Best Team for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl 

Save yourself a few minutes infernape: close combat(heart scale it) flare blitz(lvl 68) acrobatics(lvl52) rock slide(found in mt coronet) Staraptor: brave bird(lvl49) close combat(heart scale) u-turn(veilstone department store) steel wing(route 209 tm) roserade: giga drain(route 209 tm, requires surf) sludge bomb(tm in galactic warehouse) dazzling gleam(veilstone department store shadow ball(tm in route 210) gyarados: waterfall(lvl21) ice fang(heartscale) crunch(lvl 24) dragon dance(lvl 36) clefable moonblast(heartscale) ice beam(veilstone department) thunderbolt(same as ice beam) psychic(same as ice beam) snorlax: body slam(lvl 28) brick break(oreburgh gate tm) earthquake(den of gible in wayword cave) heavy slam(heart scale if munchlax evolves after lvl 32 otherwise it will learn it at lvl 32) hope this helps!

For anyone who is tired of using snorlax I have made a moveset for Garchomp: Earthquake (tm 26) Dragon claw/dragon rush (level up) Stone edge/rock tomb(tm 71/39) Swords dance(tm 75)

One thing I noticed in these games is how many solid dark types you can actually get. Absol, Drapion, Honchkrow, Houndoom... I'd pick any of those over Staraptor since it doesn't bring anything new to the table that Infernape doesn't already have. Also crazy to see how nobody is using Gardevoir when Ralts is so easy to find and it becomes a beast

It's crazy how similar this team was to my playthrough - movesets and all. Great video!

I think drapion has a shot to be on the team, the fact that you can get it the second you get access to the grand underground (before Gardenia) is nuts since it will have bug bite when you catch it

Sweet. I’m also definitely looking forward to the eventual alternate starters editions of BDSP Best Team.

As a little extra tip for Cleffa, the Thief TM is in Eterna City, so it's available after requiring Cut. Pretty close to where you can find Cleffa.

I went with a pretty unorthodox team on my first playthrough. I had Empoleon, Clefable, Medicham, Gligar (would’ve been Gliscor had the Razor Fang been obtainable before post-game but alas), Crobat and Raichu. It was surprisingly effective! I love using weaker and more underrated mons it is so much more fun in my opinion.

Well Infernape and Roserade are on the team. I guess the other members will be Staraptor, Floatzel, Garchomp, and either Snorlax, Weavile, or some kind of electric type.

Funny seeing Infernape, Roserade and Gyarados together because they were on my favourite team I ever used being in one of my platinum runs, with the other 3 being Surfing Pikachu with a light ball, Garchomp and Porygon-Z. It was also the team I had in Pokémon Battle Revolution so that’s very fun

I’d love to see you do a Best Team for Emerald Eight! The 8-Pokémon team changes things significantly.

Love this team! It's almost exactly what I'm running except I went Gligar over Staraptor. I think he'll managed just fine through the elite 4 with Swords Dance, Roost, Earthquake and Acrobatics. Then I can evolve him into a mighty Gliscor for round two ;)

This man has been teasing this for the past week, then there's this and I thought it was Saturday for a moment and I was so ready to watch this. Darn. So close.

Ah man, this team was simply amazing to see! I cannot wait for the day I use this in action! Great work Mystic!

The team which I used actually has super effective damage on each type. Infernape , roserade , togekiss , floatzel , garchomp , weavile is squad i went with!

I got really lucky in the underground and found and Elekid, which was already holding an electirizer. It helped a lot in the mid to late game. Also, Abomasnow isn’t a bad option for those looking to deal with Garchomp, it can take a couple earthquakes, and stab ice type moves hit real hard. Mamoswine could also probably do something similar.

Only two badges in and gastrodon is a pretty great water type to use in all honesty. I personally never understood having a physical water type. Gastrodon is mixed with good coverage

Great video Mystic! I think it would be cool if you included the best nature that each Pokémon can have in your opinion, based on its stats and strengths!

