One of the three main storyline arcs is Victory Road, which is a more traditional adventure, where your goal is to travel to eight different Pokémon Gyms, challenge the Gym Leader, and then earn a Gym Badge. Collect all eight Gym Badges and you’ll be able to head to the Pokémon League to take on the Elite Four and the Champion.
Well, it’s a bit different in Scarlet & Violet, since now you aren’t competing to become the Champion, but rather pass the Champion Assessment and become Champion Rank. Hey, good enough! There are still the Gyms to take on, the Badges to earn, and the Elite Four to eventually fight, along with a Champion battle at the very end.
Although you can take on the Gyms in any order you like, there’s definitely a recommended order to follow, which ensures you fight the lowest-level Gyms first and the highest-level Gyms last. Gyms do not scale to your progress, meaning it is like traditional games, where the Gym Leader of a certain city always uses the same team at the same levels, so while you are free to challenge them in any order, you’ll be at a disadvantage taking on the higher-level Gym Leaders first.
Spoiler-Free Recommended Order
If you’re looking for a spoiler-free recommended order for the Victory Road storyline, which doesn’t show the Gym Leader’s Pokémon and just gives you their levels, then you can refer to this table below to help guide you.
| Gym | Type | Levels |
|---|---|---|
| Cortondo Gym | Bug | 14/14/15 |
| Artazon Gym | Grass | 16/16/17 |
| Levincia Gym | Electric | 23/23/23/24 |
| Cascarrafa Gym | Water | 29/29/30 |
| Medali Gym | Normal | 35/35/36 |
| Montenevera Gym | Ghost | 41/41/41/42 |
| Alfornada Gym | Psychic | 44/44/45 |
| Glaseado Gym | Ice | 47/47/47/48 |
| Pokémon League | Various | 57–62 |
| Finale | Various | 65–66 |
Hopefully this gives you somewhat of an idea of what to expect without giving everything away!
That being said, down below, you can find details on all of the Gym Leaders, as well as a general path to get to each of their Gyms. You can find more detailed information in their respective subsection, which focuses exclusively on that Gym Leader.
Keep in mind that their teams and moves will be revealed down below, so if you just want to know how to get to them, click the links in the table above to view the respective section and avoid scrolling to the very bottom.
Cortondo Gym (Bug)
Gym Leader Level: 14–15
Path to Cortondo
Starting from Mesagoza, you’re going to want to head to the west out from the west gate. This leads you onto South Province (Area Two).
It starts out with quite a bit of hilly area, but all you need to do in order to get to Cortondo is just follow the road. There’s a Pokémon Center along the way, as well as some farmlands that have a few items and Pokémon around them.
There’s a lot more you can explore in South Province (Area Two), but that’s all optional.
Cortondo
Cortondo is a nice, relatively quaint town. It has two Pokémon Centers in it, with one right near the entrance. You can find the Gym in the center of town, on the south side.
Cortondo Gym
Gym Leader Katy
2,700
Double Kick
Struggle Bug
Assurance-
Bug Bite
Fury Swipes-
Fury Cutter
Artazon Gym (Grass)
Gym Leader Level: 16–17
Path to Artazon
If you haven’t already fought the Stony Cliff Titan, it’s strongly recommended to fight it along the way, because it’s at a slightly lower level than the Gym Leader and also gives your Koraidon/Miraidon the ability to dash faster, which speeds up everything by a lot.
The map above assumes you’ve already done that, so if you haven’t, to get to the first Pokémon Center, just follow the road east of Mesagoza.
Artazon
Artazon is a nice city with lots of buildings, shops, and even a hedge maze. You can just jump over the hedge maze if you feel like cheating, though. There are quite a few places in town, but the place you’ll want to hit up is the Gym, in the southern part of town by the pool.
Artazon Gym
Gym Leader Brassius
3,060
Mega Drain-
Sleep Powder
-
Tackle
-
Razor Leaf
Rock Throw-
Trailblaze
Levincia Gym (Electric)
Gym Leader Level: 23–24
Path to Levincia
Although the most direct route to Levincia involves crossing a bridge, it’s guarded by the Team Star Fire Crew, and they’re pretty tough at this point in the game. Thankfully, there’s a detour you can take: just follow the path in the map above, heading north toward the beach, and then cross the shallow water from there. That will lead you to Levincia.
Levincia
In order to get to the Gym, just head directly north of the Pokémon Center near the southern entrance to Levincia. There are a lot of other tall buildings in Levincia, though, so it doesn’t stick out quite as much as it does in other cities.
Levincia Gym
Gym Leader Iono
4,320
-
Quick Attack
Spark
Pluck
Water Gun-
Spark
-
Bite
-
Spark
Confuse Ray-
Charge Beam
-
Hex
Cascarrafa Gym (Water)
Gym Leader Level: 29–30
Path to Cascarrafa
Getting to Cascarrafa depends on whether you’ve defeated the Open Sky Titan or the Team Star Dark Crew base, because it’s in that general area. If you haven’t, just head in that general direction from Cortondo, although if you don’t want to fight the Team Star Dark Crew (they should be easy, though), you’ll need to jump down into the desert and approach Cascarrafa from there.
Cascarrafa
As you approach the Gym in the southern part of town, the Gym Leader, Kofu, will run off and the receptionist will come outside to ask a favor of you: she’ll ask you to return Kofu’s wallet, which he left behind, to Kofu all the way in Porto Marinada. If you can do that, that’ll complete your Gym Test.
Path to Porto Marinada
Hug the northern part of the Asado Desert until you find some ruins, then head a bit south of them, around the mountain, and along the path on the north until you leave the desert. Porto Marinada will be further west.
