How to Beat Elite Four Aaron in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

The Bug Type Elite Four member breaks the rules with a level 57 Drapion, but that won't matter once players know how to handle it. Bug Types have several weaknesses and there are many ways of taking advantage of them.

Aaron's Team

• Dustox Lvl 53 - Dustox will try to use Toxic on the player's Pokémon or set up Light Screen to halve the damage done to Aaron's team from Special Attacks. It is frail but can force a switch out if the main damage dealer gets poisoned.
• Beautifly Lvl 53 - If left alone, this Pokémon can set up Quiver Dance to increase its stats. It doesn't have much coverage and has a four times weakness to Rock Type moves.
• Heracross Lvl 54 - A powerful Physical Attacker that only gets stronger once its Flame Orb triggers its Guts Ability. It has powerful moves that get a 50 percent increase because of this. It also has a four times weakness from Flying Type moves.
• Vespiquen Lvl 54 - This Pokémon can increase its Defense and heal off of its Sitrus Berry. After it uses its item, it will start going for Acrobatics as it become a 110 Base Power Flying Type move. It has a four times weakness to Rock Type attacks.
• Drapion Lvl 57 - As a Poison/Dark Type, this its a wonder why Aaron has this Pokémon at all as only its previous evolution is Poison/Bug. This Pokémon can land Critical Hits easily with its Scope Lens item and high crit moves Cross Poison and Night Slash. These moves only get stronger with its Sniper Ability, increasing the damage of moves when they crit.

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Teams

Finding a team for the entire Elite Four can be tricky but there are some common weaknesses among them. Ice, Fire, and Water, in particular, are very useful for a majority of them. Aaron's team has many weaknesses that can be covered by just one or two Pokémon. Variety is important and for players attempting a Nuzlocke, some example sets will be provided.

Flying Types

• Staraptor - The Flying/Normal Type has a high Attack and Speed stat, making it possible to take out most of Aaron's team in one hit. Brave Bird has 120 Base Power at the cost of recoil and its Intimidate Ability will lower the opposing Pokémon's Attack stat. In case it ever gets inflicted with a Status Effect, players can also teach it Facade as it will double its Base Power to 140.
• Pelipper - Water/Flying is a great typing when knowing no Electric or Rock Type moves are coming out. Pelipper's Drizzle Ability causes it to rain, increasing Water Type moves by 50 percent. It also makes it so the move Hurricane never misses. This 110 Base Power Move is capable of taking out most of Aaron's team in one shot. Drapion can be taken out with Scald or Surf as well.
• Crobat - Both Poison and Flying gives Crobat a double resistance to Bug Type moves. Crobat's Speed is rarely outmatched and can take advantage of a quick Fly or Pluck. Crobat can learn Nasty Plot as well to take advantage of Special Attacks such as Air Slash. The most dangerous match up to it is Heracross and its Rock Slide but Crobat will always be moving first to take it out with any Flying Type move.

Fire Types

• Infernape - Fire and Fighting both have a resistance to Bug Type Moves, making Infernape a great choice to take down Aaron. With equal Attack and Special Attack stats, Infernape can use both to great effectiveness. It also has high Speed. Flare Blitz and Overheat are its most powerful Fire Type moves, however, Overheat will reduce its Special Attacks by two stages. Nasty Plot and Flamethrower can be a good option and even used in other Elite Four battles. Swords Dance is equally as good and can be used in combination with Acrobatics without an item or a Rock Type move like Stone Edge.
• Rapidash - The pure Fire Type isn't the best choice for the Elite Four but can still get some use with its high Speed. Its Attack is higher than its Special Attack but players can still choose to have it learn Overheat. Flare Blitz is preferred and can be boosted with Swords Dance but the recoil damage will require a lot of healing.
• Magmortar - Available in the Grand Underground, Magmortar is a powerful Special Attacker with a decently high Attack stat. Flamethrower or Lava Plume can tear through Aaron's team while Earthquake can be used to take out his Drapion. This Pokémon won't be available during a Hardcore Nuzlocke but is an especially powerful Pokémon for all of the Elite Four.

Rock Types

• Rampardos - Although very slow, Rampardos has many setup moves in Rock Polish and Swords Dance. It is one dimensional but can use Earthquake and Headsmash to great effectiveness.
• Bastiodon - Doing damage with this Rock/Steel Type is tricky as it has low offensive stats. Instead, teaching this Pokémon Stealth Rock and Roar can cause many of Aaron's Pokémon to take lots of damage when switched in. Stealth Rock is useful for getting some chip damage and is better to be used before switching out to a more offensive Pokémon.

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Generally Good Pokémon

• Empoleon - As one of the Starters for the game, Empoleon has a great movepool for the Elite Four. It is capable of being either a Physical or Special Attacker and can learn Swords Dance. A Physical or mixed Empoleon can learn Drill Peck or Rock Slide to take out most of Aaron's Pokémon. It can use Earthquake for the Drapion as well as many of the other of the Elite Four's Pokémon. For Special Attacks, it can learn Ice Beam for the Flying Types or just spam Water Type moves like Surf.
• Torterra - Because of its Speed, this Starter isn't ideal for this Elite Four member. With increased Speed it can hold its own against every Pokémon. This can be done with Tailwind from another Pokémon or using a Baton Pass Pokémon such as Girafarig. It is capable of increasing its Speed with Rock Polish so setting up on the first turn against Dustox is easy. Earthquake and Stone Edge can take out most Pokémon in one hit and Swords Dance can be used to guarantee the Knock Out.
• Garchomp - Not much can go wrong when battling with Garchomp. With a very high Attack stat and modest Special Attack, Garchomp is capable of using any attack in its movepool to great effectiveness. Stone Edge and Earthquake will be its bread and butter but when fighting a Pokémon that is resistant to these moves, it can easily use Dragon Claw for neutral damage.
• Gyarados - With the move Dragon Dance, this Pokémon can set up quickly using even neutral or resisted moves to take out opposing Pokémon. Against Aaron's team, Avalance or Ice Fang, Earthquake, and Stone Edge can be used. For the entire Elite Four, Waterfall can deal lots of damage while also being able to cause the opposing Pokémon to flinch.

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