Naturally, the Mythical, Legendary, and Paradox Pokemon in Scarlet & Violetare much stronger than any regular Pokemon. These creatures include the four members of the Treasures Of Ruin: Chien-Pao, Chi-Yu, Ting-Lu, and Wo-Chien, as well as Miraidon and Koraidon. There are creatures outside of these Mythical, Legendary, and Paradox Pokemon that can be extremely powerful assets to any team in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.
7 Meowscarada (Grass/Dark)
To the dismay of many fans, the adorable Sprigatito evolved into the bipedal and powerful Meowscarada. Although the fanbase wanted to see this grass starter stay quadrupedal through its evolutionary line, it’s hard to say that Meowscarada isn’t a cool-looking and mysterious Pokemon.
Meowscarada isn’t just for show, it’s a hard-hitting and quick fighter that excels in both its speed and attack stats. The grass/dark-type evolution is rather lacking when it comes to the rest of its stats, including special defense, special attack, defense, and HP. Not only that, but Meowscarada has the most weaknesses of the fully evolved starters, being weak to fire, ice, flying, fighting, poison, fairy, and bug-type Pokemon.
6 Skeledirge (Fire/Ghost)
When Crocalor reaches level 36, it evolves into the prehistoric-looking fire/ghost-type Skeledirge. Although Skeledirge is the slowest of the three starters, with below-average speed, it’s a powerful and sturdy asset to any team. The fire gator is a ghost-type, making it immune to normal and fighting-type moves.
Skeledirge excels in its special attack stat, but also has high defense and HP. It may be slow, but it can certainly withstand an enemy’s attack and hit them back with a special fire-type move.
5 Annihilape (Fighting/Ghost)
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet introduced many new evolutions for pre-existing Pokemon, including Primeape. Annihilape, the new evolution for Primeape, is an all-around destructive and cool-looking Pokemon. This creature looks like it’s on the prowl, ready to destroy any and all things that stand in its way.
Annihilape is like many other fighting-types, excelling in attack and HP. It falls short with its special defense, speed, defense, and special attack stats, but its high attack stat and primary use of physical attacks make its low special attack not much of a loss. Like other ghost-types, Annihilape is immune to normal and fighting-type Pokemon.
4 Kingambit (Steel/Dark)
Kingambit is another evolution to a pre-existing Pokemon introduced in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. The Generation V Pokemon, Bisharp, now evolves into Kingambit after equipping the Leader’s Crest and defeating three Bisharp also holding the evolutionary item. Aside from looking insanely cool, Kingambit is a powerful asset for trainers to add to their teams later on in the game.
Kingambit is relatively balanced in its stats, excelling in attack, defense, and HP but falling short with speed, special attack, and special defense. It’s the general stat distribution for any steel-type, so this is to be expected. However, Kingambit only has three weaknesses, unlike many others who have upwards of four or five, being weak to fire, ground, and fighting-type Pokemon. Since it’s a steel/dark-type, it’s immune to poison and psychic-type moves.
3 Gholdengo (Steel/Ghost)
Pokemon fans had many expectations for the franchise’s 1000th Pokemon, but no one expected that it would be as goofy-looking as Gholdengo. This “surfer dude” Pokemon evolves from Gimmighoul by an unconventional evolution method. In order to evolve Gimmighoul into Gholdengo, players must obtain 999 coins in “Let’s Go” Mode.
Gholdengo may look a bit silly, but it’s a beast when it comes to battling. This ghost/steel-type is the strongest non-legendary ghost-type introduced in Generation IX. It has beefy defense and special defense stats as well as a threateningly high special attack stat. Gholdengo can certainly stand its ground in a battle against other Pokemon.
2 Baxcalibur (Dragon/Ice)
When Arctibax reaches level 54, it evolves into the powerful pseudo-legendary dragon/ice-type Pokemon, Baxcalibur. This mighty ally is certainly one that deserves to stand alongside Dragonite, Hydreigon, and other beloved dragon-type pseudo-legendaries. Baxcalibur is strong, it’s got an insanely high attack stat with beefy defenses and high HP. Although its special attack, speed, and special defense are lacking, it doesn’t take away from how truly powerful this dragon-type is.
Its typing makes it weak to dragon, fairy, fighting, rock, and steel-type attacks, but Baxcalibur has the defenses to take a hit from one of these move types.
1 Palafin (Water)
Palafin is an interesting Pokemon introduced in Scarlet & Violet. Not only does it evolve using an unconventional method of evolution, but the Palafin’s ability, “Zero To Hero,” makes it one of the most powerful water-types introduced in Generation IX. Finizen will evolve into Palafin at level 38, but only if players engage in multiplayer mode and have a friend watch their Finizen battle to trigger the evolution into Palafin.
“Zero To Hero” makes use of the move “Flip Turn,” which can be learned by Finizen upon its evolution into Palafin. The move works similarly to U-Turn and Volt Switch, damaging the enemy’s Pokemon and allowing the player to immediately switch their own out. When Palafin is sent back out in the same battle, “Zero To Hero” will trigger, allowing Palafin to transform into its “Hero Form.” Palafin’s Hero Form gives it a nearly 200-point increase in stats, putting it on par with the stats of some pseudo-legendary and Legendary Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is available on Nintendo Switch.
More: Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: Best Generation 9 Ghost-Types, Ranked
