Pokémon player beats Elite Four’s Lance with one unlikely warrior

Few antagonists are as iconic – or feared – as Pokémon’s Elite Four and their champion. Any players who’ve spent time in the Kanto and Johto regions specifically (as well as a few others) will feel a particular sense of dread upon hearing the name ‘Lance.’ That’s right: the Dragon-type trainer with a flair for the stylish, and a dazzlingly dramatic wardrobe. He’s up there with Cynthia as a legendary adversary, rightfully: with his powerful Pokémon, he’s a total nightmare to defeat.

Or, at least, that’s what we’d thought until now. Over on Reddit, one determined player has defeated Lance on HeartGold and SoulSilver while only using… the evolution of a Bellsprout. Yes, this genius fan used a lone Victreebel (one of our faves from the Johto Pokédex) to wipe out all of Lance’s fearsome Dragon Pokémon, with no items, and just three moves. We’ve played all of the Pokémon games in order more times than we can count, but this is something we’d never thought we’d see.

As you can see for yourself, in a video shared to Reddit by user Imvenommate, Victreebell uses a combination of the moves Sleep Powder, Giga Drain, and Sludge Bomb to annihilate the opposition. It proves to be a potent set of moves. Sleep Powder, obviously, nullifies the threat posed by the enemy Pokémon while Giga Drain simultaneously damages and heals, before Sludge Bomb knocks them out. Simple, really.

Having said that, as many commenters point out, there is a slight catch. The Victreebell, here nicknamed Pinki, is level 100 against Lance’s companions, who are around the level 75 mark. “All this really shows is how, with enough levels, (nearly) any Pokémon can become OP,” said one user. Another chimed in, saying, “I mean, the plant has 20+ levels on the entire team…” To us, though, the level of the Victreebell doesn’t diminish the achievement, and we’d happily watch one happy plant demolish six dragons. After all, we’re always rooting for the underdogs.

For more Poké-fun, check out all of our speculation about the new Pokémon game, or see our picks for the best Nintendo Switch games ahead of the release of the Switch 2.