Everyone knows that in one way or another, the Elite 4 isn’t
some cute place that houses hopping bunnies and beautiful roses.
It does house, however, a nasty challenge for the unprepared
that tests the skill and knowledge that you’ve gained from 
your journeys across the Land of Sinnoh.  Lucky for you, this 
guide will cover virtually every thing you need to know about 
the league, plus a boatload of tips, tricks, and strategies 
for preparing your team to get it through the league.  Some 
things that will be mentioned in this faq will require 
you to do a bit of searching and catching, but nothing 
mentioned in here will force you to go with a particular 
strategy (for instance, I won’t say you must have so and so 
Pokemon to get past a certain part.  Instead, I’ll go basic.).
So with that being said, let’s get down to business.

Table of Contents
1.) Getting Started
2.) Getting a Team Together
3.) Getting Moves Together
4.) Preparing for the League
5.) The Elite 4
6.) Conclusion
7.) Legal

1.) Getting Started
Probably what winds up being one of the toughest choices in the 
game will also reflect one of the toughest choices when it 
comes to the league.  That choice is of your starter.  
Depending on whom you choose will strongly dictate how you 
have to mold your team to reflect that choice.  For instance, 
if you pick Chimchar, then you don’t have to worry about 
stocking your team with a fighting type or fire type.  If you 
pick Piplup, then you don’t have to worry about finding a 
decent water type down the road.  Turtwig is too slow, in 
my opinion at least, to effectively be used at a lower level 
in the league.  As most people have found out, almost every 
Pokemon save one or two will outrun it even in the fifties.  
Its saving grace is that if you’re willing to raise it into the 
fifties, you can pick up the powerful earthquake move that will 
flatten a bunch of Pokemon in the league given you can survive 
the ensuing attack.

Another big choice is if you’re going to attempt the league at 
a lower level or break your back a bit and go for the mid 
fifties.  I’ll say it now and I’ll probably say it about 500 
times down the road, the recommended level for the league is in 
the mid fifties.  The problem is you’ll either be hideously 
below that (in my case, the majority of my team was in the 
lower forties), or if you’ve not skipped many fights, right 
in front of it.  It is suggested that unless you really want 
an easy time you attempt the league at a lower level.  You’ll 
need a bit of a miracle if you want to do it in the low forties,
however, so the mid to high forties is what most people should 
do it at.  If you want to do it lower, then you’ll have to do 
a little trick that some of the better players in the game 
called Ev training.

Ev training requires that you fight certain Pokemon in order 
to acquire “Evs”.  For every four points you get in a 
particular stat, you’ll receive an extra stat point.  Those 
extra stat points can really go a long way, as it’s because of 
them that people can attempt the league 26 levels below the 
final Pokemon.  There are a couple of other methods you can use 
to get your Pokemon stronger in addition to the normal Ev 
training, such as nature picking, moveset planning, and hold 
item planning.  Each of those topics will be covered later in 
the faq.  For now, all you have to worry about is what you 
choose to attempt the league on.

2.) Getting a Team Together
Probably one of the hardest things to do in any Pokemon game 
would be to resist making your starter some over leveled 
powerhouse and making a balanced team.  Now don’t get me wrong, 
that doesn’t mean you’ll have to forsake all previous methods 
of planning in an attempt to get this right.  No, you just have 
to make sure you’re getting a team of equal level together.  
At the suggest level of the mid forties to early fifties, you 
should have no problem getting at least three Pokemon.  If you 
go higher, that number slowly drops.  The point is, if you’re 
going to go in, at least make sure you can abuse the right 
types at the right time instead of blowing fifty revives on a 
single Pokemon.  There are a couple of techniques that can and 
should be used (such as shielding) that require you to have a 
couple of sacrifice Pokemon, but as a general rule of thumb, 
the higher the better.

Now, the main point of this section is getting you a team that 
fits your fighting strategies while allowing you the freedom to 
deviate.  As I said earlier, I do not intend to tell you to use 
which Pokemon where and when – that’s solely up to you.  I’ll 
just prod you in general types, giving suggestions of who I 
think would be in your best interest to take.  If you want to 
use different types, be my guest.  Just know that all that I’m 
trying to do is get you in the best possible position to win.

Since that’s out of the way, let’s start out with basic 
planning.  The Pokemon league has five trainers, 26 Pokemon in 
total.  That’s a big number for you to deal with with only 
your team of six, which is exactly why you’ll need to get 
things going early and fast.  If you’d do yourself a favor and 
look under a Pokemon’s profile in your team menu, you’ll see a 
little thing called nature (adamant, jolly, etc.).  That little 
word determines how your Pokemon will grow, sort of like how 
we do in every day life.  The problem is these natures matter 
a bit more – they’ll end up adding 10 percent of a stat and 
taking away the same number.  As you could probably guess, it 
doesn’t make sense to give an attacking nature to a defensive 
Pokemon.  When you catch a Pokemon during the main game, you’ll 
normally have several opportunities to get another of that same 
type.  Do yourself a favor, and please pick the one that 
compliments it rather than taking away.  If you’re that 
unsure, just look at the Pokemon’s stats.  They usually are 
an excellent guideline when it comes to picking a nature that 
benefits it.

