Pokémon Fire Red Team Builder & Leaf Green Team Planner

How does this FireRed and LeafGreen team planner work?

The builder on this page is preset to the FireRed / LeafGreen Pokédex and the Gen 3 type chart, so every matchup you see matches what happens in the game, not the modern rules. Click Add Pokémon in any slot, search by name, Pokédex number or type, and the Defensive matchups, Offensive coverage and Team averages panels update as you go.

The Game menu entry lists 417 Pokémon, which is every species from Bulbasaur to Deoxys. That is more than you can catch in Kanto before the Elite Four, so use the list in two passes: build your main-story team from the original 151, then come back for the Sevii Islands and trade-only Pokémon described further down. If you load a saved team that contains a Pokémon outside this list, a notice reads "Not available in the selected game".

Each defensive cell shows weak · resist · immune counts. For a Kanto playthrough, the eight gym types and the four Elite Four types are the rows that matter, and the goal is simple: no boss type should hit more than two members, and every boss type should be resisted or ignored by at least one.

Which types do you need for the Kanto gyms in FireRed and LeafGreen?

Kanto's gyms have a fixed order through the first four badges, after which the game lets you take Koga and Sabrina in either order. The table lists the badge order, each leader's ace and what beats it.

Two Gen 3 details change how you read this table compared with the original Red and Blue. Sabrina's Psychic types are now weak to Ghost and Dark as well as Bug, so Gengar's Shadow Ball and any Dark attack work as expected. And Erika's Grass/Poison team is hit for ×2 by Psychic, which makes a Psychic type useful from badge four onward.

The Elite Four at Indigo Plateau:

Most of Lorelei's team is part Water, so Electric attacks cover four of five. Bruno's two Onix fall to any Water or Grass attack. Lance's Dragonite and both Dragonair are weak to Ice, and Gyarados takes ×4 from Electric. The Champion is your rival, whose team is built around the starter that beats yours; the final battle always includes Pidgeot, Alakazam, Rhydon and three others that depend on your choice.

What is different about the Gen 3 rules?

FireRed and LeafGreen are Gen 3 games, so Kanto plays by rules that did not exist in Red and Blue. The builder applies the first three automatically when FireRed / LeafGreen is selected.

• Steel and Dark exist. Magnemite and Magneton are Electric/Steel and resist ten types. Dark attacks hit Psychic and Ghost types for ×2, and Psychic attacks do nothing to Dark types. There are no Dark-type Pokémon in Kanto before the National Pokédex, but Bite is a Dark move and is widely available.
• No Fairy type. Clefairy, Clefable, Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff are pure Normal types. Mr. Mime is pure Psychic. The matchup tables on this page ignore Fairy entirely, so those Pokémon are judged as the game judges them.
• Steel resists Ghost and Dark. This lasted from Gen 2 through Gen 5, and the Pokémon type chart page shows the full Gen 2 to 5 matrix if you want to compare.
• Physical or special depends on the move's type. Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost and Steel moves use Attack and Defense. Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon and Dark moves use Special Attack and Special Defense. Gyarados's Hydro Pump runs off its weaker Special Attack, and Gengar's Shadow Ball runs off its weaker Attack. When you look at Team averages, read Atk and SpA next to the types each member attacks with.
• Abilities exist. Levitate on Gengar removes its Ground weakness, and Flash Fire on Arcanine makes Blaine's own Fire attacks useless against it. The builder does not model abilities, so adjust those rows by hand.

FireRed vs LeafGreen: which Pokémon can you only get in one version?

Pick the version that has the Pokémon you want in your main team; the rest can be traded. The Kanto exclusives are available before the Elite Four, and the Johto exclusives appear on the Sevii Islands after the National Pokédex.

Deoxys also differs: it takes its Attack Forme in FireRed and its Defense Forme in LeafGreen. The practical consequence for a story team is small. FireRed players lose Starmie, the best Water type in Kanto, but gain Arcanine; LeafGreen players lose Arcanine and Scyther but keep Starmie and Ninetales. Both lists are in the builder, so if you add a Pokémon from the other version, plan on a trade.

Which Pokémon are locked behind the Sevii Islands?

The Sevii Islands open in stages. One, Two and Three Island become available after you beat Blaine, and they contain mostly Kanto Pokémon. Four through Seven Island open only after the National Pokédex, which you get from Professor Oak after beating the Elite Four with at least 60 Pokémon owned.

Until the National Pokédex, three things are blocked that affect team planning:

1. Gen 2 evolutions do not happen. Golbat will not evolve into Crobat, Onix will not become Steelix, Chansey will not become Blissey, and Eevee cannot become Espeon or Umbreon. The Pokémon stop at their Kanto form even at full friendship or when traded with the right item. If you planned your team around Crobat or Steelix, you are planning a post-game team.
2. No Johto or Hoenn wild Pokémon. The Johto species in the table above, plus others such as Sentret, Hoothoot, Natu, Slugma, Houndour, Larvitar and Heracross, only appear on Five through Seven Island.
3. No trading with Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald. Hoenn Pokémon such as Treecko, Gardevoir, Salamence and Metagross are in the builder's 417-entry list, but they only enter FireRed through the Network Machine on One Island, which Celio finishes after you retrieve the Ruby and Sapphire from the later islands.

For most players this means two teams: a main-story team of six from the original 151, and a post-game team that adds Johto and Hoenn Pokémon for the rematch Elite Four, where Lorelei adds Piloswine, Bruno adds Steelix, Agatha adds Crobat and Misdreavus, and Lance adds Kingdra. Build both in the builder and share them as two links.

How do HMs affect your FireRed team?

FireRed and LeafGreen have seven HMs, and HM moves cannot be forgotten without the Move Deleter in Fuchsia City, so every HM you teach takes a move slot until badge five at the earliest. Plan them before you catch anything.

Two members can carry all seven. A Water type such as Gyarados, Lapras or Blastoise learns Surf, Strength and Waterfall, and Gyarados's Surf is a real attack rather than a wasted slot. A Flying type such as Pidgeot or Fearow learns Fly and Cut, and both are usable in battle. Flash and Rock Smash can go on a Pokémon you keep in the PC for the one dungeon that needs them.

When you build in the tool, treat your HM users as fixed slots the same way you treat your starter, then let Suggested teammates fill the remaining holes. The suggestions are drawn from the FireRed / LeafGreen list and favour fully evolved Pokémon, so they will not hand you a Magikarp.

Related tools

This page is the Kanto Gen 3 version of the main Pokémon team builder, which can switch to any other game's Pokédex and type chart from the Game menu. If you are playing the original Game Boy games or the Virtual Console releases, the Red, Blue and Yellow team builder uses the Gen 1 chart instead, where Ghost moves do nothing to Psychic types and Bug and Poison are super-effective on each other. For the step-by-step method behind filling the six slots, read how to build a Pokémon team.