Pokemon Legends Arceus – How to Distract Wild Pokemon

Wild Pokemon in Legends: Arceus can be caught in two different ways. You can sneak up on them and catch them, or initiate a classic battle by taking out one of your party members. Sometimes, it would be a better idea to take them on without battling. They will have a tendency to notice you and either attack or run away. In this case, you’ll need to find a way to distract them. So here, we’ll teach you how to distract wild Pokemon in Legends: Arceus.

How to distract wild Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Wild Pokemon will tend to notice you if you get too close to them in their line of sight or run up to them by making a lot of noise. In this case, you’ll need to find a way to distract them. There are two reliable methods in doing this so you can go in for a stealth capture with the Poke Ball of your choice.

Use food items

All the different types of berries you find out in the wild can be thrown near unaware Pokemon so you can distract them. The cheapest method is to use an Oran Berry since it’s one of the more common berries you’ll find in trees. Throw a few in a general direction where your target Pokemon wouldn’t be facing you. As they’re occupied with eating the berries, go in and chuck a Poke Ball while their backs are facing you. You can increase your chances of capturing them by using Great Balls, Ultra Balls, or the other variants of Pokeballs available to you.

A more potent food item, in this case, would be the cakes. It’s recommended to use these food items on Alphas and other rarer Pokemon as these will keep them occupied for longer periods. Wild Pokemon tend to eat through other food items fast, so you need more time to crouch walk to not alert them with your footsteps.

Pure stealth

If you’re being a bit frugal with the items you have, you can always take the stealthy route that Hikari taught you back in the Obsidian Fieldlands. Make heavy use of your environments like hiding in the tall grass and hiding behind rocks and trees.

You can increase your stealth by using a Stealth Spray. This item is extremely helpful as it silences your footsteps. Because of this, wild Pokemon will not be quickly alerted unless, of course, you walk up to them from the front.
Should you choose not to take the careful and stealthy approaches, there are alternatives to distract a Pokemon.

Stunning “unaware” Pokemon

There’s a very handy trick in nearly guaranteeing the first attack in a Pokemon battle by throwing one of your Pokemon at a wild one’s back. Say, you just caught the attention of a Hisuian Growlithe and it performs a tackle on you. There’s a small window where if you dodge their attack, they’re vulnerable. Throw a Pokemon at their back to initiate a battle.

If done correctly, you should hear the same sound you hear when you throw an empty Pokeball at a Pokemon from the back. This battle will then commence by telling you that “you caught (Pokemon’s name) unawares!” In this case, you may get two attack opportunities in a row with a high chance for their turn to be skipped from being startled.

Use sticky globs

In the case that you can’t seem to perform any of the above, throw Sticky Globs at Pokemon. If you throw enough of these at unsuspecting or alert Pokemon, they’ll be stunned. In that case, run up to them from behind and perform the stunning technique for a few free hits.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is out now exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.