Pokémon Scarlet and Violet very recently received compatibility with Pokémon Home, letting players bring in a ton of Pokémon they owned in previous games into the new Gen IX titles, including a lot of incredibly strong Legendary Pokémon.
While these Legendary Pokémon may not be allowed in the official format of VGC at the moment—since we’re only talking about Mythicals and box Legendaries—they will certainly make a huge splash in the metagame sometime in the future.
Related: Ranking the strongest Hisuian Pokémon coming to Scarlet and Violet after HOME update
And to keep you ready for what you should be prepared against, we have conjured a list of the ten most broken box Legendaries and Mythicals added in Scarlet and Violet through Pokémon Home below.
The strongest Legendary Pokémon added in Scarlet and Violet through Pokémon Home
10) Dialga
Dialga possesses an amazing dual-typing in Steel and Dragon, giving it a ton of useful resistances and leaving it weak to only two types. It has a great overall stat spread, and if we were to consider its Origin Forme ever to be legal, its stat spread turns even more favorable.
But that’s where Dialga’s standout features end. It hits hard, but so does nearly every other Legendary above it on this list, while its STAB type combination is nothing to write home about offensively.
9) Mew
With a 100 base stat in both its offenses, Mew’s damage output is painfully average, but that is not what you’re using it for.
Mew possesses the ability to learn every TM, TR, HM, and Move Tutor move (except exclusive ones like Volt Tackle and Secret Sword), making it an incredibly customizable ‘mon that can fill in very specific gaps that a team may possess.
Imagine having five extremely crucial Pokémon for your team locked in, but you need a sixth ‘mon that has access to both, Taunt and Tailwind, with the ability to learn a healing move like Pollen Puff being the cherry on top. Well, Mew can do just that, along with a bazillion other unique move combinations, making this Pokémon an incredibly splashable support pick for any competitive team.
8) Palkia
Similar to its counterpart, Dialga, Palkia too possesses a great defensive dual-typing in Water and Dragon, with a stat spread that rivals Dialga’s. While you could argue that Palkia’s Origin Forme is an upgrade due to the reallocation of 20 base stats from its mostly unused Attack stat to its Speed stat, it greatly decreases the value of one of Palkia’s main use cases: Trick Room.
With access to Trick Room, Palkia formed one of the most dominant cores of the Restricted meta of Sword and Shield VGC: the Palkia-Calyrex-Ice core, setting up Trick Room for its incredibly slow and hard-hitting partner to sweep through enemy teams with it, something that would be tougher for it to pull off with the faster Speed stat of its Origin Forme.
With Trick Room and a slower Speed stat courtesy of its base form, Palkia turns into an incredibly flexible ‘mon with damage-dealing capabilities and the ability to support its slower teammates.
7) Groudon
One of the few Sun-setters available for players to use in the game, Groudon has a vital niche of providing harsh sunlight for its teammates and is arguably the strongest of its kind. Earlier, we could say this without a doubt in our minds, but with the arrival of Koraidon in Generation IX, this Hoenn box Legendary might just have a bit of competition.
While Groudon takes the seventh spot on this list mostly for its supportive abilities to set up the Sun for its teammates, its bulk and offense are nothing to scoff at. Additionally, Groudon has an amazing offensive typing that only possesses three weaknesses.
If you consider that Groudon’s Water weakness is practically neutralized because the Sun would be up when it’s on the field, then Groudon is left even less vulnerable to super-effective hits, giving it all the more survivability.
6) Calyrex – Ice Rider
Calyrex’s Ice Rider form wants to do one thing and one thing only: Glacial Lance.
While its signature move did get a slight nerf in damage, this 120 Base Power spread Ice-type move will plow through anything that doesn’t resist it, working incredibly well with its signature ability Chilling Neigh, raising its Attack stat by one stage with every knockout it picks up.
Oh, speaking of abilities, Ice Rider gets two of them. Yup.
While Chilling Neigh comes from Glastrier, Ice Rider’s second ability comes from Calyrex, which is Unnerve, which makes it so that Pokémon on the opposing side of the field can’t consume their berries. There goes your chance of healing up with a Sitrus Berry.
