With Pokémon Scarlet & Violet on the way, many fans wonder if the game will take the same route as Sword & Shield did and do away with the Elite Four in favor of a fresher take. One of the biggest challenges in any Pokémon game has been the final gauntlet before the champion: the Elite Four.
While the Elite Four is an iconic part of the franchise, they also aren't all created equally. If Lucian from Diamond & Pearl were given a 6th Pokémon and a few levels, he'd likely be harder than some champions. On the other hand, some Elite Four members can barely stack up to the eighth gym leader in terms of power. Hopefully, if Scarlet & Violet does have an Elite Four, none of them will be on the lower end of that spectrum.
Drasna
Drasna is a Dragon-type Elite Four member from the Kalos region. In accordance with the rest of her region, she has no particular place in the Elite Four, as they can be challenged in any order.
Most Dragon-type Elite Four members like Lance and Drake have pretty scary teams that can take out a few Pokémon. Drasna, however, suffers from the tragic Unova/Kalos elite fours that have a measly four Pokémon at their disposal. Drasna's team isn't bad. She has a Dragalge, a Druddigon, an Altaria, and a Noivern. Sadly, four Pokémon just isn't enough and the diversity of her Dragon types doesn't include any answer to Ice.
Shauntal
Shauntal is a Ghost-type specialist from the Unova Elite Four. Despite having some powerful Ghost types at her disposal, she's easily the weakest of the Unovan Elite Four and doesn't compare to Grimsley and Caitlyn.
Shauntal's team comes with a Cofagrigus, Jellicent, Golurk, and Chandelure. Her Pokémon are generally strong, but the four Pokémon curse of Gen 5 and 6 doesn't do her any favors. The best Elite Four members also either often have a way to cover the types they're weak to like Lucian's Medicham or Bertha's Quagsire. Shauntal doesn't come equipped with any real way to handle Dark types, unfortunately.
Aaron
For challenge runs like Nuzlockes, the Sinnoh Elite Four is considered a nightmare. Bertha, Flint, and Lucian all have the potential to end runs if things go bad. In fact, all three of them are among the strongest Elite Four members in the franchise.
Sadly, Aaron is not among the ranks of his fellow Diamond & Peal Elite Four members. Aaron has a tragic team that somehow includes a Beautifly and a Dustox, two of the weakest fully evolved Pokémon in the game. Vespiquen is a fairly average Pokémon, and his team does pick up with a Drapion and Heracross towards the end. However, an Elite Four member shouldn't have two route 1 Pokémon with such low base stat totals on their team.
Siebold
The Water-type specialist Siebold comes from the Kalos Elite Four. He is also a famous chef who has a lovely conversation with the player about food before their Elite Four battle begins.
Siebold may only have four Pokémon, but they're at least of fairly high quality. Siebold's team consists of Gyarados, Starmie, Clawitzer, and Barbaracle. Siebold does have one counter for Electric types, but it isn't a great one: Earthquake on Gyarados. Siebold can take a few Pokémon if the player isn't careful due to the hyper-offensive nature of his lineup, but only four Pokémon combined with no Ground/Water on a Water team makes him very defensively weak.
Olivia
Olivia is an island kahuna and Elite Four member specializing in Rock types. She makes a good case for being the strongest Rock-type trainer in the franchise. Sadly, that isn't saying much when her biggest competition is Brock and Roxanne.
Olivia's team consists of a Relicanth, a Probopass, an Alolan Golem, a Midnight Form Lycanroc, and a Carbink. Her team is inconsistent, slow, and doesn't have many solid damage dealers. The Alolan Elite Four is one of the stronger ones in the series, but Olivia is a weak point among the group. Still, she doesn't get taken down nearly as easily as some Elite Four members from other generations.
Phoebe
Phoebe is the second member of the Hoenn Elite Four, and she specializes in Ghost types. The Hoenn Elite Four was never the strongest to begin with, but Phoebe brings one of the more repetitive rosters in Elite Four history
Phoebe has two Dusclops, the pre-evolution to arguably the strangest looking Ghost-type in Dusknoir. She also has two Banettes, a Pokémon with a decent attack but very poor bulk and speed to back it up. Finally, she has her best Pokémon: a Sableye. Phoebe's team is one-dimensional and very repetitive, but the Dusclops and Sableye keep her from being the weakest of the Hoenn Elite Four.
Bruno
Bruno is one of the very first Elite Four members, and he's the only Elite Four member to stick around for the next generation. He was also the first Elite Four member introduced in the Pokémon anime.
Bruno in Gold & Silver isn't a weak opponent, as his Hitmontop adds a lot to his team. However, Bruno in Kanto has two of the weakest Pokémon to ever make an Elite Four player's roster: Onix, a Pokémon with a horrific Attack stat that is KO'd by almost any decent special move in the game. This leaves Bruno's team as basically being three Pokémon: Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Machamp, all of whom are easily taken out by the common Flying type.
Glacia
The second Ice-type Elite Four member in the franchise, Glacia isn't nearly as powerful as her predecessor Lorelei. While the Kanto Ice user has a brutal and diverse lineup, Glacia's team is repetitive and mediocre.
Glacia has two underwhelming monotype Pokémon in Glalie, a Pokémon that carries base stats of just 80 in every stat. Even worse, Galcia has two Sealeos in gen 3, a Pokémon that isn't even fully evolved. Her Walrein is the lone threat on her team, but it's remarkably repetitive considering she's already brought out two Sealeos. The team isn't just very uninspired with only two different evolutionary lines represented, it's incredibly weak.
Malva
Malva is one of the most interesting Elite Four members in terms of backstory. She's a news reporter, celebrity, and was even a member of Team Flare before the team was disbanded, which she blames the player character for.
In terms of her Fire-type team, Malva isn't quite as interesting. Her Pokémon: Talonflame, Torkoal, Pyroar, and Candelure are all the worst possible ability options available and none of her move sets can deal with Water types. One bulky Water-type Pokémon can honestly beat Malva just by clicking a Water move four times. She's one of the easiest Elite Four members to deal with, and few players should have difficulty dispatching her.
Sidney
The Hoenn Elite Four begins with Sidney, a Dark-type trainer with a happy attitude. He can actually be a bit tricky in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, but the mechanics of Gen 3 made Sidney an incredibly easy victory when he was first introduced.
Sidney's team consists of Cacturne, Sharpedo, Shiftry, Mightyena, and Absol. Aside from Cacturne who has equal offensive stats, all of these Pokémon excel primarily as physical attackers. This is tragic, thanks to all Dark moves in generation 3 being special attacks. This means almost none of his Pokémon have access to a STAB (same type attack bonus) physical move, dooming Sidney's frail team of physical attackers to do very little damage as it crumbles.