Best Team To Beat The Elite Four

In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, one of the main objectives is for players to beat the Elite Four after collecting all eight gym badges and become Champion of the Sinnoh region. Each member of the Elite Four specializes in a specific type of Pokémon, making it difficult to even use the best competitive team in Pokémon BDSP against them.

Although the Pokémon of the Elite Four trainers in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the same as the teams used in the original Diamond and Pearl, players should be aware of several changes. Some Pokémon have received updated move pools, making them harder to both defeat and defend against.

The player in Pokemon BDSP meeting their rival for the first time

How To Reset Pokémon BDSP And Start Over

Reset Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl to start the journey across Sinnoh over once more. Beat the game again with new Pokémon.

Pokémon BDSP Elite Four Overview

Who Are The Elite Four & How To Prepare

The Sinnoh Elite Four as seen in Pokémon BDSP with a poké ball in the center.

To put together the best Pokémon team to defeat the Elite Four, it’s essential first to know which type of Pokémon each member specializes in, which Pokémon they’ll be using, and their held items. The members of the Elite Four are Aaron, Bertha, Flint, and Lucian.

Additionally, the current Champion you will face after defeating the Elite Four is Cynthia and her signature Garchomp. Note that their teams will be updated for rematches after facing and defeating the Elite Four for the first time.

Players should expect every Elite Four member to have Pokémon built for competitive battles like the kind you would see in online tournaments against other players
. Additionally, the Champion of the Elite Four, Cynthia, uses various Pokémon types, and each has moves to cover their weaknesses and utilize their strengths, so don’t approach these battles lightly.

Aaron is a Bug-type Pokémon user and has a variety of species that focus more and more on Attack stat power over each rematch. Bertha uses some of the best competitive Ground-type Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, a few of which are dual Water- and Ground-type.

Flint specializes in Fire-type Pokémon, though the first time trainers face him, he’ll only be using two Fire-type Pokémon, in addition to Steelix, Drifblim, and Lopunny. Lucian uses a mix of dual psychic types and fully uses each Pokémon’s versatile move pool.

The champion, Cynthia, has an all-star team featuring Pokémon like Garchomp and Lucario, which will expand to include Togekiss and Porygon-Z in rematches. In addition to the changes made after your initial victory against the Elite Four.

Once you either beat or find and catch Heatran in Pokémon BDSP, the Elite Four will have even more new Pokémon included on their teams. So, naturally, the new rematch teams will also be higher leveled than they were during the first match, and the post-Heatran team is even higher leveled than that.

Aaron’s Pokémon Lineup in BDSP

Everything To Expect Against The Bug-Type Member

Aaron’s Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl lineup includes some of the best competitive Bug-type Pokémon in BDSP:

Team	Pokémon	Move Set	Held Item
Original (First Encounter)	Dustox	Toxic Bug Buzz Moonlight Light Screen	Black Sludge
	Beautifly	Bug Buzz Shadow Ball Psychic Quiver Dance	Wise Glasses
	Vespiquen	Acrobatics (Power Gem in rematches) Attack Order Defend Order Aerial Ace	Sitrus Berry
	Heracross	Earthquake Rock Slide Facade Brick Break	Flame Orb
	Drapion	Cross Poison Night Slash Earthquake X-Scissor	Scope Lens
First Rematch	Yanmega	Bug Buzz Air Slash Detect Ancient Power	Wise Glasses
First Rematch	Scizor	Bullet Punch X-Scissor Night Slash Swords Dance	Occa Berry
Second Rematch	Flygon	Dragon Pulse Earth Power Boomburst Bug Buzz	Wise Glasses

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Bertha’s Pokémon Lineup in BDSP

Everything To Expect Against The Ground-Type Member

The Pokémon Bertha uses in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl includes Mamoswine, one of the best competitive Ice-type Pokémon in BDSP:

Team	Pokémon	Move Set	Held Item
Original (First Encounter)	Quagsire	Recover Toxic Earthquake Surf	Leftovers
	Sudowoodo	Double-Edge Head Smash Sucker Punch Low Kick	Sitrus Berry
	Golem	Rock Polish Heavy Slam Earthquake Stone Edge	Soft Sand
	Whiscash	Bulldoze (Earthquake in rematches) Ice Beam Belch (Zen Headbutt in rematches) Hydro Pump (Scald in rematches)	Rindo Berry
	Hippowdon	Ice Fang Earthquake Crunch Rest	Chesto Berry
First Rematch	Gliscor	Earthquake Thunder Fang Guillotine X-Scissor	Sitrus Berry
First Rematch	Rhyperior	Earthquake Rock Wrecker Megahorn Thunder Fang	Muscle Band
Second Rematch	Mamoswine	Earthquake Icicle Spear Ice Shard Double-Edge	Never-Melt
Second Rematch	Nidoking	Sludge Bomb Earth Power Thunderbolt Ice Beam	Life Orb

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Flint’s Pokémon Lineup in BDSP

