This page details how to beat the first of the Elite Four, Rika. This is a part of the Pokémon League’s Champion Assessment and comes at the end of the Victory Road Walkthrough.

Below you’ll find information on Rika’s Pokémon and what Pokémon you should bring in to counter hers!

Recommended Pokémon for Elite Four Rika¶

Rika will bring out Ground-type Pokémon. They’ll be around Level 57, but you should aim to bring Pokémon of around Level 60+ into the fight, as the Elite Four will become higher levelled as you go through the ranks.

For Rika, you’ll want to bring in a strong Water and/or Grass-type to lead your party. Be careful with some match ups, as the some of her Pokémon will do lots of damage against Grass-types since they have Poison-type moves so make sure you think carefully about which Pokémon you send out.

If you need some ideas, here are some Pokémon you could use:

• The Level 65 Tera Tsareena at Socarrat Trail. You can even Terastallize it into a Psychic type to resist Poison attacks.
• The Level 55 Tera Azumarill at Casseroya Lake.
• The Level 55 Tera Gyarados also at Casseroya Lake.
• Actually, pretty much most of the regular Water types found at Casseroya Lake.

What Pokémon does Elite Four Rika have?¶

Whiscash¶

Whiscash is a Water / Ground-type Pokémon which means a good Grass-type Pokémon will be able to do x4 damage to it, easily one-shotting it before it gets a chance to drop a move! Meowscarada (the grass-starter evolution), can easily deal with Whiscash using Flower Trick.

If you aren’t able to one shot it, you leave yourself vulnerable to its strong ground-type move Earth Power, which inflicts a ton of damage and also has a chance of lowering Special Defense. It also knows Blizzard, which is an Ice-type move which can do x2 damage to Grass-types so watch out that your Grass-type doesn’t get one-shot by it!

Camerupt¶

Camerupt can also be one-shot if you have Meowscarada and use Flower Trick! That being said, if you don’t have Meowscarada, it’s best not to bring out a Grass-type this time as it knows Fire Blast and that’ll undoubtedly one-shot if you don’t one shot it first! A good Water-type Pokémon would be very strong here as it’d do x4 times damage versus the Camerupt’s ground/water-type. Additionally, Camerupt knows Earth Power and Yawn. If hit by Yawn, it’ll take one turn to put your Pokémon to sleep. This, of course, will be quite bad for your Pokémon, so if you get hit with drowsy, try to deal with Camerupt before your Pokémon falls asleep.

Donphan¶

Donphan is a Ground-type but it knows a couple of non-ground moves that might catch you off guard. For starters, it will use Poison Jab fairly frequently, which is a Poison move that inflicts damage and has a 30% chance of applying Poison which you definitely don’t want as you’ll take damage at the start of every turn! Avoid bringing out a Grass-type versus Donphan because Poison will do x2 damage. Instead, bring out a strong Water-type to deal x2 damage and try to chunk him down quickly.

In addition to being reasonably tanky, it also has Sturdy which means it cannot be one-shot. This means you will have to do at least two turns against Donphan. It also knows Earthquake, which is a strong Ground type move that does lots of damage.

Dugtrio¶

Dugtrio is a Ground-type that also knows a few Rock moves, including Sandstorm and Rock Slide. Rockslide is a powerful rock-type move that inflicts damage whilst Sandstorm creates an environment around the battle field that allows Dugtrio (and any other Rock-type on the battlefield) to have their Special Defense raised by 50% for five turns. Like Donphan, Dugtrio also knows Earthquake.

Given that Dugtrio is another standard Ground-type, you’ll want to bring in either a strong Water or Grass-type to deal x2 damage.

Terastallized Clodsire¶

Clodsire is Rika’s final Pokémon, and will be terastallized into its Ground tera-type. For raw damage, it can use Earthquake and the water-type move Liquidation. It’s also carrying the annoying Toxic and Protect combo–Toxic inflicts Poison that ramps up over time, while Protect shields Clodsire from harm and prolongs the fight, making you suffer more Poison damage.

Don’t use Water types because Clodsire has Water Absorb. Instead, go with Grass or Ice. If you get hit with Poison, cure it ASAP. Chances are, if you get poisoned, Clodsire will use Protect on the next turn, so you wouldn’t be able to attack it anyway. Switching out is also viable, if you have reliable Pokémon on the bench.

Once you’ve defeated Clodsire, you’ll have beaten the first Elite Four! Next up is Elite Four Poppy!