So you've finally obtained all 8 Johto Gym Badges? What? You have?! How wonderful. So now you've got to go to the Pokémon League that's conveniently hosted in Kanto? Ah, yes, Pokélogic never fails to amuse me.

Pre-Battling Advice

Now, now, I know you've got that Level 69 Pikachu who's blasted his way through the rest of the Gyms, but the Elite Four are unfortunately a different kettle of fish. So, rather than jumping into the Elite Four without a second thought, let's sit back a second and think about what Items and the likes we may need before we challenge the fearsome Elite Four.

The first huge piece of advice I can give to you, based on my own experiences, is to save at the Indigo Plateau and do a 'trial' run, which is without using any Items and without saving to see just how far you can get. Doing this will allow you to see roughly what Levels you should be aiming to get your Pokémon up to before committing to a serious attempt. (If you're lucky enough to be good enough without the help of any items and any further training, good for you. =])

Of course, once you've completely fainted you restart the game (no, not from the beginning, just turn the DS off and back on again) and then you won't have lost any money, and your pride is still intact. It is. I say it is. With this, you can now stock up on as many Hyper Potions, Full Heals and Revives as you can. I say Hyper Potions, by the way, because they're cheaper than Max Potions and at this stage of the game there are very few Pokémon who'll have more than 200HP. Assuming you've trained up a bit more - I find an Average Level of 45 works best - then you may just be ready to challenge.. the Elite Four.

-Insert some dramatic music here just for effect-

Ideal Teams

Here, I've designed three ideal teams to include the three Starter Pokémon. These are just a guideline as every team will be different, however, if you've got the same outlines in typings, and levels, you shouldn't go far wrong.

Pokémon Trainer

Meganium, Level 45

Lapras, Level 45

Arcanine, Level 45

Alakazam, Level 45

Jolteon, Level 45

Noctowl, Level 45

Pokémon Trainer

Typhlosion, Level 45

Bellossom, Level 45

Gyarados, Level 45

Espeon, Level 45

Magneton, Level 45

Pidgeot, Level 45

Pokémon Trainer

Feraligatr, Level 45

Ninetales, Level 45

Machamp, Level 45

Gengar, Level 45

Ampharos, Level 45

Scizor, Level 45

These teams all have a Water, Fire and Electric Pokémon on them, which is what I'd recommend being necessary. I'd also recommend, heavily, either Espeon or Alakazam, although Gengar can fill that role with ease if you manage to get hold of a TM29 Psychic due to his impressive Special Attack. However, both Alakazam and Espeon can rip Koga and Bruno apart on their own, which makes things a lot easier, so I cannot stress enough the importance of a Psychic Pokémon.

On your Water Pokémon, an Ice Move is heavily recommended to make Lance.. bearable. Gyarados, whether Red or Blue, can learn Ice Fang upon Levelling up, which helps. This is why it's important to have a Water Pokémon on your team, especially for the Elite Four, as there is no Pokémon there whose typing is double effective against them; there are still Pokémon who hold moves that are, but they can be endured easier.

Electric Pokémon are a must, although there aren't a great deal of them to choose from. Sadly, Ampharos lost a lot when they made the Elemental Punches Physical, but s/he still packs a.. no pun intended.. punch with Thunderbolt. Having a strong Electric Pokémon can turn Lance from being your worse nightmare into nothing more than a little spider, and can contribute here and there with strong, unresisted moves. Fire Pokémon aren't that essential if you've got a Psychic Pokémon to control Koga, but they help and I'd greatly recommend them, and like above, they can often fill in and defeat a Pokémon that it's not weak to.

The rest of the Pokémon support the other types and make the Elite Four handable whilst being types I'd predict you'd pick up along the way. Flying Pokémon help with both Koga and Bruno, Bug Pokémon help with Will and Karen, Fighting Pokémon help with Bruno and Karen.

