Between Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, there are dozens of legendary Pokémon — not all of which are easy to find. But if you’re set on hunting them down, you’ve come to the right place.
First thing’s first. Hunting for many of these Pokémon becomes easier after you’ve beat the game. That’s because, as you may know, legendary Pokémon are tough to capture. It can be a time consuming, money intensive task. It’s not unusual to spend more than 20 ultra balls on a single legendary, if not more. You could go broke trying to capture these Pokémon, thanks to how many Pokeballs you’ll have to buy in total. If you have nothing pending, it’s easier to spend time simply grinding money with the purposes of capturing more legendary Pokémon.
Aside from money, keep in mind that legendary Pokémon are usually strong. Should you go and try to capture a legendary, you have to make sure to bring a team of formidable Pokémon — but nothing too strong, because you don’t want to one hit KO your target. I’d suggest a team in the 50-60 range — most legendaries appear at around 40-50, with the exception of Deoxys, that is a whopping level 80.
Beyond that, it’s worth reiterating how to capture Pokémon. Here, I’ll quote Bulbapedia, since it’s illuminating:
The probability of catching a Pokémon starts with the species’ catch rate divided by 255. Then it is multiplied by the following factors:
The health of the Pokémon (relative to its full health), which can reduce the probability to ⅓× at full health.
The type of Poké Ball, which can augment by some ×.
Any status condition of the wild Pokémon (i.e. 2.5× increase for sleep or freeze, and 1.5× for paralyze, poison, or burn).
Any active Pass Powers (in Generation V) or O-Power (in Generation VI).
The effects stack multiplicatively — for example, a 2× and a 3× will combine to be 6×. If the calculation ends up greater than 1, the wild Pokémon is assured to be caught.
The rarity of the Pokémon (i.e. how often it appears in the wild) is totally independent from its catch rate after it is encountered.
In simpler terms: the more damage you deal to a Pokémon, the easier it is to catch. Status conditions, as well as Pokeball types, can help — so if a Pokémon is in the red and asleep, they’re more likely to be captured by an Ultra Ball than an awake Pokémon in the yellow. And finally, don’t forget about O-Powers, which you can use to grant yourself a tiny boost in capturing effectiveness. You can find O-Powers buried in the PSS, after hitting the folder icon, and then going into the second menu. Even with all that information and preparation, it can be tough to capture a legendary — but every little bit helps.
Now that we’ve got all the planning stuff out of the way, let’s talk Pokémon! Most of these, I have either caught myself, or have gotten tips from friends that have captured them. Occasionally, I’ll cite Serebii, an informational Pokémon website.
Kyogre and Groudon
These are likely the first legendary Pokémon you’ll capture, since they’re a part of the story. Right before the last gym, you’ll be pulled into one final bit with whatever evil team exists in your version of the game. Since the villain’s plan involves reviving either Kyogre and Groudon, you’ll end up right in battle against these legendaries if you play through the story enough. I’d suggest sticking to ultra balls for this one. They’re only level 45, it shouldn’t be that tough. You’ll get whatever legendary is on the cover of your game.
Worth capturing because: they’re the only Pokémon that have a primal form, for now.
Latias and Latios
A level 30 Latias or Latios holding their respective mega stone will be given to you by Steven if you play through the story. You should get them around the same time as Groudon or Kyogre, and thankfully, you don’t actually have to capture them. The game just gifts them to you! Nice.
Worth using because: you can use the Eon Flute, which lets you fly around in the sky. It’s a cool feature, but more importantly, it lets you capture other legendary Pokémon. So don’t release Latias or Latios, whatever you do.
Rayquaza and Deoxys
I’m grouping these together, not because they’re related, really, but only because the game makes you fight one after the other. After you beat the game, you’ll have the option to do a special “Delta Episode.” The episode takes an hour and a half to complete at most, and at the end, you’ll go into battle against a level 70 Rayquaza. Once you capture it, you’ll throw it in your party per the story’s request, and go up against Deoxys.
