How to beat Aaron in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the first Elite Four trainer players will battle is the Bug-type fanatic Aaron. Despite being the easiest to beat of the four, Aaron certainly has a stronger lineup of Pokémon than any of the gym leaders. This is because these Pokemon’s levels are the highest you’ll see from an opponent yet. Thankfully, most of them are weak to some of the more common Pokémon in the Sinnoh region.

Which Pokémon does Elite Four Aaron have?

Before you get to know Aaron’s Pokémon, it must be prefaced that all trainers should stock up on Potions, Max Heals, and Revives. You cannot switch between Pokémon in your party and your boxes once you go beyond the Pokémon League’s entrance — so also be wise with who you choose.

Aside from your rival, Aaron will be the first trainer you face with five Pokémon. These are Dustox (Lv. 53), Beautifly (Lv. 53), Vespiquen (Lv. 54), Heracross (Lv. 54), and Drapion (Lv. 57), and will be used in this order. The first four are Bug-type Pokémon, ultimately giving your Fire Pokémon the opportunity to flourish the most in this battle.

At some point in the fight, Aaron will be using two Full Restores, which removes long-lasting status effects and maxes out the health of a given Pokémon. You’ll need to avoid him giving it to Dustox, as the Bug-type’s Toxic attack can badly poison any Pokémon and it will do this more often the longer it is on the battlefield.

Best Pokémon to use against Elite Four Aaron

The smartest thing to do before fighting Aaron is creating a party of your strongest Pokémon while ensuring that each is a different type. By doing this, you can continuously switch to Pokémon that take little damage from whichever Pokémon is currently up against you.

One type that certainly needs to be used against the Elite Four, and especially versus Aaron, is a Fire-type Pokémon. Of course, this won’t be an issue for those who chose Chimcar as their starter. However, for other trainers, the best choice here is Rapidash. If it isn’t in your inventory, fly over to Sunyshore City and drop into the Grand Underground. Under the city, there should be multiple Hideaways that hold a Ponyta with a level in the 50s. Upon being caught, it should hold overpowered Fire attacks such as Fire Blast, Inferno, and Flame Wheel.

Another Pokémon that is found in this Grand Underground area is Graveler. It may be safe to actually have this (or another high-level Rock-type) Pokemon lead the party, as its attacks are also super effective against Bug-types. Moves such as a Stone Edge, Earthquake, and Bulldoze can take massive chucks of HP out of Aaron’s Pokémon. But, the main reason you’ll need Graveler is for its ability to also learn Fire-type moves through TMs — forming the Pokémon into a dual-wielding powerhouse.

With Drapion being a Poison and Dark-type, most of your Pokémon will probably do very little damage it to. One unique choice we recommend to avoid this is Garchomp, the final evolution of Gible and Gabite. Reason being, TMs for Garchomp, such as Dig, Earthquake and Dragon Claw, will deliver twice their base damage against Drapion. At this point in the game, Players should discover a Gabite around level 50 in the Riverbank and Foutainspring Caves, ultimately allowing you to have a Garchomp after leveling up the Pokémon twice.

Related: How to change a Pokémon’s Nature in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl