The latest Pokemon game, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, has a revamped battle system compared to earlier games in the series, swapping out slow turn-based combat for real-time fights. Having strong Pokemon with hard-hitting moves on your team is one of the best ways to make quick work of its storyline battles as well as compete online in Z-A Battle Club. Picking powerful Pokemon is key.
If you’re new to this roleplaying series, dragon-type Pokemon are some of the strongest you can find. Many of them are colloquially called pseudo-legendaries by players because their impressive stats are second only to those of legendary Pokemon. Consequently, their base forms — the first versions you can find that grow into supremely powerful evolutions — are typically difficult to find, hard to capture and extremely time-consuming to level up.
We’ll leave you to do the training for your party of six, but here’s a simple guide with locations and tips to find and capture strong dragon-types to add to your squad in Pokemon Legends Z-A.
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Get Dratini by scaling rooftops in Vert Sector 6
Dratini can be found on the roof of Restaurant Le Nah.
The first of the powerful dragon types we’ll help you track down hails from the original (Gen 1) Pokemon games. Dratini is the base form of Dragonite, a dragon- and flying-type pseudo-legendary, and is the easiest to find on this list. To capture one, fast-travel or find your way to Restaurant Le Nah in Vert Sector 6. Once you’re there, face the restaurant, turn right and climb the ladder attached to the building next to it. Once you’re on the roof of this building, you’ll want to turn left and then roll onto the roof of the restaurant. That’s where you’ll find Dratini waiting for you.
Now, Dratini is skittish. It’ll run away the moment it spots you, so you’ll want to be prepared. Save your game before approaching it and ready a Pokemon that can either knock it out with one attack or stock up on Quick Balls and Dusk Balls. I’ve had a lot of success with Dusk Balls in this game, so I recommend trying to catch Dratini at night.
Dratini is a skittish dragon-type and will despawn if it spots you approaching.
Dratini evolves into Dragonair at Level 30 and then Dragonite at Level 55, gaining the flying-type with its final evolution. With this dual-typing, Dragonite is strong against dragon, grass, fighting and bug-type Pokemon. However, its strength isn’t limited to type advantages; it also learns hard-hitting moves like Hurricane and Outrage that can get you out of a pickle. It has wide-coverage attacks, like Earthquake, in its move pool to damage multiple Pokemon in one go. You can also Mega Evolve Dragonite in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, although its Mega Stone becomes available after you complete Main Mission 32.
Note: You can also find Dratini or Dragonair on a rooftop in Bleu Sector 9 and Dragonite in Wild Zone 20 after you’ve completed the main storyline.
Capture Gible in Wild Zone 8
Gible can be found in Wild Zone 8.
If you’ve already got a flying-type Pokemon on your team and want to widen the type matchups you cover, capturing Gible and evolving it into its final evolution, Garchomp, is one of the best things you can do.
You can find Gible in one of Wild Zone 8’s many holes — keep an eye out for its blue fin popping out to show that it has spawned. Depending on your luck, you might find one right away, or it’ll take a few bench resets to spot one among the many Drilbur of this Wild Zone. So, once you’ve spotted the blue fin, save your game and head right into the battle.
Gible isn’t skittish and won’t run away, but Wild Zone 8 can quickly become a fighting fest that’s difficult to manage. Bring a Pokemon that’s fast or can use moves that deal damage over a wide area — think water-type Pokemon. Also bring Great Balls, Ultra Balls, and Dusk Balls; these will be your best bet for capturing Gible, since it has a low capture rate like Dratini.
Gible will evolve into Gabite at Level 24, and then Gabite evolves into Garchomp at Level 48, so be prepared for a long leveling grind to get this top dragon. However, the effort is well worth it because adding the dragon and ground type Garchomp to your team lets you effectively use moves like Earthquake — more so than Dragonite — dealing damage quickly over wide areas, while defending against similarly strong attacks, thanks to its well-distributed stat total. You can also Mega Evolve Garchomp early in the game because its Mega Stone — Garchompite — is easy to get. You can buy it for 70,000 Pokemon Dollars from the Stone Emporium after completing Main Mission 10.
Find Goomy in Vert Sector 9 while it’s raining
Goomy spawns in Vert Sector 9 while it’s raining.
Goomy is the third powerful dragon-type Pokemon that you can find early in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. To catch one, you will need to wait for rain in Lumiose City — it only comes out in wet weather.
The weather doesn’t have a fixed pattern in this game, so sitting on a bench to change the time of day is how you’ll get it to start pouring. Once it’s raining, Goomy is easy to find but a little tough to capture.
