Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Elite Four Guide

The Hoenn League at Ever Grande City is five battles in a row: Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, Drake and the Champion, who is Steven in Ruby and Sapphire and Wallace in Emerald. Gen 3 added abilities, and this League leans on them along with held items and weather: Levitate, Thick Fat, Hail, rain and a Sitrus Berry on every ace. This guide covers every team and moveset in all three versions, the Gen 3 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 Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald tracker shows the same teams from the games' data, for your version, so you can check them against what you have caught.

How the Pokémon Emerald Elite Four Works

• You need all eight Hoenn badges. You reach the League through Victory Road, and the guards at its doors check for your badges. Inside, the League building in Ever Grande City has a Pokémon Center and a Poké Mart in its lobby.
• Five battles, one run. Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, Drake, then the Champion. The door locks behind you after each room, so your bag is the only way to heal in between.
• Losing sends you back to the last Pokémon Center you used and costs half your money. You then start again from Sidney.
• Their levels are 46 to 55, and the Champion is 55 to 58. That is the same in all three games. A balanced party around Lv. 52 can do it, but 55 to 58 across the board makes every room comfortable.
• The Champion depends on your version. Steven, with Steel and Rock fossils, in Ruby and Sapphire. Wallace, with Water-types, in Emerald. Emerald also changes one Pokémon each for Sidney and Drake and reworks most of the Elite Four's movesets. The tables below show both.
• Every ace holds a Sitrus Berry. In Gen 3 it restores 30 HP once its holder drops below half. On top of that, each Elite Four member carries two Full Restores, and the Champion four. They use one when a Pokémon falls below a quarter of its HP, so a big hit that leaves a sliver often gets undone.
• Only the first Pokémon is fixed. The tables list each team in the order the game stores it, and the first one always leads (in Emerald, Glacia leads with Sealeo instead of Glalie). After a faint, the game picks the Pokémon whose type matches up best against your active Pokémon.
• Rematches do not get harder. You can walk back in after the Hall of Fame and meet the exact same teams. Stronger rematch teams only arrived in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Stock up before you enter

The Poké Mart in the League lobby sells Ultra Balls, Hyper Potions, Max Potions, Full Restores, Full Heals, Revives and Max Repels. 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, burn and confusion. Phoebe's Will-O-Wisp and Confuse Ray, and Steven's and Wallace's Toxic, 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.

Held items help you too. Leftovers, a Sitrus Berry, or a type booster such as Charcoal, Mystic Water or NeverMeltIce on your main attackers is free damage or healing every fight.

Gen 3 Rules That Decide These Fights

Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald changed a lot from Gold and Silver, and several of those changes show up in these five rooms.

• Abilities change the type chart. Drake's Flygon and Steven's Claydol have Levitate, so Earthquake misses them. Glacia's Sealeo and Walrein have Thick Fat, which halves Fire and Ice damage. Mightyena, Salamence and Gyarados have Intimidate, which cuts your Attack when they come in. Sharpedo's Rough Skin hurts you whenever you touch it.
• Physical or special still depends on the move's type. Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Psychic, Dragon and Dark moves are special, everything else is physical. So Crunch uses Special Attack, while Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace and Rock Slide use Attack.
• Weather is part of the plan. Glacia's team summons Hail, which chips everything that is not Ice-type at the end of each turn. Wallace's Wailord sets up Rain Dance, which powers up Water moves by half. Ruby and Sapphire's Drake has a Flygon with Sandstorm.
• One-hit KO moves depend on level. Walrein knows Sheer Cold. It fails against any Pokémon with a higher level than Walrein (Lv. 53), and against everything else it hits 30% of the time plus 1% for each level Walrein is above you.
• Sableye has no weaknesses. Dark/Ghost is immune to Normal, Fighting and Psychic and is not weak to anything in Gen 3. Hit it hard with something neutral.
• Hyper Beam always needs a recharge. Steven's Metagross and Wallace's Whiscash and Gyarados carry it. Use the free turn after it to heal or switch.
• Explosion halves your Defense for that hit. In Emerald, Glacia's second Glalie has it, so it can knock out almost anything on its way down.
• Burn halves Attack. Phoebe's Banette uses Will-O-Wisp, which ruins a physical attacker for the rest of the run unless you cure it.

