Pokemon games have always had a lot of different Pokemon for you to catch, with the rarest of the bunch being the legendaries that are found in each game. Pokemon Red and Blue had legendaries that were available regardless of the game you had, but Gold and Silver introduced the idea of version exclusive legendaries, which as been carried throughout each subsequent release. That has continued into Pokemon Sword and Shield with Zacian and Zamazenta and this guide will detail how you can catch your respective legendary.
How to Catch Legendaries Zacian and Zamazenta
After winning the Champion Cup over Leon, you will receive the credits roll, which makes it seems like the game is over. However, Pokemon Sword and Shield are far from over at that point. You start off back at your house and get a visit from Professor Magnolia, who gifts you with a Master Ball.
You will end up on a quest of solving the Dynamax problem started up by two new antagonists that get introduced. The game lets you know exactly where you need to go through this process on your map. Through this process, you’ll eventually end up back at Hammerlocke Stadium and the Energy Plant where you caught Eternatus before. Speak with Sonia and get inside the elevator and following the sequence of events.
Eventually, you’ll end up coming across the opposite legendary for your version, Zamazenta in Sword and Zacian in Shield, who you must fight. This fight should not be too hard as long as you follow your type matchups. For this matchup, Zacian will be a Fighting type and Zamazenta a Fairy type, as this is their non-weapon version. This Pokemon will be level 70 though, so don’t bring in a bunch of majorly underleveled Pokemon. Once you defeat the opposite legendary, your version exclusive legendary Pokemon will show up and ask you to battle it. This lets you heal up and save prior to the fight, so it’s a good idea to do both of these before interacting with the Pokemon.
Prior to all of this, it is a good idea to prep with supplies that you may need for this. Having Revives and Full Restores or Max Motions can always be helpful, but the most important here is going to be the type of Poke Ball you’re going to use. You can just go ahead and use your Master Ball that has a 100% catch rate, or you can be like me and prefer the challenge of actually catching it with another type of Poke Ball for fun. If you’re looking to go for this, your best bets are the Ultra Ball and Timer Ball. Timer Balls will be your absolute best bet if this fight goes long, so grab some of them.
If you’re going to use a Master Ball, just throw it on turn one and you’ll catch Zacian or Zamazenta. For those looking to work to catch it and save the Master Ball, make sure to bring in someone that can inflict either Paralyze or Sleep on the Pokemon. While Sleep adds a 2x multiplier to the catch rate and Paralyze only adds a 1.5x multiplier, I prefer to use Paralyze since it actually remains the rest of the battle after you use it just once. This not only slows it down to where you can attack first each turn, but it ups the catch rate. Sleep only lasts a few turns and may be harder to pull off. For Paralyze, Nuzzle is highly recommended as a super weak Electric type move that Paralyzes and deals damage, so you can also help to whittle down the health bar later as well.
Compared to the earlier matchup, this version of Zacian or Zamazenta you will be facing is the powered up weapon version. This means that Zacian will not be a Fairy/Steel type and Zamazenta will be a Fighting/Steel type. Using Fire or Ground attacks will be Super Effective against both of them, so that should be your focus, though you also have to make sure not to knock them out with any of them.
Once you get either Zacian or Zamazenta down in health and have it with either Paralyzed or Sleep status effect on it, start throwing Ultra Balls at it if it’s early in the battle. If this took awhile though, start throwing Timer Balls. If you’re about to lose and haven’t caught it yet, you can always go with your Master Ball here as well and guarantee the catch. Regardless of which method you use, your version exclusive legendary is now yours. To get the other version exclusive legendary, you will have to trade with a friend that has the other game.
