Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow Elite Four Guide

The Indigo Plateau is five fights in a row with no Pokémon Center between them. If your team runs dry halfway through Agatha's room, you lose it all and start over from Lorelei. This guide is about not letting that happen: every Elite Four team and moveset in Red, Blue and Yellow, the Gen 1 quirks 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 Red, Blue & Yellow tracker shows the same teams from the games' data, so you can check them against what you have caught. For the full journey through Kanto, see the Red, Blue & Yellow 100% guide.

How the Pokémon Red Elite Four Works

• Five battles, one run. Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, Lance, then your rival as Champion. 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 (normally the one at Indigo Plateau), you start again from Lorelei, and you pay half your money. A full restart is where a shaky party gets frustrating.
• Their levels are 53 to 62, and the Champion is 59 to 65. A well-built party can do it in the mid-50s, but 58 to 60 or more across the board makes every fight comfortable.
• The Elite Four are the same in all three games. The Pokémon and levels do not change. What does change is the movesets, and Yellow's are meaner in several rooms (more on that room by room).

Stock up before you enter

The Indigo Plateau Poké Mart sells the items that win this fight, so 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. Essential for Agatha and Lorelei.
• Revive: for any Pokémon that faints early. A revived Pokémon is back with half HP, so follow it with a Max Potion or Full Restore.
• Max Potion: cheaper than Full Restore when status is not a problem.

A good rule is two or three Full Heals, plenty of Revives and as many Full Restores as you can carry. Nothing in the bag counts as "wasted" in this fight, so use it freely.

Gen 1 Quirks That Decide These Fights

Gen 1 plays differently from later games, and the League is full of moments where knowing the quirk matters more than raw levels.

• Special is one stat. There is no separate Special Defense, so a Pokémon with a high Special (Alakazam, Starmie, Exeggutor, Gengar) both hits hard with special moves and takes them well, while physical bruisers like Onix and the Hitmons have almost nothing to defend against special attacks.
• Psychic is the strongest type. It is weak only to Bug, and Ghost moves, which should hit it, do nothing (a bug in the games). That is why Psychic-types dominate Bruno and Agatha.
• Normal and Fighting moves cannot hit Ghost-types. Gengar and Haunter ignore Body Slam and Hyper Beam completely. Bring Ground or Psychic moves instead.
• One-hit KO moves fail against a faster target. Fissure (Machamp, Red and Blue) and Horn Drill (Rhydon) both have 30% accuracy and are automatically useless if your Pokémon is faster than the user. Ground-moves like Fissure also do nothing to Flying-types.
• Freeze is permanent. Nothing thaws a frozen Pokémon on its own. Only being hit by a Fire-type move, an Ice Heal, a Full Heal or a Full Restore does. Lorelei's Blizzard and Ice Punch (and Ice Beam in Yellow) can freeze, so keep Full Heals ready. Aurora Beam cannot freeze in Gen 1; it lowers your Attack instead.
• Hyper Beam costs a turn. After a Hyper Beam that does not knock out its target, the user has to recharge. Lance's whole team has it, which gives you free turns whenever one of his Pokémon fires it and fails to finish you.
• Critical hits depend on Speed. A Pokémon with high base Speed (Tauros, Alakazam, Jolteon, Zapdos) crits far more often.
• Counter returns double the damage of a Normal or Fighting move, and does nothing against any other type. Bruno's Hitmonchan has it in Red and Blue.

How to Beat Lorelei: the Ice Room

Three of her five Pokémon are Water/Ice, Slowbro is Water/Psychic and Jynx is Ice/Psychic. Every one of them resists Ice, and the four Water-types resist Water too. Electric and Grass are the answer, and Jynx is the only one that is not a Water-type.

• Lead with Electric. Thunderbolt from Zapdos, Jolteon or a Starmie clears Dewgong, Cloyster, Slowbro and Lapras in one or two hits each. Do not open with Ice Beam or Blizzard, because all five of her Pokémon resist Ice.
• Dewgong has Rest. It heals fully and then sleeps for two turns, so if it uses Rest, take the free hits or use the turns to heal.
• Cloyster is a wall. Its Defense is enormous, but its Special is only average. Use Thunderbolt, not physical moves. Clamp traps your Pokémon for a few turns, so do not bring in a weak switch while it is clamped.
• Jynx is the odd one out. It is Ice/Psychic with low HP and Defense, so Fire, Rock or a strong Bug move finishes it. In Yellow it carries Lovely Kiss (sleep), so keep a Full Heal ready or knock it out first.
• Lapras is the real threat. It has Blizzard, Hydro Pump and Confuse Ray, and Body Slam can paralyze you. It is her last Pokémon, so go in with your strongest Electric or Grass user healthy.
• Yellow's Slowbro is much more dangerous. In Red and Blue it has Water Gun, but in Yellow it carries Psychic and Surf. Do not assume it is the free one.