Now, below is a list of Pokemon that are recommendations for 
you to use.  As I said earlier, you don’t have to use any of 
them.  If you see a Pokemon type repeated more than once, 
however, it’s a good idea to at least include a type of that 
nature.

Suggested Using

Azelf: Ah, the little devil itself.  Azelf can be caught on 
level 50 in Lake Valor after freeing Dialga.  This little 
monster has an incredible speed and special attacking stat base,
plus it also gets a great movepool for you to make use of.  At 
level 51, it gets extrasensory.  It is rec. that you teach it 
psychic instead because of the higher power and special defense 
drop chance.  Shadow Ball is a must for the fourth member, 
because this little thing will clobber him silly with it 
while resisting practically everything thrown at it (save 
that evil giraffe).

Gyrados: Gyrados got much better in Diamond and Pearl, so much 
so that it’s now a monster to take down.  You can catch its 
pre-evolution very early, so not picking one of these things 
up is a sin unless you’d rather use one of the other options 
that the game has.  Aqua Tail is the water move of choice, 
Hydro Pump is an absolute waste because of it relying on its 
horrible special attacking stat rather than that monster 
physical one it has access to.

Golduck: If you don’t want the former, then this thing is 
another decent option from which you can choose.  Surf and 
Raindance allow it to semi sweep, so keep that in mind when 
pursuing it.

Gastrodon: Being a ground water type gives this thing a nice 
movepool.  At the same time it absolutely gets it killed by 
grass.  Gastrodon can be found early, come with good moves, and 
are suggested to use throughout the game.  The only problem is 
that these things are slow, which can hurt you a bit.

Lucario: Lucario has a rare type combo is fighting steel, which 
gives it access to some great moves at rather low levels.  
Aura Sphere comes in the late thirties, while Close Combat 
comes soon after.  Both are great moves, although Aura Sphere 
takes advantage of its slightly higher special.  Dragon Pulse 
comes in the high forties (level 50 actually), which can be a 
great help in taking out Cynthia’s Garchomp.

Bronzong: Probably one of the best new walls in the game, this 
little bugger will stall for you will you heal up your wounded 
Pokemon.  It gets levitate, which allows it to resist 
earthquakes from potential killers, while possessing a good 
assortment of moves to prolong its death.

Rapidash: Rapidash is one of the only other fire type Pokemon 
in the game besides Infernape, which basically makes it 
necessary considering that a good fire type would help out 
tremendously.  The only problem is it's garbage, practically 
inferior to Infernape in every way.  I think Infernape is the 
better choice to go with with the league in mind, because 
unlike the other two, he’s pretty hard to replace.

Roserade: Staple grass type that can utterly kill anything not 
named the fourth or third member.  It’s absolutely necessary 
to have some type of a grass type for the second member, 
because she’s torture without the super effective hits that 
are needed to get it down the drain.

Gengar: If possible, getting a Gengar will make the league a 
whole lot easier.  Not only does this ghost killer have access 
to a wide variety of deadly special attacks, but it’s also fast,
gets levitate to block out earthquake (which, not surprisingly
, more than 12 Pokemon have), and is immune to normal and 
fighting type attacks.  Both Shadow Ball and Psychic give 
Gengar the ability to sweep out the fourth member of the 
league, while the recommended thunderbolt will give you some 
good power against a select few people otherwise resistant to 
his set.  It’s a bit risky, but on some occasions Gengar can be 
used to stall if you’re sure that nothing touches it.

Staraptor: It’s a flying type that’s immune to ground type 
attacks, pretty fast, and gets good attack ratings.  This 
Pokemon is more filler than anything else is, because more 
likely than not you chose it as your flyer.

Snorlax: This lovable beast can be caught if you’re incredibly 
lucky, and will give you some solid offensive and defensive 
capabilities.  Snorlax is a special sponge, so treating it like 
that is a good idea.  Crunch on the set if possible to mess up 
the fourth trainer.

Raichu: The electric rodent is, in my opinion at least, vastly 
superior to that lion thing.  Teach it thunderbolt and focus 
punch to watch the sparks fly.

Anyway, the aforementioned list is just a few Pokemon that I 
suggest you think about using.  In no way should you solely 
make a team out of these Pokemon.  Heck, some of them overlap 
to be quite honest.  The point is these Pokemon represent some 
of the best of their respective type, which makes them 
incredibly useful at lower levels if you’re going to attempt 
it.  If I were you, I’d try to build a team that takes 
advantage of the type chat as effectively as possible, 
because nine times out of ten it’s the only way you’ll be doing 
normal damage if you’re fighting on a lower level.  Try not to 
load up on a single attack type on one Pokemon either, variety 
is key if you’re going for a low level run.  If you’re going 
high level, then feel free to blitz them.  Just be aware that 
filling sets with the same type attacks isn’t recommended.  

With that being said, I’d like to mention that earthquake is an 
extremely dangerous move that many of the league Pokemon have 
in some way shape or form.  It will kill you in one hit, so the 
second you see one of these Pokemon that carries it make sure 
to switch out to a resistant.  The game gives the option, so 
don’t pass it up.  In this faq I’ll try to mention the Pokemon 
that carry the move, so pay attention to it.  As I said, 
though, just because I don’t mention it doesn’t mean that the 
Pokemon doesn’t have it.  Making a team to counter this move is 
in your best interest.

