Well, you've done everything you could on the Sevii Islands, so you decide to take one the Elite Four again. Well, If you haven't already, make sure your Pokemon are level 65+ unless you're feeling very confident. Why? Well, all of the Elite Four members have leveled up all of their Pokemon by 10 levels or so and picked up a few others, so you should too.
Lorelei
Lorelei is much stronger than she was last time and is now packing a proper counter to Electric types in the form of Piloswine. Like before, she starts with Dewgong, who still uses Ice Beam and Surf, but has also learned Signal Beam and Double Team.
Cloyster is considerably more aggressive than it was in the previous battle, now knowing Surf and Ice Beam. It also has Rain Dance to power up Surf, and Supersonic to cause confusion, however Supersonic's accuracy is frankly terrible, so don't count on it hitting often.
Piloswine is an all out attacker, utilizing Earthquake, Blizzard, Rock Slide, and Double-Edge. Double-Edge causes recoil damage, which can make it easier to take out. If you were thinking of infatuating it, it won't work due to it's Oblivious.
Jynx has a far better moveset, ditching the useless Double Slap in favour of Psychic, and now uses Ice Beam instead of Ice Punch. She still has Attract and Lovely Kiss however, so sleep and infatuation will still be a problem.
Lapras no longer has a Sitrus Berry, instead using a Cheri Berry which seems a rather random choice of berry, however if you paralyze it with Thunder or Thunderbolt, then it'll cure itself immediately. She still uses Surf and Ice Beam, but now it has also learned Psychic and, unusually for a Water type, Thunder. If Cloyster's Rain Dance is still in effect, Thunder's accuracy increases from 70% to 100%, so your Water and Flying types may want to be wary of that.
Despite how hard this all sounds, it's not all that bad. Using some strategy, you can take a ton of these Pokemon down easily. If Cloyster summons a Rain Dance, not only does Lapras have a 100% accurate Thunder, but you do also; which can pretty much sweep half of her team. The only problem you might run into is Piloswine's ground type. Jynx may have the tools to slow you down, but you can make quick work of her along with the rest of her team. Onto the next challenge!
Bruno
- Steelix (lvl. 65)
- Hitmonchan (lvl. 65)
- Hitmonlee (lvl. 65)
- Steelix (lvl. 66)
- Machamp (lvl. 68)
For some reason Bruno doesn't have Hitmontop or Heracross, even though Johto Pokemon have been introduced into the game by now. However, he now has two Steelix, which he did not evolve from his two Onix because they both have Sturdy instead of Rock Head, and become quite a bit stronger than before. Both Steelix are almost exactly the same except one is a level higher and knows Dragonbreath. Their other moves are Crunch, Iron Tail and Rock Tomb.
Hitmonlee no longer has a STAB move and despite being able to hit Ghost types with Rock Slide, he still has Foresight. He also knows Mega Kick and Earthquake.
Hitmonchan is the same as before, apart from his level and the fact that he's replaced Rock Tomb with Rock Slide. In case you've forgotten his other moves, they are Mach Punch, Sky Uppercut and Counter.
Machamp has become a purely aggressive fighter and tries to beat down your Pokemon through brute force. He still has Cross Chop but the rest of his moveset has changed and he no longer has any moves which can decrease your Speed, now using Rock Slide instead of Rock Tomb. He also knows Earthquake and Brick Break, so don't bother using Reflect or Light Screen against him. Machamp has a Persim Berry to heal confusion, so don't try to confuse him.
Bruno shouldn't be too bad. A Pokemon with Surf can take out the two Steelix, and the three Fighting types can be taken down with a strong Flying or Psychic type. With the latter, then next challenge is a complete joke.
Agatha
- Gengar (lvl. 66)
- Crobat (lvl. 66)
- Misdreavus (lvl. 65)
- Arbok (lvl. 68)
- Gengar (lvl. 70)
Agatha has evolved her Golbat and captured a Misdreavus. She still starts with her lower leveled Gengar, who still has Confuse Ray and Shadow Punch, but has also learned Hypnosis and it uses Psychic instead of Dream Eater, presumably because Hypnosis doesn't have good accuracy. Agatha's second Gengar has a powerful moveset of Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Psychic and Thunderbolt. She also has a Chesto Berry to wake up if you put him to sleep.
Misdreavus is male, despite Agatha being female (come to think of it all of Agatha's Pokemon are male) and he has Attract to infatuate female Pokemon and will then bombard them with Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt and Psychic. Shouldn't be too hard of a Pokemon to take out, but don't send out a Blastoise with Bite.
Crobat has Confuse Ray and, because of his awesome Speed, it's likely he will use it before you can strike back. He also knows Shadow Ball, Air Cutter and Sludge Bomb.
Arbok will lower your Pokemon's Attack with Intimidate, and then attempt to dodge your blows with Double Team. The only move he has from his original moveset is Sludge Bomb. He has Giga Drain and Earthquake but no longer has a move that can hit Psychic types super effectively.
Agatha is probably the one you will use the most items against. With constant confusion, paralysis (with a little luck, of course), and sleep, you should move all your Full Heals and your Poke Flute all to the top of you bag. Her battles are more of a stall in your game progress, but it shouldn't be too difficult. If you have a Dark type, this will be no problem (given their limited availability, you may not have one).
