This is part 18 of our official Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl complete guide and walkthrough, which picks up right after you defeat Team Galactic at Spear Pillar and hopefully catch either Dialga or Palkia depending on the version you’re playing. Your next task is to head towards Sunyshore City, where you can earn your eighth and final gym badge from Volkner.
Fortunately for you, the previously inaccessible Sunyshore City is no longer suffering from a blackout. This means that after coming down from Spear Pillar you can Fly to Veilstone City, head south down Route 214, and when you reach Hotel Grand Lodge, go right towards the newly opened Route 222. There are loads of trainers here who you can take on if you feel your Pokemon aren’t sufficiently high-leveled to beat Volkner, but at this stage in the game it’s truly down to your own discretion. Sunyshore City is a straight shot to the right along Route 222, so reaching it from here is a piece of Alcremie. Sorry.
Once you get to Sunyshore City, you’ll need to go to the gym in the top left corner of the upper level. Here, you’ll meet Flint, an Elite Four member who is watching over the gym while Volkner is gone. Apparently Sunyshore’s leader has fallen out of love with battling after one too many bouts with bozos, so it’s up to you to teach him the value of making benevolent animals claw-punch each other within an inch of their lives again. Volkner is located on the upper level of the lighthouse in the bottom right corner of the city. Once you speak to him, return to the gym and head inside.
The gimmick of this gym’s puzzle structure is tied to rotating gears. While it seems complex, it’s pretty easy to just brute force your way through - whenever a gear is connecting two platforms that weren’t already connected, it’s the right solution. Defeat all the trainers on your way to Volkner and heal up before you take him on. Aside from Crasher Wake, Volkner is probably the toughest gym leader in the entire game, mostly because all three starters aren’t particularly well equipped to take him on, aside from maybe Torterra.
If you want to make quick work of Volkner, be sure to bring a Pokemon carrying Ground-type moves to deal with Raichu and Luxray. Octillery is easily countered by Torterra, Roserade, Luxray, or Magnezone, and Ambipom should go down like a sack of flour at the sight of Infernape, Staraptor, or Gallade. Basically, all you need here are powerful Ground, Fighting, and either Electric or Grass moves.
Volkner is still admittedly quite tough, but you should be able to take him down without too much stress provided you follow the advice above. Once you’ve defeated him and earned your eighth gym badge, head to the north of Sunyshore City and speak to the woman on the beach. If you’ve ever played the Gen 2 games, you’ll likely recognise Jasmine as the Olivine City gym leader. As a reward for beating Volkner, she’ll give you the HM for Waterfall.
With all eight badges collected and all eight HMs acquired, it’s time to move on to part 19 of our complete Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl walkthrough: Victory Road.