Those hoping to become the very best in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl will need to prove themselves against a string of powerful Pokemon Trainers. First, they'll need to defeat all eight of Sinnoh's gym leaders, which itself is no easy feat. Next, they'll have to brave the perils of Victory Road and then take on a quartet of veteran trainers known as the Elite Four. Even after doing so, however, one big challenge still remains, with players also required to beat Sinnoh's reigning Pokemon Champion, Cynthia.

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Though players encounter Cynthia at various points throughout Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, it's only after players have defeated the Elite Four that she's revealed to be the regional champion. Looking at her team though, it's easy to understand how she earned the title, as it's full of powerful Pokemon and boasts exceptional type coverage. As a result, those hoping to beat Cynthia and take away her crown are going to have their work cut out for them.

Updated March 30, 2022, by Tom Bowen: After completing the game and unlocking the National Dex, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl players will be able to rematch some of the many strong opponents that they fought along the way to becoming Sinnoh's newest Pokemon Champion. Cynthia is one such opponent and boasts a team that's considerably stronger the second time around. Players can even challenge Cynthia to a second rematch as well if they like, in which her team will once again receive a huge boost in levels. This guide has been updated to provide information about Cynthia's rematch teams, as well as some suggestions on how players should approach the two rematches with Cynthia. A section comparing Cynthia's team in the original games and the 2021 remakes has also been added, and highlights some of the key differences as well as the problems that may arise from these changes.

How to Prepare for Cynthia

Preparing for the battle with Cynthia is made all the more difficult by the fact that it comes immediately after players have taken on the Elite Four. This means that the team that players assemble to defeat Aaron, Bertha, Flint, and Lucian also needs to be able to beat Cynthia as well. Needless to say, players should be sure to bring plenty of healing items so that they can recover HP in and in between battles. Given that the games' strongest moves tend to have lower PP than others, this should also include a few Ethers as well. Unfortunately, however, PP restoring items cannot be bought like Potions and Revives, meaning players will need to have found and saved a few throughout their journey.

Unlike the Elite Four before her, Cynthia has no real type preference, with her six Pokemon representing nine different types between them. Thankfully, the fact that all but one of them are dual-type Pokemon often makes hitting weakness a little easier. Providing players have a Pokemon with a strong grass-type attack somewhere in their team, Milotic and Gastrodon shouldn't cause too much trouble, while ice-type attacks can be used to take care of both Garchomp and Roserade. The latter can also be easily beaten with fire-type moves, which will also come in handy against Lucario. Annoyingly, Spiritomb's only real weakness is to fairy-type attacks, though players can simply use brute force to take it down if need be.

Given that both Palkia and Dialga can learn Blizzard using TM14, which is found at Lake Acuity or purchased at the Department Store in Veilstone City, they should be the player's go-to Pokemon for ice-type attacks. Those who chose Infernape as their starter should already have fire-type attacks taken care of, but for everyone else, Rapidash is a more than capable stand-in. Haunter / Gengar can learn Dazzling Gleam using TM21, which players can find at the Team Galactic HQ or the Department Store. Both Pokemon can also learn Giga Drain, which is found on Route 209 by using Surf. If they don't plan on taking a Haunter / Gengar or a designated grass-type specialist, players can instead use one of the Grass Knot TMs (TM86) that they got after beating Gardenia. All three starters can learn it, as too can Kadabra / Alakazam.

How to Beat Cynthia

Cynthia will start with Spiritomb, so, ideally, players will lead with a Pokemon that knows Dazzling Gleam or another strong fairy-type attack. They'll want to try and take it out in a single hit if possible, as otherwise, Cynthia will withdraw it and throw out Lucario. Players should switch to their fire-type attacker here, though if they happened to bring along a Gastrodon for the Elite Four, this is also a solid choice as it will be able to take Lucario out with Earth Power. Assuming Roserade comes next, players can stick with their fire-type attacker if it's already out, or switch over to Palkia / Dialga and take care of it using Blizzard or another powerful ice-type attack like Ice Beam.

