Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal Elite Four Guide

Gold, Silver and Crystal give you 16 badges, so it is easy to assume you face the Elite Four twice. You do not: you beat them once, after the eighth Johto badge, and the 16 badges lead somewhere else. That one run is still five fights in a row with no Pokémon Center between rooms. This guide covers every Elite Four team and moveset, the Gen 2 rules that decide these fights, the counters that work, what to buy before you go in and a party that clears the League.

Want to prepare with your own party? The Elite Four screen in our Pokémon Gold, Silver & Crystal tracker shows the same teams from the games' data, so you can check them against what you have caught. For the full journey through Johto and Kanto, see the Gold, Silver & Crystal 100% guide.

How the Pokémon Gold Elite Four Works

• You fight them once, after eight badges. The Victory Road Gate checks for the eight Johto badges, and the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau ends the Johto story. After the credits you sail to Kanto for eight more badges, and all 16 open Mt. Silver, where Red waits. Red, not a second Elite Four, is the last fight.
• Five battles, one run. Will, Koga, Bruno, Karen, then Champion Lance. The door locks behind you after each room. There is nowhere to heal in between except your bag.
• Losing sends you back to the last Pokémon Center you used and costs half your money. You then start again from Will.
• Their levels are 40 to 47, and Lance is 44 to 50. A balanced party around Lv. 45 can do it, but 48 to 50 across the board makes every room comfortable.
• The teams are the same in all three games. Gold, Silver and Crystal share every Pokémon, level and move here, and none of their Pokémon hold items.
• They heal too. Each of them carries items to use mid-fight: Will and Bruno a Max Potion, Karen a Full Heal and a Max Potion, Koga and Lance a Full Heal and a Full Restore. Expect one Pokémon per room to bounce back, and save your biggest hit for after the heal.
• Only the first Pokémon is fixed. The tables below list each team in the order the game stores it, and the first one always leads. After a faint, the game scores everything left on the trainer's team by type matchup against your active Pokémon and sends in the best one. So the rest of the order depends on what you have out.
• Rematches do not get harder. You can walk back in after the Hall of Fame, even with all 16 badges, and you will meet the exact same teams. The levelled-up rematch teams are a HeartGold and SoulSilver feature.

Stock up before you enter

The Indigo Plateau Poké Mart sells Ultra Balls, Max Repels, Hyper Potions, Max Potions, Full Restores, Revives and Full Heals. Spend your money there before you walk in:

• Full Restore: heals HP and every status in one use. Your best item here. Buy as many as you can afford.
• Full Heal: cures sleep, paralysis, freeze, poison and burn. Koga's Toxic and Will's Lovely Kiss are the reasons to carry several.
• Revive: for any Pokémon that faints early. A revived Pokémon comes back at half HP, so follow it with a Max Potion or Full Restore.
• Max Potion: cheaper than Full Restore when status is not a problem.

Leftovers and type-boosting items like Charcoal or Never-Melt Ice are worth giving your party too. The Elite Four's Pokémon hold nothing (their healing comes from the trainer's bag), so every held item is an edge that only you have.

Gen 2 Rules That Decide These Fights

Gold, Silver and Crystal changed a lot from Red and Blue, and several of those changes show up in these five rooms.

