemon: Ampharos and Lanturn, as well as two wild cards. Surge will also attempt to spread paralysis with most of his Pokemon so that's another thing to watch out for.

Lanturn is the lead and it can be quite a pain due to Quick Claw. It has Thunder Wave to paralyze you, Thunderbolt and Surf as a STAB combination and Ice Beam for coverage. With the held item, Lanturn is very difficult to take out, its' offensive options offer it a lot of coverage and paralysis can be frustrating. The best way to deal with it would be either to put it to sleep or take it out with a Pokemon that is slower, but you know can deal more damage to Lanturn than it can do to you.

Hitmonchan is one of Surge's Wild Cards. It has a held Blackbelt with an all out offensive moveset of Hi Jump Kick, Earthquake, Rock Slide and Mach Punch. Blackbelt makes Hi Jump Kick and Mach Punch stronger and they can hit quite hard, Mach Punch can be especially scary against weakened opponents and Earthquake in combination with Rock Slide provides solid coverage. Still a powerful Flying type should easily be able to handle it, as long as Hitmonchan does not outspeed, the same can be said for Psychic types, although it does have a much better Special Defense than Defense.

Mr. Mime is next and it's the second Wild Card. Mr. Mime has Thunder Wave to paralyze you, a TwistedSpoon boosted Psychic, Thunderbolt and Solarbeam, which makes for a pretty diverse special coverage, it can be deadly against Rock and Ground types. Mr. Mime's main weakness is the low Defense stat, so it's best to exploit that with a Powerful bug type move like Megahorn, a Dark type can also hard counter it, although you have to make sure it's not weak to one of the coverage options Mr. Mime has.

Ampharos is up next and it's yet another, bulkier Electric type that is holding a Quick Claw and it's arguably even scarier than Lanturn, especially with a much better Special Attack, STAB Outrage and Thunderbolt, as well as Fire Punch, just like most of Surge's Pokemon it also has Thunder Wave. Ampharos can be really scary to take on, but there is an easier solution, locking it into Outrage and switching into a Pokemon that can take a hit and KO it in return. Ice Beam, Outrage or Earthquake are all good options for the incoming Pokemon to use. You can also try and put it to sleep to avoid a Quick Claw lottery.

Raichu is an all-out attacker holding a Focus Band. Focus Band gives Raichu a random chance to endure an attacking that would have knocked it out and in combination with Reversal this can be a devastating combination. Raichu also has Thunderbolt, Surf and Extremespeed. Your low HP Pokemon will be in danger here with Raichu having prioirty and it can run through tired teams, Surf lets it deal with Ground types that would wall it. Still, Raichu is frail and a fast Earthquake user should be able to deal with it. Dugtrio is a great example here.

Jolteon is Surge's last Pokemon. It has a STAB Thunderbolt, that is boosted for Magnet which lets it hit really hard, as well as Bite and Hidden Power Ice for coverage, so a Ground or Grass can't simply wall it. Jolteon also has Thunder Wave and with it having incredible speed it's very likely to be able to use it. Bite and Paralysis can also be a nasty combination. Jolteon is fast and hits hard, but most Ground types can deal with it provided they are on full HP, as they usually can survive even a crit HP Ice.