The Elite Four

Elite Four Battle #1 - Will

Elite Four Will 5040

Xatu, Level 40

Jynx, Level 41

Slowbro, Level 41

Exeggutor, Level 41

Xatu, Level 42

Types Weak To: / / /
Star Pokémon for this battle: Murkrow, Ampharos, Typhlosion, Scizor.
Type Analysis: All of his Pokémon have a duel type, one of which is Psychic. Your best bet to defeat Will is to have a Dark Pokémon - Murkrow is your friend - or to attack using Dark, Bug or Ghost type moves. However, if you don't have any of those then you can attack the second type that his Pokémon have; Electric fries both Xatu and Slowbro, Fire melts both Jynx and Exeggutor. It's worth noting that all of his Pokémon have access to the move Psychic, so it's best to leave the Pokémon weak to that in the back for this battle.
Strategy: Will likes to either Confuse your Pokémon or put them to sleep, with both Xatu's knowing Confuse Ray and both Jynx and Exeggutor having access to Sleep inducing moves. Neither are a huge problem, but be aware that he may attempt to do that. Slowbro can be tricky as well if you let it get a Curse or two under it's belt and an Amnesia, but if you hit quick and hard before it gets a chance to, it should be no problem.

Elite Four Battle #2 - Koga

Elite Four Koga 5080

Ariados, Level 40

Venomoth, Level 41

Muk, Level 42

Forretress, Level 43

Crobat, Level 44

Types Weak To: / /
Star Pokémon for this battle: Alakazam / Typhlosion / Magneton / Steelix
Type Analysis: Koga, unlike Will before him, doesn't have one consistent typing throughout his team - although only Forretress isn't a Poison type - however, Koga can still very easily be defeated with the right Pokémon and the right moves. As the vast majority of his Pokémon are Poison types, you should be prepared to use either a Psychic Pokémon or a Ground Pokémon - Little note, Ground moves won't work on Crobat as it's part flying - or use their typing moves such as Earthquake or Psychic. Forretress is a little harder, as it has only one weakness; Fire. Thankfully, it's x4 effective against Forretress so one strong Flamethrower or Fire Blast will KO that misshapen football.
Strategy: Koga loves, simply loves more than Wayne Rooney loves to mess his marriage up, to Poison your Pokémon. For this reason, any Steel Pokémon you have access to will be of great help as they cannot be Poisoned. Not only that, they have great resistances to the rest of Koga's Pokémons moves, so if you have either a Magneton or a Steelix, you may find the battle a lot easier than if you don't. Only Venomoth has access to another status move - Supersonic - so be aware of him, while Crobat has access to that horrible Double Team and will attempt to abuse it if you're already Poisoned or not weak to it's other attacks. Oh, and Forretress packs Explosion, so having a Ghost, Steel or Rock type battle him would minimise the damage he can do.

Elite Four Battle #3 - Bruno

Elite Four Bruno 5520

Hitmontop, Level 42

Hitmonlee, Level 42

Hitmonchan, Level 42

Onix, Level 43

Machamp, Level 46

Types Weak To: / / /
Star Pokémon for this battle: Alakazam / Noctowl / Feraligatr / Meganium
Type Analysis: Bruno, fortunately not the one that Sacha Baron Cohen played, is a master of Fighting Pokémon, which means that he's basically Alakazam's playground with four of his five Pokémon being weak to it's Psychic attacks. Onix is weak to both Grass and Water, both of which can hurt the rest of Bruno due to their low Special Defences. Special Flying type moves tend to hit harder than Physical ones due to the defence stats of Bruno's Pokémon, but either way, Flying moves should hit hard, although, be aware that both Hitmonchan and Machamp have moves that are Super Effective against Flying type Pokémon.
Strategy: Unlike the two Elite Four Members before him, Bruno tends not to rely on Statuses and prefers moves which directly cause damage. As a result, your best bet is to just 'out attack' him with your most powerful super effective moves. Onix may get Sandstorm up as well, which will only benefit himself as the rest of Bruno's Pokémon aren't protected from it, so don't worry too much about that.

