The following is a guide on how to catch “perfect” Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. It will be broken down into two parts:
- Tips on how to catch “perfect” Pokémon and
- Recommended natures and IV set ups for Legendary Pokémon usable in the VGC ’15 ruleset
The first part will be written by myself (Simon) and the second part will be written by CT Mikoto Misaka as he has done a lot of research on the Battle Spot Doubles format which is now the VGC ’15 format (aside from the time limit).
There are really only two different variables when catching Pokémon: Nature and IVs. In the current generation of Pokémon games, all Legendary Pokémon have 3 IVs that are automatically set to 31, making it much easier to catch Pokémon with the “perfect” stats when compared to previous generations. Using a Synchronizer — which I’ll explain a little further down — will help with the nature making it a 50% chance of making any Pokémon you battle have the same nature as the Synchronizer.
You have to remember that the IVs of Pokémon are all random and while it might take someone an hour to get a “perfect” Pokémon, it can take weeks for another. You also have to remember that even though getting a Pokémon with five 31s in specific stats is about 1 in 4000, it doesn’t guarantee that you will get 1 if you soft reset 4000 times. The guide is designed to help you cut down that time so you can aim for perfection!
Resources
IV Checker
The IV Checker is located in the Battle Resort Pokémon Center. He will tell you which stats your Pokémon has a 31 or 0 IV in. This is going to be your most useful resource in checking your Pokémon.
Hidden Power Checker
The Hidden Power Checker will tell you the Hidden Power of your Pokémon. He is located on the Tree House section in Fortree City. This is a really useful tool if you are going for a Hidden Power.
Tools Needed
Pokeballs
To catch Pokémon you need Pokeballs. The easiest way to capture Pokémon is by using a Master Ball as most of you know (or at least I hope you do). For the people who don’t have a mysteriously infinite supply of Master Balls, various PokéMarts around Hoenn will have different Pokeballs of varying capture rates.
Synchronizer
A Pokémon with the Ability Synchronize makes it so that anything you encounter through battle will have a 50% chance to be the same nature as your Synchronizer. In order to use a Synchronizer you need to place it first in your party. Synchronize works even if the Pokémon has fainted which allows you to lead your “Speed Checker” immediately.
Speed Checker
A Speed Checker is a Pokémon that has one less (or more) Speed stat than your desired target. For example, a 31 Speed IV Cresselia has a Speed stat of 105. Your Speed Checker should have a Speed stat of 104. When you start the battle, you should use a 0 priority attack. If you go first, you know that the Pokémon does not have a 30-31 Speed IV and you should immediately reset. If the target goes first, you’ll know that it has a speed IV of 28-31 (the 28-29 is from the possibility of it winning a speed tie). You can also do this for 0 IV Pokémon and make your Speed Checker have one Speed stat more than your desired Pokémon.
For Pokémon with Abilities that have activation messages upon switch-in such as Pressure, your Speed Checker can be another Pokémon with an activated ability so that you don’t have to waste time attacking. Note that although Unnerve is an activated ability, it seems to have priority over other activated abilities and will go before them. Don’t use Unnerve to Speed check.
The purpose of a Speed checker is to save you the 30 seconds or more it takes to catch a Pokémon every time you reset and check its stats.
Final Gambit
You can also use Final Gambit to check the HP IV of a Pokémon before you catch it. Use a Final Gambit Pokémon with one HP stat less than the desired Pokémon to check if it has an HP IV of 30-31. For example, a 31 HP IV Cresselia has 195 HP; you can use Final Gambit on Cresselia with a 194 HP Pokémon. If it survives, you’ll know that it has a 30-31 HP IV. This form of “Checking” is far less frequent than speed checking mainly because there are very few Final Gambit users and the chances of you having one with the right HP is low.
Final Gambit + Speed Checking
There are rare cases where you can use a Final Gambit Pokémon to HP and Speed check at the same time. A 0 Speed IV Cresselia has 195 HP and 81 Speed. You can use something with Final Gambit, 194 HP and 82 Speed to check both its HP and Speed in the same go. First check if the target is slower than your checker, if not reset. If it is in fact slower you can wait for Final Gambit to hit and if the Pokémon survives you’ll know it has both a 0 Speed IV as well as a 30-31 HP IV.
You can also be creative for “checking” Pokémon. Use your imagination to think of ways you can check speed and HP. You can even use things like a Level 97 Seismic Toss user to check if Cresselias HP stat is 195 (30-31IV). If one of your Pokémon is too fast, you can use a Pokémon that has double its speed and give it a Macho Brace or a Power Item.
