Let's talk about Hardy.

[Monochrome_Complex]

So Hardy, he's a guy who despite having quite a bit of time in the game so far seems to kind of get overshadowed by some of the others at least on this board, and I feel it's time to show our red haired rockin bro some love.

So far, we know that he's

*a higher ranked gym leader,

*has a gym in Agate city

*specializes in the rock type and has a Gigalith.

*is Titania's little brother,

*doesn't seem as close to Tania as say Charlotte + her sisters or even Cain/Aya,

*attended the Onyx school alongside Fern at some point? Maybe I'm wrong on that detail, but they have history together and seem to have a rivalry.

*Showed Aya the ropes on gym leading and reffed the PC's match against her

*seems to care for Aya quite a bit

*has cool hair

Personality wise, Hardy seems to be a pretty cool guy, being arguably one of the nicest dudes in Reborn and having a pretty optimistic, "come on bro you can do this" attitude. Even when Aya was acting like a complete scrub during her gym debut match(in her defense losing to Fern does really suck) he kept trying to lift her spirits up. When travelling to Calcenon he was pretty optimistic despite getting nearly blown like 3 times That said Hardy is a bit simple minded and maybe as a sign of his immaturity tends to have trouble seeing the bigger picture and thinking ahead, which is mainly apparent in the Calcenon Meteor face off. We also see that his temper is pretty short in his dealings with Fern and frustration towards Sapphira which combined with his shortsightedness makes him pretty easy to manipulate. This weakness could very well be exploited by a savvy member of Meteor(Sirius perhaps?) who could use Hardy's impulsiveness against his allies, something I could definitely see happening next episode or later on.

Now what interests me especially about Hardy is his battle. Rock users are usually the stage 1-2 boss of pokemon games but Hardy goes against all convention and is instead one of the upper echelon of gym leaders. Now rock is a type that's known to hit very hard and in Reborn especially checks some popular and powerful pokemon(though I feel like fire in general is about to feel a big loss in effectiveness as 3 upcoming gyms are strong against it), but the type itself suffers from glaring weaknesses that against common logic makes rock kind of easy to break, being sort of a high risk-high reward type. But the new dragon field which is heavily speculated to be used by Hardy would provide a much needed defensive boon to Hardy's type of choice, and with many speculating Tyranitar(mega?) being on his team due to sandstorm, could once again turn conventional approach on its head and turn this guy into a force to be reckoned with. I can imagine a number of his pokemon rocking sturdy as well, which could make him pretty annoying should he potion abuse. One more thing, and a pretty fascinating one is that Hardy actually used Solrock/Lunatone(either one or both, can't remember which) in an old Reborn league as his ace which I found incredibly weird but with trick room would put his slow rock types at a big advantage. Actually backtracking on Hardy, it does seem a little weird that dragonfield would be his because while beneficial, I was really expecting a Rock concert arena or something where the audience hypes him up or something as a field effect. Seems weird Agate would have a dragon's den-like area for a gym unless it's going to be totally METAL or something.

What are you predicting his team will be like? I think he'll have Gigalith, Tyranitar, Lunatone(or solrock), Tyrantrum, and two others, one probably with sturdy. I feel like either Tyranitar or Aerodactyl will be his mega.

As for the tm he gives, I'm guessing it'll be...huh actually I don't know. Earthquake? The good rock moves are already tutors so this one has me baffled somewhat...oh probably rock climb, meh.

Also a cute little note, but Hardy's sprite is notable in that it aged. Like his original league sprite looked younger, but the one he has now aged him up a bit which I found cool. I know one of the users here has the older league pages, but it's a pretty cool thing to look at.

[Fumble]

used Solrock/Lunatone(either one or both, can't remember which)

Both. It's kinda what made Hardy such a strong Gym Leader; he played mind games with you because either one could set up Trick Room, I believe.

Rock Climb isn't really a Rock TM, and since we've gotten Flamethrower from Charlotte already, I think we can afford to have maybe Rock Slide or something.