Lance
- Gyarados (lvl. 68)
- Dragonite (lvl. 66)
- Kingdra (lvl. 68)
- Aerodactyl (lvl. 70)
- Dragonite (lvl. 72)
Lance has become vastly more powerful and it's easy to see how he becomes the Champion in HeartGold and SoulSilver. His Gyarados can now deal with Electric types with Earthquake and can increase his Attack and Speed with Dragon Dance. The only good news is that Gyarados doesn't have a STAB move. He knows Thunder Wave, somewhat pointless when he already has Dragon Dance but the paralysis can be annoying, and of course his signature Hyper Beam.
Lance has caught a Kingdra, which for some reason he does not use at all when he becomes the Champion. Like Gyarados, Kingdra has Dragon Dance and Hyper Beam. He also knows Surf and Ice Beam. Kingdra's only weakness is Dragon types and Ice Beam can give them a really hard time if their name is Dragonite, Salamence, Altaria, or Flygon.
Lance's Aerodactyl has ditched his pointless Scary Face and gotten a better moveset than before. He's replaced Wing Attack with Aerial Ace and also knows Earthquake. He still uses Hyper Beam and AncientPower. If Aerodactyl gets the all-stat-buff from AncientPower, you can pretty much kiss victory goodbye.
Lance's has evolved one of his Dragonair giving him two Dragonite. The weaker one knows Flamethrower to deal with Ice types, Dragon Claw for fellow Dragon's, Earthquake for any Steel types not weak to Flamethrower, and of course Lance's signature move Hyper Beam. Lance's stronger Dragonite has Thunderbolt, presumably because about half of the Ice types in this generation are also part Water types, or in Articuno's case is just as weak to Electric as it is to Fire. He ditched Safeguard, having realized its useless for protecting him from the confusion of Outrage, but he now has a Persim Berry to heal said confusion, pretty much giving him a 4-6 turn Outrage. Furthermore, he knows Ice Beam so using a Dragon type of your own is risky to say the least, and you should be able to guess his final move.
Blue
- If you picked Bulbasaur
- If you picked Charmander
- If you picked Squirtle
Blue has replaced Pidgeot and Rhydon with Heracross and Tyranitar, respectively. Heracross is up first and although he has a massive weakness to Flying types, he has Rock Tomb to hit them super effectively and if he manages to endure a Flying type move, or any Physical Attack for that matter, he can send it back with double the power using Counter, which would, if he chooses to use it, obliterate your Flying type if they don't knock him out in one hit. He also has Megahorn and Earthquake to deal with low defensive Psychic types.
Like Heracross, Tyranitar has a double weakness, in his case Fighting types. However, also like Heracross, he has a way to counter that weakness. Aerial Ace is an absurd move on a Pokemon as bulky as Tyranitar, but Blue's Tyranitar knows it, and he also knows Thunderbolt, for Water Types, Crunch, and Earthquake. Thanks to Sand Stream, he will whip up an endless sandstorm, but this can work in your favour since none of Blue's other Pokemon are immune to Sandstorm. However, two of the starters can override the Sandstorm, so keep that in mind.
If you have a Dark type, it should wipe the floor with Alakazam. Since Dark types resist Shadow Ball and are immune to Psychic, Alakazam can't touch it. Alakazam still has Reflect to weaken Physical Attacks for five turns and has learned Calm Mind to increase his Special Attack and Special Defense, so Dark type moves will be weakened some.
Exeggutor is almost the same as he was last time, using Sleep Powder, Giga Drain and Light Screen, although he has replaced Egg Bomb with Psychic.
Blue's Gyarados is almost exactly the same as Lance's Gyarados knows Hyper Beam, Earthquake and Dragon Dance. The only differences are his higher level and his STAB Hydro Pump.
Arcanine's moveset has changed a lot, although he still has ExtremeSpeed. He's learned Overheat, which is a very powerful move, but will lower his Special Attack by two levels. Since Arcanine's other moves are all Physical, this isn't too much of a problem for Blue. He knows Iron Tail to deal with Rock types and has also learned the unavoidable Aerial Ace.
Blue's Starter Pokemon all still use Sitrus Berries and Venusaur and Blastoise both have a way of getting rid of Tyranitar's Sand Stream. Venusaur still uses the Sunny Day and Solarbeam combination but has also learned Earthquake to deal with Fire types and Sludge Bomb as another STAB move.
Blastoise has Rain Dance and Hydro Pump like last time and has Earthquake to deal with Electric types and Ice Beam to take out Grass types, covering both of his weaknesses and therefore making him arguably the most difficult of the Starter Pokemon.
Charizard also knows Earthquake (blimey Blue is fond of that move) to deal with Electric and Rock types. Fortunately, he has nothing to cover his weakness to Water types. He still knows Fire Blast and Aerial Ace and has also learned Dragon Claw. Unlike Venusaur and Blastoise, he has no way of getting rid of Tyranitar's Sand Stream, so if you picked Venusaur, prepare for trouble.
After you beat Blue, Professor Oak comes in again, does the same thing, and you are in the Hall of Fame again. Hopefully you didn't run into too much trouble on the way. Your journey is rewarded with around 20,000 Pokedollars which you got from the battles. Hope you enjoyed your trip through Kanto!!