Thanks for this list! I just beat the Elite Four and Cynthia with this team on the first try. I thought about giving up while tracking down the Moon Stone, but stuck it out and was rewarded with success. All members were lvl 67 - 69 when I started. I lost Gyarados a few times during the E4, but he came through in the end to take out that Garchomp!

You convinced me with clefaible 😁. I got so lucky when I went in the cave you can find cleffa in, not even knowing it was in there, and the first pokemon that popped up was cleffa holding a moon stone 😁. Then I watched your video and eventually swapped togekiss for clefaible

I almost agree with Mystic's best team except Staraptor. I think think its pointless having it, other than nostalgia. Bronzong, Mamoswine, Luxray, or Magnezone would've been better choices.

These videos are great can’t wait for the others. I chose pimplup as my starter GO WATER TYPES GO 🤙🏾

I personally don’t like to use gyarados, so I would roll with gastrodon. You get Shellos right after the first gym, and it has a very good move pool, plus water ground only has grass to worry about😜

I agree with this team, with the exception of Staraptor. This team is missing a dark type, and I don't think I'll need to double down on normal and flying types.

It’s good to see that Roserade in the thumbnail so it might be on the team.

Altaria and Gallade were gonna be Pokémon I had never used on a “Playthrough” before, until I got them to mid 40’s and Gallade was still missing Leaf Blade and Altaria was still missing Dragon Dance. Both moves aren’t available on the specified Pokémon this Gen, and I’m not sure why. (I’m assuming it’s because you can get Swablu early, but I’m really not sure what happened with Gallade)

As a gen 1 to gen 3 fanboy I recently started my Sinnoh playthrough. Started with Infernape, admittedly I think all gen 4 starters were cool but I never felt too strongly about any of them. I bonded and learned to love him through our journey. Admittedly I wish I would've picked Torterra. For the first time ever, I'll probably pick a different starter on my second playthrough

Snorlax will always be the tank that conquers all. It fears only fighting types. And even they can struggle.

I used: Empoleon, Roserade, Staraptor, Houndoom, Lucario and Froslass. Team is/has been absolutely solid for me

I used Infernape, Gastrodon, Drapion, Magnezone, Togekiss, and Garchomp. Infernape is the best starter to use Gastrodon is cool and ground is useful Drapion evolves late, but he learns Night Slash before evolution so he can be good for fantina and he destroys Lucian (being neutral to fairy) Magnezone is easy to get in this game and also helps with a lack of grass on the team Togekiss is funne and, while doesn't learn Energyball Grass Knot is just as useful against Birtha and Air Slash + Scerene Grace is really good Garchomp while another Ground type, doesn't share weaknesses or attack type with Gastrodon. Ground is also useful against Volkner and Flint and just Gastrodon isn't enough imo. The lack of grass does hurt, especially against Birtha and other Ground/Water types, but I think that it can easily wipe a lot of the game.

Thank you!I tried this team and I won against Cynthia with ease!

Personally, I’m glad that you’re using both Clefable and Snorlax. The former because it’s a great utility Pokémon with its move pool, and the latter because it’s finally easier to catch. I just wish that Honchkrow wasn’t a version exclusive again, because it could be a decent replacement for Staraptor (if only for having a Dark-Type on the team). Incidentally, when you do the other Best Teams with Empoleon and Torterra (when, not if), I hope you’ll consider using other Pokémon that you normally wouldn’t, like you did for the original D/P best teams.

I think that altaria is a better option than staraptor as you can get it as a swablu as soon as you have access to the underground,it has great coverage moves and you can spam dragon dances with it

I always enjoy absol for my dark, with super luck and nightslash, shockwave, focus energy. He slays

As someone trying out getting a Roserade I think it is surprising that the Giga Drain TM was brought up, when Roselia learns it at level 30. Then again if you don't know that Budew evolves during the day through happiness and mainly play at night I could see the risk of missing the move, as my Budew ended up given I missed out on a number of moves prior to level 26...

