Elite Four

The Elite Four (Japanese: 四天王 Four Heavenly Kings) are four Pokémon Trainers who are regarded as the toughest in their regional Pokémon League, short of the League Champion. Those who challenge the Elite Four must have won all eight Badges from that region and face all four and the current Champion consecutively without losing to any of them.

One group resides on Indigo Plateau in Kanto, and are considered the best trainers in both Kanto and Johto; another is in Ever Grande City in Hoenn; the last known one is in the unnamed Pokémon League in Sinnoh.

Kanto/Johto Elite Four

Generation I and III

In the Generation I games Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, and their Generation III remakes, the Elite Four at the Indigo Plateau consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Red	Green	Blue	Yellow	FireRed and LeafGreen
						After Kanto	After Sevii
File:FL Lorelei.png Lorelei カンナ Kanna	Ice
File:FL Bruno.png Bruno シバ Siba	Fighting
File:FRLG Agatha.png Agatha キクコ Kikuko	Ghost
File:FL Lance.png Lance ワタル Wataru	Dragon
File:FL Blue.png Champion Blue グリーン Green	Various

Generation II and IV

In Generation II and Generation IV, the Elite Four at the Indigo Plateau consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Gold	Silver	Crystal	HeartGold and SoulSilver
					After 8 badges	After 16 badges
Will イツキ Itsuki	Psychic
Koga キョウ Kyō	Poison
Bruno シバ Siba	Fighting
Karen カリン Karin	Dark
Champion Lance ワタル Wataru	Dragon

Hoenn Elite Four

Generation III

In Generation III, the Elite Four in Ever Grande City consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Ruby	Sapphire	Emerald
File:E Sidney.png Sidney カゲツ Kagetsu	Dark
File:E Phoebe.png Phoebe フヨウ Fuyō	Ghost
File:E Glacia.png Glacia プリム Prim	Ice
File:E Drake.png Drake ゲンジ Genji	Dragon
File:RS Steven.png Champion Steven ダイゴ Daigo	Steel
File:E-Wallace.png Champion Wallace ミクリ Mikuri	Water

Sinnoh Elite Four

Generation IV

In Generation IV, the Elite Four at the Pokémon League consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Diamond	Pearl	Platinum
Aaron リョウ Ryou	Bug
Bertha キクノ Kikuno	Ground
Flint オーバ Ōba	Fire
Lucian ゴヨウ Goyō	Psychic
Champion Cynthia シロナ Shirona	Various

Isshu Elite Four

Generation V

In Generation V, the Elite Four at the Pokémon League consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Black	White	Rematch
File:VSShikimi.png Shikimi シキミ Shikimi	Ghost
File:VSGiima.png Giima ギーマ Giima	Dark
Caitlin カトレア Cattleya	Psychic
File:VSRenbu.png Renbu レンブ Renbu	Fighting
style="background:#Template:Adeku color; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 5px;" | File:VSAdeku.png Champion Adeku アデク Adeku	style="background:#Template:Adeku color;" | Various	style="background:#Template:Adeku color;" colspan="2" |	style="background:#Template:Adeku color; -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 5px;" |

Unlike previous groups of Elite Four, the Isshu Elite Four may be challenged in any order.

In the anime

The Sinnoh Elite Four in the anime

Ash and his friends infrequently meet the members of the Elite Four, who then impart them with battle strategies. So far, Ash has encountered the complete Kanto group:

• Lorelei in The Mandarin Island Miss Match (named 'Prima' in the English dub)
• Bruno in To Master the Onixpected
• Agatha in The Scheme Team
• Lance in Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution

Ash has also met Koga in The Ninja Poké-Showdown, though merely as Fuchsia City's Gym Leader and not as the Johto Elite Four member.

From Hoenn, Ash has met:

• Steven in A Hole Lotta Trouble!
• Drake in Vanity Affair
• Wallace in Our Cup Runneth Over!

Ash has also met the entire Sinnoh Elite Four as well:

• Lucian in An Elite Meet and Greet!
• Cynthia in Top-Down Training!
• Aaron in A Trainer and Child Reunion!
• Flint in Flint Sparks the Fire!
• Bertha in An Elite Coverup!

It has been hinted by Lucian in An Elite Meet and Greet! that when a Trainer wins their respective region's Conference Tournament, they can participate in the Elite Four Challenge, fighting the four members of that region's Elite Four, and then possibly the Champion as well.

