Rarest Pokemon In Pokemon Scarlet And Violet

Key Takeaways

• Rare Pokemon like Paradox Pokemon and Antiques will challenge even seasoned trainers in Scarlet & Violet.
• Finding elusive Pokemon like Slakoth and Ditto/Zorua presents a true test of patience and luck.
• Unlocking and catching Legendary Pokemon like Kyurem and Rayquaza requires completing group tasks.

While it has been de-emphasized in recent years, Pokemon is still well known for the “Gotta catch ’em all” slogan. Each of the main series games still tasks trainers with completing their respective Pokedexes, even though they no longer contain the entire Pokemon roster.

The real challenge of this task is created by the existence of very rare Pokemon. While most of the dex is fairly easy to obtain, certain members can prove very hard to track down. Some trainers even go after rare Pokemon forms, which can be even harder to obtain. For Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, these are the hardest Pokemon to track down.

Updated November 21, 2024 by Ben Painter: While fans wait for the next entry in the Pokemon franchise, Pokemon Legends Z-A, they may want to head back into Pokemon Scarlet & Violet and attempt to complete the Pokedex. But, this is no easy task.

Some Pokemon are easy to spot in Paldea and beyond, but others are trickier, requiring some hidden methods to add them to the roster. Especially considering that even more Pokemon were added to the game with the two DLCs The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk, which feature in this update. This update adds five new Pokemon that are rare to find in S&V and how and where to catch them.

1 Ursaluna (Bloodmoon)

Location: Timeless Woods

• Capture Requirements: Obtain 151 species in the Kitakami Pokedex, and speak to Perrin to start the quest.

The Peat Pokemon was originally introduced in Pokemon Legends: Arceus as a new evolution for Ursaring. It made a return in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet with a brand-new form, which can be found in the Timeless Woods of Kitakami in the Teal Mask DLC.

To acquire this unique Pokemon, gamers must first speak to Perrin in Mossui Town when they have obtained 151 different species in the Kitakami Pokedex. This will trigger a quest that will eventually lead to a battle with the Bloodmoon Beast, Ursaluna, and allow the player to capture it. Although this Pokemon isn’t rare, as everyone who owns the game can get it easily enough, it is the only one of its type in the whole franchise, which makes it a hard find.

Urusaluna (Bloodmoon)’s Base Stats:

2 Paradox Pokemon

Location: Area Zero

• Capture Requirements: The main story must be completed.

Paradox Pokemon are a new type of Pokemon introduced in Scarlet & Violet. In Scarlet, they come in the form of Ancient Pokemon, and in Violet, they are from the Future. They are alternate versions of the creatures but are considered separate species in the Pokedex, unlike regional forms.

In the base game, there are six standard Paradox Pokemon in each version, they aren’t exactly rare to find in Paldea, but they are only found in Area Zero, which requires a significant chunk of the story to be completed before it can be accessed. There are newer Paradox’s, introduced in DLCs, which are significantly harder to capture.

3 Dreepy

Location: South Province: Area One, Area Four, Area Five, Area Six, East Province: Area Two, Area Three, West Province: Area Two, Area Three, North Province: Glaseado Mountain, Area Zero, Tera Raid Battles (3★) (Violet only)

• Capture Requirements: N/A

The pseudo-legendary of the previous generation, Pokemon Sword & Shield, made the journey across Paldea for gamers to use in their new journeys. However, it is only available to be caught in Pokemon Violet and must be traded to Scarlet for Pokedex completion.

Dreepy itself isn’t too rare. It can be found in a few locations across Paldea, but it is a rare spawn, so it may take a while for it to show up. It is also very tiny in the overworld, so it could be easily overlooked by the trainer. Dreepy is important for adding Dragapult to a team, as its final evolution cannot be found in the wild.

Dreepy’s Base Stats:

4 Charcadet

Location: South Province: Area Three, Area Four, Area Five, East Province: Area One, Area Two, Area Three, Tagtree Thicket, West Province: Area One, Area Two, Area Three, Asado Desert, Tera Raid Battles (1★, 3★)

• Capture Requirements: N/A

Charcadet is another Pokemon, which isn’t too rare as it can be found in a few locations of Paldea. It is a rare spawn, so players may need to look extra hard to claim it as their own.

This Pokemon has a branched evolution, which cannot be caught in the game. In Pokemon Scarlet, it evolves into Armarouge with the Auspicious Armor, and in Violet, it will become Ceruledge with the Malicious Armor. Both Pokemon have different types, stats, and appearances, but gamers will need both copies of the game to have both of these Pokemon in the roster.

Charcadet’s Base Stats:

5 Slakoth

Location: South Province: Area One, Area Three, Area Five, Coastal Biome, Torchlit Labyrinth

• Capture Requirements: None

The Normal-type ‘mon Slakoth has been present since the start of the game, but for whatever reason, it was a rare spawn in the South Province of Paldea. Its evolved form, Slaking, was easier to capture as it can be found as a fixed spawn in the game, meaning it always shows up.

Slakoth was found more commonly in the Coastal Biome, spawning along the beach, but some trainers have still found it difficult to locate the Slacker Pokemon. It is worth it as Slaking is a very strong Pokemon in the game, despite its annoying ability.

Slakoth’s Base Stats:

6 Baxcalibur

Location: Glaseado Mountain

• Capture Requirements: None

As the resident ‘pseudo legendary’ of the Paldea region, Baxcalibur is a powerful Pokemon that is easily missable in a first playthrough. It can’t be found in the wild, so trainers looking for a Baxcalibur will have to find either a Frigibax or an Arctibax first.

Both can be found on the snowy Glaseado Mountain but are very rare spawns. Considering the sheer size of the mountain, finding them can take some time. Once they’ve been caught, though, Arctibax still needs to reach level 54 to evolve into Baxcalibur.

Baxcalibur’s Base Stats:

7 Spiritomb

Location: Glaseado Mountain (Fixed Encounter Locations Only), Casseroya Lake (Fixed Encounter Location Only, Snowfield Area)

• Capture Requirements: None

Spiritomb is a Pokemon notorious for being hard to capture. In its original conception, Pokemon Diamond & Pearl, gamers must speak to 30 people in the Grand Underground and then add an Odd Keystone to a well to find it in the Hallowed Tower.

In S&V, it isn’t as tricky as this, but it is still very rare to find in the game. It only spawns as a Pokemon with a fixed encounter in two locations, Glasedo Mountain & Casseoya Lake. These two spots are out of the way for trainers, so if a player is trying to do a blind playthrough, it may be tough to locate the Forbidden Pokemon.

Spiritomb’s Base Stats:

8 Ditto & Zorua

Location: West Province: Area Two, Area Three (Ditto), East Province: Tagtree Thicket, West Province: Area Three (Zorua)

• Capture Requirements: None

On the face of it, Ditto & Zorua are no rarer than any other Pokemon, but what is really annoying about capturing these Pokemon is that they disguise themselves as other Pokemon. In the overworld, gamers could walk straight past a common Pokemon, and it could be one of these elusive creatures.

There is no real trick in finding them either, gamers will just have to battle every Pokemon and pray that they are either a Ditto or a Zorua. Or, players could try their luck in Tera raid battles, but again, there is no certainty that these Pokemon will show up in them either.

Base Stats:

9 Any Shiny Pokemon

Location: Varies

• Capture Requirements: None

Since their introduction in Pokemon Gold & Silver, shiny Pokemon have been largely sought after. Some trainers dedicate full playthroughs to finding these elusive creatures! They are alternate-colored versions of the Pokemon, which have a rate of 1/4096 to find. The odds can be boosted via Shiny Charms, Mass Outbreaks, and eating a sparkling sandwich. It has never been easier to find a shiny.

However, some Pokemon are easier to obtain a shiny than others and hardcore players will try to find the rarest Pokemon they can in their special form. Having a shiny starter Pokemon is much more of an objective than a shiny Lechonk, who is abundant throughout Paldea.

