How to get every Legendary in-game

The main funnel — 3–5 Legendaries rotate per month

Most Legendaries cycle through 5-star raids on a roughly monthly rotation. Use Wednesday Raid Hour (6–7 PM local) for the highest spawn density, or check Campfire for organized lobbies the rest of the week.

• · Every month features 3–5 different 5-star bosses. First debuts ship without a shiny; re-runs unlock shiny odds (default 1-in-20 for Legendaries).
• · Raid Hour Wednesday 6–7 PM: the current rotation boss takes over almost every gym for the full hour.
• · Raid Day events are rare 3-hour weekend windows where one specific raid boss saturates gyms. Recently they’ve leaned Mega, but Legendaries occasionally headline.
• · Catch a Legendary at 100 % IV by spinning the encounter for a perfect roll — Legendaries have a 10/10/10 IV floor minimum, which means 1-in-216 odds of a hundo (not 1-in-4 096).

Defeat the boss → catch one Shadow Legendary per cycle

When Team GO Rocket Takeover events run, you can build a Super Rocket Radar through the special research, find Giovanni at any takeover-flagged PokéStop or balloon, and challenge him. The featured Shadow Legendary rotates every 1–3 months.

• · Active takeover special research can only be completed once at a time, but you can stack extra radars by stopping each research at Page 1 (the system doesn’t treat Page 1 as "active"). See the radar stacking strategy in the advanced guide.
• · Shadow Giovanni Legendaries cannot be shiny from the Giovanni encounter — Shadow shinies only come from Shadow Raids.
• · Past Giovanni Legendaries to expect on rotation: Shadow Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Regi-trio, Latios, Latias, Kyogre, Groudon, Dialga, Palkia, Heatran, Cresselia, Darkrai, Giratina, Regigigas, Tornadus Incarnate.
• · Build a Shadow-counter raid party: Shadow attackers do 20 % more damage and outclass non-Shadow versions for raid speed.

The only path to shiny Shadow Legendaries

Shadow Raids are usually weekend-only 5-star raids featuring one Shadow Legendary for a month at a time. They cannot be remote-raided — you must be physically at the gym.

• · Catch rate is brutal. Bring Golden Razz, throw Excellent Curveballs, and stack a Premier Ball bonus from a Gold Gym you control.
• · Shadow Legendaries from raids can be shiny; from Giovanni they cannot.
• · Lobby cap is 20. Group up via Campfire — solo-ing a Shadow Legendary needs a team of maxed Mega counters and is unrealistic for most species.
• · Featured rotation tends to follow what was a Giovanni Legendary previously, with a short shadow-raid-weekend headline.

Power-spot Max Battles — 4-player lobby cap

Dynamax Legendaries appear in power spots during limited-time Max Weekends. So far: Dynamax Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Latios, Latias, Lugia — with Ho-Oh expected next on rotation.

• · A Dynamax raid costs 800 Max Particles (one full Max Pack ~ 150 PokéCoins). 5-star regular raids cost 100 PokéCoins per pass — so for cost-efficiency, regular raids win when both exist.
• · Lobby cap is 4. Coordinate via Campfire if you want guaranteed wins on the harder bosses (Lugia, Ho-Oh).
• · These Legendaries can be dropped in power spots after a win for +5 candy of that species per drop.
• · Catch rate is solid relative to standard Legendaries — Max Particles per pass make grinding 100 % IVs reasonable across a Max Weekend.

The only Legendaries you can stumble into in the wild

Six Legendaries can appear in the wild. The Lake Trio (Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie) is regionally locked but always available; the Galarian birds (Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres) only spawn via Daily Adventure Incense.

• · Lake Trio regions: Azelf = Americas + Greenland, Mesprit = Europe + Africa + Middle East + India, Uxie = Asia-Pacific. All three are shiny-released.
• · Spawn density skews toward lakes and bodies of water. Walking near rivers or shorelines gives noticeably more sightings than urban grids.
• · Galarian birds spawn from Daily Adventure Incense at well under 1 %. Bring Golden Razz + Ultra Balls + activate Ice Burn (1.5×) or Freeze Shock (1.25×) from a White or Black Kyurem to lift catch odds.
• · Galarian birds count toward the Kanto bird Pokédex slot — catching Galarian Articuno fills "Articuno" in your dex.
• · Tour events and Wild Area events occasionally promote other Legendaries to the wild for 24–48 hours — recent examples include Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf in Mighty forms.