Elite Four Battle #4 - Karen

Elite Four Karen 5640

Umbreon, Level 42

Vileplume, Level 42

Murkrow, Level 44

Gengar, Level 45

Houndoom, Level 47

Types Weak To: / / /
Star Pokémon for this battle: Machamp / Typhlosion / Noctowl / Scizor
Type Analysis: Karen's a bit of an awkward one because she happens to be a bit undecisive with her Pokémon choices. Regardless, she has three Dark Pokémon, two of which are weak to Fighting, the other is Murkrow, although Murkrow is frail as it is so it'd probably get KO'd easily. As a result of not really having one huge flowing weakness, as evident in the previous Elite Four members, you will have to use more than one Pokémon here to counter her strengths and exploit her weaknesses. Gengar is an awkward one, admittingly, but can be stopped by a Dark/Ghost/Psychic move from a powerful Pokémon; Alakazam can just about cope with being weak to Lick however, and can easily KO Vileplume with her Poison weakness. Houndoom is stopped by any Water Pokémon pretty much, but let it Nasty Plot up on you and you may find yourself in trouble with those Dark Pulses.
Strategy: Umbreon here is a beautiful reminder as to why people hail the original Gold/Silver to be a 'stallfest' with Confuse Ray and Double Team, so you're better off wasting Umbreon before it gets the chance to with your hard hitting Fighting Pokémon. From then, she may introduce any of her remaining Pokémon which makes it difficult to really plan. Vileplume loves to Stun Spore, Gengar loves to Spite you to lose 4 precious PP, in the hope she'll get her Houndoom in who'll Nasty Plot up and hit some very powerful Flamethrowers and Dark Pulses if you let her do exactly that. Murkrow is, as much as the author loves him, a bit of a waste as it cannot really do much other than hit with Pluck and Faint Attack; be aware of Sucker Punch as it does go first if you're using an Attacking move, so it's best to have a Pokémon with a lot of HP to battle Murkrow in case it does use that move.

Elite Four Battle #5 - Champion Lance

Elite Four Lance 10000

Gyarados, Level 46

Dragonite, Level 49

Dragonite, Level 49

Aerodactyl, Level 48

Charizard, Level 48

Dragonite, Level 50

Types Weak To: / / /
Star Pokémon for this battle: Ampharos / Lapras / Jynx / Dragonite
Type Analysis: You did see that correct, THREE Dragonites you have to face, and underleveled and illegal at that Gamefreak, ahem. Still, you have to face them, and your best bet with them is to have a Pokémon capable of either hitting heavily with an Ice move such as Ice Beam or Ice Punch, or training that Dratini you got given up until it learns Dragon Pulse, and attaching a Choice Scarf. Better yet, I found training a Lapras up to be absolutely critical for this match as it is capable of learning moves that can OHKO all of Lance's Pokémon in Surf, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt (although, the latter two via TM use). But, yes, Ice moves are your best bet with the Dragonites as they are x4 weak to them. The rest of Lances Pokémon are weak to Rock, including, strangely enough, Aerodactyl, so having a strong Rock move such as Rock Slide or Stone Edge will be helpful. If not, attacking their other typing (Rock, Fire, Water) will help you in Water and Electric moves.
Strategy: Lance is your all out, gung hao Pokémon trainer who uses his ferocious Dragon Pokémon to hit very heavily, so you're better off exploiting their Achilles Heels to defeat them in their weaknesses. The Lv49 Dragonites have access to Dragon Rush which is inaccurate, where as the Lv50 Dragonite uses Safeguard and Outrage to prevent Confusion, which can hit very heavily if you don't have a Steel type to resist the move. Aerodactyl hits heavily with fantastic typing and good, solid moves, unfortunately, so it's a case of outhitting him as well as Charizard, who also has good typing.

Page written by f3raligatr.

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