• Special is split into Special Attack and Special Defense. Whether a move is physical or special still depends on its type: Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Psychic, Dragon and Dark moves are special, everything else is physical. So Crunch and Faint Attack use Special Attack, and Shadow Ball uses Attack.
• Psychic is no longer the strongest type. Dark-types are immune to Psychic, Steel resists it, and Ghost moves now hit Psychic for 2x. Karen's whole room shrugs off Psychic moves.
• Hyper Beam always needs a recharge. In Gen 1 a Hyper Beam that knocked something out skipped the recharge. Now the user always has to rest the next turn, which hands you a free turn every time one of Lance's Pokémon fires it.
• Thunder never misses in rain. Lance's lead Gyarados knows Rain Dance, and one of his Dragonite carries Thunder. Rain lasts five turns, so it can still be falling when that Dragonite comes in.
• Foresight lets Normal and Fighting moves hit Ghost-types. Bruno's Hitmonlee and Machamp both have it, so a Ghost-type is no longer immune to their kicks and chops in that room. Gengar still resists Fighting, because it is part Poison.
• Frozen Pokémon can thaw on their own. There is a small chance each turn (about 1 in 10), unlike Gen 1 where freeze was permanent. A Full Heal is still faster.
• Roar and Whirlwind work against trainers, but only from the slower Pokémon. They force you to switch to a random Pokémon, which Karen's Murkrow and Houndoom can use to drag out a weak member of your party. In Gen 2 they fail if the user moves first, so they only work when your Pokémon is faster.
• Critical hits no longer depend on Speed. Every Pokémon crits at the same base rate, and only moves like Slash and Cross Chop raise it.

How to Beat Will: the Psychic Room

All five of Will's Pokémon are part Psychic and all five know Psychic. They resist your Psychic moves and hit hard with their own, but every one of them has a second type you can attack.

• Electric for both Xatu and Slowbro. Xatu is Psychic/Flying and Slowbro is Water/Psychic, so one Electric attacker handles three of his five.
• Fire or Ice for the middle two. Jynx is Ice/Psychic and folds to Fire. Exeggutor is Grass/Psychic and takes 2x from Fire, Ice and Flying (and 4x from Bug).
• Future Sight lands two turns later. Xatu uses it, then the hit arrives on the third turn, even if you have switched. Do not bring a weakened Pokémon in right as it lands.
• Jynx's Lovely Kiss puts you to sleep. It is 75% accurate. Knock Jynx out quickly, and cure the sleeper with a Full Heal rather than waiting it out.
• Slowbro sets up. Curse raises its Attack and Defense and Amnesia sharply raises Special Defense. Hit it hard before the boosts stack.
• Dark-types are immune to Psychic. If you have Umbreon (from Eevee), it can sit in front of this whole room. Its attacks are not strong, so pair it with an Electric or Fire attacker.

How to Beat Koga: the Poison Room

Koga's room is less about damage and more about tricks: evasion boosts, Toxic, a Baton Pass and a Forretress that blows itself up. Fire is the best single answer.

• Ariados can pass on its boosts. It uses Double Team, then Baton Pass to hand the evasion to the next Pokémon. Knock it out before it gets to pass anything.
• Forretress explodes. Explosion halves your Pokémon's Defense for that hit, so it can knock out almost anything. Fire hits Forretress for 4x and is its only weakness, so lead into it with Fire and take it out before it gets the chance. A Ghost-type is immune to Explosion if you have one.
• Spikes punishes switching. Each Pokémon you switch in loses some HP, so do not swap back and forth more than you need to.
• Muk walls with Minimize and Acid Armor. Hit it with Earthquake or Psychic before it raises its evasion. Swift and Faint Attack never miss, so they still work if it does.
• Crobat is very fast. It stacks Double Team and Toxic. Electric, Ice or Rock takes it down, and a Full Heal cures the Toxic.

How to Beat Bruno: the Fighting Room

Four Fighting types and an Onix. They hit hard physically, and every Fighter is weak to Flying and Psychic. The three Hitmons have high Special Defense, so bring strong moves, not chip damage.

