How to Beat Champion Cynthia Guide

This guide covers everything you need to know to beat Cynthia, the Champion of the Elite Four in in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, a Pokemon remake for the Nintendo Switch. Read on to learn about Cynthia's Pokemon team and types, and recommended Pokemon to use against Champion Cynthia!

All Cynthia Battles
Cynthia Chamption Battle	Cynthia Rematches

Elite Four Lucian	Champion Cynthia
Lucian	Cynthia

Champion Cynthia's Pokemon Team and Types

Type and Suggested Level

Type Specialty	All Around
Suggested Level	Lv. 70 ~ Lv. 75

Champion Cynthia's Pokemon

Pokemon	Type	Ability / Item	Moves
Spiritomb (Lvl. 61)		Pressure Sitrus Berry	・Shadow Ball ・Dark Pulse ・Psychic ・Sucker Punch
Roserade (Lvl. 60)		Poison Point Expert Belt	・Dazzling Gleam ・Shadow Ball ・Sludge Bomb ・Energy Ball
Gastrodon (Lvl. 60)		Storm Drain Leftovers	・Scald ・Earthquake ・Sludge Bomb ・Rock Tomb
Lucario (Lvl. 63)		Inner Focus Wise Glasses	・Aura Sphere ・Dragon Pulse ・Flash Cannon ・Nasty Plot
Milotic (Lvl. 63)		Marvel Scale Flame Orb	・Recover ・Mirror Coat ・Ice Beam ・Scald
Garchomp (Lvl. 66)		Rough Skin Yache Berry	・Dragon Claw ・Earthquake ・Swords Dance ・Poison Jab

How to Beat Champion Cynthia

Defeat Spiritomb with a High Power Attack or Fairy Type Move

Because Spiritomb has high defenses and its ability, Pressure, increases your PP usage by 2 per move, quickly defeat it with either a high powered attack or a super effective Fairy type move.

Get Ready during Gastrodon and Roserade

We recommend using healing items such as Full Restores and Revives to heal as many team members as you can during Gastrodon and Roserade to prepare for the later half of the battle when Cynthia will bring our more powerful Pokemon, such as Lucario and Garchomp.

Use a Physical Move on Milotic then Finish it off with Special Moves

Cynthia's Milotic holds a Flame Orb and has the ability Marvel Scale, which increases its Defense when inflicted by a status condition. The Flame Orb only takes effect on the second turn, so we recommend using a Physical Move on the first turn then Special Moves to finish it off.

If you have Luxray on your team, a great combo attack would be to start with Spark then finish it off with Thunderbolt.

Quickly Defeat Lucario with Super Effective Moves

Lucario is another powerful Pokemon that can sharply raise its Special Attack with the move Nasty Plot. Take it out quickly with a super effective move such as Close Combat (Staraptor), Flare Blitz (Rapidash), or Earthquake (Garchomp).

Lower Garchomp's Attack Stat with Intimidate

Garchomp is Cynthia's highest-level Pokemon and can sharply raise its Attack with Swords Dance. Bring out a Pokemon with the Intimidate ability to decrease its attack. If you have more than one Pokemon with Intimidate, you can continuously switch them out while using Revives to keep them alive.

Let Gyarados Learn Ice Fang

Becuase Garchomp is 4x weak against Ice, we recommend equipping one of your Pokemon with an Ice type move like Ice Fang or Ice Beam. Gyarados has a good match up against Garchomp, especially since it already has the ability Intimidate.

You can go to the Move Reminder to let Gyarados relearn the move Ice Fang and use it against Garchomp. Since Garchomp holds a Yache Berry, the first attack will only inflict half the damage, but afterwards, you can take full advantage of this weakness.

Best Team to Beat Champion Cynthia

Best Pokemon to Beat Cynthia

Pokemon	Recommended Moves
Gyarados	・Waterfall (Lv. 21) ・Crunch (Lv. 24) ・Dragon Dance (Lv. 36) ・Wide coverage due to access to both Water and Dark type moves. ・You can setup Dragon Dance during Gastrodon. ・Intimidate lowers Garchomp's Attack stat.
Staraptor	・Aerial Ace (Lv. 28) ・Close Combat (On Evolution) ・Brave Bird (Lv. 49) ・Has access to super effective moves against Lucario and Roserade. ・You can inflict high amounts of damage with Brave Bird. ・Intimidate lowers Garchomp's Attack stat.
Gastrodon	・Earth Power (Lv. 39) ・Scald (TM49) ・Ice Beam (TM13) ・Great type match up against Lucario. ・Counter Garchomp with Ice Beam. ・High Defenses.

Bring a team that can handle all five battles

As you will have to use the same party for battling Cynthia that you use against the four members of the Elite Four, it is important to bring a versatile team that is effective against all of the Elite Four members and gives coverage to Cynthia's team as well.

Elite Four Types and Weaknesses

Trainer	Main Type	Primary Weaknesses
Aaron
Bertha
Flint
Lucian
Cynthia	All-Around	-

All Elite Four Types and Pokemon

Best Elite Four Teams

Generally speaking, you will want to bring the six Pokemon you have trained to the highest level up to this point, and the team composition will likely not change much from the main team that you used throughout your adventure. Having a Grass, Fire, and Water type on your team will cover most of your bases, while allowing room for powerful Pokemon such as Lucario and Garchomp to help with odd matchups.

While Lucian, the fourth trainer, has a team mostly centered around psychic type Pokemon, it is not totally necessary to bring a Dark / Bug / Ghost Pokemon. While having some moves of this type on your team will certainly give you an edge, the majority of his Pokemon have low defense and can simply be overpowered without type effectiveness, and meanwhile Bronzong can be defeated with Fire attacks.

Best Team: Best Pokemon to Use for the Story

When Starting with Turtwig

Best Elite Four Team When Starting With Turtwig
Torterra	Rapidash	Garchomp
Lucario	Staraptor	Gyarados

When Starting with Chimchar

Best Elite Four Team When Starting With Chimchar
Infernape	Gyarados	Garchomp
Staraptor	Lucario	Roserade

When Starting with Piplup

Best Elite Four Team When Starting With Piplup
Empoleon	Rapidash	Garchomp
Lucario	Roserade	Staraptor

All Cynthia Battles

All Cynthia Battles
Cynthia Chamption Battle	Cynthia Rematches

Pokemon BDSP Related Guides

Related Story Pages

Previous Story Section	Current Story Section	Next Story Section
Getting the 8th Badge	Becoming the Champion	Post Game Guide

Complete Story Walkthrough

Elite Four Trainers

1st Trainer	2nd Trainer
Aaron	Bertha
3rd Trainer	4th Trainer
Flint	Lucian
Champion
Cynthia

All Elite Four Types and Pokemon

Elite Four Rematches

1st Trainer	2nd Trainer
Aaron	Bertha
3rd Trainer	4th Trainer
Flint	Lucian
Champion
Cynthia

All Elite Four Rematch Teams