I went and found a Munchlax for my BD team on the grounds of this video. Adamant nature on the first try, evolved after 9 levels, and it has Zen Headbutt as an underground egg move for even more coverage.

Torterra, Crobat, Gardevoir, Manaphy, Lucario and Weavile were my pearl one. For diamond I’m doing Infernape, Swampert, Togekiss, Magnezone, Gengar and Mew, trading the mudkip from pearl to make this possible

I never understand why using Staraptor when you have a lot of other Pokémon with stab moves that starpator already has (close combat goes for Infernape) you don’t need another Pokémon with close combat or U-turn, Staraptor is fillling spot you could have filled with a good dark Pokémon

I always love having moves that damage and heal on the same turn

I never realized how powerful Roserade is, I had to go back and train one before the elite 4

I'd personally swap clefable for gardevoir since you can get it earlier and extra stab. I would also swap staraptor with either Absol or Luxray as Star overlaps type wise with Gyrados and Snorlax and coverage wise, most it's move types are covered elsewhere. Just my 2 cents :)

I can definitely recommend mamoswine. If mine didn't miss his ice fang it would have beaten Cynthia 6 to 0

I’ve been looking forward to this video for a while

I added Ralts & Murkrow to my team once I found them in the grand underground. Chimchar & Budew was a must. Being I’ve never truly used roserade or the other two last evolutions. I found a Elekid as a random spawn & now thanks to this video I’m going to find me a munchlax to close my team out.

I really like this team, but I can’t help but think that Gastrodon would be a better choice over Gyarados, just for team synergy. Plus, it adds a lot of great bull to the team!

i used Empoleon and the classics: Staraptor, Luxray, Roserade, Lucario and Garchomp, all the way through league just to relive my childhood. My post-game team currently includes Empoleon, Clefable, Weavile, Snorlax, Togekiss and Tyranitar. I was lucky that my first Cleffa encounter was already holding a moon stone.

Honestly solid team but I suggest Staraptor-> Mamo/Chomp since even though it not a bad mon it really doesn't offer this team much since everything it can handle also can be dealt with using Ape+Clef anyways. Mamo/Chomp gives you a really solid ground type to switch to help Roserade cover Gyarados 4x electric weakness.

~My Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Teams~ Infernape - Flamethrower, Close Combat, Rock Slide, Mach Punch Floatzel - Waterfall, Ice Fang, Crunch, Aqua Jet Roserade - Energy Ball, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam Raichu - Thunderbolt, Surf, Grass Knot, Nasty Plot Honchkrow - Night Slash, Brave Bird, Steel Wing, Psychic Garchomp - Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Iron Head, Stealth Rock Empoleon - Scald, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Aqua Jet/Stealth Rock Rapidash - Flare Blitz, Megahorn, High Horsepower, Poison Jab Magnezone - Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Tri Attack, Mirror Coat Staraptor - Brave Bird, Close Combat, Steel Wing, Quick Attack Gardevoir - Psychic, Moonblast, Shadow Ball, Calm Mind Mamoswine - Icicle Crash, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Ice Shard (Some Pokémon I've caught were from the Grand Underground)

My team is pretty basic but has all my favorite Sinnoh pokemon: infernape, staraptor, luxray, roserade, floatzel, garchomp. My first play through is a lot of fun and reminds me of when I first played pearl growing up!

I’m excited for the Elite 4 and Cynthia. I just finished the 7th gym. My team right now is: Infernape, Roserade, Azumarill, Gardevoir, Mamoswine and instead of playing again with my fav bird Staraptor, i wanted to try out Altaria. Thoughts and tips?

