One of the strangest things about Legendary Pokémon is that there are now 62 of them — and that’s without including Mythicals like Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi. In a way, the fact that approximately 7% of Pokémon are now considered ‘Legendary’ almost takes away from the magic that term is supposed to hold.
Still, these Pokémon are all one of a kind. After putting together lists of the ten best Legendary Pokémon and ten worst Legendary Pokémon, we decided to take on the Sisyphean task of officially ranking all 62, because why not? Someone had to do it eventually.
This was implied in the first paragraph, but for the sake of clarity: This list only includes Legendary Pokémon, meaning that no Mythicals appear here. If you’re annoyed about why Mew isn’t number one, it’s because it is — technically speaking — not a Legendary Pokémon. Mewtwo, on the other hand, is.
Here are all 62 Legendary Pokémon currently known to exist, ranked from worst to best. Buckle up, folks — this is going to be a wild ride.
One of Pokémon’s newest Legendaries, Calyrex is a floating rabbit with an egregiously large head. Yep.
Its shape makes no sense, it seems to be okay with possessing innocent humans despite the fact it is clearly causing them pain by doing so, and its sob story isn’t particularly sobworthy. It’s a 1/10 from us.
Okay, Zygarde is admittedly quite good in terms of how capable it is in battle. But what exactly is it?
A giant slug? A dragon snail with a discolored peacock plumage? A dog who eventually turns into Pokémon Optimus Prime (yes, really)? We don’t care how great Thousand Arrows is — Zygarde sucks. Moving on.
Most of the Forces of Nature are objectively bad — although we’ve excluded Enamorus from this list on account of the fact we haven’t caught or used it yet.
The worst one, though? Tornadus. While the picture above shows it in its regular Forme, its Therian Forme — which we can’t currently locate in the anime — makes it look like an oversized green chicken with a cheap pompadour. Absolutely tragic.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: It’s just a horse, but made of ice. Trash.
Imagine a DNA helix, but it’s mixed with the ribbons ballerinas use, which we recently learned are called aerial threads. Now make it a dragon who can transform into a 328-feet-tall starfish.
Eternatus is either the worst Pokémon of all time or best Pokémon of all time depending on whether you consider irrefutable stupidity to be a valuable factor in a Pokémon’s design ethos. In our eyes, it’s beyond lucky it hasn’t finished dead last.
A Legendary Pokémon made by scientists who isn’t Mewtwo. Not very original, is it? Plus it doesn’t have the whole “synthesized from Mew’s DNA” thing going for it either.
Silvally being a Legendary Pokémon is either uninspired or nonsense. As a regular Pokémon, it’s actually pretty decent. Fit to stand next to the likes of Ho-oh, Rayquaza, and Zapdos though? Nah.
Everything we said about Silvally also applies to Type: Null, although its weird axe helmet makes it slightly cooler. Still not necessarily a good Legendary, but definitely a decent Pokémon in general.
Another Force of Nature, Thundurus is slightly better than Tornadus purely because its single horn looks like a mohawk. You know for a fact this is the kind of Legendary Pokémon a Gen 1 Cue Ball would go for.
A block of ice. Brilliant.
Virizion isn’t a bad Pokémon by any means, but “deer made of leaves” isn’t exactly a concept that screams “Legendary.”
It’s definitely one of the better Grass-types available, and we’ve actually got a bit of a soft spot for all of the Swords of Justice. To be honest though, part of us wishes this lad was the Grass-type Eeveelution — that way it would gain some much-needed respect while also permanently booting Leafeon out of the series. Two Pokémon, one (Leaf) stone.
Do you know what? We feel bad putting Uxie this low on the list. It’s a lovely, cute, happy Pokémon who has never done anything to hurt anyone — and that’s part of the reason why it’s so boring.
Uxie is an infinite font of knowledge who assists Generation 4 and 8 players with saving the world. Even on the verge of the apocalypse though, it’s as forgettable as Tobey Maguire in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A perfectly nice Pokémon who is unfortunately outshone by the majority of its fellow Legendaries through no fault of its own.
It’s a block of rocks. Do you know what, though? Rock is super-effective against Ice, so this Regi somehow gets away with being a great big lump of unrefined stone.
A lot of people reckon Cosmoem looks a bit silly, but we can appreciate Game Freak’s ambition to experiment with wacky designs in Gen 7.
A small sphere in a baby mobile surrounded by some kind of mineral-based space larva? Weird! But sometimes weird is good.