Goomy spawns in Vert Sector 9. The easiest way to get there is to fast-travel to Vernal Pokemon Center. Once you’re there, enter the alley right before the nearby hair salon and follow the path until you see an arched gateway. The gateway is opposite a battle court and may have boulders blocking your passage. Once you’re past it, take a quick look towards the bridge down below and you’ll see a Goomy waiting for you. This area is also a fixed spawn location for Eevee, if you’re trying to get every Eevee evolution in your playthrough.
Head to the location marked on the map, while it’s raining, to find Goomy.
Now, Goomy evolves into Sliggoo at Level 40. However, to evolve Sliggoo into Goodra, you’ll need to first train it to Level 50 and then wait yet again for rain in Lumiose City. You’ll only be able to evolve Sliggoo in wet weather — try to time leveling up to 50 or beyond while it’s pouring.
Unlike Dragonite and Garchomp, Goodra is a pure dragon-type and doesn’t have a Mega Evolution, but its extremely high Special Defense stat makes it a great Pokemon to have. Also, if you have the Mega Dimension DLC, then you can also find Hisuian Goodra in five-star hyperspace zones. It’s similar to a traditional Goodra in many ways, but has an added steel-type, giving it an edge in some battles.
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More pseudo-legendary dragon-types in Pokemon Legends: Z-A
Salamence and Bagon can be found in Wild Zone 18.
Apart from Dratini, Gible and Goomy, Pokemon Legends: Z-A features two other pseudo-legendary dragon-type Pokemon: Bagon and Frigibax. Unfortunately, getting them early isn’t possible and for the latter, you need to buy and complete the storyline of the Mega Dimension DLC.
But if you want to add them to your party, Bagon can be found in Wild Zone 18, which unlocks after completing Main Mission 30. You can also catch an Alpha Salamence (Bagon’s final form) right in front of where Bagon spawns, a small test that allows you to start using Salamence right away.
For Frigibax, you’ll need to collect 25,000 Hyperspace Survey Points, activate a special scan by talking to Philippe in Rust Syndicate’s office building and then hope to roll a five-star hyperspace zone which spawns Frigibax. This five-star zone is likely to have its entire evolutionary line, too, so you can also capture Arctibax and Baxcalibur.
Both Salamence and Baxcalibur can also Mega Evolve. To get a Salamencite, collect 360 Mega Shards and head to Quasartico Inc. headquarters to trade for it. And Baxcalibrite was first offered as a reward for reaching Rank S in Pokemon Z-A Ranked Battles Season 4. However, at the time of writing, Ranked Battles Season 6 also offers it as a reward for reaching Rank V.
Other pseudo-legendaries in Pokemon Legends: Z-A
Larvitar spawns on several rooftops across Lumiose City.
Before we leave you, if you’ve got your fill of dragon-type Pokemon but still have a spot in your party, there are two other pseudo-legendaries worth capturing in Pokemon Legends: Z-A; Larvitar and Beldum.
Larvitar can be caught early in the game, but it requires some precise movement control. I recommend waiting until you’ve started Main Mission 16 and unlocked Roto Glide to catch Larvitar. As for Beldum, you will need to wait until Main Mission 35.
For Larvitar, head to the point marked in the screenshot below; it’s located in Vert Sector 2. Once you’re there, climb up the nearest ladder, turn left and walk along the rooftop. Once you’re at the end with the boxes, use Roto Glide to cross the gap and you’ll find Larvitar waiting to be captured.
Climb the ladder at the point marked on the map to start your hunt for Larvitar.
Capturing Beldum is much simpler, but you’ll need to complete over half the main storyline before you get a chance to capture one. Beldum always spawns on floor B1F in Lysandre Labs. After you unlock the location, head to the room marked in the screenshot to find one. Beldum tends to spawn in pairs.
Occasionally, you’ll also find a Metang in the same Lysandre Labs basement. This one is even harder to capture, so make sure to have Dusk Balls handy and a Pokemon that can afflict status conditions like sleep or paralysis. You should also try to perform a manual save right after you knock out Beldum or Metang in battle so that you can soft reset and get another shot at capturing it.
Beldum can be found in B1F of Lysandre Labs located inside Lysandre Cafe.
You’re now set to power up your team in Pokemon Legends: Z-A with strong dragon-types and other pseudo-legendaries that are available. So head out there and capture these Pokemon to tackle the brand-new battle mechanics and online players.
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