Using Legendaries

Do you use legendaries when playing through the games? Is it the Box Art Pokémon or another?
I don't use them personally, because I feel they're out of place and too strong. They're hard to level up as well. I felt so bad putting Nebby in a box however... ;^;

On a recent revisiting of HeartGold, I caught Raikou by utilising Mean Look and Sleep Powder. It was only about 4-5 levels higher than the rest of my team at the time of capture, and I decided to keep it in my party. First time I've ever used a legendary in my regular party of six. Really enjoyed using it actually. Named it Shere Khan.

I actually regularly use Lunala to have an easy time against the Elite Four rematches in Moon. Granted, this was the same Nebby you met throughout the game so it was clear I kept it for story purposes, because Nebby joins your team as it wanted to go on adventures.

I play Gen 1(yes I know I should get with the times and get a new game already) but there are really only 5 Legendary Pokemon: The three Legendary Birds(Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos), Mewtwo and Mew. Zapdos is off the beaten path at the Power Plant but the other two can be caught along your travels(I just choose not to). Mew was handed out as an exclusive Pokemon at events(although it could be caught via Ditto Glitch at Cerulean) while Mewtwo can't be caught until after you beat the game.

I don't catch Legendaries since it can make the game far too easy. There are a few other Pokemon that can be considered "Quasi-Legendaries"(Pokemon that are really strong but aren't exactly labeled Legendary). Quasi-Legendaries are Dragonite, Arcanine, Lapras, Snorlax, Exeggutor and the Kanto starters(Charizard being the strongest of the three imo). The thing about the Quasi-Legendaries is that all but the Kanto starters are all in the slow experience group so while they're strong, they take a long time to grow/level. Meaning unless you like grinding, best to avoid using these. I used Lapras and Snorlax in my last run and man was the grinding painful. Not going to lie that they just ramrodded anything put before them.

I caught all the legendary dogs in HeartGold the last time I played through it, and ended up putting all of them on my team. Though normally I keep them in the PC and instead turn to the Pokémon I've raised myself.

I like playing with legendaries during in-game runs, because they've got awesome designs most of the time and I just want them on my team. If I intend to use one, I build my team around that legendary. I treat it like a regular Pokémon, only stronger, and not like a special advantage. They're too cool to not use.

Hikamaru said:

I actually regularly use Lunala to have an easy time against the Elite Four rematches in Moon. Granted, this was the same Nebby you met throughout the game so it was clear I kept it for story purposes, because Nebby joins your team as it wanted to go on adventures.

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Yeah, I felt so bad putting her in a box, kinda felt like I was putting her back in the bag haha
Because of those feelings I really debated on taking her with me...but my team was already so unbalanced type-wise I just couldn't figure out how to use her :(

Alakazam17 said:

I caught all the legendary dogs in HeartGold the last time I played through it, and ended up putting all of them on my team. Though normally I keep them in the PC and instead turn to the Pokémon I've raised myself.

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TechnicolourMemecoat said:

On a recent revisiting of HeartGold, I caught Raikou by utilising Mean Look and Sleep Powder. It was only about 4-5 levels higher than the rest of my team at the time of capture, and I decided to keep it in my party. First time I've ever used a legendary in my regular party of six. Really enjoyed using it actually. Named it Shere Khan.

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I think a legendary trio like this would be the only legends I would use, their design doesn't feel out of place too much, and they're pretty cool. I used Suicune in Crystal a lot, I didn't remember that before. She didn't feel too overpowered to me, but I felt pretty badass using her against the Elite Four.

BlazingCobaltX said:

I like playing with legendaries during in-game runs, because they've got awesome designs most of the time and I just want them on my team. If I intend to use one, I build my team around that legendary. I treat it like a regular Pokémon, only stronger, and not like a special advantage. They're too cool to not use.