Everything To Expect From The Fire-Type Member

A list of the stickers the Sinnoh Elite Four member Flint uses in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Naturally, Flint uses some of the best competitive Fire-type Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Team	Pokémon	Move Set	Held Item
Original (First Encounter)	Rapidash	Flame Charge (Flare Blitz in rematches) Iron Tail Poison Jab Hypnosis	Wide Lens
	Steelix	Thunder Fang Fire Fang Iron Tail Crunch	Life Orb
	Drifblim	Strength Sap Minimize Baton Pass Will-O-Wisp	Sitrus Berry
	Lopunny	Mirror Coat High Jump Kick Quick Attack Fire Punch	Leftovers
	Infernape	Fire Punch Thunder Punch Close Combat Mach Punch	Focus Sash
First Rematch	Houndoom	Flamethrower Dark Pulse Destiny Bond Nasty Plot	Wise Glasses
	Flareon	Flare Blitz Flair Will-O-Wisp Quick Attack	Sitrus Berry
	Magmortar	Fire Blast Thunderbolt Focus Blast Psychic	Lum Berry
Second Rematch	Ninetails	Flamethrower Solar Beam Hypnosis Nasty Plot	Heat Rock
Second Rematch	Arcanine	Flare Blitz Play Rough Close Combat Extreme Speed	Shuca Berry

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Lucian’s Pokémon Lineup in BDSP

Everything To Expect From The Psychic-Type Member

Elite Four member Lucian as shown in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Including some of the best competitive Psychic-type Pokémon in BDSP, these are the Pokémon Lucian employs:

Team	Pokémon	Move Set	Held Item
Original (First Encounter)	Mr. Mime	Light Screen, Reflect, Psychic, Dazzling Gleam	Light Clay
	Girafarig	Light Screen, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Trick Room	Mental Herb
	Medicham	Zen Headbutt, High Jump Kick, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch	Muscle Band
	Alakazam	Nasty Plot, Psychic, Future Sight, Shock Wave	Life Orb
	Bronzong	Gyro Ball, Earthquake, Payback, Trick Room (Rock Slide in rematches)	Sitrus Berry
First Rematch	Espeon	Psychic, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball, Light Screen	Mental Herb
First Rematch	Gallade	Close Combat, Psycho Cut, Poison Jab, Shadow Sneak	Sitrus Berry
Second Rematch	Slowbro	Scald, Psychic, Flamethrower, Slack Off	Leftovers

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Cynthia’s Pokémon Lineup in BDSP

Everything To Expect Against The BDSP Champion

A list of the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia's stickers in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Combining some of the most powerful Fairy-, Normal-, and competitive Dragon-type Pokémon in BDSP, these are the Pokémon Cynthia battles with:

Team	Pokémon	Move Set	Held Item
Original (First Encounter)	Spiritomb	Shadow Ball Dark Pulse Psychic (Will-O-Wisp in rematches) Sucker Punch	Sitrus Berry
	Roserade	Dazzling Gleam Shadow Ball Sludge Bomb Energy Ball	Expert Belt
	Gastrodon	Scald Earthquake Sludge Bomb Rock Tomb	Leftovers
	Lucario	Aura Sphere Dragon Pulse Flash Cannon Nasty Plot (Psychic in rematches)	Wise Glasses
	Milotic	Recover Mirror Coat Ice Beam Scald	Flame Orb
	Garchomp	Dragon Claw Earthquake Swords Dance Poison Jab	Yache Berry
First Rematch	Togekiss	Air Slash Dazzling Gleam Aura Sphere Thunder Wave	Leftovers
Second Rematch	Porygon-Z	Hyper Beam Shadow Ball Ice Beam Thunderbolt	Expert Belt

Split image showing Cynthia holding a Pokeball and Cynthia with Garchomp in Pokémon BDSP

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The Best Team to Defeat the Elite Four

A Complete Guide To Victory Road

To beat the Elite Four and Cynthia, players will need to use versatile Pokémon like Lucario and a few other great options to help balance out the matches. Unlike competitive battles, trainers can use Legendary Pokémon like Dialga and Palkia on their team if they choose to.

Their high stats alone make them great additions to any team, but especially when facing the Elite Four. Unfortunately, players won’t have access to every TM by the time they reach the Elite Four on the first go-round, making your move sets a bit more limited.

However, as long as you plan to counter the Elite Four’s strengths mentioned above, this shouldn’t be a problem. For example, players should consider bringing along an Empoleon or Palkia in Pokémon Shining Pearl to counter the Ground- and Fire-type Pokémon. Depending on which Pokémon are available in their version, players should consider using the following Pokémon to defeat the Elite Four and Cynthia in Pokémon BDSP:

Lucario
Garchomp
Togekiss, Honchkrow, or Staraptor
Infernape, Empoleon, or Torterra
Snorlax
Magnezone
Palkia or Dialga

Finally, for the post-game rematches, players should consider adding or swapping in the following Pokémon to their team:

Heatran
Dragonite
Tyranitar
Scizor
Metagross
Latios
Latias

As for the particular move sets, these will depend on what you have available. Remember that with proper strategy, you won’t need to go out of your way for any one specific TM to make a difference. As long as you counter appropriately and play to your opponent’s weakness, you should have no problem conquering Victory Road in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

Source: YouTube/Austin John Plays