Ice Rider is pretty slow, though, so make sure you fit it onto a Trick Room team—perhaps with Palkia that we talked about earlier.
5) Arceus
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Pokémon world’s God has made it on this list, right? Heck, it should’ve been in the first place if it’s the creator of everything; but sadly, competitive Pokémon does not work that way.
What Arceus is, however, is an incredibly flexible and strong pick that can fill gaps that any strong team may have, similar to Mew. Arceus possesses a base 120 in every single stat, making it incredibly bulky, offensively dominant for a Physical, Special, or mixed set, and fast enough to threaten a majority of the roster of Pokémon.
Top this with access to all the moves you could ask for, and it becomes almost impossible to prepare for every variety of Arceus that an opponent may fit onto their team. One notable set, however, is a Life Orb-Arceus running the moves Swords Dance and Extreme Speed.
With the boosts from Life Orb and Swords Dance, Arceus’ STAB Extreme Speeds would be knocking opposing Pokémon out effortlessly while ignoring Speed tiers, and if you add in a potential Tera Normal, Arceus would be picking up KO’s on ‘mons that resist Extreme Speed as well.
Arceus then also has the option of running a specific type plate as well, switching up its type matchups and STAB move options as well. The possibilities are endless.
4) Zacian
Oh, to see the undisputed queen of Sword and Shield VGC fall from grace, earning a measly fourth spot on this list when it would have easily topped it before the nerfs.
On top of losing 20 base stat of Attack, Zacian’s Intrepid Sword now only activates the first time it enters the field, making its offense much more manageable by threatening it out of the field with fast and powerful super-effective hits.
Moreover, while Behemoth Blade is still a strong move, it does not have the doubled damage effect since Dynamax no longer exists.
But even then, Zacian does possess the best typing in the game and is incredibly fast and tanky, still hitting like a truck despite the well-deserved nerf.
3) Magearna
As we just mentioned, Fairy/Steel happens to be the best typing in the game, which is a big reason for Magearna to sit at the top spots of this list. But that’s not nearly all of what this mythical Pokémon has going for it.
Magearna has access to its signature ability Soul Heart, which gives it a boost every time any Pokémon on the field faints. This means that if its partner picks up a KO, it gets a Special Attack boost. If an opponent takes its partner out, it gets a boost, and if its partner takes itself out, it still gets a boost. It’s basically Shadow Rider’s Grim Neigh, but on steroids.
Pair this with its strong Special Attack, solid bulk, and access to Trick Room, and you’ve got a very threatening and resourceful Pokémon with which you can pull off a lot of fun strategies.
2) Kyogre
Not only does Kyogre set up Rain when it enters the battlefield to potentially benefit its teammates, but unlike Groudon, Kyogre’s offense directly benefits from it, too.
With Rain boosting the power of Water moves, Kyogre gets a supercharged Origin Pulse, which Groudon’s Precipice Blades does not benefit from via the Sun. More importantly, Kyogre gets access to the incredibly powerful Water Spout—also boosted by the Rain. So, with a little Speed control on this leviathan’s side, Kyogre can clear the opponent’s team with just a few button clicks.
Related: Here’s how the fastest Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet can still outspeed under Trick Room
Don’t even get us started with the carnage it can inflict with Tera Water. We’ll leave that up to your damage calculations.
1) Calyrex – Shadow Rider
What is probably the face of hyper-offense in any Restricted metagame, Calyrex – Shadow Rider possesses the same offensive prowess as its icy counterpart, except it gets to exert immediate offensive pressure due to its blindingly fast base 150 Speed stat. You can’t even use Fake Out on it for a flinch and slow its momentum due to its Ghost typing.
Being able to fire off its signature Astral Barrage and pick up knockouts before you can move only snowballs the game in Shadow Rider’s favor even quicker due to its Grim Neigh ability, raising its Special Attack by one stage for every knockout it takes while also having access to its second ability in Unnerve.
What held Shadow Rider back earlier was its poor defensive typing, but with Terastallization, this spooky horse rider does not have to worry about four-times effective Dark and Ghost hits coming its way.
This means that the only balancing factor about Shadow Rider—its low survivability—can be ignored, leaving nothing in its way to stop it from taking the No. 1 spot on our list.