3.) Getting Moves Together
As hard as it is to get an effective team together, it’s almost 
always harder to get a good team with excellent movesets.  I’ve 
already said that it’s important to load your team with type 
trumping attacks, now I’ll be going over where to get those 
moves and how to plan with them.  First off, let’s go over a 
little thing I like to call stab.

Stab basically means same type attack bonus.  When a Pokemon of 
the same type as the move uses it, they’ll get a 1.5 attack 
bonus.  As you could guess, that bonus is a huge help to 
Pokemon since it gives their respective elemental attacks 
something that can do a dent, and in the Elite 4, it will 
prove pivotal to your success.  For example, Milotic is a 
water type, correct.  Well, actually it’s a giant snake, but 
that’s another story.  Anyway :p.  By giving a water type move 
like Surf to Milotic, you’ll get the same type attack bonus.  
Surf is already powerful to begin with, so with the bonus 
you’re looking at something that can absolutely kill ground 
types.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  Stab is great to use, but only in 
certain situations.  If you know that you can cover more types
with a move like ice beam, then use it over something that 
would prove weaker (such as if a Pokemon’s only learnable move 
would be water gun, don’t hesitate to scrap it for something 
more powerful).  This also means that if you’ve got an 
opportunity to do both, take it.

Something else that should probably be mentioned is a small 
list of moves to always avoid.  You should never even think 
about these moves, if only in certain, very limited, situations.

The Hyper Beams: As fun as it is to have a mega powerful 
attack, you’ll get killed on the recharge turn.  I don’t care 
how powerful of a Pokemon you have, most likely you won’t kill 
any of the Elite 4 member’s Pokemon with it in one hit, which 
would be necessary to avoid the lag.  The worst part is when 
you don’t kill, you will.  You see, in the Elite 4, especially 
in lower level runs, you run a great risk of being out-speeded 
and KOed very quickly.  Unless you have some sort of game plan,
always stay away from anything with a lag turn.

The HMs: Most of the HMs, excluding Surf, are horrible.  Once 
you get to the league, do yourself a favor and scrap any HM not 
named surf – you’ll thank yourself later.  Most of the HM moves 
come either with a lag turn or with a weak base attack power, 
which doesn’t do you any good at all.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to some move 
planning.  Every league member, excluding Cynthia, uses a 
certain type of Pokemon almost exclusively.  That basically 
means that you have a great opportunity to flatten them given 
you get the right moves on the right Pokemon.  For example, 
member number two, Bertha, is a ground/rock type master.  What 
kills those types?  Water, ice, and fighting.  That means that 
in that fight, save one or two Pokemon, you’ll use moves of 
that type to take her out.  Now, just because I say that using 
a particular move type would help, doesn’t mean that I’ll ignore 
other strategies to get rid of a league member.  If you’re 
going for a low forties run, however, take my advice and use 
the following move types for the different members.

Aaron – Fire, Psychic
Bertha – Water, Ice, Fighting
Flint – Water, Fighting
Lucian – Ghost, Dark
Cynthia – Mixed

Now, just what are the best moves to use for each respective 
type?  Below is a small list detailing what I’ve experimented 
and worked with on each trainer.  Once again, if you can find 
something better, be my guest.  The important thing is that you 
use these types for lower level runs.

Fire: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Flame Wheel, Flare Blitz
Psychic: Psychic, Extrasensory
Water: Surf, Hydro Pump, Aqua Tail
Fighting: Aura Sphere, Close Combat
Ice: Blizzard, Ice Beam
Ghost: Shadow Ball
Dark: Dark Pulse
Flying: Aerial Ace, Fly

Now comes the fun part.  Some of these moves are Tms, others 
are learned by level.  Below is a list of moves obtainable by 
Tm to the best of my knowledge.

Fire Blast – Buy
Flamethrower – Find/Buy
Psychic – Find 
Surf – HM 
Blizzard – Buy 
Ice Beam – Buy from Game Corner
Shadow Ball – Find/Buy
Dark Pulse – Find
Aerial Ace – Find 

That list basically dictates things that you’ll be able to find 
and buy.  The rest of the moves are either learned or egg.  
Some of the moves on that are on that list are more accurate 
than others, such as Flamethrower vs. Fire Blast, but more 
often than not your usage depends upon whether or not you’d 
like to take a chance.  My advice would be to play it safe 
with moves that are more accurate, because you just don’t know 
how many more turns you have to gamble.  If you’re feeling 
lucky, then you may want to go for the extra power and save 
some cash.

Now comes the hard part, putting those moves on Pokemon that 
can use them.  Please, only put special attacks on Pokemon with 
a decent special attack rating.  Putting Hydro Pump on Gyrados 
is a waste due to its horrible special attack stat.  Another 
thing that you have to worry about in DP is the special attack 
variation on moves.  You can find it in the move’s menu.  Just 
do yourself a favor and don’t stick a special attack on a 
physical attacker.

4.) Preparing for the League
In this small section, I’ll go over the various items that are 
needed, in my opinion at least, to get past the league in one 
piece.  It honestly varies depending on level, and you may have 
to do a couple more matches with various trainers to get the 
cash, but even if you are leveled, try to have what I’m putting 
out.

20 Revives: Can never get enough of these things.  They’ll come 
in later when I discuss a technique that you should be using.

