The Best Pokemon Emerald Team is Not The Same As Ruby and Sapphire

Whether it’s this year to offer even more variety with the 30th anniversary of Pokemon and the series’ games or next year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Gen 3 titles seem to be bound to come to Nintendo Switch. Pokemon Emerald may be included if the recently datamined information is accurate, and it would make sense to complete the third generation with Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald all in one place. While Pokemon Emerald is not on the same level as Pokemon Platinum in terms of how many changes it makes to the base games of its generation, it does bring a few, which means that the best Pokemon you can use differ.

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire‘s best team typically involves Swampert as a starter due to its type being great overall in Hoenn, but this is not necessarily the same thing for Pokemon Emerald. Most of the encounters in each location remain the same, at times even including the exact same spawn rates as the originals, but there are some other relevant differences.

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The Main Differences Between Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokemon Emerald Explained

For the playthrough in Pokemon Emerald on Switch, it’s important to keep in mind that several key aspects will change. These include:

You fight both Team Aqua and Team Magma, instead of just one. This means no starter is always effective against these teams, as they sometimes use Water or Fire Pokemon, respectively.
Gym Leaders have different teams with fewer or more Pokemon compared to base Gen 3 games.
The Elite Four have slightly better teams, especially in the case of Sidney and Drake. Sidney gains Crawdaunt (Water/Dark), and Drake gains Kingdra (Water/Dragon).
The final Gym Leader is no longer Wallace, but Juan, who uses a similar team to Wallace’s in Ruby and Sapphire.
Steven is no longer the Champion, and instead, it’s Wallace. This means there are two Water-type Pokemon specialists in Emerald, and no Steel/Rock Champion.

Balance the critic averages

Easy (6)Medium (8)Hard (10)

Pokemon Emerald’s Best Team, From Badges to Endgame

While there are more differences, like the Battle Tower being replaced with the Battle Frontier, Pokemon Emerald poses the question of which starter is better. Where Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire‘s best starter is typically Swampert, all the changes made to Pokemon Emerald‘s main encounters make Sceptile a much better and more consistent choice.

Some staples from base Gen 3 games remain, especially in the case of Swellow, Gardevoir, and Torkoal. However, a fantastic addition to Swampert teams is Breloom, which doesn’t make much sense in a Sceptile team. For this reason, it’s better to use Hariyama for even more specialized physical coverage, as it can learn moves like Earthquake, Fake Out, and Rock Slide. You can also teach Hariyama Belly Drum, which maximizes its Attack at the cost of 50% of its HP, making Hariyama one of the best physical attackers in the game.

Finally, it can be a great idea to use a Water-type Pokemon to take care of some encounters and have Ice Beam as a possible move, and one of the best Pokemon in Gen 3 is Starmie. With amazing coverage and very high Speed, Starmie is a fantastic Pokemon to use in this game.

As such, the best team for Pokemon Emerald is:

Sceptile
- Leaf Blade
- Dragon Claw
- Thunder Punch
- Giga Drain
Gardevoir
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Thief
Swellow
- Fly
- Aerial Ace
- Return
- Facade or Steel Wing
Torkoal
- Flamethrower
- Overheat or Heat Wave
- Body Slam or Curse
- Sludge Bomb
Hariyama
- Brick Break
- Fake Out or Belly Drum
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Starmie
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Recover

With this team, you have maximum coverage overall, with 14 types out of 17 for damage, and you also have the two most useful traversal HMs in Pokemon with Fly on Swellow and Surf on Starmie. This will make every Gym Leader and Elite Four/Champion battle a walk in the park.