Admittedly, we’re not fans of Reshiram. The main reason it’s been placed higher than what we see as objectively better Pokémon like Cosmoem and Regirock is because it is very emphatically a Legendary Pokémon.
Sometimes, the concept of “Legendary” manifests in how unique a Pokémon might look. On occasion, however, it becomes important to pay our respects to enormous dragons with tails made of actual fire. Our personal feelings towards Reshiram are outweighed by how indisputably Legendary it is — it truly earns that capital L.
(But also this is our list so we don’t have to put it too high.)
This guy is the average Joe of the Lake Guardians. It’s cooler than Uxie, but probably nowhere near as talented. Mesprit, meanwhile, outperforms it in terms of aesthetic, combat viability, and general context. That’s not a spoiler, by the way — if Uxie and Azelf have already appeared, obviously Mesprit is the highest-ranking Lake Guardian. The question is: How high did it get?
Azelf is fine. Its trial in Legends: Arceus is probably the most inspired one, and it’s a relatively fun Pokémon to use on some teams. As far as Legendary Pokémon go, though… Sorry, Azelf. Bottom 20.
We know there are quite a few Cress fans out there, although we can’t claim to have ever met any of you in person. Are there really people who love this Pokémon as much as they say they do? Because the truth is… Cresselia is pretty okay.
But that’s as far as it goes: pretty okay. It has a decent design and is brilliant to use in single-player, but this Pokémon has become such an irritating stall in online play that we’re surprised anyone can look at it without flying into a frenzy. Light Screen, Moonlight, Toxic, Psychic… If you’ve ever used that set in an online setting, you should be ashamed of yourself.
It’s a big block of steel. Do you know what, though? Steel is extremely cool — especially in Pokémon. As far as the three Hoenn Regis go, Registeel’s victory was decided two decades ago.
We used to hate Xerneas, but then New Pokémon Snap gave it a starring role and… yeah. Turns out, Xerneas is pretty damn cool. That’s all we can really say about it.
Let’s get one thing straight: Regigigas looks like a total moron. It’s a massive… something, with grass growing out of its shoulders and hands that look like claw machines for giant children. All of this is to say that although it looks downright ridiculous, it’s certainly unique.
Regigigas also has some fascinating lore that can’t be ignored — for example, did you know it has physically moved continents in the Pokémon world? Yup. Pretty Legendary.
Urshifu was originally ranked quite a bit lower, but in hindsight we think that had more to do with how lacking the Isle of Armor DLC was than how well-designed its proprietary Legendary is.
The fact it can have two alternate typings is pretty cool — despite how annoying it is to grind for either of them — and it’s a decently viable Pokémon on the competitive circuit. We’re not sure whether or not we needed another Fighting-type Pokémon, but yeah. According to this list, it’s better than almost 20 other Legendary Pokémon, so it can’t be that bad.
Alola’s four Tapus are all pretty great, although Tapu Lele’s Psychic/Fairy typing has unfortunately been done to death at this point. It’s also the weakest of the bunch in terms of aesthetic, looking more like a knock-off Diancie than a Legendary Pokémon of its own accord.
We’re sorry, Tapu Lele. You’re great, but your friends are better.
Two Tapus in a row! Tapu Bulu’s septum piercing definitely makes it the edgiest of Alola’s four guardian deities, but even it pales in comparison to Koko and Fini.
As of the last couple of entries, we’ve been officially at the point where every Pokémon listed from here on out is objectively good — it’s just some Legendary ‘mons are more good than others. We really like Tapu Bulu and have used it on lots of occasions, but it unfortunately doesn’t crack the top 40 when it comes to Legendaries across the board.
Necrozma looks stupid, but it also comes from outer space and can steal the appearances of its Legendary rivals. It doesn’t matter how stupid you look when you’re an extraterrestrial badass.
Part of us wishes that Urshifu never existed.
Without its evolved form weighing it down, this baby battle bear could have been a real all-timer. Kubfu is the saving grace of an extremely middling DLC, which would have been almost totally pointless if not for its introduction of Squirtle.
Oh, and the Sharpedo who chase you around the island at the speed of light. They’re pretty cool, too.
For what it’s worth, Giratina Origin Forme is a top 15 Legendary Pokémon. The version of Giratina pictured above, however — Giratina Altered Forme — could give Calyrex a run for its money as the worst.
