Pokémon Red and Blue/Indigo Plateau

'Here at Indigo Plateau, you have one last chance to rest and buy items before battling the Elite Four. You'll fight them one at a time, and you can't leave until you're victorious. This is the moment you've trained for, so good luck! Remember that once you've beaten them, you can come back again and fight any time to amass money and experience.'

Prepare for the Final Battle


The Elite Four are just ahead, and the Poké Center at Indigo Plateau is your last chance to buy supplies and prepare you roster.

Each of the Elite Four has a bench of five Pokémon, all in the level 50s. Still, you can beat them with Pokémon as low as the high-30s if you plan to exploit their weaknesses. One example dream team (shown below) does this very effectively: Since many have two different types, this team gives you two Electric Pokémon (absolutely crucial for defeating Lorelei's Water Pokémon, and the other trainers' many Flyers), two Water Pokémon (for soaking Bruno's Rock army and putting out some of Gary's Fire), two Flying Pokémon (great against Agatha's Ghosts and Bruno's Fighters), two Ice Pokémon (for Lance's Dragons, Flyers, and Ground Pokémon), and two Psychics to help with the Fighters and Gary's Alakazam.

This team is just a suggestion. Good alternatives to these include (Water + Flying),  (Water + Ice),  (Water + Psychic),  (Water), and Raichu (Electric). Useful Pokémon of other types include (Grass + Bug),  (Ground), and  (Fighting).



Lorelei
The first of the four trainers, Lorelei, may well be the toughest… Although if you have strong Electric type attackers, that's not saying much. learns Thunder at level 51, and  at level 54,  at level 43, and  and  can learn it from TM 25…  So there's no excuse not to have at least one fight with this incredible attack that's capable of wiping out four of Lorelei's five attackers with one shot each. The exception is pesky Ice/Psychic hybrid Jynx. A Fire Pokémon with Fireblast can take her down, but the risk of an Ice Punch is high. So use a Fighter or just waste two Thunders.



Bruno
Bruno is kind of a joke. A, , or any other Water-type Pokémon can kill his two Onyxes in one shot by just using Surf, and his three fighters aren't much tougher. A good Psychic can wipe them out, but you might as well just stick with. His Drill Peck shreds Fighters, and he always gets to go first, allowing him to knock them out before they can even attempt to fight back. Zapdos is just such an incredible Pokémon for fighting the Elite Four! If you don't have one already, you must go get one, and if something happens to it in battle, don't be stingy with the Revives.



Agatha
Agatha could be one of your tougher opponents if she didn't fight so poorly (despite her claims to the contrary) by wasting turns using Dream Eater against awake opponents and switching her Pokémon basically at random. The two Gengars and the Haunting are weak to Psychics, but one again and other Flyers may be the best. Who knew Drill Peck could take out a Level 60 Gengar in two hits? Golbat is just begging for a bit of Thunder from one of your Electric-types, and Arbok is definitely Psychic bait. But if you're missing out on either of those, any strong fighters will do.



Lance
Lance's Dragonairs and Dragonite may be your first experience with Dragon-types, so here's all you need to know: Dragons can't stand Ice. Blizzard may even be overkill since Ice Beam usually means defeat in a single turn. That's why it is best to pack an or high-level. Cloyster may be the better choice since he can quickly Surf the Aerodactyl out of the game, too, making him an effective choice against Lance's last four fighters. As for Gyarados, let's see… Flying and Water types? That means quadruple damage from Electric attacks. anyone?

FINAL BATTLE
Gary defeated the Elite Four before you even set foot on Victory Road, and now you must beat him if you want to claim the title of World's Greatest Pokémon Trainer. The first half of his team will always be Pidgeot, Alakazam, and Rhydon in Red/Blue, and Sandslash, Alakazam, and Exeggute in the Yellow version. The final three slots of Gary's bench vary depending on which Pokémon (or Eevee form) he chose earlier. So if you remember which Pokémon he's used in the past, you can find his roster here on this chart and prepare a bench to beat it.

The you may already have is great against his Pidgeor and Gyrados (or Blastoise) in Blue/Red, as well as the Cloyster or Vaporeon in Yellow. And anything with Surf can wipe out the Blue/Red Rhydon or Yellow Sandslash, plus the Fire-type Arcanine, Ninetails, Charizard or Flareon. Ice attacks beat Venusaur and the terribly weak Exeggutor, so your only real worries are the Alakazam, and the Electric-types in Yellow (Jolteon is especially nasty).

Alakazam is probably the toughest of Gary's Pokémon. If you have, Pin Needle is good. Otherwise you'll have to use a or just throw your strongest attacks at him until he forgets to Recover (Psychics with non-Psychic abilities, like, are also good). Jolteon and Magneton are weak against Ground-types, so (or anyone with Dig) is good, but your own  or  can do well by sticking to their non-Electric attacks.