[Darvan Korematsu]

Interesting point. Hardy was once the Champion of the original Reborn League. Rock TR Triples is what I'm told he liked to play in the later seasons. This battle is a real toss-up in terms of what it can be. Unless he's got an uberly broken Field, I feel like people will beat him in 1-2 tries mostly judging on the sheer amount of really good Water/Ground/Steel/Fighting types not mentioning other subtypes that can be covered, although I'd put my money on Stealth Rocks being used. Imo he's probably gonna be one of the more disappointing battles if one is even remotely prepared.

[CMV]

I suspect a double battle. Solrock, Lunatone, Gigalith, Aerodactyl, Rhyperior and Aggron-M (TR team aside from Aerodactyl). I'm about 70% sure we'll get the Smack Down TM since the field boosts that for seemingly no reason.

[Zane0144]

Hardy doesn't really have a taste for steel given his big long speech about how rock is the og defensive type. M-Aggron would betray that philosophy

[bepe]

I hope he does have a tyranitar to boost his special defense of all his pokemon. Paired with weakened water type attacks from the dragon field, special water moves would be nearly useless.

[Stealth]

Hardy is the most precious cinnabun and I will protect him.

I knew it when I saw him on Gossip Gardevoir's Gym Profiles If I remember his quote was something like, "See here's the thing, Rock never got bad. It's the sleeping giant!" In reference to his type choice and the discovery of steel type pokemon. It was apparent he was the legendary precious child.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I suspect a double battle. Solrock, Lunatone, Gigalith, Aerodactyl, Rhyperior and Aggron-M (TR team aside from Aerodactyl). I'm about 70% sure we'll get the Smack Down TM since the field boosts that for seemingly no reason.

IIRC, Smack Down was in Celestinine Mountain.

[FairFamily]

Well, after a bit of analysing the dragons den, I came to the following team:

Gigalith,Tyranitar, Magcargo, Tyrantrum, Aerodactyl and one free slot.
The Gigalith is obvious since it is seen. The Tyranitar is a very powerfull sandstorm setter and it can learn dragon dance. The Tyrantrum is quite obvious due to the dragons den.
Magcargo is a bit strange since its stats and typing leaves a bit to be desired but it gets a lot of nice field boosts due to magma armor and it's boosted fire stab. The Aerodactyl will be his counter to ground and fighting.
While Solrock and Lunatone are good anti-ground and fighting types as well, their lower base stats plus the fact that Aerodactyl's weakness to ice is covered by the field, makes them less likely.
Personally I think the Aerodactyl will be the mega over Tyranitar symply because tyranitar is more of a lead and has a bit more weaknesses, one even a 4 times weakness.

Edited February 7, 2016 by FairFamily

[bepe]

My understanding is that hardy used both lunatone and solrock in the online league, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him have both of them.

[Lilleen]

I have this scary feeling that we shouldn't underestimate him, despite rock usually being a type that is easily taken down.

Hardy is probably one of my favorite gym leaders. He stays posetive, even through the darkest times of Reborn.

[PsychoticPudu]

If he doesn't uses Trick Room in his battle, he could use a couple of Shell Smashers and still wreck everything.

Edited February 8, 2016 by PsychoticPudu

[bepe]

Trick room would make more sense, especially if he gets the amplified rock.

[FairFamily]

If he doesn't uses Trick Room in his battle, he could use a couple of Shell Smashers and still wreck everything.

Why shell smash? Dragon dance is much more dangerous considering the dragon's den. Shell Smash does lower the stats while the boosted dragon dance doesn't.

It is not impossible just likely, if he has shell smash it would be on a special attacker like magcargo or on a shuckle . Trick room is defintely a possibility but isn't that Ramados' thing?

[sound of silence]

Lunatone and Solrock can still be pretty difficult to deal with in the dragon's den. Only physical ghost, dark, steel or grass will hurt those rocks due to typing, field and an almost certain sandstream boost from tyrannitar (I hope)

IDK if Hardy will have a mega or which one though. Aggron would be nice but vulnerable to the field. T-Tar makes the most sense but it could use a smooth rock instead for more sand. Mega Aerodactyl goes against the TR theme but gets insane boosts from tough claws combining with field effects.