How to Beat Bruno: the Fighting Room

Two Onix, two Hitmons and Machamp. The Onix pair are the high-HP, high-Defense roadblocks and the Fighting types are fast and hit hard, but all of them have terrible Special.

• Use special attacks. Onix has a massive Defense stat but a tiny Special. A single Surf, Blizzard or Razor Leaf does huge damage, and Water and Grass hit it for 4x. Physical attacks into Onix barely scratch it.
• Psychic or Flying for the other three. Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Machamp all fold to Psychic. An Alakazam or Starmie sweeps three of the five on its own. A Flying attack like Fly or Drill Peck does nearly as well.
• Do not use Normal or Fighting moves into Hitmonchan in Red and Blue. Counter turns a Body Slam into double damage straight back at you. Hit it with Psychic instead. (Yellow's Hitmonchan has no Counter.)
• Machamp's Fissure. In Red and Blue, Machamp can OHKO you with Fissure, but only if it is faster than your Pokémon and your Pokémon is not Flying-type. Lead with something fast or a Flying-type and that move is dead weight. In Yellow, Machamp has Strength and Karate Chop instead.
• Yellow's Hitmons use Double Team. Evasion boosts stack, so knock them out before it gets out of hand. Reliable attacks that cannot miss (Swift) help here.
• Yellow's Onix hit harder. Rock Slide and Earthquake (on the second Onix) replace Rock Throw, and Screech cuts your Defense by two stages. Keep attacking with special moves and don't let it stack.

How to Beat Agatha: the Ghost Room

This is where most first-time runs end. Gengar and Haunter are fast, poison types that carry Hypnosis and Dream Eater, and Normal-type attackers (including your Snorlax) cannot touch them.

• Earthquake and Psychic are the plan. Ground and Psychic hit Ghost/Poison for 2x, and also take down Arbok. Bring two Pokémon with one of those moves each in case one gets put to sleep.
• Sleep is the danger. Hypnosis is only 60% accurate, but a sleeping Pokémon then eats a Dream Eater, which is a 100-power Psychic move that only works on sleepers. Carry Full Heals (or Awakenings) for exactly this, and heal the sleeper immediately rather than gambling on a wake-up.
• Night Shade is a fixed hit. It deals damage equal to the user's level (55 to 60), so it is not scary against a healthy Pokémon but it adds up if your team is already chipped. Only Red and Blue's team carries it.
• Golbat is the exception to Earthquake. It is part Flying, so Ground moves do nothing. Use Electric, Ice, Rock or Psychic on it. It also knows Haze in Red and Blue, which removes any stat boosts you built, so do not spend turns setting up in front of it.
• Arbok's Glare paralyzes and its Screech lowers your Defense by two stages. Don't give it free turns.
• Yellow is harder here. Her final Gengar carries Psychic and Hypnosis, and her first Gengar uses Substitute. Psychic from a high-Special Gengar can knock out a lot of the party in one go, so strike first or bring a bulky Psychic-type of your own.

How to Beat Lance: the Dragon Room

Despite the room's name, only three of his five Pokémon are Dragons, and Gyarados and Aerodactyl are the ones that can surprise you. Every one of them carries Hyper Beam.

• Ice is your Dragon answer. In Gen 1 Dragon-types resist Fire, Water, Electric and Grass, and are weak only to Ice and Dragon. Dragonite takes 4x from Ice Beam or Blizzard, so a Lapras, Starmie or Jynx-style Ice user does the whole job.
• Electric for Gyarados and Aerodactyl. Gyarados takes 4x from Thunderbolt, Aerodactyl takes 2x from Electric, Ice, Water and Rock. Zapdos or Jolteon handles both.
• Dragon Rage is a flat 40 HP. It is not scary for a healthy party, but it does stack up. Gyarados has it in all three games, and both Dragonair have it in Red and Blue.
• Hyper Beam gives you free turns. When it does not knock you out, the user has to recharge next turn. Use that turn to heal, or to bring in your Ice or Electric attacker for free.
• Yellow's Dragonair and Dragonite are special attackers. Thunder Wave and Thunderbolt on one, Ice Beam on the other, and Blizzard, Fire Blast and Thunder on Dragonite. There is no type that hides from all of it, so knock Dragonite out first with Ice and watch your Pokémon's HP.
• Aerodactyl is fast. It outspeeds nearly everything, so take the first hit and respond with Electric, Ice or Water. In Yellow it carries Fly, which takes a turn to charge and gives you a free move.

