After the completion of the Delta Episode, it is possible for you to return to the Elite Four. Going back, you’ll find a noticeable change, as your foes’ parties have leveled up significantly (a margin of 20 levels or so from the original battles), everyone now has a sixth Pokémon, and everyone has a Mega Pokémon .

All of this adds up to create a level of challenge significantly higher than before. That’s not to say it’s impossible - it’s much the opposite - but this will likely be your first significant challenge in the game, particularly if you’re like us and have been overleveled as a result of 100%’ing the game.

Are there any benefits to this - you know, aside from the higher EXP. and money earnings? Well, after beating the Elite Four a second time, you can obtain a Sinnoh-region starter (Piplup, Turtwig, or Chimchar) from Prof. Birch, back in Littleroot Town.

Additionally, Steven will give you a Metagrossite after you beat him the second time, allowing you to Mega-Evolve Metagross! Both of these are one-time rewards though and beating the Elite Four subsequent times doesn’t award anything new.

In any case, the below are the strategies determined from the new Elite Four data. From the second clash onwards, the encounters will remain in this fashion.

Feel free to bring any of the new Legendary Pokémon you may have obtained. For example, Mega Rayquaza with the moves Dragon Claw/Outrage, Dragon Ascent, Earthquake, and some other coverage move, probably Brick Break will own the Elite Four.

BOSS: Elite Four Sidney¶

Rewards: $11,570

Scrafty is a formidable Pokémon; here he serves the role of a powerful sweeper Pokémon: with his moveset, he can easily hit a number of Pokémon super-effectively, including his main counter in Fairy through Poison Jab. Fairies are about the only chance one has of One-Hit KO’ing this guy.

It’s rather possible for a good Fairy to kill it in one so long as they are faster (which is often the case given Scrafty’s relative lack of Speed). Azumarill makes a good counter, and Mega-Mawile especially so. Other good Pokémon include Flying and Fighting-types in general.

Shiftry is more or less a filler slot on Sidney’s team. The main trouble here is Shiftry has moves to counter Pokémon super-effective against him, but aside from Leaf Blade, most of his moves are pretty weak. Hit him with Fire, Flying, Fighting, and Bug Pokémon and move on.

Sharpedo is another sweeper Pokémon, more or less. If you can potentially OHKO him (eg. with Fighting-types or anything super-effective), you’ll probably see him using Aqua Jet so as to avoid you getting off unscathed just for being faster. Otherwise, it’s another case of targetting weaknesses.

In this instance, as usual, non-contact attacks are preferred since Rough Skin is present; there’s plenty of choice, including Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, and Dazzling Gleam. Of course, the HP penalty is relatively minor, so go ahead and use your Fighting Pokémon if confident.

Zoroark is by far the Pokémon that will mess with you the most. Due to Zoroark’s Illusion ability, he will initially appear as a Level 70 Absol. This is for the purpose of mind games to cause people to really screw up … though, when you’re using a Dark Monotype party, it’s hardly a real change.

In any case, since Zoroark’s and Absol’s Levels differ, but the Level is not mimicked, you’ll be able to spot him outright. It seems he was intended to play as a sweeper, but does so very poorly: the biggest dangers here are Dark Pulse and Flamethrower (and that’s mostly just a Scizor counter.

Due to his frailty, he won’t last much more than a single hit, especially super-effective or STAB ones (or both!), so just use whatever you want, though it’s best to avoid Psychic Pokémon for sure.

Mandibuzz is mostly here in the general role of a poor support Pokémon: in all reality, it’s here for Tailwind - which will double its party’s Speed for five turns - and nothing else, because it doesn’t have the power to back up the rest of its moves, which are supposed to deal damage.

Brave Bird is the only remote threat of its moveset, so don’t use Fighting, Grass, or Bug Pokémon; you’ll mostly want to focus on Ice, Rock, Electric, and Fairy.