Catch base + farm 1 000 fusion energy → form-change

Three Legendaries have fusion forms that need a separate energy pool. You catch the base form once, then collect 1 000 fusion energy by raiding the fusion form when it cycles.

• · Black Kyurem: catch base Kyurem in raids, then defeat Black Kyurem raids (when featured) to collect 1 000 Volt Fusion Energy → fuse with a Zekrom. Same pattern with White Kyurem + Reshiram (Blaze Fusion Energy).
• · Dusk Mane Necrozma: catch a Necrozma, defeat Dusk Mane Necrozma raids to collect 1 000 Solar Fusion Energy → fuse with a Solgaleo. Same with Dawn Wings Necrozma + Lunala (Lunar Fusion Energy).
• · Crowned Zacian / Zamazenta: 1 000 Crowned Sword / Shield Energy from raiding the crowned forms during their event windows.
• · Fusion energy raid windows are usually one weekend per cycle. The next big one to watch is the next Kyurem Fusion Raid Day announcement.
• · Energy is shared per fusion form — banking 2 000 Volt Fusion lets you fuse and un-fuse two Black Kyurems if you have the Zekroms and a re-fusion event lands.

Free Legendary encounters tied to seasons + ticketed events

Some Legendaries are gated behind story-mode special research lines, while others ship as one-time time-limited research before major events.

• · Season-long special research is free. Recent examples: Cosmog → Solgaleo / Lunala (Season of Light), Kubfu → Urshifu (Season of Might and Mastery).
• · Time-limited research before major events (Go Tour, Go Fest, Wild Area) often includes free Legendary encounters. Recent: free encounter with every Unova Legendary the week before Unova Tour.
• · Seasonal special research expires at the end of the season. Some are re-released as paid catch-up bundles later, but not all.
• · Ticketed research from Go Fest / Go Tour often includes ‘pick your Legendary’ choices — pick the rarest one you don’t already have.

Easiest free Legendary — Special Research at L16+

Zygarde is unique: free Special Research delivers a 10 % form Zygarde to any L16+ trainer. The hard part is collecting Zygarde Cells to form-change it to 50 % then 100 %.

• · Open Special Research now if you haven't claimed yours — the encounter is permanent.
• · Form-change costs: 50 cells = 50 % form (Zygarde), then 200 more = 100 % form. 250 cells total.
• · Cell sources: end-of-route reward (most reliable), occasional event timed research, GO Pass rewards.
• · Cell cap: 3 cells per day from routes. So 250 cells / 3 = ~84 days = ~3 months of daily routes for 100 % form. Skip a week, push the deadline by a week.

Free Legendary per season at rank 100

Every season ships a GO Pass with 100 ranks. Rank 100 always rewards a Legendary encounter — often with a seasonal special background.

• · Past Pass-rank-100 Legendaries: Virizion, Cobalion, Terrakion (Season of Might and Mastery); current cycle features the Sinnoh trio (Dialga / Palkia / Giratina) with special backgrounds.
• · Earn GO Points by doing your daily quests, opening gifts, evolving, walking. Casual play takes the whole season to hit rank 100; daily play gets you there in ~6 weeks.
• · Deluxe Pass doubles every rank reward + adds extra premium items. Pay for it only if you want the seasonal cosmetic + extra premium raid passes.
• · Special-background Legendaries from the Pass are trade-locked when received but can be traded with friends — useful as Lucky trade fodder later in the season.

PvP path to the current Raid Legendary

If you’re Rank 20+ in GBL, the encounter reward path can include the current 5-star raid boss Legendary.

• · Free basic rewards: win 3 of 5 in a set to roll an encounter — can be the current Legendary in raid rotation.
• · Premium rewards (1 Premium Pass per set): win 2 of 5 to roll the encounter. Higher odds at the Legendary.
• · Odds are low. This is a side path, not a primary path.
• · GBL also gives Stardust + Rare Candy steady streams — useful even if you don’t hit the Legendary roll.