Porto Marinada
In Porto Marinada, you’ll need to go to the marketplace in the middle of town, fight against a Gym Trainer, and then complete an auction minigame to help Kofu out after giving him his wallet. Remember to come back here every in-game day (not real-world day) and you can buy other things at the auctions.
Cascarrafa Gym
Gym Leader Kofu
5,400
-
Slash
-
Pluck
-
Aqua Cutter
-
Headbutt
Mud-Slap-
Water Pulse
-
Slam
-
Crabhammer
-
Rock Smash
Medali Gym (Normal)
Gym Leader Level: 35–36
Path to Medali
From the Pokémon Center in Porto Marinada, you can head to the east and there are then two paths you can take to get Medali: either through the Colonnade Hollow to the south, which is a cavernous area that has some interesting Pokémon and items; or by taking the north path and going through a little bit of Casseroya Lake, which has high-level Pokémon between the two bridges but are easily avoidable. Either path will get you to Medali, so take whichever you’d like.
Medali
Medali has quite a few shops and restaurants in town, but otherwise it isn’t too remarkable, at least not until after you’ve beaten the Gym.
The Gym can be found in the northern edge of town.
Medali Gym
You’ll need to solve a puzzle of what to order, and you can do this by talking to various NPCs and battling Trainers around town. You can find some hints on the Medali Gym section page, or if you really can’t be bothered to solve it yourself, that page also has the answers behind spoiler tags.
Gym Leader Larry
6,480
-
Slam
-
Yawn
-
Sucker Punch
-
Glare
-
Drill Run
-
Hyper Drill
-
Facade
-
Aerial Ace
Montenevera Gym (Ghost)
Gym Leader Level: 41–42
Path to Montenevera
Getting to Montenevera can be a bit tricky, so start from Medali and cross the bridge to the northeast, then follow the path until you get to the Pokémon Center. From there, follow the snowy path northeast, using Trainers and trees as guideposts, until you come up against a bit of a wall. Take a near-180° there, turn around, pass another Trainer and a tree and you’ll get to the gate of Montenevera.
Montenevera
The NPC near the Pokémon Center will Hyper Train your Pokémon to max one or all of their IVs if you gave him Bottle Caps or Gold Bottle Caps, the former of which can be bought for 20,000 in Delibird Presents.
Montenevera Gym
Keep in mind that all battles in the Montenevera Gym will be Double Battles. Make sure your two lead Pokémon are able to handle Ghost-types. You’ll also sometimes receive temporary stat boosts from the crowd during the battles.
Gym Leader Ryme
7,560
Icy Wind-
Sucker Punch
-
Shadow Sneak
Light Screen-
Slash
-
Shadow Sneak
-
Crunch
-
Phantom Force
Play Rough
-
Hyper Voice
-
Discharge
-
Hex
Alfornada Gym (Psychic)
Gym Leader Level: 44–45
Even though Glaseado Gym is very close to Montenevera, it’s at a much higher level, so it’s recommended that you take on the Alfornada Gym first.
Path to Alfornada
There are two primary ways to get to Alfornada: one requires the ability to high jump from the Lurking Steel Titan while the other takes you along the coast but doesn’t require anything from Path of Legends.
Primary Route to Alfornada
From the Pokémon Center west of Cortondo, by the windmills, follow the road to the south to a cave. Jump up the ledge near the start of the cave and you’ll be able to continue along the winding path leading up to the top. It may be a bit confusing, but just try to follow the path of Trainers and remember that you need to go upwards.
Detour to Alfornada
If you haven’t beaten the Lurking Steel Titan, or you just don’t want to go through the main path, jump down the cliffs to the sandy beach area and then follow that cliffy coastline upwards, climbing along a curvy path, and eventually entering a section of the cave. You can keep following the path upwards and you’ll eventually find your way to the plateau where Alfornada is at, all without needing high jump.
Alfornada
There are a lot of houses and buildings around Alfornada, as well as a very cool stadium with retro Pokémon sprites adorning its side. You’re going to want to make your way to the Gym, though, which is in the back of the town and shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Alfornada Gym
Gym Leader Tulip
8,100
-
Reflect
-
Crunch
-
Zen Headbutt
-
Psychic
-
Energy Ball
-
Dazzling Gleam
-
Psychic
-
Quick Attack
-
Shadow Ball
-
Psychic
-
Petal Blizzard
-
Moonblast
Glaseado Gym (Ice)
Gym Leader Level: 47–48
Path to Glaseado Gym
From Montenevera’s Pokémon Center, you’re going to leave from the southern exit and continue further south, crossing a small bridge. Keep going south until you find a snowy path on the left leading further up the mountain, and then continue to ascend while staying within the “valley,” turning where necessary. As long as you keep on that path, you should wind up reaching the Pokémon Center at the top of Glaseado Mountain.
Glaseado Gym
Gym Leader Grusha
8,640
-
Blizzard
-
Tailwind
-
Bug Buzz
-
Earthquake
-
Aqua Jet
-
Icicle Crash
-
Ice Shard
-
Liquidation
-
Ice Spinner
-
Ice Beam
Dragon Pulse-
Hurricane
-
Moonblast
Finale
The “finale” of the Victory Road storyline arc involves taking on the Elite Four and passing the Champion Assessment exam.
You can read about all of the details in the Finale section, linked below.
After clearing the Victory Road storyline, there are still two more storylines you’ll need to complete before you can continue further into the game.
Otherwise, if you’ve already cleared those other two storylines, you’ll be able to proceed to the final endgame storyline arc: