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Published on December 17th, 2014 | by Simon

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Flawless or Bust: How to Catch Perfect Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire

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

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)

thundurus

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)

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

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 / 106

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 / 106

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ho-ohlugiagroudonkyogrerayquazadeoxys

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.

dialgapalkiagiratinareshiramzekromkyurem

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!


About the Author

has played Pokemon since the release of the original Red and Blue games but has played at a casual level until 2010 where he earned his first invite to Nationals. In 2012, Simon conquered the Nationals LCQ and earned a Top 4 spot in Nationals to win his first invite to the World Championships. He is also the "father" of our beloved Aaron and Brendan Zheng and is frequently referred to as Papa Zheng.



76 Responses to Flawless or Bust: How to Catch Perfect Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire

  1. Sprocket says:

    Reminder to all: HP Fighting is no longer possible for legendary Pokemon

  2. MangoSol says:

    Thanks for compiling all of this <3 Now to get a shiny perfect legendary…

  3. SyrilHarmonia says:

    For the Pokeballs bit, would have been nice to recommend some balls and why, but otherwise a brilliant article. Useful for people who, like me, aren’t using Master Balls on some soft resets. For reference:

    *Quick balls have a 5x catch rate on the first turn of battle
    *Timer balls have a 4x catch rate after 10 turns of the battle-so just stall out with Ultra Balls
    *Use Capture O Powers. You get them from the guys in Mauville Pokemon center. If you take your DS out walking and get the max regeneration rate (after about 4,000 steps), you can unlock level 3 very easily in about an hour or two by giving them to other people. Timer Balls after 4 turns on a 1HP paralyzed pokemon with Capture Power 3 active-its not even a challenge

  4. backlot says:

    You should probably just be using Luxury or Premier balls for all legends.  They are the prettiest.

  5. R Inanimate says:

    A bit of advice for using a Final Gambit Pokemon to check for HP.
     
    Your current is what needs to be 1 below the target’s IV 31 Max HP. As such, even something like a L100 Staraptor with Final Gambit is perfectly usable for checking HP. What is needed is just a bit of extra prep work in fighting battles to lower your Pokemon’s HP to the desired amount. In fact, this probably makes things easier to perform an HP check, since instead of needing a bunch of Pokemon with different max HPs, you just have one pokemon with an HP stat way above all the legendaries, and you can just lower its HP to the desired amount before you start your hunt.

  6. CtrlAltTurnip says:

    Thanks for putting all this information together, it will definitely save a lot of time! Shame you cant save while soaring with Latias though, that would have been helpful.

  7. Green says:

    Love this guide and it will definitely help later on

  8. Braverius says:

    It’d be kinda cool if your article art requirements were “not fat entei and dinosaur suicune or bust” much less “flawless or bust”

  9. Sprocket says:

    Just occured to me: No mention of the Capture Power O-Powers.
     
    Level 3 Capture O-Power can be had by using Level 1 O-Power 10 times, and Level 2 30 times. Level 3 increases your capture rate by 2x, making it far easier to capture using non-Master Balls.

  10. Prof Almeida says:

    Some extra tips:
     
    Before catching the legendary, turn the Capture O-Power on. As soon as I got the PSS, I started distributing it to passerbies in order to increase its level.
     
    As soon as you get into the battle, throw Quick Ball. As said before, it has a 5x modifier.
     
    If the ball doesn’t help you, put the pokemon to sleep and battle it. False Swipe or Hold Back is important to have, as they’ll guarantee you won’t kill it.
     
    Put it to sleep again. Sleep has a modifier of 2.5x (as well as Freeze), whereas Paralyze has a modifier of 1.5x.
     
    If the pokemon is ready to be caught on turns 2 to 9, use Dusk Ball (at night or in a cave) or Net Ball (for water legends), unless you want a specific ball, since they have a modifier of 3.5x, 1x more than Ultra Ball.
     
    From turn 10 on, again, unless you want a specific ball, use the Timer Ball, since its modifier is 4x after 10 turns.
     
    I hope it helps.

  11. Gonzo says:

    Just occured to me: No mention of the Capture Power O-Powers.
     
    Level 3 Capture O-Power can be had by using Level 1 O-Power 10 times, and Level 2 30 times. Level 3 increases your capture rate by 2x, making it far easier to capture using non-Master Balls.

     
     

    Some extra tips:
     
    Before catching the legendary, turn the Capture O-Power on. As soon as I got the PSS, I started distributing it to passerbies in order to increase its level.
     
    As soon as you get into the battle, throw Quick Ball. As said before, it has a 5x modifier.
     
    If the ball doesn’t help you, put the pokemon to sleep and battle it. False Swipe or Hold Back is important to have, as they’ll guarantee you won’t kill it.
     
    Put it to sleep again. Sleep has a modifier of 2.5x (as well as Freeze), whereas Paralyze has a modifier of 1.5x.
     
    If the pokemon is ready to be caught on turns 2 to 9, use Dusk Ball (at night or in a cave) or Net Ball (for water legends), unless you want a specific ball, since they have a modifier of 3.5x, 1x more than Ultra Ball.
     
    From turn 10 on, again, unless you want a specific ball, use the Timer Ball, since its modifier is 4x after 10 turns.
     
    I hope it helps.
     
    EDIT: If you want extra Master Balls, play the Cart Mine game in the Pokemiles shop. Play level 1, since you’ll spend 20 Pokemiles and have the same Master Ball chance as if you played level 3, but you’ll have 10x more chances per 200 Pokemiles.

    Guys, you miss the point — this isn’t about catching, it’s about what’s worth the effort of SRing and how to make the resets faster/less tedious.

  12. gdubley says:

    Pretty sure the listed stats for terrakion for jolly/adamant are switched. Otherwise love the article and bookmarked it

  13. lucariojr says:

    i’ve been using haxorus for soft resetting suicune and entei (the latter of which i’m just now starting on). it has mold breaker to test the speed of a pressure mon and can be tutored endeavor (or have it bred on since it’s an egg move iirc), and it has dragon dance/false swipe to help me catch it in a cool ball if the mood strikes me. i RNG’d it to have 14 speed IVs in black to underspeed suicune by one point and gave it 236 HP EVs to one-under the HP of suicune too. endeavor doesn’t work every time since suicune has 2 attacking moves, but i gave it brightpowder to maybe dodge an attack every now and then, which still saves time when endeavor does connect. when haxorus gets hit, i look for a specific minimum damage on aurora beam, though unfortunately ice fang doesn’t help at all besides not being 100% accurate and therefore a little more prone to missing with brightpowder.
     
    same deal with my entei setup, though it has 3 attacking moves and swagger so i switched brightpowder with persim berry. i have a 31/x/30/31/31/31 bold suicune that only took me about 2 days to get and i saved a lot of time catching and checking suicunes that i woudn’t have kept anyway.
     
    tl;dr: haxorus is a 10/10 mon, would recommend

  14. PAIERS says:

    Has anybody tried to “reset” for Crescent Isle? Is there a more specific guide that tells when buzzNav info is updated and, therefore, when to save?

  15. Simon says:

    Has anybody tried to “reset” for Crescent Isle? Is there a more specific guide that tells when buzzNav info is updated and, therefore, when to save?

    Turn on your game (assuming you haven’t updated you buzznav in a few hours), update your buzznav. Check for Mirage Spots to see if the Island is there. If it isn’t reset. Do the same thing and you should notice that your Mirage Spots have changed. Rinse and repeat until the Island appear.
     

    i’ve been using haxorus for soft resetting suicune and entei (the latter of which i’m just now starting on). it has mold breaker to test the speed of a pressure mon and can be tutored endeavor (or have it bred on since it’s an egg move iirc), and it has dragon dance/false swipe to help me catch it in a cool ball if the mood strikes me. i RNG’d it to have 14 speed IVs in black to underspeed suicune by one point and gave it 236 HP EVs to one-under the HP of suicune too. endeavor doesn’t work every time since suicune has 2 attacking moves, but i gave it brightpowder to maybe dodge an attack every now and then, which still saves time when endeavor does connect. when haxorus gets hit, i look for a specific minimum damage on aurora beam, though unfortunately ice fang doesn’t help at all besides not being 100% accurate and therefore a little more prone to missing with brightpowder.
     
    same deal with my entei setup, though it has 3 attacking moves and swagger so i switched brightpowder with persim berry. i have a 31/x/30/31/31/31 bold suicune that only took me about 2 days to get and i saved a lot of time catching and checking suicunes that i woudn’t have kept anyway.
     
    tl;dr: haxorus is a 10/10 mon, would recommend
     
    edit: why isn’t endeavor mentioned anywhere? it’s certainly faster than final gambit since you have to go through and send out another pokemon before you can toss a master ball.

    Mostly because I didn’t think of it and it falls under the “be creative section.” Endeavor is certainly a good choice especially if you have access to infinite Masterballs. Otherwise Final Gambit is more useful for those who don’t have such a luxury due to the fact that it brings the Pokemon down to 1 HP and you can just send out something with a Sleep Move.
     
     
     
    Noticed I made some minor typos and mixed some stats up, will get it fixed as soon as I can.

  16. SublimeManic says:

    Guys, you miss the point — this isn’t about catching, it’s about what’s worth the effort of SRing and how to make the resets faster/less tedious.

     

    “Flawless or Bust: How to Catch Perfect Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire”
     
    Unless you’re sitting on a mysterious mountain of Master Balls, improving the catch rate does make for faster resets.

  17. Kasoman says:

    I’m pretty sure Synchronize now works 100% of the time for ORAS. I’m in the process of soft-resetting for Latios, and the timid nature has been locked in for the whole time. I got this info from Reddit if any of you are wondering.

  18. Nucleose says:

    You’ve just gotten lucky. It is not 100%.

  19. voodoo pimp says:

    I’m pretty sure Synchronize now works 100% of the time for ORAS. I’m in the process of soft-resetting for Latios, and the timid nature has been locked in for the whole time. I got this info from Reddit if any of you are wondering.

    Is this the gift Latios?  Because from my own experience I can confirm that it isn’t 100% for battleable mons.

  20. Prof Almeida says:

    I’m pretty sure Synchronize now works 100% of the time for ORAS. I’m in the process of soft-resetting for Latios, and the timid nature has been locked in for the whole time. I got this info from Reddit if any of you are wondering.

     
     

    You’ve just gotten lucky. It is not 100%.

     
     

    Is this the gift Latios?  Because from my own experience I can confirm that it isn’t 100% for battleable mons.

     
    Cosplaychu and gift Lati@s are 100% with sync, as long as you don’t put the sync mon into the pc in case you already have six in your party (and thus have to send one mon there to open space to them). To battleable pokémon, it’s 50%, as usual.
     

    Guys, you miss the point — this isn’t about catching, it’s about what’s worth the effort of SRing and how to make the resets faster/less tedious.

     
    The first part is about the easiest way to catch those pokémon, and thus making SR easier.
     
    And that’s why I added the piece about getting extra Master Balls. 

  21. Juses says:

    I had been resetting Landorus for a little more than a week when I saw this article this afternoon. It reminded me that I wasn’t using a speed checker, so I stop my reset process and made it.
     
    About five minutes after I resumed with my 1-speed-under pokemon, I got  a 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31 adamant Landorus.
     
    I guess it brought me luck ^-^

  22. CodySearle says:

    I’d never thought about using a speed checker before, but I was talking with my brother tonight and we had another thought. Imposter Ditto copies all stats except HP, so couldn’t you check 5 of the 6 stats just with a Ditto?

  23. Carbonific says:

    I’d never thought about using a speed checker before, but I was talking with my brother tonight and we had another thought. Imposter Ditto copies all stats except HP, so couldn’t you check 5 of the 6 stats just with a Ditto?

     
    I’ve tried this in the past. The stats of the Pokemon you copied don’t show up on Ditto’s summary screen after transforming.

  24. CodySearle says:

    Ahh, that’s too bad. I was really hoping that would simplify things a little bit.

  25. PAIERS says:

    I just tried and after a few reset I found Crescent Isle, so I guess it worked. Thanks a lot! 😀

  26. Reminder to all: HP Fighting is no longer possible for legendary Pokemon

     
    Just a question, but why?=)

  27. VenBombadil says:

    Hey all – I am new to NB, but rather old to competitive battling, and I have to say that I find this article really misleading. The raw probabilities of catching a flawless legendary (meaning 5 perfect IVs in every relevant stat), legitimately, are really low. First of all it isn’t about 1/4000, unless I am really mistaken, yet I doubt it. The probability of getting 5 perfect IVs (3 are guaranteed) are:

    Pr(one irrelevant stat gets the non perfect IV) * Pr(#1 stat gets 31 for values [0..31]) * Pr(#2 stat gets 31 for values [0..31]) = 1/6 * 1/32 * 1/32 = 1/6144

    Furthermore, the article is correct where it says that even 4000, or 6144 rather, tries doesn’t guarantee you getting a flawless one. See the following:

    Pr(Getting a flawless legendary after 4250 SRs) = 1 – Pr(getting non-flawless ones for 4250 SRs) = 1 – (6143/6144)^4250 ~= 50%

    That means that after 4250 SR’s it is still a coin toss as to whether you will end up with a flawless legendary. Notice that all these calculations assume that you get the correct nature from your synchroniser, but even this isn’t given and makes these probabilities even lower.

    TLDR; If you have all the time in the world by all means go for 5 31 IVs, but chances are you will have a very rough time getting them. Personally I would settle for 27/28+ IVs in every relevant stat, if the nature is correct and the 31 IVs are assigned to the most important ones (e.g. Speed / S Att for Latios).

  28. voodoo pimp says:

    Just a question, but why?=)

    All of the HP Fighting spreads require a minimum of four even IVs.  With three guaranteed 31s, that’s impossible.

  29. Simon says:

    Just a question, but why?=)

    Hp Fighting requires 4 stats that are 31
     

    Hey all – I am new to NB, but rather old to competitive battling, and I have to say that I find this article really misleading. The raw probabilities of catching a flawless legendary (meaning 5 perfect IVs in every relevant stat), legitimately, are really low. First of all it isn’t about 1/4000, unless I am really mistaken, yet I doubt it. The probability of getting 5 perfect IVs (3 are guaranteed) are:

    Pr(one irrelevant stat gets the non perfect IV) * Pr(#1 stat gets 31 for values [0..31]) * Pr(#2 stat gets 31 for values [0..31]) = 1/6 * 1/32 * 1/32 = 1/6144

    Furthermore, the article is correct where it says that even 4000, or 6144 rather, tries doesn’t guarantee you getting a flawless one. See the following:

    Pr(Getting a flawless legendary after 4250 SRs) = 1 – Pr(getting non-flawless ones for 4250 SRs) = 1 – (6143/6144)^4250 ~= 50%

    That means that after 4250 SR’s it is still a coin toss as to whether you will end up with a flawless legendary. Notice that all these calculations assume that you get the correct nature from your synchroniser, but even this isn’t given and makes these probabilities even lower.

    TLDR; If you have all the time in the world by all means go for 5 31 IVs, but chances are you will have a very rough time getting them. Personally I would settle for 27/28+ IVs in every relevant stat, if the nature is correct and the 31 IVs are assigned to the most important ones (e.g. Speed / S Att for Latios).

    Ray did the calculations for me but I’ll ask him about later. Regardless, the actual probability number isn’t the point. The point was to provide tips on how you can cut down the time to get “perfect” Pokemon and give some ideas on what set ups to go for.
     
    Additionally, there is a whole section explaining why you should go “flawless or bust”. Even if the odds were say 1/20000 I’d still be going for flawless. I played VGC for about 6 years , and I’ve won or lost many many games to low probability damage rolls on both sides. Using imperfect Pokemon opens the chance for this to happen even more. Using imperfect Pokemon is the equivalent of using less than 508 EV’s. Sure it might take a long time, but it’s worth it, and I know that all of the top players will settle on nothing less than Perfect.

  30. Simon and voodoo – thanks to both of you 🙂

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