Gastrodon and Milotic usually come out next, so players should switch over to their grass-type attacker and go to town on them. The latter can be a little annoying to deal with due to its ability to use Rest to recover HP, but, given that it weighs 357 lbs, Grass Knot should hit with 100 attack power, which should be enough to take it down with a single hit. If players didn't defeat it earlier, Spiritomb will return next, after which, Cynthia will use her last and most powerful Pokemon, Garchomp. Thankfully, however, ice-type attacks will deal four times as much damage against it due to its typing, so Palkia and Dialga should be able to take care of it pretty quickly with Blizzard.

What to Do After Beating Cynthia

Once players have beaten Cynthia, Professor Rowan will show up and register their Pokemon into the hall of fame. After the credits are over, players will then be returned to Twinleaf Town, where their rival has left a message for them telling them to get on a ship at Snowpoint City. Doing so will take them to a new Island where they can battle strong trainers, though that's just one of many pieces of post-game content in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. Players can also catch a variety of Legendary and Mythical Pokemon and work towards completing their Sinnoh Pokedex. Doing so will unlock the National Dex, as well as rematches against all eight gym leaders, the Elite Four, and, of course, Cynthia.

How to Prepare for the Rematches with Cynthia

When compared to some of the other rematches in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, the ones with Cynthia aren't all that different from the original encounter. The only major differences — besides the huge increases in levels, that is — are that Togekiss comes in for Gastrodon for both rematches and Porygon-Z replaces Roserade during the second. On paper, this could cause problems, but in reality, players should already have an electric-type on hand to deal with Togekiss, while any half-decent fighting-type should be able to handle Porygon-Z.

It's also worth noting that Lucario's move set changes in both subsequent battles, with Psychic preventing players from using a fighting-type to counter it in the first. Players can still use fire and ground-type Pokemon, however, so this shouldn't require any major shakeups. In the second rematch, Lucario does gain access to Earthquake, which will effectively rule out most fire-types as viable counters, though players could still opt for a fire/flying-type like Charizard (evolve Charmander) if needed. Cynthia's Spiritomb also knows Will-O-Wisp instead of Psychic in both rematches, though this arguably makes it easier to deal with rather than harder.

Cynthia's Rematch Teams

How Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl's Cynthia Compares to the Original Games'

Much like the Elite four before her, Cynthia's team in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is the same as it was in the original releases, at least when it comes to the Pokemon that she uses and their levels, anyway. Where the remakes differ is that all six of her team now have Held Items rather than just one and many of their move sets have been tweaked in order to make them trickier to counter.

Spiritomb now has a Sitrus Berry as well as access to Sucker Punch and Shadow Ball. The former is a somewhat lackluster addition, but Shadow Ball can cause a lot of problems for those who'd planned to counter Spiritomb with a Ghost-type Pokemon of their own. On the plus side, it's no longer able to use Embargo, which had the potential to make this battle a living nightmare in the original releases.

Roserade and Gastrodon haven't been changed all that much, with the former swapping out Extrasensory for Dazzling Gleam and the latter exchanging Stone Edge for Rock Tomb. Neither does much to change things up in the way of best counters, but will likely lead to some increased damage. Roserade's Expert Belt could cause some real problems too, though only if it's able to attack weakness.

Cynthia's Lucario brings with it some interesting changes, as the BDSP version swaps out Psychic and Earthquake - two incredibly powerful moves - for Flash Cannon and Nasty Plot. While on the surface this may seem like a bit of a downgrade, the addition of a Steel-type move prevents players from countering Lucario with a Fighting-type, while Nasty Plot and the Pokemon's Wise Glasses can greatly increase the power of its special moves.

Other than gaining access to Rest, Cynthia's Milotic remains largely unchanged, but the same cannot be said for the real star of the champion's team, Garchomp. The Dragon / Ground-type trades brute force for utility, losing access to Brick Break and Giga Impact in order to gain Swords Dance and Poison Jab. The former, in particular, can quickly turn the tide in a battle if players aren't careful. It also swaps Dragon Rush for Dragon Claw, which, although a little less powerful, is far more likely to hit the player's Pokemon.

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