[Anthony810]

If Hardy is our next gym we have to expect that it will be a very HARD and BUMPY battle. You know because he's a Rock Leader.

[CMV]

Tyranitar - Sandstream + Smooth Rock

Lunatone - Trick Room + Amplified Rock

Shuckle - Shell Smash + White Herb, because Power Trick would leave him with 10def

Tyrantrum or Cradilly w/ Storm Drain

Gigalith

Mega Aerodactyl

Doubles Battle

I just can't see the offensive Shuckle happening. Even with three Shell Smashes its offensive stats are absolute garbage plus you're increasing its speed which you really don't want to do because of Trick Room. Maybe a sandstorm resetter/stalling Chesto Berry set with Toxic/Rest/Sandstorm/Stealth Rock or Infestation? It's not like anyone's going to use Taunt on that thing

Otherwise I like this team. Tyranitar-Lunatone/Solrock lead, get the Trick Room, rocks and sandstorm up, once TTar is down, bring in Gigalith and sweep with Sand Force Earthquake or Rock Slide. Trick Room's over? DD Tyrantrum and Aerodactyl-M clean everything up. This could be very, very painful...

[Wavesteel]

I'm betting on his trick room triples team with Solrock, Tyranitar and Lunatone as leads, backed up by Gigalith, Rampardos and Rhyperior. It is quite an interesting concept for a mono rock team and it works pretty well, rock slide spam can sweep entire teams under trick room unless they have a wide guard spammer.

[Fumble]

Unfortunately, Pokemon Essentials doesn't support Triple Battles yet, and it might not ever, so Hardy will have to resort to Doubles for now.

[Wavesteel]

Damn really, that sucks, I was kinda looking forward to our first gym triple battle, especially against that team. Double battle trick room could still be a thing, but the members might change up a little. Doubles is a lot slower so then we might see dragon dancers as well. Either way, it's gonna rock (like Hardy)

[bepe]

Hardy has both solrock and lunatone as his aces so I'd bet he uses both of them in the battle.

[PsychoticPudu]

Damn really, that sucks, I was kinda looking forward to our first gym triple battle, especially against that team. Double battle trick room could still be a thing, but the members might change up a little. Doubles is a lot slower so then we might see dragon dancers as well. Either way, it's gonna rock (like Hardy)

If Triple Battles were a thing in Reborn, do you really think that the first one would be one of the final five Gym Leaders? Ame would be using and abusing them as soon as we met ZEL.

Anyways, I thought of a single battle team that might solve the issues of Megadactyl and Trick Room in the same team (if he's used as a lead)

-Mega Aerodactyl

-Lunatone (Trick Room setter no. 1)

-Tyranitar (sandstorm)

-Solrock (Trick Room setter no. 2)

-Gigalith

-Rhyperior

is it good y/n?

[bepe]

It's possible he may get the dragon field since ame said 2 leaders would be using it and he's the one who benefits the most from that field after saphira.

[NickCrash]

It's possible he may get the dragon field since ame said 2 leaders would be using it and he's the one who benefits the most from that field after saphira.

Ame said we will see it in two GYMS, not leaders. Only 1 leader will use it during the badge battle.

Hardy is most probable to use:

Weakness Policy Rhyperior

Tyranitar (smooth rock or lefties) with a mixed set

Gigalith (quick claw for troll, or TR with Solrock/Lunatone but only one of them)

M-Aerodactyl (hits so much harder than DD T-Tar

DD Babiri Berry Tyrantum

Max Def EV Lunatone with Amplifield rock.

Other options: Armaldo, Barbaracle, M-Aggron (only if he makes up with his sister)

[Tringus]

I think the one who will be using it for the badge battle is Saphira, while Hardy perhaps battles you in the gym too.