Both of these Pokémon are tough to capture, but if you must use a Master Ball on one of them, I’d recommend Deoxys, simply because it’s the highest level legendary available. It took me about 6 different tries to capture Rayquaza, so I’d come prepared.
Worth capturing because: Rayquaza gets the coolest mega evolution in the game, and Deoxys is probably the rarest available legendary in ORAS.
Heatran
One of the easier legendaries to find, Heatran was the first non-story related legendary I caught in my game. You can find him at the bottom of a place called the “Scorched Slab,” right after you capture Groudon and Kyogre. When you get to the part of the cave with a weird, floating ring, go up to it, press A, and you’ll be transported to a level 50 Heatran. Because, uh, magic.
Worth capturing because: he’s easy to find.
Solving The Big Puzzle
Now, for the next three, you’re going to have to some tricky manoeuvring, as well as some puzzle solving. First, you’ll want to visit Pacifidlog Town, one of the only places without a gym. You’ll find it to the left of Sootopolis City. Once you get to Pacifidlog Town, go as far left as you can, and start surfing. You’ll note that the map will be full of rapid currents, which make it impossible to navigate the water freely. Don’t worry about it for now. Just keep going left, letting the water take you wherever it will, until you end up at the edge of the town of Slateport.
Now fly to route 133, and once your Pokémon sets you down, take this specific route:
Basically, you’re trying to get to a small dive spot in the middle of route 134, except it’s covered by fast current. This is the only pathway you can take to get right on the patch. Unfortunately if you fly right to route 134, your Pokémon will drop you off somewhere where you can’t reach the dive spot, which is why I suggest flying to route 133. It’s easier than trying to figure out where the exact route starts at 132.
Anyway, once you get to the spot, dive, swim until you get to a cave, and surface. There, you’ll find a cave full of Braille. If you want to solve its secret message on your own, you can. But if you don’t want to do that, here’s the solution: go up to the message on the top, as I show in the video, and use dig. The door to the next room should open. It’s already open in my video because I’ve already done this before, but it won’t be in yours.
In the next room, you’ll want to place a Relicanth as the first Pokémon in your party, and a Wailord as the sixth Pokémon in your party. You can find a Wailmer around Sootopolis if you’re having trouble — use the DexNav so that you ensure that the only Pokémon that appear are Wailmers. Then, level that Wailmer to level 40, at which point you’ll have a Wailord. Excellent. Relicanth, on the other hand, can be captured if you dive around Sootopolis. Once again, it’s easier if you use the DexNav to capture it.
With both those Pokémon in-hand, go up to the second room’s message at the top, and read it. That should trigger an event that opens up a few caves around the map — you may have come across them before while exploring, only they had no entrance at the time. Now, because you did all this stuff inside this ~secret sealed chamber~, they do. Let’s go by the Pokémon this unlocks one by one, shall we?
Regice
You’ll find this one at level 40 on route 105, north of Dewford town. Go into the cave, read the message, and wait for two minutes. A door will open, and you’ll find Regice.
Important note: nickname it something after you capture it. I know this sounds weird, but trust me. We’ll get to why later in this guide.
Why you should capture it: Regice, along with its ‘brothers,’ are some of the most fun legendaries to capture, thanks to all the puzzles surrounding them.
Regirock
You know that desert in route 111, with the perpetual sandstorm? Somewhere near the bottom of that desert, there’s a cave you can go inside. And inside that cave is a level 40 Regirock. According to Serebii, after reading the message inside, you need to “go right twice, down twice (best use the D-Pad for this) and then use Strength and the door to Regirock should appear.”
Why you should capture it: You captured its brother. Why not get this one, too?
Registeel
Possibly the coolest of the Regis, a level 40 Registeel can be found right of Fortree City, on route 120. You’ll need surf, though. Once inside the cave, read the message, and go to the middle of the room and use fly. Voila: Registeel!
Why you should capture it: You need all three Regi ‘mon if you want to get the next legendary.
Regigigas
This one is a doozy, and is also the entire reason why you captured all the Regis before it. Behold, Regigigas, a Pokémon that sort of fuses all the Regi golems. In order to find it, you need to talk to someone and then be at the right place. Serebii explains, “In Pacifidlog Town, in the north-eastern house, a girl will tell you stories her grandfather told her. At random, she will tell you a part of the story about how to get Regigigas. This involves location and the other features. Take all three of the [Regis] to the Island Cave.”
For whatever reason, encountering Regigigas requires you not just to have all three Regis, but to have a nicknamed Regice holding one of three items: CasteliaCone, Snowball or Never-Melt Ice. If you do all this right, when you enter Island Cave, you should hear an earthquake, and then Regigigas will challenge you. Neat, eh?
Why you should capture it: It’s the motherlode, as far as Regi Pokémon are concerned — and if you went through the trouble of capturing all the other ones, why not this one, too?
Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf
The next three, like Heatran, are a bit easy to encounter.
As you might recall, using the Eon Ticket with Latias or Latios allows you to fly around the overworld map. While soaring, you might come across special islands, which aren’t normally locations on your map — like say, something called “Nameless Cavern.” It might look a little bit like this:
Land on it, go inside the cave, and go inside the portal. You’ll encounter one of the three level 50 Pokemon at random. Just one at a time, though. The special glowing orb containing one of these three Pokemon will replenish/reappear again after twelve hours, so make sure to soar again later in search of these.
Why you should capture them: The bringer of emotion, the bringer of knowledge, and the bringer of willpower. These legendaries have a neat concept, no?
Lugia and Ho-Oh
These ones are fun. If you explore Sea Mauville, which is right near Slateport…
…you get the feeling that the shipwreck is hiding something — and it is. Lots of things, in fact. At Sea Mauville, not only do you get some interesting (but sad) Pokémon lore, you also have the chance to capture the big legendaries from Gold and Silver, Lugia and Ho-Oh. Lugia is exclusive to Alpha Sapphire, whereas Ho-Oh can be found in copies of Omega Ruby. Both will be level 50.
To capture them, you’re going to need to find a scanner. To find the scanner, you need to enter the ship, surf on the water, and then dive down to the deepest level on the ship. You’ll know you’re there because it will seem like an empty basement. It’s not empty, though. On the right side of the stairs, if you press A at the exact right spot, you’ll find an invisible item — the scanner. I found it here, if you need some visual guidance:
On my Alpha Sapphire copy, I didn’t find it in the exact same spot, but rather a couple of tiles over — so don’t be afraid to mash A in the general area, because that’s the only way you can pick this item up.
Once you have it, head on over to Slateport, and find the Slateport Harbour. Captain Stern should be inside, and he’ll trade you the scanner for one of two items. In Omega Ruby, you’ll get the Clear Bell that summons Ho-Oh. In Alpha Sapphire, you’ll get the Tidal Bell, which summons Lugia.
If you have the Clear Bell, you need to head back to Sea Mauville, and go as far up on the outside of the ship as you can. Once you reach the edge of the deck, you should see a portal. Inside that Portal is Ho-Oh.
Lugia, meanwhile, can be found in the basement of Sea Mauville, right near where you found the scanner. You just have to make sure to bring the Tidal Bell with you.
Why you should capture them: Sea Mauville is worth exploring on its own — so while you’re there, why not capture some legendaries, too?
Suicune, Raikou, and Entei
If you have both Lugia and Ho-Oh on your team, you should be able to find the three level fifty legendary dogs while using the Eon Flute. They will be inside a special location named “Trackless Forest.” This forest, as you may have guessed by now, has a portal — and this portal will take you to one of the three legendary Pokémon. According to Serebii, in order to get all three, you need to “remove the Pokémon [you captured] from your team and then readd them again to get the next one.”
Why you should capture them: they’re probably the cutest of all the legendaries here, and if you captured Lugia and Ho-Oh, why not get the Pokémon they unlock, too?
Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion
Like Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, these three Pokémon can be captured in one specific type of location: the Pathless Plain. You’ll find it near Pacifidlog Town, while using the Eon Flute. Land on the Pathless Plain, go inside the portal, and you should find one of three legendaries there — all level fifty. Once you capture one, if you wait twelve hours, you can capture the other two in fresh Pathless Plains, too.
Why you should capture them: They’re easy to find, and they’re based on The Three Musketeers. What’s not to love?
Palkia, Dialga and Giratina
Palkia and Dialga are version exclusives — Omega Ruby for Palkia, and Alpha Sapphire for Dialga. You’ll find them at level fifty if you use the Eon Flute — but only if you already have Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. If you have them equipped, somewhere around Dewford town you should be able to find a weird green rip in the sky while soaring. Yes, you can enter it — inside you’ll find your version exclusive, depending on what game you own.
That gives you one Pokémon. But in order to get Giratina, you’ll need both Dialga and Palkia in your party, which means you’re going to have to do some trading. Once you have both legendaries equipped, using the Eon Flute near Dewford should bring up another tear in the sky — this time, it will contain a level fifty Giratina.
Why you should capture them: according to Pokémon lore, these three Pokémon helped create the world. They’re like god Pokémon. That, and if you went through the trouble of collecting Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, why not get the legendaries that they unlock, too?
Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem
These two are also version exclusives — in Omega Ruby, you’ll find Reshiram, and in Alpha Sapphire, you’ll find Zekrom. To pin these down, you need to use the Eon Flute and soar around until you find a red bundle of light, which should lead you to a “Fabled Cave.” Once you land, you should find a cave and a portal that should take you to your respective level fifty legendary. So many portals!
Like Giratina, Kyurem is only capturable if you already have two other Pokémon in your party. In this case, Reshiram and Zekrom. Once again, you’ll have to do some trading to get this to work, since they’re both version exclusive.
Once you have both Pokémon in your party, you should find an area called the “Gnarled Den” while using the Eon Flute. Inside, you’ll find a portal that houses Kyurem. Serebii notes that you’ll want to use the Dowsing Machine in the Gnarled Den too, as it will reveal DNA Splicers, an item you can use with Kyurem to change its form.
Why you should capture them: They’re dragon legendaries, and they’re easy to find.
Tornadus, Thunderus, and Landorus
These three genie-like Pokémon are gods of weather, and so it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that the way you acquire them involves the weather, too. At some point during the story, you’ll have to go into the Weather Institute, where they will gift you Castform. If you have Castform in your party while using the Eon Flute, you should find a thick, black cloud floating in the air somewhere on the map. If you get close to it, you’ll get sucked into battle with Thunderus if you have Alpha Sapphire, and Tornadus if you have Omega Ruby. Both will be level fifty.
To get the final Pokémon, Landorus, you’ll need both Tornadus and Thunderus in your party while using the Eon Flute. You’ll find it in a black cloud, too.
Why you should capture them: They’re genies, and they even have different forms. They’re pretty awesome, for modern legendaries.
Cresselia
I haven’t actually been able to find Cresselia in my game yet. Serebii itself notes that the unlock method for this legendary is unknown, but that apparently you can find it on an island near Ever Grande City at level fifty, on the other side of a portal (of course).
And… that’s it. Those are the known legendary Pokémon that you can capture in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. While Game Freak promised you’d be able to capture every
legendary in the franchise thus far, you may have noticed that this list doesn’t include all of them. Where are Pokémon like Mewtwo and Mew, for example? I’m not sure if some Pokémon are omissions, or if we just haven’t figured out how to find them yet. Either is possible, and I’ll update this guide should anything change.
For now, there are still a ton of legendaries for you to hunt. So go out there, grab some Pokeballs, and get to capturing ’em.
Comments
12 responses to “How To Capture Legendary Pokémon In Omega Ruby And Alpha Sapphire”
Masterball. Masterballs everywhere.