• Psychic is perfect here. A Psychic move hits all four Fighters for 2x, and Machamp has the lowest Special Defense of the group. Flying moves also hit them for 2x and use Attack instead, which gets around the Hitmons' high Special Defense. Fly is weaker than Psychic (70 power against 90), so expect two hits rather than one.
• Watch Rock Slide. Machamp and Onix both have it, and it hits Flying-types for 2x. Hitmonchan's Ice Punch and ThunderPunch hit Flying-types for 2x as well, so point your Flying attacker at Hitmonlee and Hitmontop.
• Hitmonchan covers its weaknesses. Ice Punch hits Flying-types, ThunderPunch hits Water and Flying, Fire Punch hits Grass and Ice. A Psychic-type is your safest answer.
• Onix needs special attacks. Huge Defense but tiny Special Defense. Surf or a Grass move hits for 4x and ends it in one hit. Sandstorm chips at anything that is not Rock, Ground or Steel.
• Foresight beats Ghost immunity. Hitmonlee and Machamp can use it to let their Fighting moves hit Ghost-types. Gengar still resists Fighting, so it stays a fair switch-in, but it is no longer immune.
• Hitmontop's Dig and Detect buy it turns. Dig hides underground for a turn before hitting, so use that turn to heal or switch.

How to Beat Karen: the Dark Room

Karen is the room that ends the most runs. Psychic moves do nothing to her three Dark-types, Umbreon can trap you, and Gengar can take one of your Pokémon down with it.

• Umbreon traps and confuses. Mean Look stops you switching out, then Confuse Ray and Sand-Attack wear you down. It hits weakly, so lead with your strongest physical attacker and just keep hitting. Fighting and Bug moves hit it for 2x.
• Gengar's Destiny Bond. If Gengar uses Destiny Bond and you knock it out that turn, your Pokémon faints too. The bond lasts until Gengar makes its next move, so after it uses Destiny Bond, heal, use a status move or switch until it has moved again, then finish it. If your Pokémon is faster than Gengar, that means waiting until Gengar uses a different move. Curse (the Ghost version) cuts its own HP in half to curse you, and the curse ends when you switch out.
• Earthquake is the best move in this room. It hits Gengar and Houndoom for 2x and is neutral on Umbreon and Vileplume. Murkrow is part Flying, so use Electric, Ice or Rock on it instead.
• Vileplume heals with Moonlight, and Stun Spore paralyzes. Fire, Ice or Flying removes it quickly.
• Houndoom is her strongest Pokémon. It is Lv. 47 with Crunch and Flamethrower, and Roar can drag one of your weaker Pokémon into the fight if your Pokémon is faster than it. Surf or Earthquake knocks it out quickly.

How to Beat Lance: the Dragon Room

Lance is the Champion here, not a member of the Elite Four, and he brings six Pokémon instead of five. Every one of them is part Flying, three of them are Dragonite, and all six carry Hyper Beam.

• Ice is the whole plan. Dragon/Flying takes 4x from Ice, so a single Ice Beam or Blizzard usually knocks out a Dragonite. Lapras learns Ice Beam at Lv. 36 and is the classic answer.
• Electric takes Gyarados for 4x and also hits Aerodactyl and Charizard for 2x. Since every Pokémon he has is part Flying, Electric moves land well across the whole team, except on the Dragonite (neutral).
• Stop the rain combo. Gyarados always leads, with Rain Dance and Surf, and one of the Dragonite has Thunder, which cannot miss in rain. Knock Gyarados out quickly, before it gets to set up. Rain also powers up its Surf.
• Thunder Wave on two Dragonite. Paralysis slows down your answer. Keep a Full Heal ready for your Ice attacker.
• The last Dragonite is Lv. 50 with Outrage and Fire Blast. Safeguard blocks status for five turns, so do not waste turns on paralysis or sleep moves. Outrage locks it in for two or three turns, then confuses it.
• Hyper Beam gives you free turns. In Gen 2 the user always has to recharge after it hits, even if it knocks something out. Use that turn to heal or switch in your Ice user.
• Rock for Charizard and Aerodactyl. Charizard takes 4x from Rock Slide. Aerodactyl is fast, so take its first hit and answer with Water, Ice or Electric.