Just look at it. It’s a giant slug with elephant legs, an exoskeletal ribcage made of golden teeth, and wings that look like smoke from burnt toast. It’s essentially the most moronic chimeric cryptid ever conceived of. Theoretically speaking, it shouldn’t even be able to move. Bizarre.
Palkia is pretty good. It has a cool typing and access to great moves, but its shoulders look like cosmic Babybels and its body is basically just “Golisopod but pink.”
There’s nothing wrong with Palkia — there’s just nothing noticeably right about it either.
Okay, we admit it — Gen 4 has some of the worst Legendary Pokémon in history. We’re at number 36 and we’ve already had Uxie, Azelf, Giratina, Palkia, and now Dialga. Ouch.
It’s important to note that all of these Pokémon are fine — it’s just that none of them stand out as all-timers. Dialga in particular looks decent and hits like a freight train from another dimension, but it’s also a Dragon-type who gets annihilated by Earthquake. Embarrassing.
If you’re a Gen 4 lover, we truly are sorry. For what it’s worth, we listed Pokémon Platinum as one of the best Pokémon games of all time. We just reckon Sinnoh’s Legendaries are a little lacking.
Luckily, Mesprit helps to fix that issue. Even though it pulls a Suicune by roaming the entire region after you encounter it, it has a great design, makes a solid support Pokémon, and has the most fascinating backstory of all three Lake Guardians thanks to its title as the “Being of Emotion.” We reckon it would be great fun at parties.
The Swords of Justice are just plain cool. While Virizion didn’t fare particularly well on this list, Cobalion is a whole other kettle of Magikarp.
Apparently, Cobalion can calm frenzied people and Pokémon simply by staring at them. Our question is: Where was it in Legends: Arceus? Probably would have made the whole “Noble Pokémon are going berserk” thing a whole lot easier to rectify.
Reshiram may have been placed pretty low on this list, but its Unovan counterpart can still redeem Gen 5’s box art picks.
Zekrom is great for several reasons: Dragon/Electric is an extremely cool type, its arms and wings are shaped like a mixture between Scizor and Lugia, and its matte black scales are sick.
Unfortunately, the rest of Zekrom’s getup is just a bit ordinary. Gen 5 also never makes proper use of its Legendary storytelling potential. A shame.
Lunala is a massive vampire bat from the cosmos who looks like Dracula mixed with a load of scimitars made from lunar steel.
Need we say anything more?
A lot of what we said about Cosmoem earlier in this list is also applicable to Cosmog. The key difference here is that Cosmog is approximately a million times cuter than its evolved form.
Its arms — which are made of clouds — contain actual stars. Anyone who claims to hate Cosmog is heartless.
On one hand, Kyurem is a big stupid ice chicken. On the other, Kyurem is a big stupid ice chicken. We’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions from those two sentences.
In all seriousness, Kyurem-White and Kyurem-Black are significantly cooler versions of Reshiram and Zekrom, respectively. It would be impossible not to include them in the top 30 Legendary Pokémon of all time.
There are admittedly some things that annoy us about Yveltal. The fact it’s shaped like the letter “Y” because it’s the mascot of a game called Pokémon Y is a bit ridiculous. We’re also not necessarily fans of its story in Gen 6.
Compared to the other two members of the aura trio, Zygarde and Xerneas, though? This guy is a Ferrari next to a Hot Wheels set. It looks sick, has brilliantly terrifying lore, and is the only Pokémon currently known to exist who can learn Oblivion Wing. Yveltal rules.
Imagine a tortoise, okay, except its body is somehow made of nothing but steel and molten lava. Congratulations! You’ve imagined Heatran, one of the only good Legendary Pokémon in Gen 4.
We’re on the verge of the top 25 and are only now mentioning the first of the three Legendary Dogs.
Entei — who is literally known as the “Volcano Pokémon” — is a massive creature who looks like a mixture between a lion, a bear, and a wizard, the last of which comes courtesy of its extremely wise mustache.
It’s probably prudent to mention that we’ve now reached a point in this list where everything mentioned from here on out can be considered “great.” Regardless of whether your favorite comes in first or 21st place, you can rest easy knowing that we reckon it’s brilliant.
A saber-tooth tiger with purple hair and a penchant for giving Thor a run for his money when it comes to “Most lightning summoned per day”? Yeah, it’s safe to say that Raikou rocks.
It’s not quite as good as the original Kantonian thunderbird — which isn’t a spoiler given that its absence so far is conspicuous — but Galarian Zapdos is still a worthy homage to one of the all-time greats.
