Pokémon Go Legendary Pokémon: List of all currently and previously available Legendary Pokémon
Every Legendary Pokémon that has been released in Pokémon Go so far.
Pokémon Go Legendary Pokémon had been hotly anticipated for some time, eventually arriving a full one year after the game released.
Fans of the classic games will remember them fondly - from the flying trio Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres to the elusive Mewtwo and Mew in Red, Blue and Yellow to Gen 2's Gold, Silver and Crystal, Legendary beasts Raikou, Entei, Suicune, and beyond.
These are amongst Pokémon Go's rarest creatures, and can be caught from multiple sources - from Raids, a Go Battle League reward to occassionally Field Research rewards.
Below you'll find a list of every legendary Pokémon which has been released so far in Pokémon Go.
On this page:
Legendary Pokémon released in Pokémon Go
Below you'll find every Legendary Pokémon which has been released in Pokémon Go so far, along with their orignal debut date.
| Legendary Pokémon | Type | Counters | First Available | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articuno (Gen 1) | 
| Ice Flying | Omastar (Rock moves) Golem Tyranitar Flareon Arcanine | Summer 2017 |
| Zapdos (Gen 1) | 
| Electric Flying-type | Golem Piloswine (double Ice moves) Tyranitar Dragonite Jynx | Summer 2017 |
| Moltres (Gen 1) | 
| Fire and Flying-type | Omastar (Rock moves) Golem Tyranitar Vaporeon Kabutops | Summer 2017 |
| Articuno (Gen 1, Galarian form) | 
| Psychic Flying-type | Giratina Gengar Darkrai Weavile Raikou | July 2022 using Daily Adventure Incense |
| Zapdos (Gen 1, Galarian form) | 
| Fighting Flying | Togekiss Gardevoir Granbull Raikou Electivire | July 2022 using Daily Adventure Incense |
| Moltres (Gen 1, Galarian form) | 
| Dark Flying | Mewtwo Hoopa (Unbound) Metagross Togekiss Raikou | July 2022 using Daily Adventure Incense |
| Mewtwo (Gen 1) | 
| Psychic | Tyranitar Mewtwo Lugia Houndoom Gengar | EX Raids in 2017 |
| Raikou (Gen 2) | 
| Electric | Rhydon Golem Dophan | Autumn 2017 |
| Entei (Gen 2) | 
| Fire | Golem Vaporeon Omastar | Autumn 2017 |
| Suicune (Gen 2) | 
| Ice | Zapdos Venusaur Jolteon | Autumn 2017 |
| Lugia (Gen 2) | 
| Psychic Flying | Articuno Tyranitar Gengar Omastar Houndoom | Summer 2017 April 2018 |
| Ho-oh (Gen 2) | 
| Fire Flying | Golem Raikou Tyranitar Vaporeon | Autumn 2017 |
| Regirock (Gen 3) | 
| Rock | Machamp Kyogre Groudon Gyarados Breloom | In Level 5 Raids until September 20th |
| Regice (Gen 3) | 
| Ice | Moltres Entei Flareon Machamp | In Level 5 Raids until July 19th |
| Registeel (Gen 3) | 
| Steel | Moltres Entei Flareon Rhydon Donphan | In Level 5 Raids until August 16th |
| Kyogre (Gen 3) | 
| Water | Jolteon Raikou Venusaur Exeggutor | 2018, and January 2019 |
| Primal Kyogre (Gen 3) | 
| Water | Kartana Raikou Thundurus Xurkitree | In Primal Raids during the Go Tour: Hoenn Las Vegas event |
| Groudon (Gen 3) | 
| Ground | Gyarados Dragonite Venusaur Exeggutor | 2018, and January 2019 |
| Primal Groudon (Gen 3) | 
| Ground Fire | Kyogre Landorus Rhyperior Swampert | In Primal Raids during the Go Tour: Hoenn Las Vegas event |
| Rayquaza (Gen 3) | 
| Flying Dragon | Articuno Lapras Dragonite Piloswine Golem Tyranitar | March 16, 9pm UK / 1pm PST |
| Latias (Gen 3) | 
| Psychic Dragon | Rayquaza Dragonite Salamence Tyranitar Gengar Mewtwo Latios/Latias | May 8th to June 5th in North America, South America and Africa |
| Mega Latias (Gen 3) | 
| Dragon Psychic | Rayquaza Giratina Salamence Reshiram Hydreigon Palkia Garchomp | In Mega Raids on May 3rd 2022 |
| Latios (Gen 3) | 
| Psychic Dragon | Rayquaza Dragonite Salamence Tyranitar Gengar Mewtwo Latios/Latias | May 8th to June 5th in Europe and Asia |
| Mega Latios (Gen 3) | 
| Dragon Psychic | Rayquaza Giratina Salamence Reshiram Hydreigon Palkia Garchomp | In Mega Raids on May 3rd 2022 |
| Deoxys (Gen 3) | 
| Psychic | Tyranitar Weavile Absol Houndoom Mewtwo Yanmega Dusknoir Honchkrow | Monday 9th September to Monday 16th September 2019 |
| Uxie (Gen 4) | 
| Psychic | Mewtwo Tyranitar Metagross Latios Dialga Darkrai | Regionally exclusive - Asia, Pacific |
| Mesprit (Gen 4) | 
| Psychic | Mewtwo Tyranitar Metagross Latios Dialga Darkrai | Regionally exclusive - Europe, Middle East, Africa, India |
| Azelf (Gen 4) | 
| Psychic | Mewtwo Tyranitar Metagross Latios Dialga Darkrai | Regionally exclusive - Americas, Greeland |
| Dialga (Gen 4) | 
| Steel Dragon | Machamp Groudon Breloom Haryama Lucario Mamoswine | Until Thursday, March 28th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids) |
| Origin Forme Dialga (Gen 4, Hisuian Form) | 
| Steel Dragon | Primal Groudon Terrakion Landorus Therian Forme Lucario Groudon Excadrill | As part of Go Tour: Sinnoh in February 2024 |
| Palkia (Gen 4) | 
| Water Dragon | Salamence Rayquaza Dialga Palkia Togekiss Garchomp | Until Thursday, February 28th at 9pm UK / 1om PST (Level 5 Raids) |
| Origin Forme Palkia (Gen 4, Hisuian Form) | 
| Water Dragon | Rayquaza Salamence Zekrom Haxorus Origin Forme Palkia Origin Forme Dialga | As part of Go Tour: Sinnoh in February 2024 |
| Heatran (Gen 4) | 
| Fire Steel | Groudon Rhyperior Golem Machamp Kyogre | In five-star raids from Tuesday, January 7th 2020 at 9pm to Tuesday, February 4th 2020 at 9pm |
| Regigigas (Gen 4) | 
| Normal | Machamp Poliwarth Mewtwo Lucario Blaziken Hariyama Gallade Emboar Toxicroak Palki Dialga | Complete the 'A Colossal Discovery' Special Research quest line |
| Giratina - Altered Forme (Gen 4) | 
| Ghost Dragon | Rayquaza Dragonite Latios Salamence Gengar | Until Tuesday, November 20th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids) |
| Cresselia (Gen 4) | 
| Psychic | Tyranitar Gengar Houndoom | Until Tuesday, December 18th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids) |
| Darkrai (Gen 4) | 
| Dark | Machamp Hariyama Blaziken Togekiss Fardevior Breloom | From Thursday 17th October to Friday 1st November in five-star raids |
| Cobalion (Gen 5) | 
| Steel Fighting | Machamp Flareon Moltres Entei Blaziken Hariyama Chandelure | From November 4th to November 26th in five-star raids |
| Terrakion (Gen 5) | 
| Rock Fighting | Venusaur Mewtwo Sceptile Breloom Metagross Latios Roserade | From November 26th to December 17th in five-star raids |
| Virizion (Gen 5) | 
| Grass Fighting | Moltres Mewtwo Lugia Honchkrow Togekiss Unfezant Chandelure | From December 17th in five-star raids |
| Tornadus (Gen 5) | 
| Flying | Raikou Rampardos Mamoswine Magnezone Electivire Terrakion | In five-star raids from February 4th at 9pm to March 1st 2020 at 9pm |
| Thundurus (Gen 5) | 
| Electric Flying | Tyranitar Rampardos Rhyperior Mamoswine Glaceon | In five-star raids from March 2nd 2020 at 9pm |
| Reshiram (Gen 5) | 
| Dragon Fire | Salamence Goundon Rayquaza Rampardos Dialga | In five-star raids from Tuesday, May 26th 2020 to Tuesday, June 16th 2020 |
| Zekrom (Gen 5) | 
| Dragon Electric | Gardevoir Goundon Rayquaza Palkia Weavile | In five-star raids from Tuesday, June 16th 2020 |