Recommended Captures & Stats
I’ll (CT Mikoto Misaka) be listing some of the likely Pokémon you’ll be resetting for along with their ideal IVs and stats at the level you’ll capture them at. These include some of the more popular sets seen on Battle Spot Doubles which is the confirmed ruleset for the rest of the VGC ’15 season.
Notes
- stats will be in order of HP/Atk/Def/Sp.atk/Sp.def/Speed
- x = IV does not matter
- e = IV requires an even number
- o = IV requires an odd number
- 30 and 31 IVs reach the same number at level 50 if no EVs are invested into the stat.
The perfect stats of the Pokémon at level 50 (the level you encounter them at and the level you will be using them at) with that particular set up will be listed next to the IV set.
Cresselia
Location: Crescent Isle: Random Daily Mirage Spot just east of Ever Grande City. Note that you can “Reset” for this island by saving before you update your Buzznav and then updating it every time you start your game to see if you have Crescent Isle.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 195 / x / 140 / 95 / 165 / 105 |
| Bold | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 195 / x / 154 / 95 / 150 / 105 |
| Sassy | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 0-3 | 195 / x / 140 / 95 / 165 / 81 |
| Relaxed | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 0-3 | 195 / x / 154 / 95 / 150 / 81 |
The nature for Cresselia usually depends on what EV spread you go with. If you decide to use an overwhelming amount of Defense EVs, a +Defense nature is the way to go, otherwise a +SpDef nature is what you want. If you decide to use Trick Room on your Cresselia you would want to go with a Sassy or Relaxed nature. A key thing to remember when using a Speed reduction nature on Cresselia is that any Speed IV between 0 and 3 have the same stat point so it eases resetting as you can get any of those four IVs and get the same result.
Thundurus (Incarnate)
Location: Thunder cloud North of Fortree City when you have Castform in your party (Alpha Sapphire only).
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Bold | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 154 / x / 99 / 145 / 100 / 131 |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 154 / x / 90 / 145 / 110 / 131 |
Hidden Power Ice Combinations
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Bold | 31 / o / 31 / 31 / 31 / 30 | 154 / x / 99 / 145 / 100 / 131 |
| Calm | 31 / e / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 154 / x / 90 / 145 / 110 / 131 |
| Calm | 31 / o / 31 / 31 / 31 / 30 | 154 / x / 90 / 145 / 110 / 131 |
| Timid | 31 / e / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 154 / x / 90 / 145 / 100 / 144 |
Thundurus has many potent options at its disposal. Almost all offensive Thundurus-I use Timid natures with Hidden Power Ice. The more known Thundurus if you played in 2012 and 2013 would be the bulkier set that spreads paralysis. You can choose Calm or Bold depending on which side of the offensive spectrum you want Thundurus to take better hits from. The IVs also depend on whether or not you want to use Hidden Power Ice on your Thundurus for coverage. The IVs you need for Hidden Power mostly depend on what kind of EV spread you use. For Bold you are almost certain to use Defense EVs and may not use Speed EVs so having the Hidden Power Ice IV spread that has 30 Speed makes more sense. For Calm it depends on whether or not you invest in Speed or Defense, but if you invest in both Def and Speed you may use either IV combination for Hidden Power Ice.
Note: It is hard to check for Speed in battle with Thundurus because it will use both Prankster priority moves and neutral priority damage moves.
Landorus (Therian)
Location: North of Fortree City when you have Tornadus and Thundurus in your Party.
Note that the stats listed will be those of the Incarnate forme which is the forme you will catch Landorus in.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Adamant | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 164 / 159 / 110 / x / 100 / 121 |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 164 / 145 / 110 / x / 100 / 133 |
| Careful | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 164 / 145 / 110 / x / 110 / 121 |
Adamant has been the most common nature for Landorus but Jolly is also an option if you want to outspeed neutral nature base 100s and anything slower than that. Careful is also note-worthy for those who want to use the bulky Choice Band set.
Heatran
Location: Scorched Slab; East of Fortree City
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Modest | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 166 / x / 126 / 165 / 126 / 97 |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 166 / x / 126 / 150 / 126 / 126 |
Hidden Power Ice Combinations
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Modest | 31 / e / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 166 / x / 126 / 165 / 126 / 97 |
| Timid | 31 / e / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 166 / x / 126 / 150 / 126 / 126 |
Timid and Modest are equally used right now it mainly depends on how much speed you want on your Heatran. Quiet was once an option for Heatran but with Heatran losing Eruption since it was an Event Exclusive move in a previous Generation and with the existence of Mega Camerupt, it doesn’t seem optimal anymore.
Terrakion
Location: Pathless Plain: East of Pacifidlog. Three fully EV’d Pokémon are required for them to appear.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 166 / 149 / 110 / x / 110 / 140 |
| Adamant | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 166 / 163 / 110 / x / 110 / 128 |
While most Terrakion and Cobalion are Jolly to outspeed Pokémon such as Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, and Charizard there are a few people who use Adamant and sacrifice some of the speed for more power and bulk. Outside of those two natures there aren’t really any other natures used on these two for the most part.
Cobalion
Location: Pathless Plain: East of Pacifidlog. Three fully EV’d Pokémon are required for them to appear.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 166 / 110 / 149 / x / 92 / 140 |
| Adamant | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 166 / 121 / 149 / x / 92 / 128 |
While most Terrakion and Cobalion are Jolly to outspeed Pokémon such as Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, and Charizard there are a few people who use Adamant and sacrifice some of the speed for more power and bulk. Outside of those two natures there aren’t really any other natures used on these two for the most part.
Virizion
Location: Pathless Plain: East of Pacifidlog. Three fully EV’d Pokémon are required for them to appear.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 166 / 110 / 92 / x / 149 / 140 |
| Adamant | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 166 / 121 / 92 / x / 149 / 128 |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 166 / x / 92 / 110 / 149 / 140 |
Hidden Power Ice
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / e / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 166 / x / 92 / 110 / 149 / 140 |
For the same reasons as Terrakion and Cobalion, most Virizion are Jolly with a few exceptions using Adamant or even Timid. While Timid is definitely rare on Virizion it’s worth noting it has the same Special Attack as it does Attack, though it has to rely on the shaky Focus Blast for its fighting type STAB.
Latias
Location: Southern Island after the 5th Gym or Eon Ticket Event.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 97 / x / 68 / 80 / 92 / 88 |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 /31 / 31 | 97 / x / 68 / 80 / 101 / 80 |
Almost all Latias are Timid so it can outspeed other common Dragons such as Garchomp, Hydreigon, and non-Mega Salamence. Calm is also an option as you can further abuse Latias’ (and mega Latias’) bulk and support movepool at the cost of Speed.
Latios
Location: Southern Island after the 5th Gym or Eon Ticket Event.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 97 / x / 62 / 92 / 80 / 88 |
Hidden Power Ground
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 30 / 30 / 31 | 97 / x / 62 / 92 / 80 / 88 |
Hidden Power Fire
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / e / 31 / 30 / 31 / 30 | 97 / x / 62 / 92 / 80 / 88 |
| Modest | 31 / e / 31 / 30 / 31 / 30 | 97 / x / 62 / 101 / 80 / 80 |
Like Latias, almost all Latios use Timid natures to outspeed most of the other Dragons. Hidden Power Ground (31/o/31/30/30/31) and Hidden Power Fire (31/e/31/30/31/30) are also options though you’ll need to keep in mind the Hidden Power nerf this generation. Modest can also be used if you are using Hidden Power Fire since you will lose the speed tie with base 110 Speed Pokémon anyways. Latios doesn’t benefit as much from Hidden Power as it used to so it may not be as great an option for our old friend.
Note that the stats listed are for Latios and Latias at Level 30 which is what level they are when you get them both during the story and with the Eon Ticket.
Suicune
Location: Trackless Forest near Rustboro with Lugia or Ho Oh in your party.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Bold | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 175 / x / 148 / 110 / 135 / 105 |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 175 / x / 135 / 110 / 148 / 105 |
| Modest | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 175 / x / 135 / 121 / 135 / 105 |
Suicune is a Pokémon mostly known for its bulky support role. Most players favor using Bold to take hits better from Pokémon such as Kangaskhan, Bisharp, Mawile, and Landorus-T but Calm can be used if you want to take hits from Pokémon such as Hydreigon, Thundurus, and Sylveon better. You can also use Modest with Special Attack investment to get KOs on Pokémon such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Mega Salamence.
Entei
Location: Trackless Forest near Rustboro with Lugia or Ho Oh in your party.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Adamant | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 190 / 148 / 105 / x / 95 / 120 |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 190 / 135 / 105 / x / 95 / 132 |
Gaining Sacred Fire this generation makes Entei a real threat now along with having access to moves such as Stone Edge. Adamant is more commonly used which gives up the speed for more overall bulk, but Jolly is also an option if you value outspeeding neutral base 100s and speed-tying the positive base 100s.
Raikou
Location: Trackless Forest near Rustboro with Lugia or Ho Oh in your party.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 165 / x / 95 / 135 / 120 / 148 |
Hidden Power Ice
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / e / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 165 / x / 95 / 135 / 120 / 148 |
Almost all Raikou use Timid with maybe 1 in 20 using Modest. Timid allows you to outspeed Pokémon such as Mega Lucario, Mega Metagross, neutral natured Mega Salamence. The more offensive sets use Hidden Power Ice but some opt to use Screens or Snarl instead so the IVs you want will depend on whether or not you want to use Hidden Power Ice.
Lower Priority Pokémon
Now the following Legendary Pokémon I’m not very familiar with (and there isn’t much data or usage to look at) so I’ll just list what I think would be usable natures and IVs for them.
Regice
Location: Island Cave.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 155 / x / 120 / 120 / 242 / 70 |
| Bold | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 155 / x / 132 / 120 / 220 / 70 |
| Modest | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 155 / x / 120 / 132 / 220 / 70 |
Regirock
Location: Desert Ruins.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Adamant | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 155 / 132 / 220 / x / 120 / 70 |
| Careful | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 155 / 120 / 220 / x / 132 / 70 |
| Impish | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 155 / 120 / 242 / x / 120 / 70 |
Registeel
Location: Ancient Tomb.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Careful | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 155 / 95 / 170 / x / 187 / 70 |
| Impish | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 155 / 95 / 187 / x / 170 / 70 |
Regigigas
Location: Island Cave.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Careful | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 185 / 180 / 130 / x / 143 / 120 |
| Impish | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 185 / 180 / 143 / x / 130 / 120 |
Uxie
Location: Nameless Cavern east of Sootopolis. Three Pokémon with max Happiness are required for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf to appear.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Bold | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 150 / x / 165 / 95 / 150 / 115 |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 150 / x / 150 / 95 / 165 / 115 |
| Relaxed | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 0 | 150 / x / 165 / 95 / 150 / 90 |
| Sassy | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 0 | 150 / x / 150 / 95 / 165 / 90 |
Mesprit
Location: Nameless Cavern east of Sootopolis. Three Pokémon with max Happiness are required for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf to appear.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Modest | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 155 / x / 125 / 137 / 125 / 100 |
| Bold | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 155 / x / 137 / 125 / 125 / 100 |
| Calm | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 155 / x / 125 / 125 / 137 / 100 |
Azelf
Location: Nameless Cavern east of Sootopolis. Three Pokémon with max Happiness are required for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf to appear.
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 150 / x / 90 / 140 / 90 / 148 |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 150 / 140 / 90 / x / 90 / 148 |
| Naive | 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 150 / 140 / 90 / 140 / 81 / 148 |
| Hasty | 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 150 / 140 / 81 / 140 / 90 / 148 |
Tornadus
Location: Thunder cloud North of Fortree CIty when you have Castform in your party (Omega Ruby only).
| Nature | IVs | Stats |
| Jolly | 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31 | 154 / 135 / 90 / x / 100 / 144 |
| Timid | 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 | 154 / x / 90 / 145 / 100 / 144 |
Other Legendary Pokémon
If you’re looking for the stats of some of the other Legendary Pokémon that aren’t usable in competition, check out this project led by majorbowman.
Why Flawless or Bust?
I get a lot of people asking me why I bother getting all perfect IVs instead of just settling for 27+ IVs and the answer to that is pretty simple. We play a game where luck plays a big role. We have things like critical hits, moves missing and damage rolls. By settling on a Pokémon with imperfect IVs you are making yourself more vulnerable to the luck of this game. You may not think 1 or 2 stat points matter in the end but sometimes they do. No matter how small the chance is, it is still there and you can somewhat mitigate it. Have you ever lost a game because your Pokémon got KO’d by a move that had a 1/16 chance to KO? What about missing a KO with the same odds? Using imperfect IVs open the door for that to happen when it probably shouldn’t. You are also essentially wasting EVs by using lower than ideal IVs. I know not everyone is the same, but as a competitive Pokémon player if I have the opportunity to reduce some of the luck this game has I will gladly spend more time resetting for a Pokémon with ideal IVs than settling on something less than optimal.
If you like losing games for reasons that were at some point in your control, by all means use non-flawless Pokémon. If you want to maximize your chances to win, you should definitely be going for flawless Pokémon. I always try to optimize my spreads and make every point count and using Pokémon with inferior IVs completely defeats the purpose of doing so.
I hope the tips and information CT Mikoto Misaka and I provided in this guide will motivate you to to aim for perfection and start getting your team together for the 2015 Pokémon Championship Series!
The post Flawless or Bust: How to Catch Perfect Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire appeared first on Nugget Bridge.