If you’re trying to get your Psychic Badge at the Alfornada Gym, you don’t have to be a mind reader to succeed.
Follow the strategy laid out in this guide, and you’ll be one step closer to facing the Elite Four.
Come at Gym Leader Tulip with the right team, or your efforts will be all-for-nada. Bad jokes aside, let’s go!
Where Is the Seventh Gym in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?
If you don’t know the drill by now, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are unique in the series because they let you tackle the gyms in almost any order. That means there is no true seventh gym.
If you want to take on the gym leaders in the order that makes the most sense based on level, though, Alfornada will be the city for your seventh gym challenge.
This gym is physically located in the southwest of the map. One of the frustrating things about getting to it is that you’re likely going to need to have your legendary Pokémon mount upgrades from the Titan challenges so that you can climb and glide your way through the terrain.
In this gym challenge, you’ll be facing off against Pokémon that are in the level 42 to 45 range. This means you should have a few Pokémon on your team in the same range. It’s even better to have all six of the ‘mons on your team around this level or higher.
Before Going to the Alfornada Gym Leader
The best Pokémon trainers know their type matchups. This gym is no exception. It’s actually even more important here because you’ll be facing off against your rival, Nemona before you get a chance to go after the other trainers and the gym leader.
Fighting Nemona
Before heading to the gym, you’re going to want to make sure you have the right Pokémon on your team to tackle Nemona. If you remember her Pokémon from the last time you challenged her in Medali, she’ll be using the same team with a couple of new evolutions.
She uses a pure Rock-type (Lycanroc), pure Dragon-type (Sliggoo), a dual Fighting- and Electric-type (Pawmot), and her fully evolved starter, so either a dual-type Water/Fighting (Quaquavel), Grass/Dark (Meowscarada), or Fire/Ghost (Skeledirge) that terastallizes into its first evolution’s pure monotype (Water, Grass, or Fire).
For the pure Rock-type, Lycanroc, you’ll want to use Fighting-, Ground-, Steel-, Water-, or Grass-type moves to attack it as these are super effective against it. It’s resistant to Normal-, Flying-, Poison-, and Fire-type moves. In terms of its offensive moveset, Rock-type moves are super effective against Ice-, Flying-, Fire-, and Bug-types; they’re not very effective against Steel-, Ground-, or Fighting-types.
Her Lycanroc is level 42 and knows the Rock-type move Rock Smash and Ground-type move Sand Attack. Use your type matchups well, and you can one-hit it without ever seeing any of these moves.
When fighting Sliggoo, you’ll want to use a Pokémon that’s Steel-type if you want to maximize your defense since they’re resistant to Dragon-type moves and avoid using a Dragon-type as these are weak to them. In terms of defense, Dragon-types themselves are strong defensively against Water-, Fire-, Grass-, and Electric-type moves while being weakest to Ice-, Dragon-, and Fairy-type moves.
Her Sliggoo is level 42.
Pawmot, a dual Fighting- and Electric-type is resistant against Dark-, Electric-, Steel-, Bug-, and Rock-type moves while being vulnerable to Fairy-, Psychic-, and Ground-type ones. Its Electric-type moves will destroy your Flying- and Water-types while being weak to your Dragon-, Electric-, and Grass-types. Its Fighting-type moves are super effective against Normal-, Rock-, Steel-, Dark-, and Ice-type Pokémon and resisted by Psychic-, Flying-, Poison-, Fairy-, and Bug-type ones. Ghost-type Pokémon are completely immune to Fighting-type attacks.
Her Pawmot is level 42.
Since Nemona will be using her fully evolved starter in its terastallized form, it simplifies the fight since terastallized ‘mons become monotypes.
Quaquavel will be a pure Water-type. This means, in terms of defense, it’s weak to Electric- and Grass-type moves while resisting Fire-, Ice-, Steel-, and Water-type ones. Water-type moves are super effective against Fire-, Ground-, and Rock-type Pokémon while being resisted by Dragon-, Water-, and Grass-types. If it uses Fighting-type moves, check Pawmot’s section.
If Nemona sends out Meowscarada, it’ll be a pure Grass-type. This means it’s weak to Bug-, Fire-, Flying-, Poison-, and Ice-type moves while resisting Ground-, Water-, Electric-, and Grass-type attacks. In terms of offense, Grass-type moves are super effective against Water-, Ground-, and Rock-type Pokémon and are resisted by Bug-, Dragon-, Fire-, Flying-, Steel-, Poison-, and Grass-type ones. Its Dark-type moves are super effective against Ghost- and Psychic-types while Dark-, Fairy-, and Fight-type Pokémon are resistant to them.
If you’re going against Skeledirge, it’ll be a pure Fire-type. Defensively, he’ll be weak to being hit by Ground-, Rock-, and Water-type attacks and strong against Fire-, Bug-, Fairy-, Grass-, Steel-, and Ice-type moves. In terms of attack, Fire-type moves are super effective against Bug-, Grass-, Ice-, and Steel-type Pokémon while being not very effective against Dragon-, Rock-, Water-, or Fire-type ones. If it uses a Ghost-type move on you, you can resist it completely by using a Normal- or Fighting-type Pokémon. These moves are super effective against Dark- and other Ghost-types while being weak against Poison- and Bug-types.