Just look at this thing. It’s basically an orange roadrunner with feet the size of an actual boulder. One kick from this lad would knock God himself unconscious. Amazing.
While the other Forces of Nature were listed in the bottom ten, Landorus Therian is an excellent Legendary Pokémon.
It probably would have fared even better if it was designed as a standalone legend, but unfortunately its status as part of an otherwise awful trio — now quartet — inhibits it slightly.
Still, anyone who has played their fair share of competitive Pokémon will know how versatile this ‘mon is. Ground/Flying is an outstandingly cool — and brilliantly irritating — dual typing.
We weren’t the biggest fans of Galarian Articuno when the Crown Tundra expansion originally came out, but in hindsight: Mirages? Shadow-based tracking? One of the most elegant color schemes in Pokémon history?
Yeah, okay. Galarian Articuno is great.
Galarian Articuno may be great, but the best of Galar’s Legendary Birds is Moltres. While it mostly eschews its fiery nature for a Dark/Flying hybrid typing, its signature move — Fiery Wrath — is excellent (although it’s technically Dark-type, so how “fiery” is it really?).
It can, however, learn a single Fire-type technique via tutoring: Burning Jealousy. It’s pretty cool to see how many of this Pokémon’s moves match its edgelord aesthetic.
Just missing out on the top 20, Latias is a brilliant Pokémon who fans of Ruby & Sapphire will likely have extremely fond memories of. Well, forgetting the fact that it goes on the run across all of Hoenn and flies away any time you don’t track it on foot. In hindsight, not the most enjoyable Pokémon experience…
Latias has great stats, a slick aesthetic, and a stellar typing that still allows it to be a formidable pick today. All in all, it’s a remarkably respectable Pokémon.
The only reason Latios is higher on the list than Latias is because the former is much more offensive, both in terms of its stats and movepool.
We’re pretty aggressive players, so naturally our preference is for the Eon dragon who hits harder — although by all other metrics, both of these ‘mons are basically equal to one another.
It should come as no surprise that all three Kantonian Legendary Birds make the top 20.
The first one to appear is Moltres, who is quite frankly one of the most impressive Legendaries of all time. From the way it was hidden away in Victory Road back in Gen 1 to its maintained relevance today, this is an example of how to design the kind of Pokémon who revels in its Legendary status.
Sure, it might be the lowest-placed of all three Legendary Birds — but that doesn’t take away from how phenomenal it is. As we said, every Pokémon from here until the end is fantastic. If Pokémon were real, we’d part with 50 Master Balls to add this lad to our team.
Imagine a lion, right, except it’s actually a space lion. As in yes, Solgaleo is basically the manifestation of the best song from Cowboy Bebop.
What’s that? You want more? Sorry, but nothing tops that. Any issues… well, let’s just say you can take them up with Spike.
The second of Gen 1’s Legendary Birds, Articuno is one of a select few Pokémon who can almost single-handedly prevent Ice from being an irredeemably awful type.
From its mysterious location in the Seafoam Islands to its outstanding Special Defense stat, Articuno has a lot going for it even beyond its glittery aesthetic. On a good day, it could easily have placed a lot higher.
We originally didn’t have a whole lot of love for Sword & Shield’s eponymous shield, although our perspective shifted drastically when Game Freak decided to give out a free shiny variant last year.
Zamazenta has such a good shiny sprite — it’s pink! — that simply witnessing it improves every single facet of this Pokémon. Over the last few months, we’ve been Behemoth Bashing our way through Raid Dens and strolling through the Wild Area with our magenta best boy like it’s nobody’s business. The Shield of Galar is a solid 9/10.
Here we are, folks. The final and greatest Sword of Justice: Terrakion.
Just look at how happy this guy is, slowly gliding through the air before it inevitably crashes into the ground with the force of a cow-shaped supernova. Terrakion is great in competitive play, has an extremely cool typing, and is just a conceptually fascinating Pokémon in general. This is one of those precious few Legendaries who is undeservedly underrated.
This lad is just downright cool. Look at its mohawk! Its beak hands! Its Xatu-esque twin shoulder shields!
With one of the most electrifying Speed stats in the game, Tapu Koko is a versatile sweeper who can add a whole lot to a variety of different teams. Again, the Tapus are all great — Koko is the second-greatest though.
As the big boss man from Cerulean Cave, there was no way that Mewtwo wasn’t going to make the top 15.