Elite Four Counter Chart

If you only remember one table, make it this one:

Best Party for the Pokémon Gold Elite Four

You do not need six perfect Pokémon. You need Fire, Electric, Ice, a Flying or Psychic attacker and Earthquake. Gen 2 has no Thunderbolt, Ice Beam or Flamethrower TMs (Crystal's move tutor only teaches them after the Hall of Fame), so this party gets its moves from levelling up and from TMs you can reach before the League:

• Typhlosion (or a Fire-type): Flame Wheel, plus Fire Blast (TM38 from the Goldenrod Game Corner). It beats Jynx, Exeggutor, Koga's Bug-types, Forretress (4x) and Vileplume. Picked Totodile or Chikorita? Growlithe is on Routes 36 and 37 in Gold and Crystal, and Vulpix in Silver. A Fire Stone evolves either one.
• Lapras (Union Cave, Fridays): Ice Beam (learned at Lv. 36), Surf, Thunder (TM25), Body Slam. It handles all three Dragonite, Onix, Houndoom and Gyarados almost alone.
• Ampharos (Mareep on Route 32 in Gold and Silver): ThunderPunch (learned at Lv. 30) and Thunder (TM25). It is the answer for Xatu, Slowbro, Crobat, Murkrow, Gyarados and Charizard. In Crystal, Lapras with Thunder can fill this role.
• Pidgeot or Noctowl: Fly (HM02) for Bruno's four Fighters and Koga's Bugs. Keep it away from Machamp's and Onix's Rock Slide.
• Quagsire or Piloswine: Earthquake (TM26, found in Victory Road) for Gengar, Houndoom, Muk and Onix. Piloswine (Swinub is in the Ice Path) adds Ice moves for Lance too, with Icy Wind (TM16 from Pryce) or Blizzard (TM14 from the Game Corner).
• Your flex slot: an Espeon or Umbreon (from the Eevee Bill gives you in Goldenrod) is a good extra. Espeon is a fast Psychic attacker for Bruno and Koga, and Umbreon is immune to Will's Psychic moves.

Feraligatr and Meganium players have it easier than they think. Feraligatr's Surf covers Onix, Houndoom and Charizard, and Meganium's Razor Leaf takes Onix (4x) and Slowbro. Just make sure Fire comes from somewhere else for Forretress and the Bug-types.

Common Mistakes

• Walking in with a starter at Lv. 55 and five Pokémon at 30. Karen's Mean Look and Gengar's Destiny Bond punish a one-Pokémon team. Spread levels across at least four.
• Bringing Psychic moves to Will and Karen. Will's team resists Psychic and Karen's Dark-types ignore it. Your Psychic-type is for Bruno and Koga.
• Letting Gyarados set up rain. Rain makes Lance's Thunder Dragonite certain to hit. Take Gyarados out first, with Electric.
• Attacking into Destiny Bond. If Karen's Gengar has used it and has not moved since, do not knock it out with your best Pokémon.
• Burning your best items early. Will and Koga are the easier rooms. Keep Full Restores and Revives for Karen and Lance.
• Expecting harder rematches. After Kanto the Elite Four are still Lv. 40 to 50. If you want a real challenge, it is Red at Mt. Silver.

After Lance: Kanto and Red

Beating Lance rolls the credits and puts you in the Hall of Fame. Then Professor Elm gives you the S.S. Ticket, and you sail from Olivine City to Vermilion City to start Kanto's eight gyms. Blue, at Viridian City, is the last of them and the toughest gym leader in the game.

With all 16 badges, Professor Oak lets you into Mt. Silver. At the top is Red, the real final boss of Gold, Silver and Crystal: Pikachu at Lv. 81, Espeon at 73, Snorlax at 75, and Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise at 77. That is nearly 30 levels above Lance, so plan on training a long way past the League. Our Gold, Silver & Crystal 100% guide covers every Kanto gym and has a full plan for Red, with movesets and counters.

Elite Four FAQ

What Comes Next

Open the Pokémon Gold, Silver & Crystal tracker to tick off all 16 badges, the Elite Four and your Pokédex as you go. Played Red and Blue first? The Red, Blue & Yellow Elite Four guide covers Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, Lance and your rival at the original Indigo Plateau.