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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on Nintendo Switch give fans the opportunity to jump back into the Sinnoh region, and there are plenty of trainers to face. After you’ve battled your way through Sinnoh and collected every gym badge, it’s time to face the Elite Four.

The Sinnoh Elite Four is famously tough, with competitive move-sets and great hold items, but they’re not impossible. Want to know how to beat them? Check out our guide below...

How to beat the Elite Four in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Aaron

  • Dustox Lv.53
  • Heracross Lv.54
  • Vespiqueen Lv.54
  • Beautifly Lv.53
  • Draipon Lv.57

Aaron is the first of the Elite Four you’ll face each time you begin a run against the group. Sporting powerful Bug-type Pokémon, he’ll attempt to weaken the player early by using status moves in order to drain your HP and use up your items.

Bring a solid Fire-type in order to deal with most of the team. Aaron is the simplest to defeat for the Elite Four, but he can still trip you up if you’re unprepared.

Bertha

  • Quagsire Lv.55
  • Hippowdon Lv.59
  • Sudowoodo Lv.57
  • Whiscash Lv.55
  • Golem Lv.56

Bertha, the oldest member of the Elite Four, is a powerful trainer that desires to be defeated so that the younger generation can prove themselves. Her team have a wide variety of types covered, and boast a lot of health, so it may be worth keeping a good generalist Pokémon on your team, just to take down Bertha.

If you’re playing Shining Pearl, we found Palkia with Surf to be a very effective Pokémon to use, especially if combined with the Lustrous Orb, which can be found in the Spear Pillar.

Flint

  • Rapidash Lv58
  • Inferanape Lv.61
  • Steelix Lv57
  • Lopunny Lv57
  • Drifblim Lv.58

Flint is a good friend of Volkner, the final Gym Leader, and is a tough test in the mid-stage of the Elite Four challenge. Using a combination of Fire-types and Steel-types, Flint is tricky to take down, though trainers who picked the Water-type starter, Piplup, will find themselves with a much easier time.

Avoid burns here, as you still have two intense battles to go before you can declare yourself Champion. Like with Bertha, Palkia is extremely effective here, one-hit-KOing many of the Pokémon on the team.

Lucian

  • Mr Mime Lv.59
  • Girafarif Lv.59
  • Medicham Lv.60
  • Alakazam Lv.60
  • Bronzong Lv.63

The final member of the Elite Four before the Champion, Lucian’s team consists of some of the strongest Psychic-type Pokémon in the game. Hard-hitting, status inflicting moves are throughout Lucian’s repertoire, so we recommend ending this battle as quickly as possible, and retaining as many healing items as you can, before facing your toughest challenge.

Lucian is probably the first time you’ll get extremely stuck. Starting with Mr Mime, Lucian uses a lot of defensive moves that reduce your damage. Here we found Luxray an effective all-rounder, especially when equipped with Dark-type moves. Make sure you retain some healing items and Full Heals after this battle, as it’s time to face the biggest challenge in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Champion Cynthia

  • Spiritomb Lv.61
  • Garchomp Lv.66
  • Gastrodon Lv.60
  • Milotic Lv.63
  • Roserade Lv60
  • Lucario Lv63.

Cynthia is the Elite Four Champion and one of the toughest trainers in the history of Pokémon. After helping the player throughout their journey, she’s your final battle before you can call yourself the Pokémon League Champion. This famously tough team requires a large variety of types in order to counter Cynthia’s strategy.

She’ll start with a Spiritomb, which doesn’t have many counters, but we recommend a Gardevoir equipped with some Fairy-moves to handle it. Cynthia will often switch out Spiritomb if you don’t knock it out fast enough, so make sure you’re hitting it hard.

Roserade is simple, use your fire type for what should be a one-hit KO. Gastrodon is weak top grass-type, so either your starter, if you chose Turtwig, or something like a Roserade is a good idea. Garchomp is weak to Ice and Fairy, so if you’ve chosen to use Gardevoir for Spiritomb, she’ll be useful again here.

Lucario hits extremely hard, so make sure you have a fire-type with something like Flamethrower in order to deal with it in one or two turns.

Milotic is probably the Pokémon that caused you to look up this guide. Tons of health, regenerative moves, and Marvel Scale, an ability that boosts its defence if it has a status condition. Milotic is a huge pain. Our best bet was to hit it with Electric-type moves with Luxray until it finally goes down.


After that, you’ve done it. You’re the Elite Four Champion. Enjoy! You’ll never have to fight that Milotic again!... unless you come back for the Elite Four rematch.

This article is part of our Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl walkthrough and guide series, which includes every version-exclusive Pokémon in each version of the game, advice on the best Sinnoh starter Pokémon to choose, and all the old and new Pokétch Apps, plus how to get specific Pokémon such as Mew and Jirachi, Rilou and Lucario, Manaphy and Phione, Arceus, Eevee, Leafeon And Glaceon, Cresselia, Rotom, Ditto, Spiritomb, Heatran, Regigigas, and — of course — the mighty Feebas.

We also cover how to catch 17 Legendaries in Ramanas Park, where to find the Defog HM and chain catching (or how to increase your chances of catching Shiny Pokémon), plus how to earn money fast, how to beat the Elite Four, how the Trophy Garden works, and how to get the DS sounds and Catching Charm. We also have a full and updated list of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Mystery Gift codes, plus we tell you how to unlock the Mystery Gift function, too.

And finally, Where to Buy Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on Nintendo Switch, if for some reason you haven't yet picked up the game!