How to beat Mossdeep Gym Leaders in Pokémon Emerald?

Question

I cannot beat Mossdeep gym leaders. Psychic with Earthquake just one-shot kills my Pokémon, that are slower than enemies and even my most powerful Pokemon make very little dent for Claydol and that before it uses Light screen. Their Pokemon Lineup is:

1. Claydol LV. 41 and Xatu LV. 41
2. Lunatone LV. 42 and Solrock LV. 42

Mine:

1. Spheal Lv.30 Surf, Ice Ball, Body Slam, Aurora Beam
2. Sableye Lv.34 Torment, Knock off, Faint Attack, Night shade
3. Linoone Lv. 39 Rock Smash, Cut, Dig, Headbutt
4. Swellow Lv. 43 Steel Wing, Fly, Endeavor, Aerial Ace
5. Swampert Lv. 42 Mud Shot, Take Down, Muddy Water, Surf
6. Girafarig Lv. 37 Baton Pass, Confusion, Stomp, Agility

I have also few Pokémon that are pretenders in lineup to change them (above team is not my default I made to defeat leader):

1. Torkoal Lv. 34 (normally switches out Sableye)
2. Baltoy Lv. 27 (grinding up to switch out Girafarig)
3. Wailmer Lv.45 (caught recently, should I use him, normally I was going phase out Swampert for Spheal as I will grind it up as Water/Ice Pokemon)
4. Keckleon Lv. 32 (not using it).
5. Castform Lv. 30 (not using it anymore).

How can I improve my lineup and do I need to do much level grinding? What moves should I teach Pokémon to defeat that gym?

Answer 1

I advise keeping the Sableye.

In 3rd Gen, it has no weaknesses. Not only that, but it can do more damage to psychic types.

Night Shade is not the best move in this situation, unless you grind up the Sableye, as it only deals damage equal to his level. I would definitely, however, advise grinding his level up, 41 would be a good level as he gets Shadow Ball there, which may lower SP. Def. It's also Super Effective against Psychic types and gets STAB. So a good move choice.

Answer 2

I would recommend using Swampert against the duo, as Surf is 2x effective against Rock/Psychic and hits both of them at once. Swellow is also a good choice since Steel is 2x effective against Rock/Psychic and Flying is immune to Ground-type moves (so you won't be damaged by Earthquake).

Ideally, your Swellow should have enough base Speed to go first and you'll hopefully take down one of the two with a quick Steel Wing + Surf combo. The only problem here then is Xatu, who is Psychic/Flying and will take neutral damage from Surf and Steel Wing. If you could teach your Swampert the Rock Slide move (or any other Rock-type attack move), you wouldn't have to worry about switching out. Otherwise, switch to your Spheal to hit with Aurora Beam since Ice is 2x effective against Psychic/Flying.

If you're having problems against Light Screen, I'd advise getting Brick Break if you can as it removes Light Screen and Reflect, although I'm not sure if you have access to Brick Break by the time you get to Mossdeep.

Answer 3

USE A GARDEVOIR. Level up a Gardevoir so that it knows the moves psychic and imprison. Imprison is a move that prohibits the opponent to use any move that the user knows, therefore they will not be able to use psychic.

Answer 4

I will now introduce to you, the Wobbufett technique I created. So when I was having trouble with this gym I got 5 wobbufetts from the safari zone (6 works too). When you get into battle just spam destiny bond and the round will be over in no time!

Answer 5

I suggest using metal/dark meat shields, as the leaders will focus on them, and just spam Surf with your mega'd Swampert.