In the Pokemon series, the Elite Four serves as the final test of a trainer's skill and preparation. Trainers must navigate five tough battles, locked into only six Pokemon, and with only the healing items they've got on hand. A well-rounded team composition can handle many of these battles, but modern Elite Four designs give the members plenty of utility and tools to dispatch their bad matchups. Skill can only get one so far.
Preparation truly matters for the Elite Four. Bringing a slap-dash team of close companions can be exciting, but a well-composed team can make the Elite Four a breeze. Especially in games like Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, where the Elite Four is rather formidable, taking in some ace Pokemon can help turn the tides in the player's favor. No one Pokemon will dispatch them all, but there are some that will make it significantly easier.
Sinnoh's Elite Four: An Overview
The Elite Four themselves aren't too challenging. Each member has a type they prefer, and their team is built around enabling that type as much as possible. However, the limited Pokemon variety of the Sinnoh dex greatly limits their potential. Aaron, for example, uses a rather weak collection of Bug-type Pokemon, leading with a laughable Dustox and Beautifly. The other three have a similar issue, although they aren't nearly as handicapped as Aaron.
Despite that, each Elite Four has at least one Pokemon that will need to be answered for. Aaron's Guts/Flame Orb Heracross has an incredibly strong moveset. Bertha's Hippowdon is a behemoth and brings Rest for recovery. Flint's Infernape packs the right amount of coverage and sheer power to keep it safe. Lucian's Medicham and Alakazam both provide issues as well, but aren't too bad.
The real test comes in the battle against Cynthia. She's notorious for a reason: all of her Pokemon are competitively viable, and she brings good held items and movesets to enable them. When building a team for the Elite Four, Cynthia's Garchomp will need to be answered for, lest it sweep the player's team with the support of Cynthia's infinite supply of Full Restores. Some Pokemon recommended will be here specifically because of how they deal with the other members, but Cynthia is the main concern.
8 The Iron Snake, Steelix
Steelix is a rather easy to obtain Pokemon. At the back of Iron Island, Steelix can be found rather easily in the wild, circumventing the need to trade evolve an Onix. From the get-go, Steelix is a formidable ally. It boasts solid offense and impenetrable defense, making it an easy match-up against the physical threats of the Elite Four. It also gets access to a surprisingly wide movepool and the all-important Stealth Rocks.
When building a Steelix, it can be built as an offensive threat or a defensive wall. The Sturdy ability allows it to take a hit from an unexpected special attack while at full HP. Meanwhile, its other potential ability, Rock Head, allows players to use Double-Edge without fear of recoil. A solid Steelix can make quick work of Aaron and Flint, and can trade blows with Cynthia's Garchomp.
7 The Humming Pokemon, Altaria
Altaria is a bit of an odd choice at first glance. It has no outstanding stats, built as a defensive Pokemon with decent attacking stats. Swablu, Altaria's pre-evolution, can be found in the Grand Underground, most often in Fountainspring Cave. When evolved, Altaria's biggest strength comes in its typing and how that matches up against the Elite Four.
Aaron's Heracross is enough of a threat that bringing a Pokemon to easily dispatch it is a must. Altaria has the bulk to take a hit before hiring a powerful Hurricane in response. It can also learn Moonblast, Dragon Pulse, and has Roost for recovery. It also loves a ton of TM's, allowing for flexible builds. It isn't the most ferocious but brings versatility in spades.
6 The Magical Pokemon, Mismagius
While the Elite Four can handle many different types of Pokemon, none of the members are properly equipped to handle a powerful Ghost-type Pokemon. Bertha's Hippowdon brings Crunch, and Cynthia's lead Pokemon can fight a ghost or two, but the rest struggle to take them down. Add on the Levitate ability to negate Ground-type moves, and many of the biggest threats of the Elite Four are invalidated.
