In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Cynthia is the Champion trainer, and you will have to defeat her in order to etch your name in the Hall of Fame. In this guide, we will explain how to defeat Champion Cynthia in Pokemon BDSP.
How to Defeat Champion Cynthia in Pokemon BDSP
As Cynthia is the Champion of the Sinnoh Pokemon League, you will face her multiple times during your journey in Pokemon BDSP.
In order to have the final fight with Cynthia, you will first have to defeat the Elite Four. The Elite four trainers are a gauntlet of 4 battles in the Pokemon League.
The Elite Four are tough but they pale in comparison to your fight against Cynthia. Once you have bested the Elite Four, your final battle will be up against Champion Cynthia who is waiting in the room after Lucian.
Cynthia’s Pokemon
Below are the Pokemon Champion Cynthia will use against you in the final battle in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Spiritomb
Level: 84
Abilities: Pressure and Infiltrator
Type: Ghost and Dark
Weak Against: Fairy types
Moves
- Dark Pulse
- Shadow Ball
- Sucker Punch
- Will-o-Wisp
Roserade
Level: 60
Abilities: Natural Cure, Poison Point and Technician
Type: Grass and Poison
Weak Against: Ice, Flying, Fire and Psychic types
Moves
- Hyper Beam
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
Gastrodon
Level: 60
Abilities: Sticky Hold and Storm Drain
Type: Water and Ground
Weak Against: Grass types
Moves
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Rock Tomb
- Sludge Bomb
Lucario
Level: 86
Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast and Justified
Type: Steel and Fighting
Weak Against: Ground, Fire and Fighting types
Moves
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
- Meteor Mash
Milotic
Level: 84
Abilities: Marvel Scale and Cute Charm
Type: Water
Weak Against: Electric and Grass types
Moves
- Ice Beam
- Mirror Coat
- Recover
- Scald
Garchomp
Level: 88
Abilities: Sand Veil and Rough Skin
Type: Dragon and Ground
Weak Against: Dragon, Fairy and Ice types
Moves
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Sword Dance
Best Pokemon Team to Defeat Cynthia in Pokemon BDSP
Now that we know the Pokemon that Cynthia will bring to this fight and what weaknesses they have, let’s create the best team to defeat Cynthia in Pokemon BDSP.
- Abomasnow
- Houndoom
- Dialga
- Gyarados
Abomasnow
Abomasnow is probably the best Pokemon in the game to use in this fight against Cynthia. This Ice-type Pokemon spawns at the snow peaks of Mt. Coronet and is extremely easy to catch.
Out of all of Cynthia’s Pokemon, Abomasnow performs the best against Garchomp. It can take hits from Garchomp’s Earthquake move without even breaking a sweat. And on top of that, it has attacks that are super effective against Garchomp like Blizzard and Ice Punch.
Abomasnow can also work perfectly against Milotic and Gastrodon if you make it learn a Grass-type move; such as Wood Hammer.
Due to their types, Milotic and Gastrodon will take 2x and 4x damage respectively from the Wood Hammer move, allowing Abomasnow to make quick work of them.
Houndoom
You can get the pre-evolution form of Houndoom, Houndour, from the Grand Underground once you’ve obtained the Explorer Kit.
Having a Fire-type Pokemon is absolutely essential in this fight as two of Cynthia’s Pokemon are very weak to fire.
So for your Fire-type pick, the best Pokemon to go for is Houndoom. This is because Houndoom is very easy to obtain and it comes with some really powerful Fire-type moves like Flame Charge or Flamethrower.
With Houndoom you’ll be able to make quick work of Lucario and Roserade as Houndoom can knock off almost half of their HP with a single Fire attack.
Dialga
Dialga can be obtained from the Spear Pillar once you’ve defeated Team Galactic at the summit.
Spiritomb is easily the most difficult Pokemon to face from Cynthia’s lineup. As Spiritomb is only weak against Fairy types, you’ll need a Pokemon that can learn a powerful Fairy-type move.
So your best choice, in this case, is Dialga. Dialga has the ability to learn the Roar of Time attack, which will be extremely strong against Spiritomb. You can also have it learn Dazzling Gleam, or any other powerful Fairy-type attack.
Then once you’re in battle, you can lead off with Dialga and hit Spiritomb with all you’ve got right from the start, and you’ll be good to go from there.
Gyarados
Gyarados is one of the easiest Pokemon to obtain in the game. You just need to fish out a Magikarp from a pool of water and level it up to level 20 to evolve it into a Gyarados.
Gyarados works really well in this fight because of its wide coverage, which is due to its access to both Water and Dark-type moves. This will help you a lot in this fight.
Gyarados also has the Intimidate ability. This will allow you to decrease the attack stats of Cynthia’s powerful Pokemon like Garchomp, making it much easier to take them down.
And furthermore, Gyarados has some really hard-hitting attacks like Dragon Dance that’ll knock big chunks of health off of Cynthia’s Pokemon.
Gyarados will synergize very well with the rest of the Pokemon in this team, making him a great Pokemon to use against Cynthia.
Tips to Beat Cynthia in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Cynthia has several different types of Pokemon in her party, which will be a bit tricky to deal with. For the fight, you will be able to choose Six Pokemon for your party.
At the start of the fight, you will be up against Spiritomb. He is weak to Fairy-type attacks, so choosing Dialga or Togekiss against him will be a good counter.
Lucario will be the next fighter. Choose a fighting, fire, or ground-type Pokemon with a powerful stab move against him to easily take him down.
Roserade will then come next. Fortunately, Roserade is the weakest Pokemon on Cynthia’s team, so if you have a Fire-type like Houndoom or Infernape, Roserade won’t be much of a problem to you.
Next, you will have to face Milotic. Cynthia’s Milotic will use Marvel Scale to increase his defense by 50%, which will make it difficult to take him down. Choose an Electric-type Pokemon against him, as he does not have any moves that can damage Electric Pokemon.
After that, Cynthia will pull out Gastrodon. Gastrodon is weak against Grass-type moves, so you’ll need to bring a Pokemon that can learn some hard-hitting Grass-type moves to take Gastrodon down.
Finally, it will be time to fight Garchomp, Cynthia’s final Pokemon. As Garchomp is weak to dragon and ice Pokemon, you can use an Abomasnow against it to easily take it down.
Another great option against her Garchomp is Weavile. It can take him out in a single hit with Stab Avalanche move. Mamoswine is also a decent option in the fight against Garchomp.
This combination will allow you to go head-to-head with Cynthia’s Pokemon and take them down.
