The Hardest Pokémon to Catch?

[TenshouYoku]

Not difficult to find, but difficult to survive and actually catch, and I'm surprised this one hasn't come up yet after nearly two pages.

You know how the cover legendaries of most Pokemon games are pretty easy to catch starting with Dialga and Palkia in Diamond and Pearl? Game Freak probably sets their catch rates in the 45 - 70 range so the player can viably capture these Pokemon when they encounter such a titan in the main story. Being able to snag a powerful Pokemon like Xerneas when you aren't even the Champion yet is an empowering moment. Unfortunately, the first time Game Freak ever FORCED an encounter with a Legendary as part of the story, at the time, you could not have chosen a worse Pokemon to fight than Groudon in Ruby or Kyogre in Sapphire.

These two are LUDICROUS to fight at this point. Not only do they have stats rivaling those of Mewtwo, but both of them have abilities which alter the weather in their favor for the ENTIRE battle unless you provide your own weather effect. Furthermore, Groudon knows Bulk Up, and Kyogre Calm Mind. It's no Recover, but boosting their own stats makes these Pokemon even more impressive threats than they already were.

All of this said, if you asked me whether one is more difficult than the other, I'd have to weigh things in Groudon's favor for a couple of reasons.
1.) Kyogre is a Water Pokemon, which means Net Balls are more effective against it, giving you more options to easily catch Kyogre. There isn't an equivalent Ball for Ground-types like Groudon.
2.) Kyogre's Drizzle compounds with its Water-type to turn Hydro Pump into a 270 power attack! However, neither Ice Beam nor Body Slam are boosted by the rain, although Ice Beam can become more potent through Calm Mind. As a Ground-type, Groudon is not gaining STAB from Fire Blast, and Fire Blast does come off Groudon's weaker offense. However, Drought grants Fire Blast a power boost anyway (180 power), and being a Ground Pokemon sizes Groudon's Earthquake more, the latter of which comes from Groudon's stronger offense. And with Bulk Up, both Earthquake and Slash get better. Basically, when you fight Kyogre, you're facing one lethal attack, while the other two are good or even meh. Groudon, however, has two dangerous attacks plus one which is still pretty good thanks to Groudon's high Attack.
3.) Drizzle doesn't defend from any of Kyogre's weak points, but Drought helps Water attacks fizzle out in this fight. TBF, Drought would make Solarbeam more deadly against Groudon, but who uses Solarbeam in-game?

One minor point in Kyogre's favor of difficulty, though: nothing in Hoenn is immune to Water and Ice damage (Ghosts are immune to Body Slam, though). Yes, Water Absorb was an ability in RS, but Poliwag, Lapras, Vaporeon, Wooper, and Mantine weren't in RS, so no Pokemon in Hoenn had Water Absorb. Meanwhile, you can find Pokemon who are immune to each of Groudon's attacks (Ghosts for Slash, Fliers or Levitators for Earthquake, Duskull for the previous two, Vulpix / Ninetales for Fire Blast).

AFAIK, this was still the age when you got one shot at catching the legendary Pokemon, too; if you blew it by KO'ing Groudon / Kyogre, tough luck.

It wasn't just that these Pokemon were difficult to catch due to low catch rates, nor is it just them being powerful. Groudon and Kyogre were two of THE most powerful Pokemon in the entire series when RS were released because they bend the game to their favor so much on top of being powerful regardless of their abilities. Making a boss fight like this MANDATORY in those games is absolutely brutal and a mistake which should not be repeated.



...which is one of several reasons why I think ORAS sucks.

Primal Groudon is particularly difficult, not only because it still retains the 3 catch rate of the original RSE, now it is totally immune to water, is only weak to ground, hits super hard and has FREAKING REST of all things. So many people are raging after Groudon healed all the damage it sustained after all those effort.

 

[Worldie]

I can side with the raging part, I was actually lucky enough to get it Adamant and within 10 ultraballs on OR, blessRNG

 

[Gokuzbu]

That all sounds good to me. People say the games cater too much to kids and then complain at the first sign of difficulty.

One thing I love is Chimchar gets Taunt in DP, making catching Abra and the like manageable early in the game.

 

[Siggu]

That all sounds good to me. People say the games cater too much to kids and then complain at the first sign of difficulty.

Except... that's fake difficulty, because it all depends on whether the RNG rolls the right number or not, not whether you are doing it well.

Proper catching difficulty would be, say, Abra, because of Teleport and its high Speed counteracting the rather high Catch Rate.

Throwing Ultra Ball after Ultra Ball with nothing happening inbetween until it is finally caught (kinda what happened to me while trying to catch Zekrom in ORAS) is not difficulty. It's just annoying.

 

[SadisticMystic]

Primal Groudon is particularly difficult, not only because it still retains the 3 catch rate of the original RSE, now it is totally immune to water, is only weak to ground, hits super hard and has FREAKING REST of all things. So many people are raging after Groudon healed all the damage it sustained after all those effort.

Groudon and Kyogre used to sit at the unique catch rate of 5, so there was actually a conscious decision to lower their rate to the standard 3 in G6.

 

[ToadBrigade]

Except... that's fake difficulty, because it all depends on whether the RNG rolls the right number or not, not whether you are doing it well.

Proper catching difficulty would be, say, Abra, because of Teleport and its high Speed counteracting the rather high Catch Rate.

Throwing Ultra Ball after Ultra Ball with nothing happening inbetween until it is finally caught (kinda what happened to me while trying to catch Zekrom in ORAS) is not difficulty. It's just annoying.

Calling it fake difficulty takes away from those who come prepared to catching legendary Pokemon. If you get Groudon, or any 3 catch rate Pokemon, down to low health (not even 1hp) and Asleep, there's a 50% chance to catch it within six Ultra Balls. Yes RNG can go bad but without it there would be a guaranteed threshold to catch it, taking away satisfaction of catching a legendary Pokemon. If in the case you didn't come prepared or RNG does go downhill, probably like most kids playing the game, you're given the Master Ball almost specifically for this Pokemon. Worst case scenario you don't catch it and you come back after the Elite Four with stronger Pokemon and know what you're up against.

 

[Gligarman]

Spiritomb is the only Pokemon I've yet to catch myself. I had to have it bred and traded because in Gen IV is was simply a nightmare to get.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Following that Xurkitree problem before, now I learn that anything with Beast Boost can be this if you're not careful. The second Clown nearly wiped me out due to me rushing to the storyline and not realising it'll reappear if I don't catch it the first time bah....

For Guzzlord, before, I particularly brought an Eevee (lv100, Evoboost set repurposed) with Yawn and Charm to lull it and neuter its attack, a swiper, and on the last, Lunala to continue with Hypnosis (any ghost with it should work too). Due to that recoil move, must only swipe it while it's sleeping and better be quick.

Beast Boost is the problem. It can easily snowball into dangerous sweeper, unlike usual legendaries, so to prevent it extra preparation had to be made. I don't know what can be used to reliably lower SpAtk though....

 

[Siggu]

Following that Xurkitree problem before, now I learn that anything with Beast Boost can be this if you're not careful. The second Clown nearly wiped me out due to me rushing to the storyline and not realising it'll reappear if I don't catch it the first time bah....

For Guzzlord, before, I particularly brought an Eevee (lv100, Evoboost set repurposed) with Yawn and Charm to lull it and neuter its attack, a swiper, and on the last, Lunala to continue with Hypnosis (any ghost with it should work too). Due to that recoil move, must only swipe it while it's sleeping and better be quick.

Beast Boost is the problem. It can easily snowball into dangerous sweeper, unlike usual legendaries, so to prevent it extra preparation had to be made. I don't know what can be used to reliably lower SpAtk though....

Blacephalon's much harder to handle as while it has the same +2 Special Attack as Xurkitree, there's not something like Alolan Marowak to make the encounter trivial by being immune to its best STABs and taking next to nothing from everything else. Well, it could be Flash Fire Houndoom, but it's frail.

Also, by virtue of being a Ghost-type, Blacephalon's immune to False Swipe.

 

[TenshouYoku]

Blacephalon's much harder to handle as while it has the same +2 Special Attack as Xurkitree, there's not something like Alolan Marowak to make the encounter trivial by being immune to its best STABs and taking next to nothing from everything else. Well, it could be Flash Fire Houndoom, but it's frail.

Also, by virtue of being a Ghost-type, Blacephalon's immune to False Swipe.

And when you think it's cool as you removed a sizable chunk of its HP it just blows your mind with mind blow and suicides. (Though thing is fairly easy to catch with beast balls...)

 

[FrannyFranhat99]

Freaking tapu fini.
Not that hard for other people, but I have battled it 16 times. Each time it has wasted at least 37 ultra balls, and then I have killed it on a crit or by hitting the wrong move. Guess I will have to beat the elite four yet again... STUPID MOVES THAT MAKE THESE THINGS HEAL THEMSELVES!

Edit: I have the same problem with lele as well.

 

[BlizzardHero]

Freaking tapu lele.
Not that hard for other people, but I have battled it 16 times. Each time it has wasted at least 37 ultra balls, and then I have killed it on a crit or by hitting the wrong move. Guess I will have to beat the elite four yet again...

You know you can save before you battle, and then just soft reset every time you fail....

 

[Arno64]

I wanna add Spinda to the list because of its patterns.
There are 4,294,967,296 Spinda patterns based on its personality value (at least i think its that many.
So imagine you catch a Spinda,
then catching a Spinda with the same pattern as your first Spinda.
So thats a chance of 1 to 4,294,967,296.
Then there are shinies too.....
Thats a 1 out of 8,589,934,592 chance.
So yeah the same spot pattern Spinda has potential to be the hardest Pokémon to catch. (Because you first need to find it before you catch...does that even count?)

 

[gkh1997]

Feebas in Gen III. Till today, I have yet to catch one. :(

Honorable mentions:
1) Mewtwos (Barrier+Recover)
2) Deoxys in ORAS (Cosmic Power+Recover)
3) Primal Kyogre

I think that is all I can think of.

 

[FrannyFranhat99]

At the advice of my friend, gkh, I saved my master ball for deoxys in AS. However if you used it on rayquaza that is excusable. Never, ever use it on groudon or kyogre as they almost never take more than 20 ultra balls if that to catch.

 

[Tazonite]

I saw DP Munchlax mentioned here earlier, which amused me cause that's how I got my first Munchlax ever. I feel so accomplished about that. So great.

Any legend with Recover is pretty hard to catch. Save your Master Balls for those. Haven't touched the safari zone in a while now. Last time I did I got the Larvitar I wanted so it's been a while since I actively hunted in one. Back in the days when it was just me and generation four, however, there were definitely some tough things to catch.

Spiritomb is very rare if you don't have and replay OR/AS a lot. Idk why it's so rare but that's kind of its thing so go Spiritomb!

 

[PanzerThiefZero]

I'd argue for hardest Pokemon to catch period would be the Manaphy from Ranger, if you want to get it's shiny. Not the mission itself, it was pretty easy iirc, but the context behind it:

Each cartridge can only complete the Manaphy mission once for the egg. Ever. So no restarting the game if you want another one. You have to buy another game for the egg.

Then you send it over via Mystery Gift. And this is where it gets complicated:
When you pick up the egg in Diamond or Pearl, you then need to send it over to another game immediately. And if you left the egg in Ranger for so long, it can literally take a few steps to hatch it. The problem is that it's Shiny values are already set when you get it over, like any other egg, and those SVs are set so you cannot get it shiny in your own game.

And no, you cannot SR for it. You literally need to pray that it's Shiny when you watch it hatch. And if it doesn't, tough luck. Like, regular Ranger Manaphy is rare enough as it is, but Shiny Ranger Manaphy is literally one of the hardest Pokemon to catch, ever.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I'd argue for hardest Pokemon to catch period would be the Manaphy from Ranger, if you want to get it's shiny. Not the mission itself, it was pretty easy iirc, but the context behind it:

Each cartridge can only complete the Manaphy mission once for the egg. Ever. So no restarting the game if you want another one. You have to buy another game for the egg.

