Pokemon Diamond and Pearl’s Cynthia is one of the series’ most beloved Champions. Unlike some Champions who tend to subscribe to a certain gimmick, Cynthia is known for a versatile team that consists of Pokemon with strong stats to tackle specific niches. Additionally, these Pokemon’s types are mostly, if not completely, different from each other, meaning Cynthia’s team excels at type coverage both offensively and defensively. Combined with her Pokemon’s high levels, Cynthia’s team is generally considered to one of the most challenging in mainline Pokemon games.
By the time of Gen 4 remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Cynthia was already established as a recurring character, having appeared in the original Black and White, and taking part in battle facilities in Black 2 and White 2 and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon with other powerful trainers. Her team remained the same conceptually, but in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl it appears to have improved in terms of capabilities.
The Evolution of Cynthia’s Team
When the player initially fights Cynthia in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, her Pokemon and their levels are the same, but they have different movesets. This time all of her Pokemon, not just her Garchomp, have held items. Spiritomb has a Sitrus Berry instead of Garchomp, who has a Yache Berry to neutralize its nasty Ice weakness as much as possible. Meanwhile Roserade has an Expert Belt, Gastrodon has Leftovers, Lucario has Wise Glasses, and Milotic has a Flame Orb to complement its Marvel Scale ability (increasing defense when afflicted by a status condition).
Her team also adapts to modern Pokemon mechanics and rules. Spiritomb has Shadow Ball instead of Silver Wind to fully take advantage of its dual Ghost/Dark typing, and Embargo has been replaced with Sucker Punch to compensate for its lack of Speed. Roserade has Dazzling Gleam instead of Extrasensory, Gastrodon has Scald instead of Muddy Water to hurt physical attackers, and also swaps Stone Edge for Rock Tomb - likely to compensate for Gastrodon’s slowness.
Because her Lucario is focused on Special Attack, it now has Nasty Plot instead of Earthquake. Milotic has the more reliable Recover instead of Aqua Ring, and just like Gastrodon it now uses Scald instead of Surf. Finally, Garchomp no longer has Brick Break and Giga Impact. Instead, it now has Swords Dance and Poison Jab to take advantage of its huge Attack stat and provide coverage against Fairy-type Pokemon. Its former Dragon move, Dragon Rush, has also been replaced with the more consistent Dragon Claw.
Cynthia has two possible rematch teams. The first one can be fought before the player explores Stark Mountain, in which her Pokemon between 12-to-14 levels higher. Her Gastrodon is replaced by Togekiss, making her team truly diverse in terms of types and faithful to her Platinum counterpart. Like Gastrodon in the first battle, Togekiss now holds Leftovers and serves Gastrodon’s role as a bulky Pokemon that annoys the player with secondary effects. Her Lucario knows Psychic, and her Spiritomb can contribute to annoyance with Will-O-Wisp.
After Stark Mountain, Cynthia’s team becomes the strongest in the franchise, beating out Red in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Her Garchomp, Milotic, Spiritomb, and Togekiss remain the same, but her Lucario becomes a physical attacker that holds a Focus Sash. It knows Close Combat, Meteor Mash, Earthquake, and Extreme Speed, giving it powerful coverage. To spice things up, her Roserade has been replaced with Porygon-Z, who is an even stronger Special Attacker that only has one weakness and an immunity against Ghost-types. Porygon-Z holds an Expert Belt like Roserade, and its move set consists of typically strong special moves: Hyper Beam, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, and Thunderbolt.
Cynthia’s team has been relatively consistent through the years, and that is still the case in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The remakes include throwbacks to her previous appearances while making her team competitively stronger, contrasting modern Pokemon’s image of being easier as time goes on.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl are available on Nintendo Switch.