30 Lemonades: They’re cheap, they’ll save you on potions, and 
they’ll make your life a whole lot easier.  They heal 80 Hp a 
pop, which is more than enough to fill what revive missed out 
on.  They’re the best healing items in the game, cheap to buy,
yet effective to use.

5 Max Revives: Why max?  They’ll come in handy when I go over 
the champion.  Every other match in the Elite 4 will be able to 
give you breaks to stall.  She, unfortunately, won’t.  That’s 
why these babies will prove invaluable when it comes to getting 
yourself prepared for her brutality.

5 Hyper Potions: These things will be used in different matches 
where you don’t have the time to sit out Lemonades.  If you’re 
careful enough, you won’t really need to worry about using 
these much.  They’re great to have as back up, and that’s why 
they are included.

Now that that’s been done, let’s go over a couple of the 
different techniques that will be put into practice when you 
go to take on the league.  The below list is what I 
specifically designed for these matches, and they may require 
you to do a bit of prep work during the match itself if you 
want to get them off.

Shielding: Ah, Shielding.  This technique is exactly what it 
states, you’re shielding with a blocker while you heal up.  
Unlike what some of you may think, this isn’t just throw out 
some useless Pokemon to go and get killed.  No, this requires 
you to bring a defensive Pokemon with Block.  Switch it in on 
something that it resists, and you’re set to shield for a 
couple of rounds to get yourself together.  This technique 
works best with Pokemon immune to earthquake, although it can 
be used at any time given you have a good Pokemon with decent 
defensive capabilities.  What are good shields?  Bronzong, 
Gengar on occasion, etc.  Just be careful with when you do it.

Switching: What good is switching?  Everything.  Switching will 
ensure you don’t get killed in five seconds.  Switching should 
be done in between matches, not in them.  I repeat, not in 
them.  At low levels, most Pokemon can’t afford to take a hit 
and then start the match.  Don’t work like that.  Just let the 
Pokemon die, and then bring in your next.

5.) The Elite 4
This is what we’ve all been waiting for, the point in which we 
finally take down those over hyped jerks.  Well, it’s time to 
get going, please try your best not to get knocked out.  When I 
list a trainer, I’ll go over their vital statistics, and then 
go into their Pokemon one at a time until they are done.  I’ll 
then give a quick summery of what should be done to get you 
past the league.

Elite 4 Member One: Aaron
Pokemon Types: Bug, Grass, Poison
Items: Two Full Restore
Pokemon: Five
Money Awarded Upon Win: 6840

Dustox – 53
Gender – Male
Strategy – Dustox will always be the Pokemon Aaron leads off 
with, and is by nature his weakest.  Dustox are generally slow, 
lack many terms of offense, and will go down quickly.  That’s 
exactly why we’ll use him to blow his full restores on.  Unlike 
no other Pokemon Aaron has, Dustox really won’t be able to give 
you many problems.  Drapion, Heracross, and especially 
Vespiquen, will.  There’s different reasons for each, but let’s 
just say that in any case this is the safest Pokemon for you to 
do it on.  Anyway, Dustox will likely fall to any fire or 
flying attack, with preference on fire being as though his 
defense is slightly higher.  Depending on your level and 
Pokemon, Fire Blast should be able to kill it in two shots.  
Flamethrower will take three.  It is generally safer to use 
flamethrower with this, as wasting Fire Blasts is not 
recommended this early on.  If you don’t have access to Fire 
(which you should), then wing attack should kill it in a 
couple of hits.  Fly is not to be used.  Most likely the only 
form of attack it will use is Bug Buzz, although on rare 
occasions it may do something else weak.

Beautifly – 53
Gender – Male
Strategy – Beautifly is the exact opposite in terms of stats 
when you compare it to Dustox.  Instead of a powerful defense, 
this thing has a stronger special defense.  Flying attacks are 
the way to go with this thing, as it will take a bunch more 
fire attacks to take this thing down.  Flame Wheel can finish 
it in two hits, but only a few Pokemon have access to it.  
Thus, wing attack or, if you desperate, fly, are the way to 
go.  Either way, you’ll most likely have this thing down in 
short order.  The only move it will really use unless provoked 
by a type trump is Silver Wind.  Silver Wind can be painful, 
which is why I tend to use Dustox to eat up his Full Heals.  He
usually leads off with this Pokemon second.

Drapion – 57
Gender – Male
Strategy – This is, without doubt, Aaron’s strongest Pokemon.  
You can’t use flying or fire attacks on this thing for the type 
trump, and being as though it can literally shred anything 
within a few seconds, only the most powerful Pokemon on your 
team should be used barring any type trump on your Pokemon.  
Drapion can and will hit you hard with a variety of moves, 
which makes it imperative that you get rid of it as quickly as 
possible.  Out of all of Aaron’s Pokemon, please don’t make the 
same mistake I did and let him heal it with his Full Restores.  
Just what can you do to take this thing out, then?  Well, I 
personally smacked it with an Earthquake from my Gyrados, which 
to me at least was the safest way to go.  It lasted two rounds 
of Earthquake in my non-testing phase.