10 Blaze / Aqua Breed Tauros

Location: East Province (Area Two, Three), West Province (Area Two, Asado Desert), Tera Raid Battles

• Capture Requirements: None

Despite being one of the original 151 Pokemon, Tauros has gone a long time without much focus, being outshined by newer, stronger Pokemon. However, Scarlet and Violet changed this by introducing a regional variant for Tauros, which comes in 3 different breeds.

While the combat breed is found abundantly in certain areas, the blaze and aqua breed Tauros are quite rare and are exclusive to Scarlet and Violet respectively. These breeds only appear in a maximum of 20% of Tauros spawns, so they can be hard to find, but sandwich powers can make them much more common.

Paldean Tauros’ Base Stats:

11 Meloetta

Location: Coastal Biome – Blueberry Academy

• Capture Requirements:
• Find the cyclone of leaves in the Coastal Biome
• Spin clockwise in the center of leaves for at least 10 seconds
• Activate the camera
• Flip to the Sepia Filter
• Look for Meloetta or listen to their singing
• Exit camera mode, step up to Meloetta, and initiate battle

The Generation 5 Mythical Pokemon is a special case as it is not exactly rare in the game, but its conditions for evolving are weird. Gamers cannot stumble upon this Pokemon randomly and will need to know the requirements to do so. If players are doing a blind run, then Meloetta is out of the question.

Even if gamers follow the above steps, there is no guarantee that Meloetta will be caught, as it may escape the Pokeball, or the player may accidentally knock it out. As a rare Pokemon in the whole franchise, it will be worth it following these rules to add this Pokemon to their collection.

Base Stats:

12 Sprigatito / Fuecoco / Quaxly

Location: Cabo Poco

• Capture Requirements: None

Every Pokemon game features 3 starter Pokemon that players get to pick from at the start of the game. In Scarlet and Violet, this role is filled by the trio of Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly. Just like any starters, each save file only gets one of the 3, with none available anywhere in the game.

Whatever starter a trainer picks can be bred to create more, but without trading with other players or owning multiple Switches, there is no way to obtain the other two starters.

Base Stats:

13 Roaring Moon / Iron Valiant

Location: Area Zero

• Capture Requirements: Must complete the main story

Following concepts like regional variants and convergent evolutions, Scarlet and Violet introduced ‘paradox’ Pokemon. In Scarlet, they are ancient versions of current Pokemon, while in Violet, they are futuristic robot versions.

Roaring Moon and Iron Valiant are the strongest of each version’s paradox Pokemon and are fittingly hard to find. They only spawn in a secret cave that is hidden inside some rocks near the 3rd research base in Area Zero. Since paradoxes can’t breed, catching them is the only way to obtain them.

Base Stats:

14 Milotic

Game Location: Evolve Feebas Or 5/6-Star Tera Raid

• Capture Requirements: Evolve Feebas by acquiring a Prism Scale

One of the biggest teases in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is battling Milotic in the Teal Mask DLC, and not being able to capture it. The Water-type has always been a difficult Pokemon to acquire as it can only be found by evolving Feebas, a rare Pokemon. In the Switch games, Feebas can be found in the Crystal Pool at the top of Oni Mountain.

Gamers must then find a Prism Scale, which is easily found in Fellhorn Gorge, and then trade the Feebas while holding the item to acquire Milotic. If gamers have no way of trading, then they must take a chance on finding the ‘mon in a 5 or 6-star Tera Raid Battle. This method is not reliable as these battles are hard to win.

Base Stats:

15 Gholdengo

Game Location: N/A

• Capture Requirements: Collect 999x Gimmighoul coins

The Pokemon series has had a lot of different evolution methods over the years. Newer games, especially, have introduced some Pokemon that are hard to evolve. Gimmighoul is one such Pokemon, requiring 999 Gimmighoul coins to evolve into Gholdengo.

Gimmighoul coins are obtained when interacting with Wandering and Chest Form Gimmighoul, which are scattered around the open world. Even trainers who are paying attention to this task the whole game likely won’t have that many coins by the end, making Gholdengo extremely hard to obtain.