My very first Pokemon was my Infernape "Fireball", I love close combating everything and KOA in one shot. The animation is beautiful

My team was - Empoleon, Roserade, Medicham, Dustox, Pachirisu and Mismagius. Had to add a few TM's to make it through the elite four but it was pretty solid

Great video as always. Would love to see a ‘Best Post-game Team’ for these games (all Gen 1-4 but no legendaries) with hidden abilities and egg moves

My prediction: Infernape Staraptor Roserade Lucario -or- Snorlax Garchomp Cleafable

My team on diamond was Empoleon, Crobat, Roserade, Altaria, Houndoom, and Pachirisu. I sweeped through with my only issue being fighting types. Pachirisu is also great for legendary Pokémon for putting static then having super fang to take half of their active HP.

I had so much luck finding a Cleffa super easy and then it evolving really quick in Clefairy and finally having luck again by finding a moon stone a little later!

Haven’t watched yet, but the best Sinnoh team is historically: 1. Infernape 2. Staraptor (now it’s prob Togekiss) 3. Luxray 4. Gastrodon (or Floatzel) 5. Lucario 6. Garchomp

I just finished the league with: Mamoswine, electivire, altaria, infernape, crobat and azumarill

Id recommended switching brick break for curse, since Infernape got the fighting covergae being able to boost its attack and defense on top of its already high bulk and decent attack, you got an offensive tank that will hold you down well in the pokemon league

Also, as always, there’s much more than 6 Pokémon I want to use. As is the case in most games, but yea it gives you the opportunity to train up a second team and some backups to keep things on a level playing field so yea the Exp share being on makes it easy to get over leveled, but there’s a fun way around it that keeps things challenging and fun so I dig it. Would still like to be able to turn it off though

I’ve been a follower of this man for a while! I love all his videos and most of all all his best teams! I use them for my play through sometimes and I love the effort put into it! I want to hear his thoughts on my team. 1) Infernape 2) Crobat 3) Snorlax 4) Clefable 5) Garchomp 6) Magnezone

you should start a series where people send in their teams and you rate them

It really is funny to me how many times he mentioned the department store. When I first got to that I thought it was crazy how many good TMs you could get for so cheap.

Thank you for letting me know how to get that other shiny stone before the league because I wanted to use roserade and togekiss

Here’s what I feel the Best Team could be (not the team I personally used, but one with plenty of power behind it) Infernape Roserade Gyarados Togekiss Snorlax Garchomp

I won’t even lie-I bust out laughing when he started listing off all the Pokémon/trainers Infernape would run roughshod over… that’s why no matter how many play throughs I do, Infernape will always be my starter.

Hey Mystic, love the content! Super helpful for future BDSP play throughs! Just curios what your logic was for excluding Garchomp?

Gyarados really saved me during my first bdsp play through. It was my first time playing a Pokemon game and I was playing this game blind (except for having watched Jaiden’s nuzlocke video) so I didn’t have a good team for the fighting type gym. Things were going well until I got to the last of the gym leader’s Pokemon. Lucario. That thing outsped all of my team and one-shot all of them. All, that is, except for my final Pokemon. Gyarados. That thing was so tanky that it barely took any damage from Lucario. Of course, I couldn’t do much damage in return (plus the gym leader kept healing). BUT, I was able to do slightly more damage than them and had access to my own potion supply. In the end Gyarados was able to nab me the win, and I am eternally grateful.

Who else has been looking forward to this video for a while

There have been times when I felt I only needed three to get through the game: Infernape, Gyarados, and Jirachi. However, I did grab three more I enjoy using every now and then. Garchomp, Clefable, and Lucario/Murkrow (depending on who I am about to face).

After the wait, this does not disappoint. MysticUmbreon did a lot of research.