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I agree they look cool, but to me they feel so different from normal Pokémon. Not only their design but sometimes it's their moveset that is just way too strong. Plus, in the recent versions, they get at least 3 perfect IVs automatically. I also like raising my Pokémon team from very low levels, and you get legendaries close to the end of the game, in most games. But they do make me feel badass when using them! Like I said above, I used Suicune a lot in Crystal, and I almost always use Latias in Sapphire/Alpha Sapphire.

i'm using Lunaala as my team on playthrough because... i love it and nickname it as Rembulan, which is Moon in my language. i usually didn't use any legendary on my main team, but i use Lunaala since Lilie asked me to. lol. and we got to the top thanks to Nebby/Rembulan.

I like using mascot Legendaries on my first playthrough of a game, just to see if they're any good or not...I usually reserve a spot on my team specifically for them. Levelling them up is a real nuisance, especially considering they're usually several levels below the rest of my team by the time I get them, but considering how strong they are there isn't too much of a difference relatively speaking.

Outside of that, I don't usually use them, because they're not typically available until postgame, by which point I've stopped caring about what is on my team and can't be bothered to switch things up. I did use the Latis in ORAS though, and I used Victini in the fifth gen too.

I don't use legendaries very often when playing through games, though I did use a Palkia in a playthrough of Pokemon Black 2 recently.

I used Latios in Omega Ruby occassionally. In Sun i used both Zygarde and Solgaleo.

CodeHelmet said:

Zapdos is off the beaten path at the Power Plant but the other two can be caught along your travels(I just choose not to).

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Actually, if you decided to go through Pallet Town to get to Cinnabar (like I did in FR), Articuno would end up being off the beaten path as well. Actually, in FR/LG pretty much all the birds were off the beaten path unless you took Route 19 to get to Cinnabar, Moltres was on top of Mt. Ember which you didn't need to visit until postgame, and once more Zapdos was in the Power Plant. Because I didn't want to waste time buying balls, I passed on the legendaries until the postgame where I had more time to go after them.

As for me, I tend to use the cover legendary as part of the ingame playthrough, but not the minor ones like the legendary trio of the region. Considering my competitive background, I don't want to botch up their EVs by using them as part of the plot, so I just beat the game without them, then reset in front of them. There's no need to worry about the cover legendary because it's usually banned from standard play. The only exception was with Lati@s in ORAS but that was because I felt like I was forced to use them.

HeroLinik said:

Actually, if you decided to go through Pallet Town to get to Cinnabar (like I did in FR), Articuno would end up being off the beaten path as well. Actually, in FR/LG pretty much all the birds were off the beaten path unless you took Route 19 to get to Cinnabar, Moltres was on top of Mt. Ember which you didn't need to visit until postgame, and once more Zapdos was in the Power Plant. Because I didn't want to waste time buying balls, I passed on the legendaries until the postgame where I had more time to go after them.

As for me, I tend to use the cover legendary as part of the ingame playthrough, but not the minor ones like the legendary trio of the region. Considering my competitive background, I don't want to botch up their EVs by using them as part of the plot, so I just beat the game without them, then reset in front of them. There's no need to worry about the cover legendary because it's usually banned from standard play. The only exception was with Lati@s in ORAS but that was because I felt like I was forced to use them.

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I played Yellow or the true Generation 1(instead of the remakes) and unless you choose to Fly back to Pallet and Surf south, both Articuno and Moltres happen to be on your path in the game(just requires a mini detour in both situations). Moltres in Generation 1(again talking Red, Blue and Yellow) has a crappy moveset(doesn't learn Flamethrower) while the other two are actually pretty decent(Zapdos more so because it learns Drill Peck).

Now I don't like to use it much, but I use to finish the stories, or I don't have any similar type of the pokemon. (I don't like it, but) If I have competitive battles, I'll fight with no legendary or mythical pokemons.

I don't use legends as it seems an bit cheap

I usually don't use them. They come late in the game, and they make everything a little too easy. I make exceptions for ones I really like, such as Articuno.