Heracross – 54
Gender – Male
Strategy – Heracross is decently fast, has a deadly attack 
stat, and will consistently be a pain unless you take it out 
fast.  Flying moves are the way to go here, as you get a 4x 
multiplier due to its bug/fighting type.  If I were you, I’d 
seriously think about either abusing Ariel Ace or Fly for this 
fight.  Aerial Ace ensures you’ll hit it hard, and more likely 
than not will take him out in two rounds, possibly one if you 
luck out with a critical.  You can go the fire route for this 
fight, but please, only use Fire Blast as you can’t afford to 
sit on him with the way that he’ll be hitting you.

Vespiquen – 54
Gender – Female
Strategy – Normally, I’d say that this match would be a piece 
of cake.  Really, the only move it constantly uses is Power 
Gem, a rather weak attack that won’t be able to do much at 
all.  One problem – it has pressure for a trait.  Because of 
that, you can’t afford to be throwing out moves needless.  Pick 
the attacks that will hit it hard and hurt it the most, because 
if not, it will make you eat up much of your PP before you know 
it, forcing you to use a precious either that you may or may 
not have.  Flying moves such as Aerial Ace get the job done 
quickly enough, because barring pressure the only real thing 
this bee has going for it is its attack and special defense.  
Nothing big, really.  Just make sure not to needless waste 
anything that you don’t have to.  If you don’t have Aerial Ace, 
then sticking to Flamethrower is in your best interest.  Why?  
Because Fire Blast has only 5 PP, which is relative garbage 
when you’re taking out two per turn and more likely than not 
you’ll be taking two to get rid of it.

Just from the above descriptions, you can already tell Aaron’s 
a pain to get rid of.  He almost always leads off with Dustox, 
and then goes into his Beautifly.  After that, it’s really up 
in the air as to what he does next.  Some matches will have him 
use Drapion (which is literally heck if you haven’t blown his 
Full Restores yet), while others have him taking his Heracross 
for a spin.  He almost always uses Vespiquen for last, although
on rare occasions I caught Drapion being his last Pokemon 
(which is what you pray for).  All in all, Fire and Flying are 
the way to go for this match.

Elite 4 Member Two: Bertha
Pokemon Types: Water, Ground, Rock
Items: Two Full Restore
Pokemon: Five
Money Awarded Upon Win: 7,080

Quagsire – 55
Gender – Female
Strategy – Quagsire is probably one of the most annoying 
Pokemon in this fight.  Why?  It leads off with Protect, and 
then begins to make you blow turns by using Dig.  Both eat up 
your PP, while Dig does a very large amount of damage if you 
let that thing go unabated.  Luckily, it’s decently slow, so 
hitting it first shouldn’t be that hard of a problem.  Quagsire 
is 4x weak against grass, so anything in that attack type 
should take it out within a turn or two.  If you don’t have 
that (which you should), then you may be wise to take out 
Earthquake on it while it’s underground – you’ll damage it 
badly and force it out.  Quagsire, depending on who you’re 
using, would probably be the safest Pokemon to let her blow 
her full restores on.  The next Pokemon may be, but in that 
match, you can’t go ahead and smack it while it’s underground.

Sudowoodo – 56
Gender – Female
Strategy – Sudowoodo is probably the only other safe Pokemon 
to let Bertha blow her Full Restores on, because everyone from 
here on out can and will make you life miserable.  Sudowoodo 
knows a couple of fighting type attacks, which luckily will do 
very little to a grass type.  It’s rock, so fighting will also 
damage it considerably if you have something along the lines of
Close Combat or Aura Sphere.  Close Combat is incredibly risky 
to use in a situation such as this, because the match is still 
rather early and the stat drops can be a real pain depending on 
the Pokemon you’re using (more likely than not it will be 
either Infernape or Lucario that has it, in which case either 
way they’ll both get a OHKO on the spot.

Hippowdon – 59
Gender – Female
Strategy – This is where the battle gets nasty.  Unless you 
have a steel or ground/rock type Pokemon on the field, Sand 
Stream will be taking off a good chunk of your HP at the end of
each round, and that’s something that you can’t afford.  The 
worst part is you’ll have to deal with it for the remainder of 
the match, which can be a pain in the long run unless by some 
miracle you found a leftovers or shell bell in your journeys 
(shell bell most likely).  Hippowdon is your first real problem 
Pokemon that you’ll encounter in the league.  Everyone bar 
Drapion (which even that wasn’t that big of a deal), has been 
rather easy up until this point.  What makes Hippowdon as much 
of a threat as it is is its durability.  More likely than not 
it will survive several hits from even an ice type attack, 
which trumps it.  Both water and grass do 4x damage, so please, 
do yourself a favor and get rid of this guy as quickly as 
possible with them.  Any water attack along the lines of Surf 
or Aqua Tail will do fine, with Grass Knot practically 
guaranteeing you a OHKO thanks to that fat thing’s weight.  Be 
careful, Hippowdon knows and will most likely exclusively use 
Earthquake, although on occasion you may get a nasty Stone Edge 
from it.

Golem – 56
Gender – Female
Strategy – Golem, unlike Hippowdon, really has a hideous 
special defense stat.  Know what that means?  Roast turtle.  
Ice type attacks murder it, with grass and water type attacks 
practically guaranteeing you the KO.  Be sure to use a special 
attack, and its defense will last it out a move or two should 
you not KO it.  Golem knows Earthquake and Stone Edge, both of 
which it will throw into the mix depending on the type trump.  
On a side note, you’re more likely than not still dealing with 
Sand Stream’s annoying affects, so be sure to heal up when 
necessary.

