The 20 HARDEST Pokemon To Catch

Feebas

Feebas is a pokemon that probably best exemplifies the power of friendship. Not only do you have to put in the work to find it, but once you get it, you’ll probably have to do some indepth research into poffin recipes and how to raise beauty condition statistics. As only then does the ugly duckling evolve into a cool water serpent thing. In several games, its encounter rate is just 1%. However, in its original appearance, it can only spawn in 6 random tiles out of 669 possible tiles on Route 119, not all of these water tiles are accessible by the player either, so the odds are often even lower. Imagine trying to fill out your dex when a simple fish has an 0.009% encounter rate. Nowadays there are better, yet still slim chances of locating one, getting it to go in the ball has never been that hard either, and instead of monitoring beauty stats, in later games it can always evolve through trading.

Tapu Fini

The several island guardians within Sun and Moon are tricky to catch, like any legendary lineup, but Fini has a uniquely annoying ability to regain health every single turn along with a decently high defence stat. While it can always be found in a set location, you’re going to want to bring hundreds of pokeballs if you want to stand a chance at beating the 3% catch odds. Once the battle begins Tapu Fini will quickly set up aqua ring and its signature ability Misty Terrain. This combo will not only restore it’s health fairly consistently back to full, but will also prevent any status conditions like sleep or paralysis on the pokemon, plus, they take 50% less damage from dragon type moves - that last one being, not as a big deal. All that said, while it's tempting to unleash your master ball on her, there is a trick. Pokemon that have the rare heal block ability can counter aqua ring, or if you’re able to inflict a burn right away, it will negate the healing done.

Giratina

Giratina has that surprise-surprise, legendary 3% catch rate, and with his devilishly awesome looking forms, he’s a prime contender for the master ball. That said, if you’re the kind of player who likes to match the type of pokeball to the mons' design, thus you’d like to have a dusk ball Girtina in their collection, you’re going to have to contend with some unique difficulties. Mainly that, Giratina is a legendary ghost type, one of very few in the series, and that means you won’t be able to use the reliable catching tool of False Swipe. Whereas on every other pokemon, false swipe would deal normal damage and bring them down to 1HP while never KOing them, on Giratina, it has no effect at all and you waste your turn. This battle is a long haul, where high defense pokemon are required, since Girtina can raise each of its stats with Ancient Power and Ominous Wind. The rest, is up to RNG luck.

Abra

I know, a bit of a tone change from the legendary Giratina. But we couldn’t have a hardest to catch list without the notorious Abra. Abra is a uniquely designed pokemon, always coded to flee on its first turn, by using the move teleport. Basically, if you don’t successfully hail mary a pokeball the second you encounter one - it’s 100% disappearing, and you’re going to have to go find another one. I can’t imagine what would happen if it was a shiny one. Being that pokemon who have full health have a lower chance to be caught, this will always hurt your odds. But at least there are options like the quick ball, or special abilities that can help you out on turn one. Inside and outside of battle, teleport has received a few changes over the years. But sometimes it can be used to warp to a pokecenter, which is a nice reward for catching the little stinker.

Munchlax

While catching Snorlax’s are a bit routine, they block your path, you wake them up, you catch them. Catching a Munchlax in Pokemon Platinum at least was a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. Munchlax in this version could only be found in Munchlax trees, problem is there’s only 4 trees coded as being Munchlax trees, and they are determined at the start of your save file without telling you. This means there’s no reliable way to find them, and to attract a Munchlax you have to use honey on these trees then wait real world hours to see if one has appeared. The entire task is probably the most tedious thing in the game, and it’s going to be different for everyone depending on how your game’s numbers are generated.