Thx so muuuuuuch!!!! This helped me beat the elite 4 so easily. Clefable was the mvp. 😁

how good do you guys think pachirisu is competitively? i think it’s useful with it’s pickup ability, and it has access to fairy type moves, but i know luxray has higher stats in general

Empoleon -Surf -ice beam -flash cannon -shadow claw Staraptor -moves in video Roserade -moves in video Garchomp -flamethrower -crunch -dragon claw -earthquake Lucario -aura sphere -meteor mash -dragon pulse -extreme speed Gardevoir -psychic -moonblast -thunderbolt -energy ball

I used Infernape, Weavile, Palkia, Haunter, Kadabra, and Staraptor. The reason I didn’t use Roserade or Luxray is because my sister loves those Pokémon and because we like to battle it out at the end. Either way, the team I used with my moveset was very good against every gym leader and elite four member. The only flaw was the lack of evolution for Haunter and Kadabra because of trade-required evolution

not bad and you got some good looking shiny pokemon maybe i might turn this into a badge quest on my pearl file

Oh my lord. I used the exact same movesets for my Roserade, Gyarados, and Clefable. Great minds think alike, Mystic! 👍

During my second playthrough of BDSP (I own both copies) I had this exact team except for Staraptor (which I substituted Frosslass for) and Snorlax (which I actually wanted to use but opted for Garchomp instead). Frosslass was ass and I regret picking it up. I don't regret Garchomp and it was the first time I ever used a Garchomp in Sinnoh during the main gameplay. The first Cleffa I caught actually had a Moon Stone too. Which made it super easy.

I've been doing a steel gym playthough with empoleon, scizor, steelix, magnezone, bronzong and lucario, and haven't run into an issue yet. I even gave my bronzor rain dance so I can tank any fire moves I might run into. Still love the work but best doesn't mean only

I used Empoleon, Roserade, Togekiss, Gallade, Houndoom, and Mamoswine. Solid coverage for all types.

I went with: Infernape Gengar Altaria Roserade Alakazam Floatzel With these, I was able to have coverage on every type in the game.

Other recommended Pokémon: 1.) Blissey. Blissey’s Sp.Atk is so high that it can’t be KO’d without a physical move. This means that Pokémon without physical moves, such as 4 of Cynthia’s team (Lucario having Nasty Plot and super effective moves can threaten it a little and it can face off against Gastrodon if needed to wall off a fifth with the right EVs), cannot defeat Blissey. It’s ability, Serene Grace, doubles the chance of secondary effects like Charge Beam’s 70% chance to raise its Sp.Atk or Thunder’s 30% chance to paralyze. Its signature move Soft-Boiled Keeps it healthy long term and can be used outside of battle to heal your other Pokémon in exchange for HP so that you can save Full Heals for only 1 Pokémon. You can throw on Double Team to make it harder to hit or Sing for a clean switch to another Pokémon. The major downsides are it’s abysmal Defense making it weak to all physical moves and weak offensive stats making battles progress slowly Happini is hives to you as an egg in Hearthome City and needs an Oval Stone that can be found in the Lost Tower, or you can find Chansey in the grass of route 209 at 5%. 2.) Crobat. With it’s high speed and good bulk Crobat is one of the best switch in the game. Toss in Crobat and U-Turn out into will allow whatever Pokémon you want to enter unhindered. It has plenty of other useful moves like Pluck (many important battles have berries), Roost (increases bulk, removes flying type for the turn which can be used to resist attacks), and Toxic (toxic stall, with Roost or U-Turn to switch into a Pokémon that resists the opponents attacks that are strong against Crobat and back in when they try to deal with the new typing to maximize not very effective moves). Major downsides of Crobat are its overlap as a switch with Gyarados (both are really bulky and share flying type as an immunity to powerful ground type moves like Earthquake) as well as similar typing with my next recommendation. Zubat and Golbat can be found all around in caves. You evolve it with friendship so if you get it early enough and run around in the underground for a bit then it’s likely to evolve before the third gym. 3.) Drapion. Drapion has really powerful Defense, only one weakness, an immunity to psychic, and high Speed and Attack stats. It’s abilities are Battle Armor to prevent critical hits (pairs well with Black Sludge or Leftovers to heal) or Sniperto boost critical hit damage from 150 to 225% (increasing crit chance with friendship and Scope Lens). You can use its bulk to set up with Swords Dance before sweeping with powerful moves like Earthquake or jump right in with moves like Night Slash, Cross Poison, an X-Scissor that boost crit chance. It also gets moves like Fell Stinger that boosts Attack when it’s the finishing blow and Knock Off to deal with items. Major weaknesses are a somewhat late evolution at Lv40 and that I’ve never used it myself and am just stealing these ideas from others and can’t tell you how good they actually are so you’ll need to experiment a bit for yourself, though the post I heard this from said the bulky setup was able to sweep Cynthia. Scorupi can be found easily in the eastern underground before the second gym if you decide to make the trek across the map. 4.) Honorable Mentions. Milotic - Someone made a Febass calculator that uses the lotto numbers to determine the tiles it can spawn in. Cynthia uses it so you have that for reference. Weavile - Best ice move is locked to an egg move, otherwise pretty good. Togekiss - Like Drapion, I haven’t used it, but I’ve heard good things. Absol - It’s ability Super Luck increases odds of a Pokémon holding it’s held item from 50/5% to 60/20%. It’s a pretty great choice for being your Thief user for hunting Moonstones from Clefable.