Trivia

• As of Generation IV, Champion Lance has the lowest average level, and Champion Cynthia has the highest average level in the player's first battle with them. Coincidentally, they are the only members of the Elite Four that Ash has encountered more than once, and appear as champions contemporaneously due to HeartGold and SoulSilver occurring at the same time as Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
• The levels of the Johto Elite Four are considerably the lowest of the Leagues, having levels under 50 (apart from Lance), while the Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh have levels higher than 50/60. This is due to the accessibility of Kanto after the defeat of the Elite Four.
• In Platinum, the highest-leveled Pokémon of Bertha, Flint, and Lucian (Rhyperior, Magmortar, and Gallade respectively) match the final Pokémon that the Sinis Trio uses from Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, in that same order.
• The Elite Four of Sinnoh are the only Elite Four whose names follow each other alphabetically, not counting Cynthia.
• The Sinnoh Elite Four is also the only Elite Four to not include a Dragon-type Trainer, including the Champion (although Cynthia does use a single Garchomp). Since there is also no Dragon-type Gym Leader in Sinnoh either, it is the only region without a notable Dragon-type Trainer. However, prior to unlocking the National Pokédex, the only non-legendary Dragon Pokémon available is Garchomp and its evolutionary line. In Platinum, it would also include Altaria.
• Though multiple Trainers in the Elite Four use the same type as another Elite Four Trainer, only Fighting and Dragon have appeared multiple times used by the same Trainers (as Lance and Bruno are in the Elite Four of Kanto in all generations that they appeared in).
• Despite their Japanese name being "Four Heavenly Kings", each Elite Four group contains at least one female member among them. In fact, Indigo Plateau in Generation II and Generation IV is the only Elite Four that doesn't contain two women (including Cynthia the champion in Sinnoh).
• The Hoenn Elite Four are the only Elite Four to have an entirely individual battle theme. The Indigo Elite Four share their battle theme with the Kanto Gym Leaders in Generations I and III and the Johto Gym Leaders in Generations II and IV, while the Sinnoh Elite Four's battle theme is that of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, put down a half step.
• The Elite Four, when faced after all Kanto badges have been obtained in HeartGold and SoulSilver, gives the most prize money of any regional Elite Four, grossing to $75,660, followed by the post-National Pokédex Elite Four in Sinnoh, which pays $50,160. The cheapest prize money comes from the Generation II Johto Elite Four, giving only $22,900. This is likely due to the fact that Kanto is accessible afterward. HeartGold and SoulSilver made the initial Elite Four payout substantially larger as well.
• The Generation IV Johto Elite Four is the only Elite Four where the payouts don't always increase between victories. However, this is only the case in the second round Elite Four.
• The only types not yet represented by an Elite Four member are Rock, Grass, Normal, Flying, and Electric, all of which coincidentally appear among the first three Gyms of at least one region.
• Each pseudo-legendary has been used at least once by an Elite Four member or Champion. Dragonite is used by Lance. Tyranitar is used by Blue in the rematch against him in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Salamence is used by Drake. Metagross is used by Steven, who is the Champion in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Garchomp is used by Cynthia.
• The Sinnoh Elite Four is the only regional Elite Four to include only fully evolved Pokémon. In every other region, at least one Pokémon that wasn't at its last evolutionary stage. Lance had two Dragonair in Kanto, Bruno had one Onix in Johto, and Drake had one Shelgon in Hoenn.
• In the Kanto based games, all of the Elite Four members have at least one Pokémon that is not of their specialty type during the first battle.
  • Conversely, the Emerald Elite Four members are the only set of Elite Four members that don't use Pokémon outside of their specialty type during the first battle.
• The Hoenn Elite Four is the only Elite Four that don't have higher level Pokémon in future rematches with them.
• Traditionally, the Elite Four Trainers (excluding the Champion) use only five Pokémon in their party. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, each of them already has a full party of six upon the second time they are challenged.
• The Johto and Kanto Elite Four, along with the champion, consists entirely of villains from the Pokémon Adventures manga.
• Of all Elite Four members and Champions, Blue has had the highest number of different teams. Between Generation I and Generation III, he has had a total of nine different teams as Champion.

In other languages

• Chinese: 四天王 (Sìtiānwáng)
• French: Conseil 4
• German: Top Vier
• Italian: Superquattro
• Korean: 사천왕 (Sacheonwang)
• Polish: Elitarna Czwórka
• Portuguese: Elite dos Quatro
• Spanish: Alto Mando

This Trainer Class article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.