Whiscash – 55
Gender – Female
Strategy – Whiscash should be basic mop up after having to deal 
with Golem and Hippowdon.  It has a 4x weakness to grass, which 
you should exploit upon meeting it.  It still knows Earthquake, 
and that extra water type guarantees that you’ll be in for a 
match unless you can exploit the aforementioned weakness.  If 
you don’t have grass (which please to god you should), then 
using a basic power move to chip at it will be in order.

Bertha, unlike Aaron, is a nasty person all around to face.  
Aaron gave you rests for the first two Pokemon, she’s dangerous 
even in her beginning stages.  Be sure to make her blow her 
Full Restores on either Sudowoodo or Quagsire, because anything 
after that will ensure you a long match that you can’t afford 
to fight at the moment.  Hippowdon, in my many tests, almost 
always was used as her third Pokemon, with Golem as her 
fourth.  Keep that in mind when you’re healing.

Elite 4 Member Three: Flint
Pokemon Types: Fire, Fighting, Normal, Steel, Ghost, Ground
Items: Three Full Restore
Pokemon: Five
Money Awarded Upon Win: 7,320

Rapidash – 58
Gender – Male
Strategy – This is what Flint usually leads off with.  I’ll put 
this bluntly – Rapidash is utterly garbage.  It’ll blow off a 
Sunny Day on occasion, partially protecting it from water 
attacks, but even that still doesn’t help it.  It is fast, 
however, so keep that in mind.  Ground is the best way to go 
with this thing, particularly Earthquake if possible.  One 
thing I really want you to notice is the spike in levels.  
It’ll only get worse after this, so be on guard.  Rapidash is 
the best Pokemon out of Flint’s arsenal to make him blow his 
Full Restores on, which is exactly why you should take 
advantage of the opportunity.  

Infernape – 61
Gender – Male
Strategy – Yet again, the levels keep on going up and up and 
up.  Infernape is Flint’s danger Pokemon, because it’s fast, 
has incredibly high attack, and knows a bunch of moves that 
will make your life miserable.  Most notable is Mach Punch.  
What’s so bad about that, though?  It goes first.  In a league 
full of chances for you to go first and possibly avoid damage, 
this thing will go first and likely get a OHKO on anything that 
doesn’t have a great defense stat because of the nasty fighting 
STAB it has.  Please, do not let him use Full Restores on this 
thing.  The longer the fight goes, the more likely this thing 
will be to sweep your team – literally.

Lopunny – 57
Gender – Male
Strategy – Fighting will kill this pathetic thing in one or two 
hits.  The only reason why you shouldn’t wait for this thing to 
pop up to let him blow his Full Restores is because it’s 
usually his third Pokemon – right after the Infernape – that’ll 
make your life miserable.  It knows Charm, which lowers attack, 
so if your hit make sure to either keep smacking it or switch 
out.  Very rarely will this thing actually do damage, at which 
point you’ll still be in for an easy time.  There is one small 
problem, though, this thing usually has the ability to come 
in – and he’ll switch it out for some reason when it’s in 
danger.  You have a free hit, but the resulting Pokemon can 
prove disastrous.  Fighting is the way to go, any strong attack 
to target that weak defense if not.

Steelix – 57
Gender – Male
Strategy – Steelix is only dangerous of you let it be, because 
if your smart you’ll smack it with a strong ground attack 
before it has the opportunity to do any serious damage to 
you.  It does know Earthquake, which is why I strongly suggest 
you stay away from using a fire type Pokemon in this round, 
even if you do get to type trump it.  It has a pretty high 
defense rating, and his steel typing affords him some 
resistances, so be careful at any rate.  Fighting still gives 
you a nice weakness to hit.

Drifblim – 58
Gender – Male
Strategy – It’s a ghost type, so if that’s any inclination at 
all, you’re in for a long fight unless by some miracle you have 
the ability to smack it quickly with something that will hurt 
it.  My advice is to stick with a strong offense, as it has 
very few weaknesses for you to pick easily enough on.  Drifblim 
has a nasty trait, aftermath, which will do a great deal of 
damage upon its defeat.  Be ready for some healing afterwards.  
Fire is usually what I used to get rid of it, particularly a 
physical type to target that defense.  If not, any move that 
hits ghost and is physical should do well enough, just be ready 
for a long match.

Flint is someone that gives you your first great taste of a 
mixing trainer in the Elite 4.  He has several types at his 
disposal, and his habit of switching out that annoying Lopunny 
gives you a really good reason to always be on guard.  Nothing 
in this match will really give you that bad of a time, save 
Infernape.  Everything else is basically waiting out until it 
falls.  Just be sure to make him blow his Full Restores on the 
Rapidash, because it’s all down hill from there.

Elite 4 Member Four: Lucian
Pokemon Types: Psychic, Fighting, Dark, Steel
Items: Three Full Restore
Pokemon: Five
Money Awarded Upon Win: 7,560

Mr. Mime – 59
Gender – Male
Strategy – Contrary to popular belief, this is exactly the 
Pokemon you want to avoid letting sit for a while while he 
blows his Full Restores.  Why?  Because it will put up light 
screens that will make your life miserable for the rest of the 
match.  Hit it with a strong Ghost or Dark type move like 
either Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse respectively.  Shadow Ball is 
preferred for this match, as it has a good chance of lowering 
Special Defense while doing a very great amount of damage to 
anything.  Give it to a Ghost type and watch the sparks fly.  
Mr. Mime also knows Psychic, which can be a problem depending 
on who your using.

