You will find the Fifth gym of the Kanto region in Fuchsia City, where you will fight the Poisonous Ninja Master Koga. He specializes in Poison-type Pokémon. Here’s everything you need to know to defeat Koga and earn the Soul Badge:
Koga’s Team
Koga uses four Pokémon:
- Koffing Level 37 Poison
- Muk Level 39 Poison
- Koffing Level 37 Poison
- Weezing Level 43 Poison
Key Moves to Watch
- Toxic – Badly poisons your Pokémon, increasing damage each turn.
- Smokescreen – Lowers accuracy.
- Self-Destruct – Massive damage from Koffing/Weezing.
- Minimize – Raises the user’s Evasion by two stages.
Koga’s team functionality is a stall team; he will use Toxic Poison on your Pokémon to wear them out. His Muk is really bulky and further increases his defence using Acid Armor. Not only that, but he also uses Minimize, which makes it harder for your Pokémon to hit his Muk. The best strategy here is to defeat his Muk before it stacks up on defence and evasion.
Type Matchups
Poison is weak to Ground and Psychic moves, and it resists Grass, Fighting, Poison, and Bug moves.
Best Counters
Poison, primarily, is a defensive type. It only hits Grass for Super-effective damage, but Poison moves can spread Poison status condition, so they will win the war of attrition; it is best to defeat them before they can do so. Here are the best counters for Koga’s team:
Psychic-types
This Gym heavily favors Psychic Pokémon.
- Kadabra
- Hypno
Psychic moves hit all of Koga’s team super effectively and bypass their defensive bulk.
Ground-types
- Dugtrio
- Nidoking
Because Koga’s team is pure Poison-types, Psychic is the best answer. While you can also use Ground-type Pokémon for this fight, Koffing and Weezing have the ability Levitate, making them immune to Ground-type moves
Rewards
After defeating Koga, you will be awarded the Soul Badge and TM06 Toxic. And if you have the Soul Badge, you can use Surf outside of battle
Koga can be a little challenging with the stall team he uses. Minimize is really annoying to deal with, and Toxic can wear you down. Keep some healing items with you; they can greatly increase your chances of winning this fight.