| Kyurem (Gen 5) | 
| Dragon Ice | Tyranitar Gardevoir Metagross Lucario Togekiss | In five-star raids from Tuesday, July 7th 2020 |
| Landorus (Gen 5) | 
| Ground Flying | Gyarados Lapras Swampert Kyogre Mamoswine | In five-star raids from March 31st from 9pm to April 21st |
| Genesect (Gen 5) | 
| Bug Steel | Darmanitan Entei Moltres Chandelure Charizard | Complete the 'A Drive for Investigate' Special Research quest line |
| Xerneas (Gen 6) | 
| Fairy | Metagross Roserade Dialga Excadrill Genesect | In five-star raids from 4th May to 17th May 2021 |
| Yveltal (Gen 6) | 
| Dark Flying | Raikou Rhyperior Mamoswine Rampardos Electivire | In five-star raids from 18th May to 24th May 2021 |
| Tapu Koko (Gen 7) | 
| Electric Fairy | Garchomp Rhyperior Roserade Toxicroak Victreebel | In five-star raids from 1st March to 15th March 2022 |
| Tapu Lele (Gen 7) | 
| Psychic Fairy | Chandelure Giratina Roserade Toxicroak Metagross | In five-star raids from 22nd March to 29th March 2022 |
| Tapu Bulu (Gen 7) | 
| Grass Fairy | Roserade Darmanitan Rayquaza Mamaoswine Toxicroak | In five-star raids from 12th April to 26th April 2022 |
| Tapu Fini (Gen 7) | 
| Water and fairy-type | Roserade Zapdos Raikou Electivire Victreebel | In five-star raids from 10th May to 25th May 2022 |
| Nihilego (Gen 7) | 
| Rock Poison | Groudon Garchomp Mewtwo Swampert Gyarados | In five-star raids on 5th June 2022 |
| Pheromosa (Gen 7) | 
| Bug Fighting | Moltres Ho-Oh Rayquaza Lugia Tornadus | As part of Go Fest Berlin on 1st July 2022 |
| Buzzwole (Gen 7) | 
| Bug Fighting | Moltres Ho-Oh Rayquaza Lugia Tornadus | As part of Go Fest Seattle on 22nd July 2022 |
| Xurkitree (Gen 7) | 
| Electric | Groudon Excadrill Garchomp Rhyperior Landorus | As part of Go Fest Sapporo on 5th August 2022 |
| Celesteela (Gen 7) | 
| Steel Flying | Entei Ho-Oh Reshiram Electivire Raikou | In five-star raids on 13th September 2022 Regionally exclusive Pokémon |
| Kartana (Gen 7) | 
| Grass Steel | Chandelure Reshiram Darmanitan Moltres Entei | In five-star raids on 13th September 2022 Regionally exclusive Pokémon |
| Guzzlord (Gen 7) | 
| Dark Ghost | Xurkitree Zacian Gardevoir Togekiss Tapu Koko | In five-star raids on Tuesday, 8th November 2022 |
| Zacian Hero of Many Battles form (Gen 8) | 
| Fairy | Scizor Metagross Roserade Dialga Genesect | In five-star raids from 20th August to 26th August 2021 |
| Zamazenta Hero of Many Battles form (Gen 8) | 
| Fighting | Mewtwo Espeon Gardevoir Latios Rayquaza | In five-star raids from 26th August to 1st September 2021 |
| Regieleki (Gen 8) | 
| Electric | Rhyperior Mamoswime Landorus (Therian and Incarnate Forme) Rhydon Garchomp | In Elite Raids on Sunday, 9th April |
| Regidrago (Gen 8) | 
| Dragon | Gardevoir Sylveon Mamoswine Galarian Darmanitan Rayquaza | In Elite Raids on Saturday, 11th March |
| Enamorus Incarnate Forme (Gen 8) | 
| Fairy / Flying | Xurkitree Baxcalibur Nihilego Rampardos Galarian Darmanitan | In Elite Raids on Wednesday, 14th February |
How to catch Legendaries and how to unlock Legendary Raids in Pokémon Go
Ninatic finally unlocked Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Go following Pokémon Go Fest. Summer 2017 saw Legendary birds Moltres, Articuno and Moltres come and go, with Legendary beasts Raikou, Entei, Suicune arriving in the autumn of the same year. Over the years we have seen Legendary Pokémon from across the generations being released in Pokémon Go.