I saved my master ball for deoxy. the legendaries in these games are easier to catch compared to previous versions. It took only took about 5 ultra balls each for me to catch lugia, kyorge and rayquaza.
Yeah. I captured a lot of them on the first shot with Ultra Balls, 1HP and no status effects. I used Capture Power 3 via my copy of Y in my old 3DS, but it still seemed way easier than past games where I’d have them at 1HP and sleeping and it’d still take at least a dozen Dusk Balls.
Not that I’m complaining. Going from Rayquaza to Deoxys without interrupting the story by resetting was pretty sweet. Delta Episode started out sort of lame, just running back and forth, but it really picked up towards the end.
Gotta finish a pokemon game one day….
This game has some of thee most complicated ways to get legends now & here they are
beast trio: team full of legends
ram/ rom dragon: need a pokemon that is level 100
lake trio: pokemon with high happiness
musketeer trio: needs a pokemon with high effort values
Gotta catch em all … with premier balls.
Luxury balls are the best balls.
Yeah Boi I am doing that exactly.
Forget Legendaries, get yourself a Sharpedo HM Slave. Beyond the fact it gets a cool surfing animation like Lapras did in XY, it also gets double speed and can perform most HMs.
One tip guides don’t usually mention is to open the battle by blasting out something like Sand Attack to lower the Legendary Pokemon’s accuracy down as far as possible. It doesn’t change the capture rates at all but it does mean you’re free to focus on throwing Pokeballs instead of keeping your Pokemon alive. It’s also very helpful when the Pokemon you use to apply/reapply Sleep status isn’t very powerful.
In the Hoenn games I’ve been opening with a Mightyena with Sand Attack, then switching to a Mega Metagross with a high Attack stat and Hold Back to lower their HP to 1.
That said, it’s also important to know which Legendary Pokemon are immune to what you’re throwing at them or what special abilities they may have. If I remember correctly Mewtwo in X has an immunity to Sleep conditions and a Recovery ability. So getting it to 1HP and keeping it there is rough, and if you’re not prepared with a plan B you might find yourself having to try and capture it without any status modifier.
Ooh. Good tip.
Wailmer and Kygore are also worth checking out but they’re not as handy as Sharpedo. Kygore has a huge hit box and goes slightly slower than Sharpedo, but for some reason Wailmer has no benefits beyond a special surfing model. I guess that’s good if you happen to be a huge Wailmer fan? Make sure they’re the first or only Pokemon in your party with the Surf ability too.
I’m really hoping the next-gen 3DS (after New 3DS) has enough of a power upgrade to recycle all the XY battle models for use on the world map. It’s only a little thing but really adds to the game when your Pokemon are flying, surfing, walking alongside you.
HG/SS – having your #1 party member follow you around was awesome.
Having not played any Pokémon games since HGSS, I was really surprised that walking with your first party member wasn’t in ORAS.
Cresseilia was actually the 2nd legendary I found, I gound an Uxie on some floating red orb on the nameless carvern and Cresselia on something called the crescent isle. It wasn’t nearly as hard to catch as Rayquaza, took about 6 Ultra balls and 5 Great balls (?)
I found it after i found some people on the spot pass… i had just caught Mespirit after defeating the 8th gym, i felt like going for a fly with soar, caught mespirit, did some pokemon amie spot pass and went for another fly and discovered Cresselia on Crescent Isle.
So happy Deoyxs can finally be caught! Shame there’s no Shaymin 🙁
Shaymin is a event-pokemon, so you can’t get him atm.
About getting the legendary dogs. U DO NOT NEED BOTH lugia and ho oh just for u guys to know. I only have lugia. Same goes probs for all u only need two legendaries in ut party. One must be either lugia or ho oh i think but try it with out it may still work. I know for a fact u do not need both to get them.