How to Beat Sidney: the Dark Room

All five of Sidney's Pokémon are part Dark, so Psychic moves do nothing in this room. Fighting moves hit every one of them for 2x. Emerald swaps his Sharpedo for Crawdaunt.

• Fighting moves are the whole plan. Brick Break, Sky Uppercut or Blaziken's Fighting moves hit all five for 2x. Mightyena's Intimidate lowers your Attack when it comes in, so a second Fighting-type or a quick switch helps.
• Bug for Shiftry and Cacturne. Grass/Dark takes 4x from Bug and 2x from Fire, Ice, Flying, Poison and Fighting. Fire is the easiest of those to bring.
• Electric or Grass for the Water/Dark one. Sharpedo (Ruby and Sapphire) and Crawdaunt (Emerald) both take 2x from Electric. Sharpedo's Rough Skin hurts anything that makes contact with it, so special attacks are better there.
• Swagger confuses you but raises your Attack. Shiftry and Sharpedo use it. A Full Heal cures the confusion, and you keep the boost.
• Absol is his ace. It is Lv. 49 with a Sitrus Berry, and Swords Dance sharply raises its Attack. Do not give it a free turn. Its Aerial Ace hits Fighting-types for 2x, so a bulky Fighter or a fast one works best.
• Emerald's Crawdaunt also uses Swords Dance. Its Facade doubles in power if it is poisoned, burned or paralyzed, so poisoning it makes it hit harder. Its Hyper Cutter ability also stops you lowering its Attack.

How to Beat Phoebe: the Ghost Room

Phoebe's Ghost-types are immune to Normal and Fighting moves, and her Dusclops are very bulky. Dark and Ghost moves are the answer, plus something strong and neutral for Sableye.

• Crunch is the best move here. Dark moves hit Dusclops and Banette for 2x, and a Dark-type using them also resists their Ghost moves. Sharpedo learns Crunch by level-up, and so does Glalie. Shadow Ball also hits them for 2x, but Ghost-types take 2x from it too.
• A Normal-type is immune to Shadow Ball, Shadow Punch and Night Shade. That covers her main attacks, but not the Faint Attack, Psychic, Ice Beam and Earthquake spread across her team, or Emerald's Thunderbolt, Facade and Rock Slide.
• Watch for Will-O-Wisp. Banette burns your Pokémon and halves its Attack. Keep a Full Heal for your physical attacker.
• Sableye has no weaknesses. It is Dark/Ghost, and in Gen 3 that means no 2x damage at all. Hit it with your strongest neutral attack, such as Surf, Flamethrower or Ice Beam.
• Dusclops sets traps. Curse (the Ghost version) costs it half its HP to curse you, and the curse ends when you switch out. In Ruby and Sapphire, the lead also uses Future Sight, which lands two turns later.
• Her ace Dusclops covers its own weaknesses. It is Lv. 51 with a Sitrus Berry, plus Ice Beam and Earthquake in every version (and Rock Slide in Emerald). Its Defense and Special Defense are both very high, so bring your strongest Dark or Ghost move.
• Grudge in Emerald. If Banette faints right after using Grudge, the move that knocked it out loses all its PP. Finish it with a move you can spare.

How to Beat Glacia: the Ice Room

Glacia brings two Glalie, two Sealeo and a Walrein, and keeps Hail going. Fire is the obvious answer to Ice, but Thick Fat halves Fire damage on three of her five, so Fighting is the real plan.

• Fighting hits all five for 2x. A Breloom, Hariyama or Blaziken can carry most of this room alone. Rock moves do the same, if you have them.
• Electric or Grass for the seals. Sealeo and Walrein are Ice/Water, so Thunderbolt and Giga Drain hit them for 2x and do not run into Thick Fat.
• Fire is still good on Glalie. Glalie is pure Ice with Inner Focus, not Thick Fat, so Fire and Steel moves hit it for 2x at full power.
• Be above Lv. 53 for Sheer Cold. Her Walrein knows it, and one-hit KO moves always fail against a higher-level target. Any Pokémon at Lv. 54 or above is safe from it.
• Hail wears you down. Every non-Ice Pokémon loses a little HP at the end of each turn, which adds up across five battles. Finish quickly and heal before Drake.
• Light Screen halves your special attacks for five turns. Physical Fighting moves ignore it, which is one more reason to bring them.
• Emerald's second Glalie has Explosion. When it is low, it may take one of your Pokémon down with it. Finish it in one hit rather than leaving it at a sliver.

