The best team for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl with Empoleon

Empoleon, known as the Emperor Pokemon, is a fairly underrated starter evolution.

With Chimchar and Turtwig available, many Pokemon fans picked up the Fire or Grass starter for their Sinnoh journey. Piplup eventually evolves into a pretty unique Water/Steel-type.

Empoleon has very solid Special Attack and Special Defense. Picking the Water-type starter Pokemon in Diamond and Pearl can allow for a very diverse team, opening up some possibilities not available with the other starters.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.

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The best team for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl with Empoleon

Empoleon

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This is an Empoleon focused team. In Generation IV, it had a total of 11 resistances and one immunity. That is quite the amount of "not very effective" messages appearing in battle. As such, Empoleon can be trained towards bulkiness with gnarly Special stats. It can do some serious damage to a wide array of Pokemon.

Roserade

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Outside of Torterra, Roserade is the only Grass-type Pokemon worthwhile in Sinnoh. Like Empoloen, Roserade is another incredible Special stat user. It can dish out some status effects and take on some serious Water-type threats. Its added Poison-typing makes for great STAB move capabilities.

Staraptor

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Staraptor is the Flying-type Pokemon of the team. It is quick and does great physical damage. Its role could very well be the pace setter for the entire battle. Send out Staraptor, lay down some hits, and do extra damage to those it is weak against. It can also learn Close Combat to take on creatures that may pose a threat.

Rapidash

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There is a severe lack of Fire-type Pokemon in Sinnoh. Rapidash is the best option when Infernape is not a part of the team. Getting a Ponyta and evolving it requires no tricks like some other Fire-types do. Ponyta is extremely quick, has a solid Attack stat, and can utilize Psychic-type moves very well for added coverage.

Lucario

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Lucario can be obtained by evolving the hatched Riolu. Lucario is an absolute unit of a fighter. It has wonderful Speed, Attack, and Special Attack. That gives it a lot of diversity in terms of a moveset. It can play a variety of roles, possibly slotting in to the battle starter if Staraptor may not fit the bill.

Mamoswine

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Mamoswine is very overlooked. It is an Ice/Ground-type Pokemon with high HP and high Attack. If it learns Ice Shard from its prior evolution, it can be a very strong ally against the always deadly Dragon-types. Having STAB attack access to Earthquake and Blizzard is never a bad thing either.