Though they are similar to standard Raid Battles in many ways, there are several differences in both their appearance and capture:
- Legendaries are only be available via five-star raids, the highest difficulty of Raid Battle - although they've been known to reappear as Research Breakthrough rewards for completing Field Research Quests, appear in the wild during certain in-games like Go Tour: Hoenn, Go Battle League rewards and you can catch Shadow Legendaries by defeating Giovanni.
- The spotlighted Legendary Pokémon in five-star raids regularly rotates. This means, if you've missed a certain Legendary, you can just sit back and wait until it returns. (Although you could also trade for one...) You can also earn an encounter with the current Legendary Pokémon in five-star raids by reaching Rank 20 in the Go Battle League and then earning a Pokémon encounter reward.
- Elite Raids - formally called EX Raid Battles - see certain elusive Legendaries, like Regidrago, take the spotlight. Elite Raid eggs take 24 hours to hatch and are only available for 30 minutes, so you need to make sure you make the most of that time to defeat the legendary in question. Unlike EX Raids, you don't need an EX Raid Pass to partake in an Elite Raid.
- Legendary Raid Pokémon have the highest CP of any Raid creature. For example, Articuno was at 37,603, Moltres at 41,953, Zapdos at 42,691, Lugia at 42,753 and Mewtwo at a staggering 49,430.
- Once the battle is over, the Legendary still must be captured like any other Raid, though the capture rate is lower.
- Once you have captured the Legendary, you cannot use it to defend Gyms - but they can of course attack with them in subsequent Raids.
- The Buddy Distance for Legendaries is 20km per one Candy - so we'd recommend using Rare Candy rewards from Raid battles as a way to easily power them up.
How to capture Legendary Pokémon
Like other Raid encounters, once a Legendary's defeated you have to then catch it. This is difficult seeing as, according to research available from Pokémon Go community The Silph Road, your chances are pretty slim.
- The base catch rate for Legendary Pokémon, aside from Mewtwo, is currently 3% - meaning with no modifiers of any kind, throwing the ball straight, not using any berries and not even getting a 'Nice' throw, you have a 1 in 33 chance of catching the Pokémon - not great odds.
- There are several ways of increasing your chances - Golden Razz Berries and Curveballs (when you spin the PokéBall before releasing your throw) drastically increase your chances, whilst Nice, Great, and Excellent throws increase those chances further respectively, and there's also a small bonus for having a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Medal (see more in our guide to Pokémon Go Catch Bonuses).
- A Golden Razz Berry, Curveball, and Excellent throw, with a Gold medal for that Legendary's Type, give you a 24% chance of catching the Legendary - meaning one in roughly four throws like this will catch it, which is much better considering the roughly 5-13 balls that will be available!
- Mewtwo's base catch rate is currently a 6% chance - meaning it's considerably easier to catch than the other legendaries, and actually easier than some Tier 4 Raid bosses, too!
If that's not clear enough, here's a handy image, created by reddit user and Silph Road member Epimetheos:
With the above in mind, what can you do to increase your chances of catching Legendary Pokémon? It's recommended you:
- Attempt Curved and Nice, Great or Excellent throws (landing the ball in the centre of the circle - the smaller the better).
- Using a Golden Razz Berry between every catch attempt.
- Level up as many relevant Catch Bonus medals as possible to Gold by catching wild creatures of the same Type.