Absol is the main threat in this battle, moreso due to sheer power than anything, though he does have a decent moveset in general. Fighting this guy using status ailments is impossible since he’ll gain the Magic Bounce ability upon Mega Evolution; that’ll throw those status moves right back at you.

Direct offense is best here. In this instance, Fairy Pokémon - particularly Gardevoir to resist Psycho Cut - work well. Fast Fighting Pokémon can also work. A strong Bug Pokémon, such as Scizor, Pinsir, or Heracross, are good too, though beware that Aerial Ace (though it’s fairly weak to begin with).

BOSS: Elite Four Phoebe¶

Rewards: $11,590

Banette … still doesn’t play to any of his strengths. Your main problems with him will involve Grudge and Toxic; otherwise, just a complete waste.

Mismagius , however, is a bit more significant of a threat, having nice Sp. Atk. and no qualms about using it. That said, you won’t have a ton to fear due to it having some frailty, too. A good super-effective (as you know, Dark or Ghost) attack will likely kill it in one hit.

Drifblim is like the opposite of Mismagius: bulkier, without real power, and the latter is further hampered by attempting to use a mixed-class moveset. Acrobatics is the only remote threat here, but even despite benefitting from STAB and double power, it only really affects those who are weak to Flying.

So, for here, Electric and Rock Pokémon are the preferences to actually resist this, and there are also generic weakness-piercing methods; so long as it’s boosted by STAB, it should manage a One-Hit KO.

Chandelure is likely the biggest threat on Phoebe’s team; it boasts among the highest Sp. Atk. in the entire game, making it a very popular Ghost to have. For the most part, it tries to capitalize on statuses laid out by the previous Pokémon through Hex, which will almost certainly One-Hit KO you if ailed.

The other moves are potent as well, particularly Flamethrower, but if they’re not super-effective they likely won’t kill. (You also have the advantage of likely being faster.) A one- or two-hit KO is possible, and it’s not really important about it being super-effective or not if you’re faster.

Dusknoir is another bulky Pokémon trying to capitalize on Hex’s status damage bonus, though he has some slight independence in that regard through the elemental Punches. (The odds are only 10% for any of them inducing an ailment, don’t worry your head off.)

The Punch moves are the main threat here due to Dusknoir actually having a decent Attack stat, and the bulk is also another concern. That said, Dusknoir’s Attack isn’t that high, so you should survive long enough to KO it with two STAB moves.

Sableye is not much of a threat at all, even as a Mega Pokémon, unless you’re the type to focus on crippling through status moves: much like with Mega Absol before it, Mega Sableye has Magic Bounce and will thusly bounce ’em all back at you.

For the most part, Foul Play is the only threat, mostly because it’s based moreso on the target’s Attack than the user’s; for the other moves, Sableye’s Attack isn’t quite high enough to be considered a major problem. Fairy moves are its only (type-based) weakness, so use those if you can.

BOSS: Elite Four Glacia¶

Rewards: $11,840

Abomasnow allows Glacia to finally function as a Hail team. By coming in to set up with Snow Warning, Beartic, Froslass, and Vanilluxe will benefit noticeably from the evasion boosts or Leftovers-style healin’, not to mention the myriad Blizzards that can now fly around.

It would help a lot if you have your own Weather-inducing Pokémon - Ninetales, the Primal Pokémon, or (Mega) Rayquaza. Particularly if it ends up being Ninetales or (Primal) Groudon since Sun will boost your ability to combat through Fire moves, the most obvious weakness Ice possesses.

In particular, Abomasnow will likely be KO’d by a Fire move. Besides the Hail, Abomasnow does have a few powerful moves - Blizzard and Wood Hammer in particular - at his disposal. However he’s not particular strong or fast, so hit him with a weakness move - preferably a Fire one - and move on.

Beartic mostly is a fairly generic sweeper Pokémon, nothing special about him; hit with a weakness (Fire, Steel, Rock, or Fighting) and move on.