Medicham – 60
Gender – Male
Strategy – This is the Pokemon you want to let him blow his 
full restores on, because even with Pure Power – which will 
do a big amount of damage – you’ll still be in a relative 
green zone because you can take it out on whim.  Ghost is 
much better for an attack type than Dark is, because the 
fighting side of Medicham will protect it from Dark type 
attacks.  Other than that, Medicham is a decently fast 
Pokemon that will hit decently hard while you sit it out.  
Just heal and beat respectively and you’ll come out on top.  
On a side note, this thing usually comes out second, although 
a much worse alternative of Girafarig bares chance.  If that’s 
the case, shut off your game and restart right before him – 
it’s not worth the struggle that that thing will cause.  
Medicham is the “Safe” choice for the second match, even 
though you may or may not be better rested for it at this 
point.  Either way, be careful when stalling this thing.

Alakazam – 60
Gender – Male
Strategy – Alakazam is what Lucian usually uses as his third 
Pokemon, meaning that you may or may not want to use it as your 
buffer zone for the rest of the match (worse comes to worse you 
decided to fight it out with the Girafarig in the last round, 
this will be your time to heal up.  If you are going to heal 
up, simply putting a psychic type out will more than compensate 
for any damage that it causes.).  Now that that’s out of the 
way, let’s look at its stats.  Alakazam comes at level 60, and 
just loves to beat you down with psychic, it’s most dangerous 
move.  In general, it’s probably all that it will use save the 
rare deviation, which basically means that you’ll have only a 
little bit of a problem if you have a good psychic shield up.  
Ghost works well if you can OHKO it with the SE hit.  If you 
can’t, than a good dark type is the way to go.  Either way, 
physical hits if possible due to its low defense.

Girafarig – 59
Gender – Male
Strategy – This is Lucian’s danger Pokemon.  Why is it his 
danger Pokemon?  Because you can’t go the normal way with 
psychic or ghost attacks.  Girafarig knows both Psychic and 
Crunch, giving it complete type trumping on both of the types 
that would otherwise due to trumping take it out.  The only 
good way how to take this thing out would be to just hit it 
with the best moves that you have.  Either way, a good wall 
that can slowly whittle it down would work fantastic here, as 
this is one of those rare instances here where brute strength 
may prove to backfire.  If he appears second, you more likely 
than not will get a Full Restore unless you took my advice and 
shut off of it appears.  You do not want a bad situation with 
this thing, because it’s strong enough to cause enough havoc 
that you’ll be too weak to take out the final Pokemon on his 
team.

Bronzong – 63
Gender – --
Strategy – Bronzong is probably one of the nastiest Pokemon 
in the league, simply because you’re most likely weakened 
from that last brawl with that stupid giraffe.  If you were 
smart and popped up your team before fighting it, then you’ll 
most likely have at least two Pokemon around to either shield 
or be ready to heal with.  What makes Bronzong as interesting 
as it is is it carries both some nasty special and physical 
moves – most notably Earthquake.  Earthquake will end your 
game here, because even with Bronzong’s low attack you’ll 
still not be able to take more than two hits from it.  If 
you’re lucky, it will spend a couple of turns pumping itself
up with Calm Minds.  That’s the point in which you either 
heal or attack it without remorse, because you need to be able 
to take it down now or at least be ready to when it stops.  
More likely than not it will use Gyro Ball once it’s finished 
Calm Minding, a move that isn’t really as much of a threat as 
it is an annoyance.  Better than Earthquake, at least.  The 
best way to go hear would be a physical fire more.  Flame Wheel 
works wonders, while if you did a ton of training with an 
Infernape you may have Flare Blitz.  Flame Wheel is the safe 
choice, though.  Anyway, if you can’t do that, then either 
dark or ghost type attack will work, Crunch being ideal for a 
physical dark type while Shadow Ball giving you some power 
before it gets the wise idea to use Calm Mind.  One more 
thing, it has levitate as a trait, so no Earthquake for 
you.

All in all, Lucian is a nasty opponent that will cause some 
problems for you depending on the order that he sends his 
Pokemon out.  Don’t let Mr. Mime get those walls up early, 
because once it does it’s curtains for a long time.  Girafarig 
needs to come out in the fourth position, and you need to make 
sure to heal on Alakazam to ensure you’ll have two Pokemon left 
for the menace named Bronzong.  Depending on what you use, 
either attack it early or wait it out and heal.

Elite 4 Champion: Cynthia
Pokemon Types: Ghost, Grass, Poison, Ground, Dragon, Water, 
Steel, Fighting
Items: Four Full Restore
Pokemon: Six
Money Awarded Upon Win: 13,200

Spiritomb – 61
Gender – Female
Strategy – Well, this is what we’ve all been waiting for, 
the champion match with Cynthia.  You’re in for one heck of a 
fight, so be sure to heal up before time and get ready to 
rumble.  Cynthia always opens up with Spiritomb, a Pokemon 
that has no weakness whatsoever for us to exploit.  If you 
want, you can go ahead and smack it with your strongest 
attacks.  If you’re smart, though, you’ll go ahead and 
beat up on it with status altering moves like Toxic or 
Burn that will at least slow it down a bit while you chip 
away at it.  It’s recommended that you take this thing down 
quickly, as it can do quite a bit of damage if you leave it 
unattended to.  More likely than not it will go last, so feel 
free to do what you want to do in your rounds.