Chansey

Remember how I said legendaries usually have a 3% catch rate, while that’s been true for years, but what may surprise you is just how legendary Chansey herself used to seem. In Gen 1, it could be found in the safari zone with a shockingly low 1% chance to appear, do keep in mind the safari zones also limit your time in them, kicking you out after 500 steps or so. That, and because you must use your limited safari balls here, and you’ll only catch Chansey roughly 4% or so of the time - actually having this thing in your party was nearly unthinkable. Most players have never caught her this way. Hitting up the late game “Unknown Dungeon” is the only other option for better odds. I guess it isn’t called Chansey for no reason…

Latios and Latias

Latios and Latias are two jet plane pokemon who love to roam. After beating the elite four, you’ll be able to randomly encounter them in the wild, but they will always run as soon as they get the chance. Your pokedex is able to track them after a first encounter, but trying to speed up the process by flying to that location yourself, will likely have them change spots on you. You’ll need repels to get to the spot you actually want to start hunting, and once you get lucky you’ll also need a mon that can hopefully beat their 110 speed stat and go for a paralyze. Other catching tricks may not always work either, like how Latios and Latias aren’t affected by Arena Trap, which would usually stop grounded opponents from fleeing. But, there’s always Mean Look, provided your mean look-er doesn’t get ko’d from their psychic attacks.

Lugia

No question about it Lugia, is a “Recovery” enjoyer. The awesome looking dragon can reliably damage you with hydro pump and gust, and whenever you get a bit too much damage on it, Lugia with recover back to full or near full. There isn’t really any secret tricks to him, but you do have to pay some mind that Lugia exerts pressure, meaning every time you do an attack, it’s actually costing more power points then normal, and you may get stalled out to the point where you’ll have to switch off of your best attacker. Likewise, once it uses up all it’s recovery pp, it’ll start to struggle, and start the countdown toward a fainted legendary as it damages itself. The 3% catch rate means you’ll definitely want to afflict them with something to up your odds.

Rayquaza

I think most people would agree that Rayquaza is one of the many coolest looking pokemon, though I’ve always been a groudon guy myself - but what isn’t cool, is its ability to stall a battle and give you a heart attack when trying to catch the thing The dragon type legendary will use rest to put itself to sleep, heal, and give you a small window to begin setting up. Only to awake and use its move Outrage, which will deal massive damage for three turns, and begin to damage itself afterwards in confusion. The rollercoaster of low catch rate, healing, and self damaging makes Rayquaza yet again, a prime candidate for that master ball collecting dust.

Virizion

Virizion is part of the swords of justices, with an oddly offensive move list. It’s not uncommon for it to use both Swords Dance and Sacred Sword one after the other to sharply raise it’s attack stats and cut through your team by ignoring any defence or evasion buffs you’ve tried to give yourself. Then, what would an annoying boss be if it didn’t heal itself? Virizion being a grass type has access to a supreme self heal and damaging attack in the form of giga drain. There’s really no special tactic for this, putting is likely to be the best option. But the rest as always is left to luck.

Galarian Articuno

The galarian variant of Articuno is without a doubt the trickiest to catch out of the returning legendary birds, being that it has a unique first time ever mechanic for how it appears in the wild. This articuno will create clones of itself that circle a small area, the player simply must pick one of the clones they believe is the real one, and if it isn’t, the bird flees and can be found somewhere entirely different on the island. There isn’t much strategy here, and some have reported guessing the wrong clone too many times to the point where they cannot find it anymore. One trick is to rewind the clock and date on your Nintendo Switch system, so that it hopefully appears where you first saw it - but depending on if you’ve saved or moved around this may or may not work. Once you do pick the right clone, you still have to do the same legendary catching song and dance too.

Mewtwo

Here he is, the mew, the myth, the legend. Mewtwo is often a final boss level catch throughout the series, though he will pretty much always be found in a set area, that way chasing is not required. Mewtwo has always had a high special attack stat and powerful pure psychic type moves, plus at a whopping level 70 in pokemon red and blue, and with only one weakness at the time being Bug, of all things, this secret final boss was incredibly busted. While he’s been surpassed in terms of difficulty and catchability since then, the freaky alien creature has a place in all our hearts for his final boss' kind of attitude and prestige.

Ho-Oh

Remember when I said Lugia was a “Recovery” enjoyer? While Ho-Oh is a fanatic..Ho-Oh is yet another legendary who threatens to faint itself by spamming low PP moves, two of which being “recover” and “sunny day”. Ho-Oh will consistently set up sunny day to deliver big damage on a sacred fire attack, and anytime it’s not doing that you can expect it to be recovering. Sometimes it’ll even repeatedly alternate between sunny day and recover pointlessly, using up the PP of both of those moves and stalling out the pp of your own attacks. One thing is for sure, you don’t want anything weak to fire around this bird, because it’s going to be doing 50% more fire damage at all times thanks to the environmental effect.