Froslass is the Special variant of Beartic; generic sweeping, nothing special. It will try to reintroduce Hail if it’s run out or the like, so be careful of that if the evasion boosts on it and Beartic or the healing of Vanilluxe bother you. (The latter isn’t much of a problem, really.)

Vanilluxe … is difficult to place in a role. Ice Beam and Signal Beam can be a bit of threat as Vanilluxe has fairly decent Sp. Atk., though Freeze-Dry is mostly there to super-effectively hit any Water Pokémon you opted to throw out in a walling strategy (since Water resists Ice, but not the other way around).

It’s pretty easy, though, since you only really need avoid putting out a Grass, Flying, Ground, or a Water Pokémon, for the most part, to win it since Vanilluxe is quite frail.

Walrein is moreso about bulk than offense, as before: the STAB found in Surf and Blizzard can be a bit of a problem, but that’s mostly if you’re weak to Water and Ice. Otherwise, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Generic STAB or super-effective moves will likely throw up the two-hit KO you need.

Glalie is truly the weird one, strategically, on Glacia’s team: the thing that strikes us most about him is a huge reliance on Ice offensive moves (Ice Shard, Freeze-Dry) and nothing else, and there’s no benefit earned from Refrigerate. He might reintroduce Hail if it’s gone, but it’s unlikely and unnecessary.

If you have pretty much any Steel Pokémon, you have the win outright. In terms of power, you’ll probably get a noticeable chunk of HP removed from you if you don’t resist it, but if you’re at a decent level of HP, it won’t be that much to worry over. Mostly, just a good super-effective or STAB attack again will suffice.

BOSS: Elite Four Drake¶

Reward: $12,000

Altaria – you guessed it – still failingly tries to wall you. It still doesn’t really have the power to back up its offensive moves, and mostly can begin walling Physically with Cotton Guard. Special move users - Latios, many Ice move users, many Fairy Pokémon - work especially well here.

Dragalge is a bit like the opposite of Altaria: serving as a Special Wall instead of Physical. Also like Altaria, its moves are not too dangerous since it has relatively low Sp. Atk.; Dragon Pulse will be a problem for your Dragon Pokémon, though, and Sludge Wave for your Fairies.

A good Earthquake - or another Physical Ground, Psychic, or Dragon move at that - will work well enough.

Kingdra works much the same as before, throwing up some fairly powerful moves with Dragon Pulse, Ice Beam, and Surf, particularly being able to deal with Dragon Pokémon. Sniper makes the fight slightly dangerous if a critical lands, but a good Fairy will finish the battle before that occurs.

Flygon is much the same as usual, relying on a Special moveset rather than playing to its strengths in Physical moves; still, it is fairly fast. The main reason for this favoring of Special over Physical is the move Boomburst, a highly powerful (140 Base Power) Normal move.

In this case, it’s not much of a threat due to Flygon’s rather low Sp. Atk., and the same is true of most of its moves for the same reason. Throw up an Ice move - preferably, anyhow, but any weakness will probably do it - for the KO.

Haxorus is the first big threat on Drake’s team, and it is a very formidable one as Haxorus boasts very high Attack and, in this instance, uses a moveset much like competitive players would, so you can have some trouble with it at average levels, and in particular if you’re the slower one.

Regardless of what Pokémon you use in this instance, you will likely have a bit of trouble if the AI reacts on a remotely intelligent level (then again, it rarely does). If you can manage to be faster, throw out the Pokémon you’ve been KO’ing the other Dragons here with (Latios/Latias work well).

But if you’re certain of being slower (it should have around 164 Speed) it’ll be better to use something that can’t be hit super-effectively by any of its moves and simply use a STAB move. Priority moves, such as Ice Shard, also work.