Then you send it over via Mystery Gift. And this is where it gets complicated:
When you pick up the egg in Diamond or Pearl, you then need to send it over to another game immediately. And if you left the egg in Ranger for so long, it can literally take a few steps to hatch it. The problem is that it's Shiny values are already set when you get it over, like any other egg, and those SVs are set so you cannot get it shiny in your own game.

And no, you cannot SR for it. You literally need to pray that it's Shiny when you watch it hatch. And if it doesn't, tough luck. Like, regular Ranger Manaphy is rare enough as it is, but Shiny Ranger Manaphy is literally one of the hardest Pokemon to catch, ever.

I see your Ranger 1 (Shiny) Manaphy and raise you a Ranger 3 Deoxys.

One of the selling points of Ranger 3 was being able to get a Deoxys via completing a downloadable Past Mission. But there wasn't one catch, but two:

1. How fast you caught it determined what Forme it would be when transferred over. While not sounding like a big deal, it got a special move depending what Forme it was. Well, special only if you got Attack Forme which learned Meteor Mash. Defense Forme got Detect which, whoopeeadoo, it learns Protect like every other Pokemon. Oh, and Normal and Speed got nothing special. And the Past Missions were annoying as, in order to level up, you have to grind so you could very well go into it unprepared.

2. But hey, for a Deoxys a little grinding is worth it, right? Well here's snag number 2 that probably had firmly kept most Deoxys in their Ranger 3 cartridge: the Past Mission required at least two players. The Past Missions were meant to be a multiplayer mode and, though you could play it alone, it was a grindfest. Well, they decided to take that one step further and making the mission to get a Pokemon they advertised you can get locked behind it. Oh, but it gets better. You see, how the Past Mission multiplayer worked was that one player had to be the host... and only the host got the Deoxys. Now I don't know whether the other player(s) also needed to have the Deoxys mission, but yeah, if they did and you were being fair, you'd have to play through the mission multiple time for each person with the Deoxys mission.

What. Were. They. Thinking.

 

[Altissimo]

I got that Deoxys. It was a horrifying affair that involved me taking a new friend who had never played Pokémon in her life and slowly converting her into a Pokémon fan and, specifically, a Ranger fan all with the end goal of having her help me with that Deoxys.
It was incredible.

 

[THE MEGACON]

That Deoxys sounds insane. Can it be shiny, like Manaphy?

By the way, that Ranger Manaphy is much easier to get than everyone thinks. You can trade it to another game to change its ID before it hatches, once you initially hatch it and it isnt shiny. Its like an extended SR, but you have to keep switching games and starting a new file. Terrible process, but its been done numerous times.

In regards to this thread, Beldum in the HGSS Safari takes the cake. Ive been hunting for a decade, and catching a Pokemon that is essentially a legendary on full health, in a great ball, when its incredibly likely to flee, is damn near possible. Ive been doing it for a few months. Five fails so far lol

That Deoxys sounds insane. Can it be shiny, like Manaphy?

By the way, that Ranger Manaphy is much easier to get than everyone thinks. You can trade it to another game to change its ID before it hatches, once you initially hatch it and it isnt shiny. Its like an extended SR, but you have to keep switching games and starting a new file. Terrible process, but its been done numerous times.

In regards to this thread, Beldum in the HGSS Safari takes the cake. Ive been hunting for a decade, and catching a Pokemon that is essentially a legendary on full health, in a great ball, when its incredibly likely to flee, is damn near possible. Ive been doing it for a few months. Five fails so far lol

Actually, i just realized the only reason you could get Ranger Manaphy shiny was because you could trade it as an egg, to change its coding. Cant do that with Deoxys obviously haha

 

[Pikachu315111]

That Deoxys sounds insane. Can it be shiny, like Manaphy?

No idea, couldn't find anyone mentioning it via a quick Google search.

