29. Pokemon League +Elite Four

Pokemon League

Whoa, just take a look at this place! Is this amazing or what? You'll notice there's really a lack of any Pokemon Center or anything right away, but don't worry, just head to the west. That building there has a Pokemon Center and a Poke Mart where you can buy lots of stuff from.

Buy any sort of Ball!

The bottom merchant in the Pokemon Center's Poke Mart sells you all sorts of different Poke Balls, such as Dusk Balls, Quick Balls, and more. Rather than wandering around looking for a certain type of Poke Ball, you'll almost certainly find them for sale here.

Before taking on the Elite Four, I strongly, strongly recommend having at least 20 Hyper Potions, 10 Full Restores, 20 Revives, and 10 Full Heals. X Attacks, X Defends, X Speeds, X Specials, and X Sp. Defs are also highly recommended, because they almost guarantee you can win a fight as long as you save your game before each battle. You can use the defensive ones right away to stack on those defense bonuses, then load up a Speed or two, and finally use either X Attacks or X Specials to raise your Pokemon's main attacking stat, then just chop through their team. Don't switch no matter what, obviously! Yeah, that's a good strategy that works well that, well, you know, you should know in advance.

Also, make absolutely certain you have plenty of Dusk Balls and Ultra Balls! I'd recommend 30 - 40 between the two, though more never hurts. Just trust me on this.

Alright, so here's what's on my team right before taking on the Elite Four...

Marriland's Pokemon Team at this point
	Samurott  Lv. 49		Stoutland  Lv. 48
	Gigalith  Lv. 48		Conkeldurr  Lv. 48
	Sigilyph  Lv. 49		Haxorus  Lv. 49

I'd recommend your team be at least level 45 before taking them on, but 48+ is recommended.

Last Minute Training!

Are your Pokemon's levels still falling short of my recommendations? Are you struggling to take down the Elite Four and are just looking for a good place to train? Or maybe you're just looking to raise up a new Pokemon you caught, giving it a few levels before taking on the final fights of the game?

Whatever the case, the absolute best place to get EXP at this point is by fighting wildAudino on Route 10. You'll find them in the shaking grass, so just run around right outside of any patch of tall grass until you see one of those patches shake, and then make your way to that patch. Most of the time you will run into an Audino. To get the most EXP out of your Audino, you should have your Pokemon hold the Lucky Egg, but it will still gain plenty even without it handy.

If you're looking to raise money, you can go back to the Wellspring Cave on Route 3, teach one of your Pokemon Thief, and then use Thief against the wild Roggenrola there. Half of all Roggenrola hold the Everstone, which you can sell to the ore guy in the Icirrus City Pokemon Center for $1000 a piece. Since you can get a lot of Everstones in a short amount of time, that's a great way to earn however much money you need in case you ran out or are lacking money to buy the above items.

Once you go in to challenge the Elite Four, the only way you'll be able to leave is if you lose. You don't get to heal at a Pokemon Center. There are no doctors! You do this hardcore if you want to be the champ, so make sure you've got all of your affairs in order before you head in. Once you're ready, save your game, then proceed inward!

Elite Four

Unlike the previous games, you can now fight the Elite Four in any order you want. This may not necessarily work to your advantage, but hey, it's nice to see a change of pace for a change. After all, why does the last member of the Elite Four have to be the... the elitist, huh?

You can fight them in whatever order, but I'll be fighting them going clockwise, starting from the room to the west, then taking on the northwest one, then the northeast one, and lastly the east one. It's a logical path, but if you would rather take one of them on in a different order, be my guest.

X-spect to win with X Items!

If you're having difficulty with the Elite Four and don't know what to do, have no fear, because as long as you have a sufficient supply of "X Items" (X Attack, X Defend, etc.), you can win almost any fight. These items raise your active Pokemon's corresponding stat by one stage when used in battle. Knowing how to use these items well can turn a very difficult fight into a winnable one, almost regardless of what Pokemon you're using.

Just follow these guidelines:

• Make sure you lead with a Pokemon that has several different attacks of different types, as well as sufficient PP to use all of these attacks.
• Make sure you know whether your Pokemon uses Physical-based attacks or Special-based attacks. As a general rule, you'll want to use only Physical-based attacks if your Pokemon's Attack is much higher than its Sp. Atk, or only Special-based attacks if your Pokemon's Sp. Atk is much higher than its Attack.
  • If they're about even or close enough, you can use which ever you'd like, but you should probably settle on one for the fight.
• When the fight begins, start off by using either an X Defend or an X Sp. Def, depending on whether the foe uses a Physical- or Special-based attack.
  • (Hint: Shauntal and Caitlin start with just Special-based attackers while Grimsley and Marshal both lead with Physical-based attackers.)
• As you use these X items, your respective defense stat rises and the damage your foe is doing will lower (unless they get a critical hit, which breaks through your stat bonuses; if this happens, reset or something; remember, saving before every fight can help counter critical hits, because they WILL happen).
• Heal with Moomoo Milks, Hyper Potions, or Full Restores when you get low on HP.
• After raising your Defense or Sp. Def to a respectable level, use two or three X Attacks or X Specials (depending on whether you are going to use Physical-based or Special-based attacks). You may need more depending on how strong your Pokemon is and how confident you are, but know that more than six will have no effect.
• Still healing whenever you are low on HP, use one or two X Speeds to raise your Pokemon's Speed to a high enough point to outspeed all of the opponent's Pokemon. This varies depending on how much Speed your Pokemon has without any boosts.
  • You'll outspeed anything as long as your Speed is higher than 130, which means you'll need to use one X Speed if your Pokemon's Speed is 87 or higher, two X Speeds if your Pokemon's Speed is between 66 and 86, or three X Speeds if it is less than 66.
  • Also keep in mind that ~130 is the highest out of ALL of the final battles, so often times one or two X Speeds will do the job anyway, since not every opponent uses a speed demon.
• After you've applied the X Defends/Sp. Defs, X Attacks/Specials, and the X Speeds, proceed to take the opponent's Pokemon out one-by-one, knocking out all of their Pokemon hopefully in one hit.
• Save before taking on every opponent (as long as you KNOW you'll have enough X items and healing items!) so you can try your strategy over in case they get a critical hit or you realize you needed an extra X Attack to get that one-hit KO.
• Also, another useful note: Fighting-type, Dark-type, and Ghost-type attacks are all the most effective against the final bosses as a whole.

Boss Fight
	Elite Four Shauntal			$6000
		Cofagrigus		Lv. 48
		Golurk	/	Lv. 48
		Jellicent	/	Lv. 48
		Chandelure	/	Lv. 50

Her Pokemon are all part-Ghost-type, so Normal- and Fighting-type attacks will not hit them. Normal-type Pokemon, however, can serve as a valuable defense against her Pokemon's stronger Ghost-type attacks, so try to have a Normal-type with something like Crunch, Shadow Claw, or Shadow Ball available to hit her Pokemon hard.

Chandelure in particular is a real pain due to its high Sp. Atk. It will hit very hard and you may not be able to withstand its attacks for overly long without healing. Handle it with care!

Boss Fight
	Elite Four Grimsley			$6000
		Scrafty	/	Lv. 48
		Liepard		Lv. 48
		Krookodile	/	Lv. 48
		Bisharp	/	Lv. 50

He uses all Dark-type Pokemon on his team, but they have very different typings. Thankfully they all have a common weakness to Fighting-type attacks, so make use of your TM moves like Brick Break and Focus Blast. Bisharp is very weak to Fighting-type attacks, but is also weak to the usual stuff Steel-types are weak to.

Don't underestimate his Pokemon, though, because they all have very high Attack stats and can do some serious damage with their attacks!

Boss Fight
	Elite Four Caitlin			$6000
		Reuniclus		Lv. 48
		Sigilyph	/	Lv. 48
		Musharna		Lv. 48
		Gothitelle		Lv. 50

Yes, this is the same Caitlin that fought beside Darach in the Battle Frontier of the older games. Now she's a member of the Elite Four, and she uses some pretty wicked Psychic-type Pokemon.

Her team of Psychics have a diverse set of moves on each other them, so you'll have to really watch out! Each one of them packs a powerful Psychic, but you'll also find Electric- and Ghost-type attacks on most of her Pokemon, so be wary! Dark-, Bug-, and Ghost-type attacks are the way to go. Moves such as Shadow Claw, Payback, or even Struggle Bug would be helpful in your fight.

Boss Fight
	Elite Four Marshal			$6000
		Throh		Lv. 48
		Sawk		Lv. 48
		Conkeldurr		Lv. 48
		Mienshao		Lv. 50

Though all of Marshal's Pokemon are pure Fighting-type, they have very diverse attacks set to counter Flying- and Psychic-type Pokemon. Expect to be hit in the face if you try to use any of those Pokemon. There are very few types that can survive the whole of Marshal's onslaught, but give any Pokemon Flying-type attacks like Acrobatics or Sky Drop to help turn the tide in your favor.

If you can't take advantage of the type chart, just do things the old fashioned way by using your strongest attacks against him. X Defends come in handy, and any Pokemon that has a high Defense stat (that isn't weak to Fighting-type attacks) will do well here.

After you've beaten the Elite Four, the statue in the middle will start glowing. Press A, and you'll descend into the depths of the mountain... climb up the countless steps to the north until you see a little shrine sitting there.

No need to heal!

After beating the final member of the Elite Four, don't worry about healing your Pokemon by using your items. Save them. You'll have an opportunity to heal before your next battle, so there's no reason in the world you should waste your items healing!