How to Beat the Champion (Your Rival)

The last fight is the rival you have fought all game. His team is built around the type that beats your starter, and his final Pokémon is always his starter at Lv. 65.

Red and Blue

Three Pokémon are the same no matter what you picked. The other three change:

• Pidgeot (Lv. 61) leads. Whirlwind does nothing in a trainer battle, and Mirror Move copies the last move you used. Sky Attack takes a charge turn before it hits very hard, so use that turn to attack or switch. Thunderbolt, Ice Beam or Rock Slide ends it.
• Alakazam (Lv. 59) is the fast, fragile one. It almost always outspeeds you, and Reflect halves physical damage while Recover undoes your chip damage. Hit it hard right away with a Bug move (2x), a Thunderbolt or Surf, or a lucky crit from a fast Pokémon. A Psychic-type of your own takes much less from its Psychic.
• Rhydon (Lv. 61) is immune to Electric, so do not rely on your Electric attacker here. Water and Grass hit for 4x, and Horn Drill cannot hit a faster Pokémon. Surf or Razor Leaf ends it in one hit.

Yellow

Yellow's Champion is a different team. Three Pokémon are fixed:

The last three depend on which Eevee evolution he finishes on:

His Alakazam has Kinesis rather than Reflect here, and Sandslash replaces Pidgeot and Rhydon as the physical threat. It hits hard with Earthquake, so keep a Flying-type or Water, Grass or Ice attacker ready for it.

Elite Four Counter Chart

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

Best Party for the Pokémon Red Elite Four

You do not need six perfect Pokémon, you need coverage for each of the weaknesses above. This party is built for it and is easy to put together in a normal playthrough:

• Alakazam (trade Kadabra): Psychic, Recover, Thunder Wave, Reflect. Bruno's Fighting types and Agatha's Poison types fall to it, and it outspeeds almost the entire League.
• Zapdos or Jolteon: Thunderbolt, plus a coverage move. This is your Lorelei, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Pidgeot and Charizard answer.
• Starmie: Surf, Blizzard, Thunderbolt, Recover. It covers Rhydon, Onix and every Dragon at once. (Its Psychic typing also helps against Bruno.)
• Tauros: Earthquake, Body Slam, Blizzard, Hyper Beam. Earthquake takes Agatha's room, and Blizzard is another answer to the Dragons.
• Exeggutor (Leaf Stone): Psychic, Sleep Powder or Stun Spore. A second Psychic user for Bruno. Remember it is weak to Bug, Fire, Ice, Flying and Poison.
• Snorlax: Body Slam, Earthquake, Hyper Beam. The bulky Pokémon to absorb hits for Bruno and Lance, with the caveat that Normal moves do not touch Agatha's Ghosts, so Earthquake is the move that matters there.

No Alakazam, because you cannot trade? Swap in a second Starmie-like Psychic user (Exeggutor or Slowbro), a Pokémon with Earthquake for Agatha, and the same Electric and Ice coverage. It still clears the League comfortably at the mid-50s.

Common Mistakes

• Walking in at Lv. 50 with one carry. If one Pokémon does everything, a single sleep or freeze ends the run. Spread levels across at least four.
• Using Normal-type attacks on Agatha. A Snorlax with Body Slam and Hyper Beam is dead weight there. Teach it Earthquake or swap it out.
• Forgetting to buy your TMs. Get Psychic, Earthquake, Blizzard and Thunderbolt onto your party before you enter the Plateau. You can still teach a TM from your bag between rooms, but once the first door closes you cannot leave to buy one.
• Healing too late. A Pokémon at a quarter HP will fall to a single Hyper Beam. Heal early between Pokémon, not after a faint.
• Burning your best items on the first rooms. Lorelei and Bruno are the easiest. Keep Full Restores and Revives for Lance and the rival.
• Ignoring the rival's type. His last three Pokémon change with your starter. Check which starter he picked before you head in: Blastoise needs Electric or Grass, Venusaur needs Fire, Ice, Flying or Psychic, and Charizard needs Rock, Water or Electric.

Elite Four FAQ

What Comes After

Beating the Champion rolls the credits, saves you to the Hall of Fame and unlocks Cerulean Cave, where Mewtwo is waiting. Save before you throw the Master Ball. For the rest of the list, from the Pokédex to the missable gifts, use our Red, Blue & Yellow 100% guide.

Open the Pokémon Red, Blue & Yellow tracker to tick off your badges, your Elite Four and your Pokédex as you go. Heading to Johto next? The Elite Four there is a different challenge, and our Gold, Silver & Crystal 100% guide covers it.