My strategy for catching legendary Pokėmons

[Raythegamer]

Poké Balls I bring:20x Poke balls,20x Great Balls,20x Ultra Balls,10x Dive Balls,10x Quick Balls,10x Timer balls

Strategy:First turn:Use quick ball
If Pokemon escape,
Use ultra balls until no shakes
If no shakes
Use great balls until no shakes
If no shakes
Use Poke balls until there is at least 2 shakes
If 2 shakes
Use great balls until there is at least 2 shakes
If 2 shakes
Use ultra balls until no shakes
If 20 turns and Pokemon still not caught
Use Timer Balls

What's your catching strategy?

 

[LilyGardy]

Put it to sleep, get it to red health and throw a Dusk Ball, if it wakes up put it to sleep again. I find Dusk Balls to be the best balls for catching Legendaries.

I also carry Timer Balls for difficult Catches.

 

[Otamajakushi]

Well I think with any strategy, there's always room for improvement.

Usually what I do is this process:

1. Save before initiating the battle.
2. Toss a Quick Ball, just in case it works.
3. Either False Swipe down to 1HP, or whittle it down to <5% HP.
4. Toss Ultra Balls
5. Over it? Toss Timer Balls, otherwise keep chucking Ultra Balls.
6. Starts to struggle? Reset and return to step 1.

My False Swipers don't do status effects, but if they could, I would paralyze it.

 

[天 (Caine)]

I've always done it like this.

1) Quick Ball, use it with your fingers crossed
2) Put it to sleep
3) Get its health in the red
4) Ultra balls, ultra balls, ultra balls
5) Timer Ball every ten turns

I also hold A+B for good luck. It's simple, but it works.

 

[rarmstar]

Often I'll try to get it in a Poke ball, just cause it's my favourite :))

But yeah, I normally end up getting its health to red, give it status (Sleep or Paraz), then go to town with the ultra balls/timer balls after a while. :t150:

 

[Sopheria]

My strategy, use a level 100 Gallade who knows the following:

Hypnosis (to put it to sleep)
False Swipe (to bring it down to 1 HP)
Mean Look (only necessary if it's a roaming Poke)

I use Gallade for this since it's the only Pokemon that can learn this combination of moves. I've been using the same Gallade as my trusty Pokemon catching partner since Gen 4 ^_^

Also, it helps to throw a Quick Ball the first turn. It has a x5 bonus when you throw it on the first turn of battle, which is higher than what any of the basic Pokeballs do. So it's always worth a try the first time :)

 

[Aisu]

I start off with that Quick Ball and a quick prayer to Arceus

I whittle the Pokemon's HP down to red and, if possible, give it a status affliction

I start off with Ultra Balls; I always have thirty of them on hand, and if they don't work, Timer Balls

If it still isn't captured, try try again

 

[Crystal Berry]

Ultra balls are quite terrible. The only reason they're used so much is because of convenience, but sadly there's nothing 'ultra' about their 2x catch rate. If you have the money you're probably not going to find much better options easily, so sure buy them.

Heavy Balls are a godsend for catching most legendary Pokemon, but sadly you can't find them in most of the games and will have to trade from HG/SS I believe. Quick Balls are ok during first turn, but not likely to capture a full health legendary. I wouldn't recommend them. Dusk Balls are very good since many legendary Pokemon live in caves, so stock up on those. Repeat ball is good if you have the legendary you're facing in your Pokedex already.

I would say Timer Ball is the best easy to obtain Pokeball so make sure you buy a lot of those, then weaken the Legendary Pokemon as much as you can without killing it and just stall around for 10 or more turns (while throwing Ultra Balls relentlessly if you don't care about wasting money). It also helps if you can manage to put the Pokemon to sleep or freeze it. Other status effects are fine too.

 

[KetsuekiR]

I'd have to agree with most people and say I'd start out with a Quick Ball for the fun of it (works on Xerneas/Yvetal :P) and then proceed to put to sleep/paralysis if I don't something to induce sleep and then false swipe it down to 1 HP. However, at this point, I agree with [user]Crystal Berry[/user] and say ultra balls aren't all that ultra. I tend to use a lot of dusk balls since if it's not in a cave, there's always night time. I also like timer balls since at one point, the catch rate is ridiculously high with them.