Gholdengo’s Base Stats:

16 Family Of 4 Maushold / 3 Segment Dudunsparce

Location: Tera Raid Battles / Evolve Tandemaus (Maushold) & Evolve Dunsparce (Dudunsparce)

• Capture Requirements: None

There are Pokemon like Spinda that have different forms that don’t change anything besides appearance. It’s quite uncommon for evolved Pokemon to have these forms, but Maushold and Dudunsparce do.

Upon evolving from Tandemaus and Dunsparce, these Pokemon will most likely become their ‘family of 4’ and ‘2 segment’ forms respectively. However, there is a 1% chance they will instead evolve into the ‘family of 3’ or ‘3 segment forms. These low odds make these special forms some of the rarest in the series, especially since they only appear post-evolution.

Base Stats:

17 Antique Sinistea / Polteageist

Location: South Province (Area Six), East Province: (Area Three), Porto Marinada Auction (Chipped Pot item)

• Capture Requirements: Requires the Chipped Pot item to evolve.

Sinistea and Polteageist were introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield. They, too, have a special form similar to Maushold and Dudunsparce that doesn’t affect their abilities in battle but has a small chance of being found in the wild.

Whereas Tandemaus and Dunsparce can be found quite commonly, Sinistea is already quite rare, only appearing in two areas on the map. Antique Sinistea only has a 1% chance of appearing, and the only indicator of it is a small stamp on the bottom of its cup. And only Antique Sinistea can evolve into Antique Polteageist.

Polteageist’s Base Stats:

18 Masterpiece Form Poltchageist/Sinistcha

Location: Reveler’s Road, Mossfell Confluence, Timeless Woods (Masterpiece Teacup)

• Capture Requirements: Requires the Chipped Pot item to evolve.

Just like with its ecologically similar companion, Poltchageist has two forms, Counterfit and Artisan form, with the latter being a lot rarer than the other. There aren’t a lot of differences between the two. The Artisan has a stamp of authenticity on the bottom of the Pokemon, which can’t be revealed until the ‘mon is caught.

If gamers are up for the task of getting the rarer Pokemon, then they must look in Reveler’s Road and Mossfell Confluence, but with a four-probability spawn rate at all times of day other than the evening. Once that is acquired, gamers can evolve it into Masterpiece Form Sinistcha with the Masterpiece Teacup, but this can be found easily enough in the Timeless Woods.

Base Stats:

19 Iron Boulder / Iron Crown / Raging Bolt / Gouging Fire

Location: Area Zero

• Capture Requirements: Must register 200 Pokemon in the Blueberry Academy Pokedex and start the quest with Perrin

Much like Iron Leaves and Walking Wake, the other Legendary Pokemon of their respective trios were given a Paradox Form that can be obtained in The Indigo Disc part of the DLC. Gouging Fire and Raging Bolt are exclusive to Pokemon Scarlet, as they are Ancient Pokemon; Iron Boulder and Iron Crown can only be obtained in Violet, being Future Pokemon.

To catch these Pokemon, gamers must first register 200 Pokemon in the Blueberry Academy Pokedex, which is no easy feat as some are difficult to obtain and will take a lot of hours in the game to register. Trade evolution will cause some gamers, who have no one else to play with, issues. Even if that job is done, players must approach the daunting task of finding the Paradox Pokemon in Area Zero and catching them, too.

Base Stats:

20 All DLC Starter Pokemon

Game Location: Blueberry Academy Terrarium

• Capture Requirements: Collect 3000 BP points from completing BBQs

Starter Pokemon are some of the rarest to obtain in the Pokemon franchise, as they are usually not able to be captured; only one Pokemon is given to the player at the start of the game. But in the DLC of Scarlet and Violet, this was switched up. A random Sinnoh Starter (Turtwig, Chimchar, or Piplup) is available from Jacq in Kitakami in the first part, The Teal Mask.

The Indigo Disk was even more rewarding. However, it will require some work. Every single starter Pokemon can be obtained in the Blueberry Academy, but gamers must spend 2000 BP points, which are obtained from completing BBQs, short tasks that can be done in the Terrarium. Once players have 3000 BP points, they can activate the Starter Pokemon in the BB dorm room for one biome at a time. This means that 12000 BP points are needed for all four of the biomes in the Terrarium, and then the trainer must find each one and catch them.