Pokémon Winds And Waves leaks reveal our next Elite 4

They've taunted us for the last 30 years, but across the generations, we've bested them at every turn.

When it comes to playing Pokémon games, the Elite 4 are a constant thorn in our side, but one that you have to defeat on your quest to become the very best, like no one ever was.

We're expecting a new challenge when we face off against the Elite 4 in Pokémon Winds and Waves, and as we dive to new depths for this watery wonder, there will apparently be a fresh twist on the Elite 4.

What's the Elite 4 twist for Pokémon Winds and Waves?

Back in the day, you might remember taking on Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance, with their gruelling Ice, Fighting, Ghost, and Dragon types. The Elite 4 only let you take in a specific team and the items you have on you, meaning it’s a battle of wits to make sure you took the right lineup to ensure you can tick them all off.

That's much the same for Pokémon Winds and Waves, but with a modernised twist.

As with all Pokémon leaks, we need to take the below with a pinch of salt; however, we're told that the Elite 4 will pop up throughout the story in a similar way to how Pokémon Scarlet and Violet let you tackle gyms in any order.

It seems the days of trekking across a region and boxing off gyms in a particular order are gone, with prominent leaker @kurwashibamaste claiming that the Elite 4 will include a revamped roster of Water, Grass, Fire, and Electric specialists.

They even go on to say that the mysterious female model from the game's teraleak is the Water-type Elite 4 boss.

Giving us a sigh of relief, fellow leaker @The_BallGuy took to X and cleared up some apparent confusion where players on Discord claimed the regional champion would be a Normal-type trainer – confirming this isn't the case.

READ MORE: Pokémon Gen 10 leak confirms the franchise's biggest Pokédex total so far

More Winds and Waves spoilers flow in

When the Elite 4 news was shared by the trusted (but not always right) Centro Leaks, the popular leaker went on to explain how Winds and Waves will apparently follow in Scarlet and Violet's story of having three routes.

They emphasise that the story is better than Scarlet and Violet, but then again, we're sure critics of Gen 9 would argue that's not hard to do. One of the routes is supposedly the Legend Tour, where you defeat bosses to power up Konetsu, a legendary seed Pokémon. This effectively plays out like Scarlet and Violet's legendary quest, with Konetsu being used similarly to Koraidon and Miraidon.

The Mahou Tour focuses on defeating bosses while including the new 'netsu' battle gimmick. As netsu translates to 'heat' or 'temperature' in Japanese, some sort of dynamic weather cycle looks to be in play here.

Finally, Centro Leaks suggests Winds and Waves' post-game will hone in on MMO features and invite you to play with others for a co-op version of the Mahou Tour.

Given the recent hype surrounding a fan-made Pokémon Emerald MMO, and some claim a full-blown MMO can 'save' the franchise, it'll be interesting to see whether we get anything like this when Winds and Waves eventually releases in 2027.