So you’re saying that it’s a possibility that you can get Giratina with only a palkia?
dont have to wait 12 hr for the musketeer trio or uxie, azelf, and mespirit
op
I actually somehow caught rayquaza with a normal poke ball.although the whole process of when its in the ball and seeing if it stays in didn’t last long.then I caught deoyxs with a ultra ball I was surprised I didn’t have to use a master ball
Lucky you.. I have to watched rayquaza destroyed the meteor 3x, watched deoxys finished all his moves and use struggle to suicide once. I had to use masterball, on my last try when deoxys started to use struggle on red bar
mucho useful
http://www.serebii.net/omegarubyalphasapphire/soar.shtml
Has Rayquaza.
Attacks Deoxys with Dragon Pulse.
Deoxys is in Red.
Throws Ultra Ball….
Catches Deoxys -_-
I nkow were to get creasila I got it after chatching palika in my ruby after you catch palkia/dailga look for an island at night i forgot the name but it appeared right after palkia at night
i didnt need both ho oh and lugia i had lugia and found it but i CANNOT catch them i had 43 ultra balls not 1 went in i had false swipe on my sceptile and got it to 1 hp yet still wont go in im just like wtf
I think, not too sure that the way to get crestelia is by finding all 3 mirage areas. Thts the inly explination i can give as to why i have it now
I found cresselia at night, on crescent isle, after I caught zekrom, right after my first party pokemon hit level 100.
Only kyurem was in my party as far as legendaries go.
Hope someone gets something out of that! 🙂
I somehow found a Cresselia, legit no hax
What I’ve done for all the legendaries I’ve caught so far is get a high level aegislash to set up three swords dances and use false swipe and then just throw ultra balls at it
That’s a good strategy until the legendary either starts using struggle, which takes away a lot of hp,
Or uses a move that takes away its own health, such as take down
I did notice that Shaymin couldn’t be caught in x and y, I’m actually thinking there’s a thing you have to do at that secret meadow Area, thinking back to where Shaymin was in pearl/ diamond/ platinum games. From what I’ve read on some of your guys posts, I’d say that to get cresselia you have to catch a legendary and try to find that island sometime at night. That’s what I figure. Idk for sure about any of this, so don’t follow anything I said. Just keep it in mind as you’re looking for them. And keeping on the list of legendaries ,where’s jirachi? Or celebi? Or did you guys forget about darkrai already?
i swap pokiemans around for between 20-30 turns, then put dat nigga 2 sleep with sleep powder and use a timer ball. works with 1 ball every time, no matter the legendary
Cresselia is a crescent isle
I got the scanner in Sea Mauville awhile ago, and attempted to talk to Captain Stern, however, he only told me about the Odd Keystone. I have already obtained Spiritomb, and am trying to get the Tidal Bell. What do I need for him to trade to him?
You need streertpass hit on Pokemon to get cresselia
I’m really confused… At the battle where you first have the opportunity to catch Groudon I accidentally fainted it and I hadn’t saved beforehand so I couldn’t reset the battle.
Now, I have finished the game, including the Delta afterstory and my Rayquaza is level 89. I went back to Cave of Origin…
And Groudon has reappeared in a different part of the cave.
I have 21 Ultra Balls and one Premier Ball. After lowering it’s health to circa 5/6HP I tried throwing 7 balls at it. All of the balls except 1 Ultra rebounded without shaking once and the exception one only shook once before Groudon escaped again.
What do I do? Can I catch Groudon or is this just a d*ck move from Nintendo
You have to get a streetpass hit with someone who has Cresselia. Then, an island near Ever Grande City will appear and you can catch it.
You do not need to streetpass someone who got Cresselia. I’ve got Cresselia somehow, but the only one who I ever streetpass is my brother who does not have Cresselia.
Cresselia was my second legendary with soaring after Azelf.
Oh my gosh, THANK YOU!!! I actually asked my brother if he had Alpha Sapphire so I could get Lugia, but this helped so much and I’ve found the Trackless Forest <3
You can find Cresslia on an island called Cresent Isle, near Ever Grande.