The Elite Four kicks off with the Bug-type enthusiast Aaron, who won’t be easy to squish underfoot.
Note:This guide is for your first match with him. His team and levels change during rematches.
His Team
Aaron has five skittering Bug Pokémon to throw at you:
Related:How to beat Volkner in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Strategy
Dustox is a menace. Its plan is to set up aLight Screen, useToxic, then useMoonlightas needed to heal up while your Pokémon’s HP ticks down. It even has aBlack Sludgeto heal itself at the end of every turn. Muscle it out quickly withFire,Flying,Rock, orPsychicmoves quickly.
Beautifly takes the opposite approach from Dustox. It wants to set up withQuiver Danceto become a Special Attack monster and sweep through your team with its diverse move set. ItsWise Glasseshelp it to this end as well. It’s fairly squishy, so one or two solidFire,Flying,Electric, orIcemove should KO it, while a single four-times effectiveRockmove should for sure take it down.
Vespiquen wants to useDefend Orderuntil it reaches yellow HP, eats itsSitrus Berry, and then uses empoweredAcrobaticsto do major damage. Its damage is limited toFlyingandBug, though, so aRockorSteel-typePokémon will shut Vespiquen down completely.
Heracross is terrifying. It has a massive Attack stat that only gets stronger once the first turn ends, it gets burned byFlame Orb, and the burn activates itsGutsability. Add in its murderous repertoire of moves, and almost no Pokémon is safe. KO it as quickly as possible with aFlying-typemove, but be careful not to get you first withRock Slide.
Drapion can either fail pathetically or destroy everything. Drapion’s entire kit (aside from Earthquake) is centered around gettingcritical hits.Night Slash,Cross Poison, andX-Scissorall have increased crit ratios,Scope Lensincreases Drapion’s crit chance, and its abilitySnipermakes crits do increased damage.
Your best bet for facing Drapion is to either rush it down via a fast Pokémon with aGround-typemove (its only weakness) or to try and weather its blows with a tank.
If you want to create your own monstrous Heracross, go check outBest Nature for Heracross in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearlon Pro Game Guides!