How to Beat Drake: the Dragon Room

Drake is the toughest of the four. Dragon-types resist Fire, Water, Grass and Electric (Flygon is immune to Electric outright), and Flygon and Salamence both carry Flamethrower to punish your Ice-type. Ice Beam is still the plan: three of his five take 4x from it. Emerald swaps one Flygon for Kingdra.

• Ice Beam for Altaria, Flygon and Salamence. All three take 4x, so a single hit usually ends them. Shelgon takes 2x. Ice Beam is TM13 from the Mauville Game Corner, and Glalie learns it by level-up.
• Do not Earthquake the wrong Pokémon. Flygon has Levitate, and Altaria and Salamence are part Flying, so none of them take Ground damage. Only Shelgon (and Kingdra in Emerald) can be hit by it.
• Kingdra only fears Dragon moves. In Emerald, Water/Dragon has just one weakness. Use Dragon Claw or DragonBreath, or wear it down with strong neutral hits such as Body Slam or Brick Break. It uses Dragon Dance to boost its Attack and Speed, so do not let it set up.
• Watch for Flamethrower. Salamence and one Flygon have it, and it hits Ice- and Steel-types for 2x. Glalie and Walrein are slower than Salamence, so expect to take a hit before you swing. Bring them in at full HP.
• Altaria sets up with Dragon Dance. Its Natural Cure ability clears status when it switches out, so paralysis does not stick. Knock it out before the boosts stack.
• Salamence is his ace. It is Lv. 55 with a Sitrus Berry and Intimidate, which lowers your Attack when it comes in. Special Ice moves ignore that drop.

How to Beat Steven (Ruby and Sapphire)

Steven is the Champion in Ruby and Sapphire. His six are Steel, Rock and Ground, with lots of resistances, but Water, Ground, Fighting and Fire cover all of them.

• Skarmory leads with Spikes and Toxic. Spikes hurts every Pokémon you switch in, so limit switching. Skarmory is weak only to Fire and Electric, and it is immune to Ground.
• Surf is the best move in this room. It hits Claydol, Aggron and Armaldo for 2x and is neutral on Skarmory and Metagross. Swampert is close to perfect here.
• Claydol has Levitate and puts up Reflect and Light Screen, which halve your damage for five turns. Knock it out quickly with Water, Grass or Ice, and do not waste Earthquake on it.
• Aggron takes 4x from Fighting and Ground. Its Thunder and SolarBeam are there to catch Water-types, but SolarBeam needs a turn to charge, which gives you a free hit.
• Cradily and Armaldo are the fossils. Cradily takes 2x from Ice, Fighting, Bug and Steel. Armaldo takes 2x from Water, Rock and Steel.
• Metagross is his ace. It is Lv. 58 with a Sitrus Berry and Clear Body, which blocks Intimidate and other stat drops. Meteor Mash and Earthquake hit hard. Fire and Ground are its only weaknesses, so a Blaziken's Fire move or a Swampert's Earthquake is the answer.

How to Beat Wallace (Emerald)

Wallace is the Champion in Emerald. All six of his Pokémon are part Water, so Electric and Grass do most of the work, but two of them are built to beat exactly that.

• Wailord leads with Rain Dance and Water Spout. Rain powers up Water moves for five turns, and Water Spout is strongest while Wailord is at full HP. Hit it hard with Electric or Grass on the first turn.
• Rain speeds up Ludicolo. Its Swift Swim doubles its Speed in rain. Ludicolo is Water/Grass, so Electric and Grass are only neutral on it. Flying, Poison or Bug moves hit it for 2x.
• Whiscash is immune to Electric. It is Water/Ground, so Thunderbolt does nothing, but Grass moves hit it for 4x. Keep a Grass move ready for it.
• Gyarados takes 4x from Electric. It has Intimidate and Dragon Dance, so take it out before it boosts.
• Tentacruel is fast and spreads Toxic. Electric, Ground or Psychic hits it for 2x. Cure the poison with a Full Heal before it wears you down.
• Milotic is his ace. It is Lv. 58 with a Sitrus Berry and Recover. Marvel Scale raises its Defense when it has a status condition, so do not poison it before hitting it physically. Strong special attacks like Thunderbolt or Giga Drain are the cleanest answer.