Salamence is the biggest threat on Drake’s team when it goes Mega because it is slightly more powerful than Haxorus and it can also make use of that Intimidate ability. That said, Mega Salamence is also very prone to Ice moves and it doesn’t have much of a way to counter Ice Pokémon.

So as you can imagine, throwing up an Ice Pokémon or a fast Dragon Pokémon (again, Mega-Lati) works fairly well, as do Fairies. This battle is pretty straightforward, in any case.

BOSS: Pokémon League Champion Steven¶

Rewards : $15,800; Metagrossite (first rematch only)

Steven actually hasn’t changed that much from the last fight; mostly replacing two of his Pokémon.

Skarmory leads Steven’s party, and loves to play its role in setting a hazard in Spikes before proceeding to Badly Poison your Pokémon. Other than this, Skarmory is mostly filler material as it is not that strong of an attacker.

You probably won’t be able to kill Skarmory before it gets done with Spikes (Sturdy), but try to KO it before it gets done with Toxic. Focus on Fire and Electric Pokémon for the kill.

Claydol is one of several aberrations from Steven’s specialization in Steel, this one being weak to Grass, Water, Dark, and Ghost.

He mostly plays the role of a weak support through Reflect and Light Screen while his offensive moves aren’t very strong, even though STAB-boosted. Smack him with a super-effective/STAB move or the like and move on.

Aggron is a powerful enough Pokémon to throw you some trouble, particularly with the sweeper set he’s using, but the main problems lie in two areas: a lack of Speed and a double-weakness to Fighting and Ground. Hit him with those kinds of moves twice (again, Sturdy) and move on.

Carbink is not a good Pokémon to begin with; it has by far the lowest Sp. Atk. on Steven’s team. Normally, if Carbink were to play supportive roles, such as setting up barriers and the like, that’d be nice. However, Carbink here is acting as a Special sweeping Pokémon, withoit the stats to match.

It’s even ironically going to take quadruple damage from Steel, Steven’s own specialization. Carbink is a filler Pokémon if there ever was one; use the time to use any stat-boosting moves and healing before killing it. (Yes, it’s that weak, so weak as to allow you to be able to waste time.)

Aerodactyl here runs a pretty standard sweeper set: it is able to confront many of the Pokémon that would actually give it and other Pokémon Steven owns problems - Rock Slide for Fire-types, Fire Fang for Steel-types, Ice Fang for Ground-types, and Thunder Fang for Water-types.

Aerodactyl is also one of the faster Pokémon in the game, so it’ll be hard to outspeed. Probably one of the better ways to take it out is to simply sit through one of the Fang moves; Aerodactyl may be a fairly strong Pokémon in itself, but the Fangs hold it back by being somewhat weak.

You could, for example, send out an Electric or Steel Pokémon or Pokémon with Water or Ice moves and live with whatever happens. Aerodactyl’s power and Speed did come at a cost in terms of frailty, so if you do survive that initial strike you’ll probably get in a KO.

Metagross is overwhelmingly the largest threat on Steven’s team and of the Elite Four run in general. After Mega Evolving, in addition to receiving a significant boost to stats, he’ll also gain Tough Claws, raising the power of his contact moves (i.e all of them) by a further 33%.

His moves are used varyingly, but Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash are the big ones to worry about as they’ll have a base 135 power with STAB and 180 after Tough Claws: almost as strong as super-effective hits. Don’t forget Bullet Punch, which usually goes first, compensating for low Speed.

The main way to kill it is to get rid of it ASAP with strong, STAB-boosted super-effective (Fire/Ground/Dark/Ghost) attacks. Blaziken is fast enough to make this work with Overheat, Blaze Kick, or Flare Blitz, at least in part, and Swampert works amazingly well for it with Earthquake.

You can also teach Shadow Ball to your Latios/Latias - it won’t be STAB, but it will still hurt. Finally, if all else fails, Primal Kyogre or Groudon both work well, easily resisting a number of these moves and throwing back obscenely powerful ones in return, mostly because of their high stats.