- As well as increasing the chances of individual throws, you want to have as many attempts as possible by earning more Premier Balls for the catch phase. One way is to target a Gym controlled by your team (which can be somewhat out of your control), and another is dealing a high amount of damage. It's worth noting your contribution is wiped out when your team faints, so you want to keep them alive for the entire fight, and one way of doing that is bring high defense tank creatures (Snorlax and Blissey) so you can absorb a lot of damage.
- Finally, you want to land as many Premier Balls you can. Legendaries and other high level Raid creatures attack very regularly, and since they are immune during these attacks, you can waste a lot of opportunities simply trying to land a single ball. While these attacks are random, there is a way to avoid them; by observing these attacks, and throwing the ball before the animation ends, the ball will land in the vulnerable window between attacks. This Silph Road thread discusses the practice in detail, as well as the following video from Mesa:
The history of Legendaries in Pokémon Go
Before we even heard their presence was confirmed in the big Gym rework in 2017, we already knew the various Legendaries were in the game.
That's thanks to some good old-fashioned datamining. NesstendoYT on YouTube was one major player, who dug through the game's files to discover that the above first generation Legendary Pokémon are indeed listed in the game.
Their absence in the game led to plenty of speculation, particularly with one of the strongest and most famous Legendary Pokémon - Mewtwo - being the focus of one of the game's first trailers, showing crowds of people teaming up to fight it, whittling down its health as a timer ticks down before capturing the Pokémon in a packed Times Square, suggesting that Mewtwo and other Legendaries could be unlocked through public events rather than random encounters. That's since been confirmed of course.
As for Gen 2's Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh and Celebi, they appeared in datamining efforts too, with their stats showing up alongside the likes of the birds, Mew and Mewtwo.
These stats reveal them to be among the some of the best Pokémon in the game at the time, with Mewtwo and Ho-Oh having some of the highest base attacks in the game, more so than existing creatures Alakazam and Dragonite.
The Shared Skies Season is live! You can now complete the Field Research tasks, get some steps in to do the Shared Skies research steps, and take part in the Stadium Sights event! Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.
We knew for some time that Legendaries were coming, but what's the story, and how did we get to this point?
When did we think Legendaries were coming? The Legendary teases:
In an interview with Wired Germany (via Den of Geek, Niantic CEO John Hanke said "with certainty that we will see [legendaries] more this year" - so that at least narrowed it down to 2017!
The biggest suggestion to date came from a five word acceptance speech from Niantic during the 21st Annual Webby Awards: "This summer will be legendary", a heavy hint we were set to see something soon:
That seemed to have been corroborated by the latest trickle of information, where Niantic suggested that "Legendary Pokémon and battles between players" were set to arrive some time this summer.
Whether this was going to happen at the same time as the implementation of the new Raids feature or a little while after was unknown, although things certainly did at least appear to be tying together quite nicely at that point.
The first Legendary Pokémon spotted in Pokémon Go - but how did it appear?
Back in early August of 2016, before any of this official news was even close to being announced, a player topped a Gym in Ohio with an Articuno, which is said to be the first Legendary appearance in the game. Multiple players verified the sighting, but how the player got the creature is in question. Amazingly, the owner claimed she received the Pokémon as part of an apology from developer Niantic after contacting them via email about an issue.
Other possibilities could be an exploit that has edited the creature's data to appear in the game, an error that has seen one spawn accidentally, or a glitch turn another Pokemon into the famed Legendary, similar to a case reported by a user who had their wild Caterpie transform into a Charizard once in their possession.
What else we know about Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Go
Finally, it's also worth pointing out - for history's sake, at the very least - that all this time there's been a hunt of Legendary Pokémon in plain sight, with users who have progressed to Level 5 and interacted with a gym find themselves invited to one of three teams - Team Instinct, Team Mystic, or Team Valor - which are shown to be tied to Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres respectively.
The addition of Pokémon Go's Buddy system also paves the way for players to earn Candy and power up rare creatures without the need to catch any more - perfect for ultra rare Pokémon such as Legendaries.
Finally, Remote Raid Passes and apps like Poke Genie make it easier to catch legendary Pokémon, especially if you live a rural location or want to catch a regionally exclusive legendary like Mesprit.
Good luck catching legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Go!