Actually, i just realized the only reason you could get Ranger Manaphy shiny was because you could trade it as an egg, to change its coding. Cant do that with Deoxys obviously haha

Well according to Serebii's Eventdex the Deoxys could have any Nature, and an interesting thing about Bulbapedia's page on Ranger Net is that it mention how the Riolu from Shadows of Almia can't be Shiny but doesn't mention this restriction anywhere else, hinting Deoxys (and the other Pokemon you can transfer over like Manaphy, Darkrai, Heatran, & Shaymin) aren't shiny lock. If not Shiny lock, than when its IVs are decided could mean whether you can reset for a Shiny. If its IVs are set once sent to the main game, then it might as well be Shiny lock. But if its IVs are decided when you claim it, than you could try resetting for a shiny (if not Shiny locked). BTW, another thing mentioned on Bulbapedia's Ranger Net page, not only can you claim each Deoxys forme once but a new Deoxys is generated every time the mission is done. Meaning, if you have friends willing, you can get four Deoxys in every Gen IV game you all have. But, once again, good luck with that.

 

[THE MEGACON]

No idea, couldn't find anyone mentioning it via a quick Google search.



Well according to Serebii's Eventdex the Deoxys could have any Nature, and an interesting thing about Bulbapedia's page on Ranger Net is that it mention how the Riolu from Shadows of Almia can't be Shiny but doesn't mention this restriction anywhere else, hinting Deoxys (and the other Pokemon you can transfer over like Manaphy, Darkrai, Heatran, & Shaymin) aren't shiny lock. If not Shiny lock, than when its IVs are decided could mean whether you can reset for a Shiny. If its IVs are set once sent to the main game, then it might as well be Shiny lock. But if its IVs are decided when you claim it, than you could try resetting for a shiny (if not Shiny locked). BTW, another thing mentioned on Bulbapedia's Ranger Net page, not only can you claim each Deoxys forme once but a new Deoxys is generated every time the mission is done. Meaning, if you have friends willing, you can get four Deoxys in every Gen IV game you all have. But, once again, good luck with that.

Well, usually any event driven Pokemon is shiny locked by default, regardless of Nature changing. But if it isnt, based on you being able to get a new Deoxys everytime you complete the mission, can you not just redownload the event or redo the mission, assuming you have a device with the event to download? However, im assuming the shiny lock isnt included in the description because it was just forgotten, as I assume at least one of the easier event Pokemon wouldve been found shiny by now. Wikis tend to have those discrepancies.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Well, usually any event driven Pokemon is shiny locked by default, regardless of Nature changing. But if it isnt, based on you being able to get a new Deoxys everytime you complete the mission, can you not just redownload the event or redo the mission, assuming you have a device with the event to download? However, im assuming the shiny lock isnt included in the description because it was just forgotten, as I assume at least one of the easier event Pokemon wouldve been found shiny by now. Wikis tend to have those discrepancies.

I don't understand what you mean. After you complete the mission you get the ability to transfer the forme of the Deoxys you just caught to a main game. Once that's done the main game records that it gotten a Deoxys of that form from the Pokemon Ranger game. Whether you can reset Deoxys's stats depends whether upon being transferred are when its stats are decided (thus you cannot reset it, what you receive is what you get) or if they're created as soon as the player redeems it from the delivery man in the Pokemon Center (which in that case you can reset for a Deoxys you want). Note the Deoxys doesn't have any stats in the Ranger game, it's just a flag the Ranger game uses to unlock a Deoxys giving event in the main game.

 

[THE MEGACON]

I don't understand what you mean. After you complete the mission you get the ability to transfer the forme of the Deoxys you just caught to a main game. Once that's done the main game records that it gotten a Deoxys of that form from the Pokemon Ranger game. Whether you can reset Deoxys's stats depends whether upon being transferred are when its stats are decided (thus you cannot reset it, what you receive is what you get) or if they're created as soon as the player redeems it from the delivery man in the Pokemon Center (which in that case you can reset for a Deoxys you want). Note the Deoxys doesn't have any stats in the Ranger game, it's just a flag the Ranger game uses to unlock a Deoxys giving event in the main game.

im saying, theoretically, you could just replay the mission and dowload the deoxys on new save files, if thats possible. Ive never played the game, so i dont know the mechanics of how the event is done, just throwing out guesses. Regardless, it likely wouldnt matter, as its most likely shiny locked like every other event Pokemon

 

[Worldie]

The pokemon ranger events are coded to be sendable only once per Pokemon Ranger save I believe.
You'd have to start everything from 0 to send it again.