 

[khaozz]

If you have Capture Power (preferably Lv3), use it. It make captures so much easier. I agree with using a Quick Ball at the beginning of a turn. It can help. I also agree with Dusk Ball over Ultra Ball. Unless you want the legendary in a matching ball, Dusk Ball is probably the best ball to use (barring the Master Ball). Timer Balls also work great if the battle gets dragged out.

My preferred strategy is bringing a high level Smeargle with the following moves:
Spore (it's the best Sleep move in the game, thanks to 100 accuracy)/Dark Void (for Grass types)
False Swipe (self-explanatory)
Then pick two of these:
Swords Dance (its Attack is not that high; mostly for legends with Recover so it can get back to 1HP faster)/Glare/Thunder Wave (for those immune to Sleep)/Foresight (for Ghosts)/Mean Look (for Roamers in past gens)/Trick (hold a Leppa Berry to prevent Struggle)/filler

 

[NidoKingdra]

Uhh... false swipe/hold back. Status move. Bingo. Catches most things without trouble. Legendaries, it's usually just whittle them down or make sure you don't OHKO them, then status move and go for the win.
I caught Deoxys in one or two balls. Ultra I think. I only hit him once with Mega Rayquaza? He was stupidly easy to catch or something, I was shocked.

 

[LucaYasha]

1. I start a battle with a LV1 synchronize Ralts to help pass nature
2. I let it die then switch into my LV100 Smeargle with False Swipe, Soak, Taunt & Spore
3. I put it to sleep with Spore (soak so spore works on grass legends)
4. WIddle it down with False Swipes.
5. Then throw plenty of Premier Balls and success

 

[Tamashi_Seishiro]

Well. I use false swipe, then throw every pokeball i have XD

 

[Somewhere_]

Im really bad at catching legendaries and usually end up fainting them, so you guys' suggestions are really helpful! ^^

 

[bossman34]

I have a level 81 Breloom. Spore, False Swipe then Ultra balls/timer balls. Start with a quick bal

 

[PlatinumDude]

Simply put, the most effective way to catch legendaries is (and I used this for my legendary hunt):
-use the highest level Capture O-Power as possible
-weaken them (but try not to KO them), just like any other wild Pokemon
-status them, if possible; preferably sleep or paralysis (may need to rinse and repeat for sleep, as it wears off in several turns)
-spam Dusk Balls (at night or at caves), Ultra Balls (otherwise), or Net Balls (if target is Water type); switch to Timer Balls once 10 turns have passed

 

[magicalgirlj]

My strategy is
use false swipe
Thunder wave ( as long as it not ground)
chuck lots of ultra balls praying for a caputre
If many turns have passed and it is not caught yet then I start chucking timer balls
I caught Heatran in Alpha Sapphire on my second timer ball

 

[KronosTrinity]

You have a full on strategy and I still find myself optimistically holding A+B+Down even though I know it does nothing.

 

[blue]

I'll try my best to get the HP as low as possible, then switch in with a Pokemon that has a status inflicting move. Spam the Ultra Balls until it's captured and job done. 8)

 

[VisualJae]

The "strategy" listed in the OP literally does nothing to help you, other than throwing a Quick Ball first.

All the standard balls (Poke Ball, Great, Ultra) have fixed multipliers and alternating them does absolutely nothing for you. It's RNG plain and simple.

1. Activate catching O Power.

2. Put a Synchronize ability Pokemon up front with the nature you want.

3. Throw a Quick Ball.

4. If that doesn't work, start using a Parasect with Spore/False Swipe. Or if you really went through the trouble, your best bet would be:

LV100 Smeargle with False Swipe, Soak, Taunt & Spore

...Though I'd give up Taunt for a recovery move in case stalling is required.

5. Use the most advantageous ball (likely not Ultra Balls). Usually would be Dusk Balls, Heavy Balls or Net Balls (water/bug legendaries) until Timer Balls can kick in.

Not that hard.