Dark Trainer
The Dark Trainer is the game's best-known training fight: six Mew-family Pokémon at a level well above your own.
Level: between 8x and 9.5x the level of the strongest Pokémon on your active team. For example, with a level 1,000 Pokémon on your team, the strongest Pokémon on Dark Trainer's team is level 9,500. Its HP is worked out from that level, so a higher multiplier means a longer fight, not only harder hits.
Dark Trainer's team
| # | Pokémon | Types | Level | Moves (type, power) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mew | Psychic | 8x | Hyperbeam Normal, 150 Double Kick Fighting, 30 Rage Normal, 20 Pound Normal, 40 |
| 2 | Mewtwo | Psychic | 8x | Double Kick Fighting, 30 Cut Normal, 50 Rage Normal, 20 Thunder Electric, 110 |
| 3 | ShinyMew | Psychic | 8.5x | Double Kick Fighting, 30 Rage Normal, 20 Mega Kick Normal, 120 Dragon Tail Dragon, 60 |
| 4 | GlitterMew | Psychic | 9x | Hyperspace Fury Dark, 100 Hyperbeam Normal, 150 Psybeam Psychic, 65 Recover Normal |
| 5 | FrostMew | Psychic | 9x | Blizzard Ice, 110 Hyperbeam Normal, 150 Sludge Poison, 65 Ice Punch Ice, 75 |
| 6 | GoldenMew | Psychic | 9.5x | Dream Eater Psychic, 100 Psybeam Psychic, 65 Recover Normal V-Create Fire, 180 |
Planning a counter
- Types that hit the team hard: Dark hits 6 of 6, Ghost hits 6 of 6, Bug hits 6 of 6 for double damage or more.
- Types that take the least from its moves: out of 22 damaging moves on the team: Ghost (immune to 12 and resists 1, but 1 hits for double); Steel (immune to 1 and resists 15, but 4 hit for double); Psychic (resists 6, but 1 hits for double).
Worked out from the type chart and the moves listed above, stacked the way the battle engine does it. It does not account for abilities, items or the level gap.
Notes from players
Older threads say you need all 48 Gym badges before the Dark Trainer will fight you. Players who farm it for experience tend to bring a Ghost-type team, because Ghost is immune to the Normal and Fighting moves that make up most of the early team's attacks (see the list above), and use a poison or status move to whittle down the very large HP. Older forum threads describe a different move list, so trust the table on this page over a guide from years ago. The old walkthrough is still on the forums: How to beat the Dark Trainer.
More trainers on the trainers page. How experience and levels work: experience and levels.