First play through of shining pearl my first three Pokémon have been Chimchar, shinx, and zubat. Needless to say by the time I’ve reached hearthome city within eight hours in one night I already have a Crobat, Luxio, and monferno almost level 30 so it’s time to get the magicarp now. That exp share was crazy in the grand underground and the eterna forest with Cheryl.

Amazing video!! Thank you!!!!

I do agree with this team, I'm very excited to see the Empoleon edition for this. Here's my team for Brilliant Diamond: Empoleon Electivire Houndoom Roserade Alakazam and later on I'll have Lucario

i think there is no purpose for staraptor on this team, doesnt do anything that infernape cant cover, fly is not needed and u have gyara for intimidate, prolly would put a ground type on the slot

I did not expect for garchomp to not be here. Not disappointed though. Thank you for the video!

I was so happy when you said starrapter was just a filler because I have a shiny gardevoir I use to beat the play through for all my games and I never finished the game so I still have a chance!!

The team I used was Empoleon, Roserade, Magmortar, Heracross, Crobat, and Mamoswine

The first Clefairy I got was holding a moon stone 😭🥰

I am playing BD and never played the original Gen 4 games. For my first play through I like to play with Pokémon which are new to the gen, so my team is: Infernape Gastrodon Drifblim Abomasnow Garchomp … In the last spot I’m currently using Luxray but not overly happy with it. Wish it could learn a few more TMs.

You should start doing best teams if you have all 3 starter pokemon, I think that would be cool!

Staraptar isn't really needed when you already have Infernape, I would go with good old Garchomp. Earthquake is a must for Gyarados, would cut Crunch for it.

After searching I found a munchlax in the grand under ground got it with a quick ball AND IT IS HOLDING LEFTOVERS edit: IT HAS THE ABILITY PICK UP

I used mismagius and ambipomb just to have the games be a little harder. Mismagius turned out to be plenty strong, I didn't miss Gengar at all. Ambipomb definitely needed careful play to make work. I'd recommend trying weaker Pokemon in these games given they're a little easier overall

it would be so cool to see a video of the best pokemon team of all time throughout all regions

Why isn't Lucario included?!

I just started a French playthrough to get a ditto. Decided to pick chimchar and found the video. I used the pachirisu method for the shiny stone. It took me about an hour, but I got a shiny Rozbouton (Budew) along the way. Edit: Even without the shiny the grind was worth, I did it right before entering the valley windworks. I got some useful items, and a nice exp boost gathering the pachirisu. Plus if you get a runaway pachirisu you could use it to shiny hunt w/ Cheryl @ Eterna Forest.

I just recently got SP since i never played gen 4 before so my team for this generation is gonna be pokemon i never used before with the exception of 1 coming back from my SW team. Those being Infernape,Luxray,Roserade,Togekiss,Gengar and Garchomp. I'm well aware that i'm gonna have 2 poison types but this is a team i came up with by myself and im excited to use

Thank you so much mystic. I couldn’t find any way other than iron island to get a shiny stone and I have a roselia