Roserade – 60
Gender – Female
Strategy – This is the most crucial round of the fight.  If 
she doesn’t put this thing out in this order, shut off the 
game and restart.  You need this thing to come out second, 
because trust me, it’s probably the only Pokemon that she 
has that’s safe for you to make her blow her full restores 
on – and that’s not saying much.  Roserade knows a couple 
of powerful moves, notably Toxic and Extrasensory.  For 
those of you who don’t know what Extrasensory does, it 
basically does decent damage and gives Roserade a chance 
for the flinch.  Funny part is it makes you flinch much 
more often than it should.  With that being said, fire moves 
work wonders here, although psychic will get you the 4x damage 
multiplier thanks to the poison/grass type that this Pokemon 
entails.  Ice is also another option, Ice Beam in particular.  
Please, make sure to heal all you can on this Pokemon if you’ve 
been damage a lot, because the next is a nightmare.

Garchomp – 66
Gender – Female
Strategy – You had better have an ice move for this fight, 
because to be quite honest, you won’t win without it unless 
you can get lucky with a critical.  I can’t stress enough the 
importance if making her blow her Full Restores on Roserade, 
because if she doesn’t, then she’ll most certainly use them 
here.  You can not afford to have a drawn out match with this 
thing, because the longer it goes on, the more casualties 
you’ll take.  Garchomp can type trump a ton of types, and it 
gets even worse being as though it liberally switches between 
them with the changing of your Pokemon.  Earthquake is the move 
you really don’t want to see, because she gets STAB on it 
making it hurt like crazy.  It’s a basic OHKO thanks to 
Garchomp’s massive attack stat.  Dragon Rush is another move 
that it uses often, and since it is a Dragon Type move, you can 
basically see it doing a rounded damage base to every Pokemon 
in the game barring Steel, which it will promptly hit with 
Earthquake.  The big move that you want to see, even if it is 
a guaranteed KO, is Giga Impact.  Giga Impact has an insane 
base power, but along with that, it also make Garchomp take a 
turn out of reload.  That’s your chance, because once it’s 
ready, it will begin to pound you.  If you don’t have any ice 
moves (which you should), then Close Combats can take off about 
a quarter of its HP bar – just expect to be Koed soon after.

Gastrodon – 60
Gender – Female
Strategy – After Garchomp, Gastrodon is basic mop-up as long 
as you have the ability to safely dispense of its Earthquake. 
A simple grass type attack is all that’s needed to make this 
thing cry, as it gives you a 4x multiplier on your attack due 
to Gastrodon’s incredible typing.  Other than that, it only 
knows Sludge Bomb and Muddy Water, which basically gives you a 
safe time through.

Lucario – 63
Gender – Male
Strategy – There are two things that Lucario dislikes.  
Earthquake, and Fire Blast.  Both of those moves will rip 
into its pitiful defenses and make this match a simple one-two-
three.  If it does get a move off on you, it will most likely 
be Aura Sphere.  It’s a fighting type attack, so plan 
accordingly.  This thing is pretty fast, so make sure to be 
ready to try and get around that with a good move.  At this 
time, she shouldn’t have any Full Restores left, so just go 
agro on it to finish things up.

Milotic – 63
Gender – Female
Strategy – Please, please, please don’t mess up on this 
Pokemon, especially after all we’ve been through.  Milotic 
has Marvel Scale, so stat altering moves are a big no no in 
this fight.  Milotic is a darn tank, and on top of that, it 
usually has Aqua Ring up within the first round.  Aqua Ring 
slowly heals its HP, making the fight a long one if you don’t 
plan well.  It will primarily be using Surf, which from 
experience is a great move to have on your side – but not on 
the enemies.  For their own pleasure, they decided to give 
Milotic Mirror Coat.  You know what that means?  Instant KO if 
you use a special attack on it.  Really.  That thing has so 
much HP that even if it looks like you didn’t take a ton off, 
you still did.  Grass Knot, although special, will be more than 
good enough to take a nice chunk out of its Hp if you’re 
willing to blow a revive.  If not, best attacks for this, we’ve 
got nothing left to fight.

All in all, Cynthia’s a world ahead of the other trainers 
here.  Her attacks hurt, she doesn’t give you many heal turns, 
and worst of all, her Pokemon are usually fast enough to hit 
hard.  Remember what I said about those Max Revives?  Use them 
here.  Don’t wait for those stupid revives, you don’t have time 
for that.  Five should be more than enough to take you through 
this match.  Also, blow your Hyper Potions here as well, 
they’ll help out greatly.

6.) Conclusion
So there you have it, a complete guide to beating the Elite 
4.  Many hours were spent fighting the Elite 4 over and over 
again to get the data necessary to complete this, so I hope 
you got something out of it.  Thanks be to God for what’s been 
done, because without him, I would have been way over my head 
with this one.

7.) Legal
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except 
for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site 
or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written 
permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a 
part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a 
violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are 
owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.

Copyright 2007 @ EJR