Good day, followers of Pokejungle! Mr.Bojingles here and, as promised, we’re providing you with the next installment of the Gym Leaders: UNTAMED series featuring Black and White 2 gyms. I do have to say that while Black and White 2 is, like most “middle games”, a combination of the previous two installments, I’m quite happy with all of the changes that they’ve made. I think that another rehash of the current generation would have been overdoing it for Black and White (which says a lot. I mean, c’mon! They’ve kept the same formula for over a decade now), so I’m happy they’re changing things up. You’ll come across new gym leaders, trainers, locations, Pokemon (from previous generations), villains, npcs, the list goes on!
Now, I understand that many readers don’t want the gym leaders and whatnot spoiled because they’re waiting for the official western release. I’ll put everything but the intro and conclusion in the spoilers tab, so peek at your own risk!
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The first gym leader is none other than your previous rival, Cheren! This is quite a change from the previous story. He uses normal type Pokemon and has the gym similar to that of a school soccer field. I think the whole Japanese school setting works well with him, given his personality and look. The whole gym itself is straight forward featuring no fancy graphics or surprises. I can actually picture this being a place where an actual Pokemon gym leader would reside. I enjoyed the simple design and layout. Sometimes less is more, as they say.
This gym is extremely easy considering the Pokemon you can have available at this point. Cheren uses normal type Pokemon, so Tepig would be a primary candidate at this point. If you chose a different starter (I chose Snivy), then you can catch a Riolu in Sangi Ranch. It only has a 5% chance of appearing, so you’ll have to be patient. Riolu also learns its first fighting move, Force Palm, at level 15, so you’ll have to work a bit in order to obtain it. Thankfully his leveling curve is fairly quick, so you shouldn’t have much trouble getting up there. You’ll only need a few potions for this fight, so once you’re ready, challenge your former rival, Cheren!
Cheren uses two Pokemon; a level 11 Patrat and a level 13 Lillipup. Each have the moveset of Work Up, Bite and Tackle. Patrat comes with Detect as his final move while Lillipup comes with Helping Hand. Their basic tactic is boosting with Work Up and then striking with a physical move, so it’s best to take them out quickly before they can land a painful hit. This should be no problem, especially if you’re using Riolu or Pignite.
I didn’t mention this before, but Black and White 2 actually has a “challenge” mode. This increased difficulty setting is obtained by finishing the game and by something called “Unova Link”. I’m not sure how the latter works, or if it even works. Anyway, challenge mode comes with higher level trainers (up to five levels higher), smarter AI and additional teammates for the gym leaders. Cheren will have a Pidove on his team. He uses Quick Attack, Work Up and Leer. I can see Pidove being much more dangerous as his quick attack will hold precedence over non-priority attacks. After a work up or two it can be quite deadly.[/spoiler]
Alright, folks! That ends the first installment of the BW2 Gym Leaders: UNTAMED! What do you think of this particular gym leader? What do you think about his gym and teammates? Leave comments below! Cheers 🙂