The peak difficulty between Victory Road and Elite Four is abnormally high. But Lucian's move to Cynthia is no joke. Not only will you be dealing with Pokémon with abnormally high IVs (read: all of his Pokémon's IVs are maxed), but they are also very fast.
You can beat Cynthia in three ways, outrunning her Pokemon, tanking her Pokemon's attacks, and dealing super effective damage (while outrunning Pokemon or tanking attacks).
Before we begin, here are all of Cynthia's Pokémon:
- Spiritomb (Dark/Ghost)
- Roserade (Herb/Poison)
- Gastrodon (Water/Ground)
- Lucario (Fighting/Steel)
- Milotic (Water)
- Garchomp (Dragon/Earth)
Outrun Cynthia's Pokémon
As long as it's not Lucario and Garchomp, there's a pretty good chance you'll outrun his Pokemon. As such, hit Roserade or Milotic with a powerful, super effective attack and they're out of the game.
- Roserade is weak to Flying, Fire, Psychic, and Ice attacks.
- Milotic is weak against Grass and Electricity attacks.
Gastrodon is weak to grass. If you don't have a Grass Pokémon in your party, no problem! Unlike Roserade and Milotic, Gastrodon doesn't hit as hard. As long as you don't bring a weak Pokémon to the ground, it will most likely survive.
Tank Cynthia's Pokémon attacks
Spiritomb has no weaknesses and is immune to psychic, combat, and normal attacks. If you keep hitting her, she will eventually fall. Additionally, if you have Empoleon and spam Surf and other water moves on her, Cynthia will trade Spiritomb for Gastrodon. Gastrodon has an ability called Storm Drain, which increases his special attack when hit by a water movement. Be careful!
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Lucario and Garchomp are both extremely fast and very heavy hitters. Additionally, they both have natures that increase speed by 10% (Timid for Lucario and Jolly for Garchomp). Unless you trained your Pokemon before this battle, never expect to outrun them. The goal is to survive the first attack and hopefully take them out with one of your own.
Fighting Lucario is easier. He is extremely fragile, a super effective blow will knock him out. His attack moves are Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, and Flash Cannon. Dragon Pulse is tankable because it will not gain the same type attack bonus (STAB) for Lucario being a Steel/Fighting. You will survive Aura Sphere and Flash Cannon as long as your Pokemon isn't weak to Fighting and Steel.
How to Beat Cynthia's Garchomp
There's a reason Garchomp is Cynthia's ace. She is only weak to three very rare Pokémon types: Ice, Dragon, and Fairy.
A lot of fairy types, like Gardevoir, have very low HP and Defense, so picking one up is really not recommended. Meanwhile, using a Dragon Pokémon is very risky, simply because Dragons are weak against Dragons. He might not survive Garchomp's Dragon Claw STAB move, especially if he's only about five levels above her.
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Garchomp can actually be beaten by most beginners, believe it or not. Infernape and Empoleon are weak to Earthquake due to hitting, but this move only has 10 PP. If you get Garchomp to waste the earthquake on a Pokemon that can tank the move (while healing it with Hyper and Max potions), you can send them both to kill it after. Empoleon, in particular, can even learn Ice Beam.
Truth be told, many Pokémon will survive the earthquake, but Water, Grass, and Ice Pokémon are resistant to it.
Torterra's greatest asset is its extremely high defense stat. He will survive the earthquake and the dragon. The move for Torterra trainers to watch out for is Poison Jab, which has 20PP, so the method above might not work (or it might take a while and you might have to use a ton of potions). Bring a Pokémon that is not weak to Dragon, Ground, and Poison moves. They also need a decent defense stat. We prefer Water, actually, because a ton of Water Pokemon have high HP/Defense and they can learn Ice moves.
There's no one right strategy for taking on Cynthia, especially when different trainers bring in different Pokemon to challenge the league. If you lose the first time, don't worry. Just reload your save and try again. You can even take the loss, capture or grind whatever Pokemon you need, and just battle the Elite Four. The key to success is preparation.
For more help with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, we at Tipsforallgames have you covered.