Whichever fully evolved starter you’ll face will be level 43, and it’ll likely use its strongest Grass-, Fire-, or Water-type move respectively. For Meowscarada, this is Flower Trick.
After defeating Nemona, she’ll give you 3 Max Potions to use in your upcoming gym battle.
Preparing for Gym Leader Tulip
Luckily, gym fights are easier than facing rivals, because they’re usually much less complicated in terms of type matchups.
In Tulip’s gym, you’ll go toe-to-toe with four pure Psychic-types if you include the terastallized last Pokémon you’ll face. You’ll also go against two Psychic/Fairy dual-types, two Normal/Psychic Pokémon, and one Fighting/Psychic one.
When fighting against the pure Psychic-types, keep in mind their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of defense, they’re weak against Dark-, Ghost-, and Bug-type moves while being resistant to Psychic- and Fighting-type moves. In terms of offense, their moves are super effective against Fighting- and Poison-type Pokémon while being resisted by Psychic- and Steel-types. Dark-type Pokémon are immune to Psychic-type moves.
Since Dark-type Pokémon are immune to their types of moves, you might want to use a Dark-type as your main battler and make sure it has Dark-, Ghost-, or Bug-type moves in its moveset.
For the dual-type matchups, see the individual fights themselves.
Alfornada Gym Test: Take on Emotional Spectrum Practice
When you’ve selected your team, head to the person inside the gym behind the desk. You know the drill by now. They’ll direct you to the Gym Test taking place outside the gym on the right side of the building.
This gym test is rather simple: you’ll be given an emotional cue, and you must press the button with the emotion that responds to it. After doing it enough times, you’ll have to battle one of the other trainers. You’ll be fighting two other trainers before getting to face the leader.
First up, you’ll go against Gym Trainer Emily. She leads with a level 43 Gothorita, a pure Psychic-type. Rely on your Dark-types or other properly matched Pokémon to dominate this one. The Gothorita isn’t very strong and seems to only use Fake Tears.
After defeating her first team member, Emily sends out a level 43 Kirlia, a dual Psychic- and Fairy-type. It’s immune to Dragon-type moves. It is weakest to Poison-, Ghost-, and Steel-type moves while resisting Fighting- and Psychic-type ones. It knows Calm Mind.
Completely clobber Emily, and you’ll have to do a few more emotional exercises until you get to go against Gym Trainer Rafael.
Rafael starts the battle off with a level 43 Grumpig, a Psychic-type that knows the Rock-type move Power Gem.
I wonder where he buys his pants.
Once you’ve cooked that pork, you’ll face the level 43 dual Fighting/Psychic-type Medicham. It’s resistant to Rock- and Fighting-type moves while being weak to Flying-, Ghost-, and Fairy-type ones. It knows the strong Fighting-type move High Jump Kick.
Lastly, you’ll go against a level 43 Indeedee. It’s a dual Psychic/Normal-type, which means it’s immune to Ghost-type moves, weak against Bug- and Dark-type ones, and resistant to Psychic-type moves only. It seems to only use Calm Mind.
Gym Leader Tulip, the Bewitching
Finish up with the Gym Test, head back inside to the gym, talk to the receptionist, and you’ll start your fight against Tulip.
Much like Gym Leader Iono was the Pokémon universe’s equivalent of a Twitch streamer, Tulip seems to be its answer to our Instagram models or YouTube beauty gurus. She’s very fashion-conscious, but just because the girl likes to look her best doesn’t mean she can’t smash your team if you’re not careful.
Tulip has four Pokémon on her team. She starts the battle off with a level 44 Farigiraf, a dual Normal/Psychic-type like Indeedee with the same weaknesses. It knows Reflect. Use your type matchups to your advantage and kick its little giraffe butt.
Her second team member is a level 44 Gardevoir, the evolution of the Kirlia you fought earlier, with the same dual-type and strengths/weaknesses. It knows the Psychic-type move Psychic and Fairy-type Dazzling Gleam, which knocked my Sneasel out in one hit, so be sure you’re paying attention or this Gardevoir will devour you.
Third on her team is a level 44 Espatha, a pure Psychic-type. It knows the Ghost-type move Shadow Ball.
Her fourth and last team member is a level 45 Fairy-type Florges terastallized into a mono Psychic-type. It knows the Psychic-type move Psychic and the Fairy-type move Moonblast, which is very strong like Gardevoir’s Dazzling Gleam.
Once you’ve finished defeating all four of her Pokémon, Tulip will award you with the Psychic Badge. If this is your seventh badge, it’ll let you catch and command Pokémon up to level 55. You’ll also be given TM120 Psychic.
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Congratulations! You’ve almost made it to the Elite Four! You only have one gym left in Glaseado. If this wasn’t your seventh badge, and you forgot to tackle some of the others, like Cascarrafa and Levincia, check out our other guides.
Be sure to check our list of the cutest Pokémon as well!