Elite Four Counter Chart

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

Best Party for the Pokémon Emerald Elite Four

You need Fighting, Electric, Ice, a Dark or Ghost move and Water or Ground. Gen 3 hands out the big TMs before the League: Ice Beam (TM13), Thunderbolt (TM24) and Flamethrower (TM35) are 4,000 coins each at the Mauville Game Corner, Earthquake (TM26) is in Seafloor Cavern, and Brick Break (TM31) comes from a Black Belt in a Sootopolis City house. With those, this party covers every room:

• Swampert (or your starter): Surf, Earthquake (learned at Lv. 52, or TM26) and Ice Beam (TM13). Water/Ground is only weak to Grass, and it handles Steven almost alone. Blaziken brings Fighting and Fire for Sidney, Glacia and Steven's Skarmory, Aggron and Metagross. Sceptile has Leaf Blade for Wallace's Whiscash and the seals, and can learn Dragon Claw (TM02, in Meteor Falls) for Drake.
• Manectric (Electrike on Route 110): Thunderbolt (TM24) or Thunder (learned at Lv. 45). It is the answer to Wallace's team, Sidney's Water/Dark Pokémon, Glacia's seals and Skarmory. Magneton (Magnemite at New Mauville) also works and resists Ice and Dragon moves.
• Breloom or Hariyama (Shroomish in Petalburg Woods, Makuhita in Granite Cave): Brick Break, plus Breloom's Mach Punch (Lv. 23) and Sky Uppercut (Lv. 36). Fighting covers Sidney's whole team, Glacia's whole team and Steven's Aggron (4x) and Cradily. Breloom is also part Grass for Whiscash.
• Glalie or Walrein (Snorunt or Spheal in Shoal Cave): your Ice Beam user for Drake. Glalie learns both Crunch and Ice Beam by level-up, so it covers Phoebe too.
• Sharpedo or Mightyena: Crunch for Phoebe's Ghosts, and Dark-types are immune to Banette's Psychic. Sharpedo (Carvanha, fished with the Good Rod on Routes 118 and 119) learns Crunch at Lv. 22 and can add Surf and Ice Beam.
• Your flex slot: Swellow with Aerial Ace (TM40 from Winona) for Ludicolo, Shiftry and Cacturne, or Gardevoir with Psychic for Tentacruel. Remember that Psychic does nothing to Sidney.

Picked Torchic or Treecko? You still want a Water-type with Surf for Steven or Ice Beam for Drake. Sharpedo, Wailord or Walrein can all learn both from TMs and HMs.

Common Mistakes

• Walking in with one Pokémon at Lv. 60 and five at 40. Glacia's Hail and Drake's Flamethrowers grind down a one-Pokémon team. Spread levels across at least four.
• Bringing Psychic moves to Sidney. His whole team is Dark and immune. Your Psychic-type is for Tentacruel and little else here.
• Using Fire on Sealeo and Walrein. Thick Fat halves it. Use Fighting, Electric or Grass instead.
• Earthquaking a Levitate Pokémon. Flygon and Claydol are immune, and so are Skarmory, Altaria, Salamence and Gyarados as Flying-types.
• Using Thunderbolt on Whiscash. It is part Ground and immune. Switch to a Grass move.
• Burning your best items early. Sidney and Phoebe are the easier rooms. Keep Full Restores and Revives for Drake and the Champion.

Elite Four FAQ

What Comes Next

Beating the Champion rolls the credits and saves your team to the Hall of Fame. In Emerald, the post-game opens the Battle Frontier and an optional battle with Steven at Meteor Falls, whose team is Lv. 75 to 78, about 20 levels above the League.

Open the Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald tracker to tick off your badges, the Elite Four and your Hoenn Pokédex as you go. Played the earlier games? The Gold, Silver & Crystal Elite Four guide covers Johto's League, and the Red, Blue & Yellow Elite Four guide covers the original Indigo Plateau.