Mesprit

Mesprit seems like a deceptively easy catch, being that its two companions Uxie and Azelf can be found in set locations. However, once reaching it, the game will state that Mesprit has taken off without too much of a hint if you’re able to find them again - but it can be vaguely tracked with your gear. Mesprit actually will now continually move from spot to spot, so it'll be a bit of luck for your next chance to run into it again. Wouldn’t you know it, even after the battle has finally started Mesprit has a habit of fleeing, and with well rounded stats even if you manage to paralyze it for a few turns, it may take off shortly after. Imagine you’re a kid, you’ve got two of the lake trio, but the third just will not stay still, and now you believe it to be impossible or bugged. That was the fate of many, at least nowadays we know a Honchkrow with the ability mean look will get the job done…

The Regi

You know the deal by now, each and every Regi form has extremely low catch rate, and they can be tricky bosses if you don't bring their specific weaknesses. Needless to say, Regigigas is probably the toughest, being that the final form requires that you catch his other forms first, and his stats are beefy. But each time you find one, you’ll have to keep an eye on how many times the Regi has used it’s moves. Regi Rock for instance uses superpower to lower its own defense, and with only 5PP, it’s going to start using struggle real quick. Threatening to faint itself before you can catch it.

Enamorus

Enamorus is quite a demanding boss in Legends Arceus, having you first catch Thundurus, Tornadus, and Landorus, before getting a crack at the flying and fairy type boss that plays more like a souls-like than a traditional pokemon game. First you’ll have to break her many shields by throwing an item at it each time. Meanwhile as you try to traverse this swamp biome she’s found in, she’ll shoot out these tornados that will make you dizzy, reverse your controls, and give her an easy getaway. Once you do start the actual battle it’ll be a test of reactions and timing as you widdle it’s health down slowly but surely.

Manaphy

Manaphy has always been a tricky one to acquire, once upon a time you had to purchase an entirely separate spin off game to get one, so when it appeared in Legends Arceus, players could thankfully get it without a paywall. Instead a riddle awaits you. Boiling down to needing a certain team of pokemon in a certain place, AT, a certain time! Once all the conditions are met, Manaphy finally appears in its secret location, where you’ll get a chance to catch it along with a few of its minions. Hopefully you’ve brought or made enough balls to catch ‘em all.

Deoxys

Deoxys is one of those event pokemon - you know the ones, who was only available years ago for two seconds in Japan, but when it actually became available to catch in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, it was probably one of the hardest gauntlets pokemon has had to offer. Players must first face and likely try to catch Rayquaza, only to find themselves in a long cutscene and boss battle with the trainer Zinnia, and after taking on her five powerful mons, only then do you get a shot at the alien. With no saves in between, and the ability for either of the legendaries to break out or struggle/faint themselves to death, this is quite a tall order to pull off on your first try.

Entei, Raikou, and Suicune

The three legendary beasts share a category of their own because unlike a lot of legendaries every single one of them have… No. Set. Location. Remember how only Mesprit wandered in the lake trio? That actually is preferable compared to these three. They are notoriously difficult to find being that each is coded to move to an adjacent route every time the player enters a route, or opens a door. They will all flee unless put to sleep on turn one, problem is of course Raikou is an electric type, so good golly luck trying to out speed him, most people recommend, that oh so reliable masterball.

Arceus

The god of all pokemon has an intensely difficult battle in Legends as a post game optional boss, one that requires you to have caught ALL other mons. That is a huge lift. Especially considering you’ll have to get through the prior mentioned legendaries to get here. Arceus has the most attacks out of any of the noble pokemon boss battles, so you’re really going to have to get that gamer lean-in-maneuver ready, you know the one. It’ll often shoot out energy rings that’ll quickly deplete your players health, and it’ll use a golden laser which builds up and tracks the player. These laser blasts are so quick you won’t have a chance to hit the boss with the balms, and windows will only occasionally appear between it’s many phases. Once down to 50% health, it has one last trick, to split apart into clones which will each take four hits to destroy like the prior mentioned Enamorus’ shields. Truly it’s like fighting all the prior tricky bosses at once - and in the veeeerrry least, we can be thankful Arceus doesn’t run away and hide from you or something too. That… would be a pokestep too far.