Enter Mismagius, a powerful Special Attacker that brings the pain through a veritable ocean of move options. Misdreavus can be found in Eterna Forest,but only in Shining Pearl. It boasts great speed as well, allowing it to get priority over most of the Elite Four's biggest threats. However, be mindful that it is somewhat frail.
5 The Twin Tusk, Mamoswine
Like most of the other new evolutions to old Pokemon created for the Sinnoh region, Mamoswineis a juggernaut. High HP, solid Defense, high Speed, and a dangerously good Attack stat have kept it a viable competitive option throughout the series. Swinub can be found in the Grand Underground, which can be evolved into Piloswine. The latter then evolves into Mamoswine by leveling up knowing Ancient Power.
Mamoswine doesn't quite have the versatile movepool of other Pokemon recommended on this list, but it does what it needs to very well. Earthquake and Ice Shard provide a great core for the moveset. It also has a wide array of supportive moves, which can help enable its teammates in situations where Earthquake or Ice Shard won't cut it. Even with its Ice-weakening Yache Berry, Garchomp won't know what hit it.
4 The Atrocious Pokemon, Gyarados
Despite what its title indicates, Gyarados is far from atrocious. It has a reputation as a solid Pokemon, capable of fitting into nearly every team composition looking for a strong physical attacker. It may have a debilitating Electric-type weakness, but its typing is still great defensively. Best of all, as Magikarp can be found everywhere, Gyarados is an absurdly easy pick-up.
Gyarados packs a strong set of moves that enable its great stats. It can bring Waterfall, Thrash, Stone Edge, Strength, Iron Tail, and even Thunderbolt. On top of that, Gyarados has an amazing ability in Intimidate, which lowers its enemy's Attack, and one of the best self-buff moves in Dragon Dance. As long as players remain wary of the Electric-type attacks that Flint and Lucian can bring, Gyarados can breeze through the whole Elite Four.
3 The Bouquet Pokemon, Roserade
Grass Pokemon fluctuate in power against the Elite Four. They can cleanly sweep Bertha and check a majority of Cynthia's team. However, they struggle against Aaron and Flint, with Lucian becoming an issue based on the secondary typing. The best method to utilize the great Grass-types is to use ones with wide pools. In this area, Roserade can't be beat.
Roserade is an incredibly powerful Pokemon. It boasts great ability options with Natural Cure and Poison Point, and the Pokemon has so many great moves that players struggle to actually pick just four. Sweeping with Sunny Day and Solar Beam is one option, but going for a wide range of coverage options works as well. There's not much that Roserade can't deal with, aside from Flint's two Fire-type Pokemon.
2 The Sleeping Pokemon, Snorlax
Cynthia's Garchomp can be described as an unstoppable force. Once it gets rolling, not much can stand in its path. And there's nothing better to challenge an unstoppable force than Pokemon's very own immovable object, Snorlax.
Snorlax is easy to obtain in BDSP, as Munchlax is not too hard to find in the Grand Underground. Once evolved, this sleeping giant can bring the pain and take it in spades. While it does have a low defense stat, its massive HP more than makes up for it. Thick Fat gives it even more bulk, and it can use Rest for recovery. It also boasts a typical Normal-type's movepool, with a surprising amount of special attacking options.
1 The Fairy Pokemon, Clefable
Clefable has risen in popularity since Gen 4, and has only continued its meteoric mash to the top. This unassuming pink blob brings the incredible Fairy-typing, along with a fantastic movepool that covers offense, defense, and support. With the limited options in Sinnoh, Clefable gets to use both its old and newfound strengths to dominate the game.
For challenging the Elite Four, Clefable provides everything players need. Calm Mind, Wish, and two Special Attacks to fit the battle at hand are all that's necessary. Since TM's can be used between Elite Four members, bringing along extra TMs to adjust movesets works well. Clefable can be built to handle every single Elite Four member and the Champion, as long as players have the TMs.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl are available on the Nintendo Switch.