Sure, he might have tried to kill everyone in the first Pokémon movie. And yeah, he might not be the nicest guy around in Detective Pikachu. The problem is that Mewtwo is just misunderstood. If humans gave him a reason to believe we weren’t rubbish, we’re sure he’d be a whole lot friendlier. It’s our fault that Mewtwo is mean, capisce?
Gen 8 had stellar Legendaries, so it’s no surprise to see one of the Crown Tundra’s new Regis appear this close to the top ten.
Regieleki is the fastest Pokémon in history and hits like a lightning bolt thrown by Zeus himself. Its move pool is pretty shallow, but who cares? The lad is a walking transistor with voltage incarnate for biceps. Whoever designed Regieleki is a genius.
Its arms are a dragon’s mouth. Enough said.
The only thing that beats Sword & Shield’s shield is its sword. Try say that ten times without messing up.
Seriously though. It’s a dog with a sword in its mouth. Obviously it’s in the top ten Legendary Pokémon of all time.
Also, just like Zamazenta, Zacian’s shiny sprite is excellent. We actually don’t do anything in Pokémon Sword anymore aside from taking 10,000 screenshots of the two of them sat next to each other in camp.
Another Gen 8 Legendary, Spectrier boasts a fantastic design and unique competitive viability thanks to its signature ability, Grim Neigh.
Sure, it tries to destroy Freezington during the Crown Tundra story. And yeah, it can easily be countered by anyone with even relatively competent competitive literacy. Do either of those things detract from how badass the idea of a ghost horse is, though? Nope — especially not when its counterpart is the aforementioned, objectively bad ice horse.
Here it is: The greatest Tapu in all of Alola.
On top of having what is arguably one of the best type combinations available, Tapu Fini has access to a variety of excellent builds. It’s also a mermaid in swordfish armor, which obviously adds some much-welcome style points to the mix.
Ever since the first episode of the Pokémon anime aired, trainers all over the world have been fascinated by Ho-oh. Just look at it in the picture above, gracefully and glitterfully (not a word, but shhh) gliding through the sky as if it doesn’t have a care in the world.
But, plot twist: It has many cares in the world. The Tin Tower is ruined! Only the almighty Rainbow Pokémon is capable of making Johto as wonderfully weird as it used to be. Don’t worry, Ho-oh. We believe in you.
A big, hulking whale of a thing that lurks in the deepest trenches of the ocean, Kyogre is the kind of Pokémon that makes you think, “Yeah, maybe they do come up with designs that aren’t just prompted by ‘Wait, where are my car keys?’ or ‘I’d really love an ice cream cone’.”
In all seriousness, Kyogre is a phenomenon. It is extremely popular in the meta, plays a pivotal and exciting role in the Gen 3 storyline, and looks awesome to boot. It’s actually a bit disconcerting to think about how difficult it is to critique a Pokémon this undeniably great.
Unfortunately, Kyogre isn’t quite as good as its super-ancient counterpart: Groudon.
This guy is a dinosaur made of rocks who sleeps for thousands of years in beds of magma. It has its own, unique version of Earthquake that is 20% stronger and called “Precipice Blades.” Literally everything about Groudon — wait for it! — rocks. Ba dum tss!
It’s pretty nice to see a Gen 1 Pokémon still maintain a comfortable position in the top five out of a possible 62.
There are multiple reasons for Zapdos’ enduring magnificence. Like Moltres and Articuno, its presence in a fairly arbitrary part of Kanto adds to its inherent mystique — but the Seafoam Islands are on the map and Victory Road is an area you’re forced to visit. The Power Plant, meanwhile, is hidden away in plain sight and far too easily missed. Meeting Zapdos for the first time is still one of our fondest memories of playing Pokémon as a kid.
It also looks great and can alternate between Thunderbolt and Drill Peck to straight up bully the vast majority of other Pokémon in PvE. A legend in every sense of the word.
Top three time! Rayquaza being placed this high on the list is probably the exact opposite of controversial given that it is unanimously beloved as one of the single greatest Pokémon ever conceived of.
Just look at it. It’s a deity from the Ozone layer who looks like a dragon mixed with various sorts of torpedo. It’s one of the most artistically inspired Pokémon of all time — the fact its Mega version is on par with Mewtwo as the most powerful obtainable ‘mon in any Pokémon game is just icing on the Alcremie.
Our silver medal goes to Suicune, the graceful leader of the Legendary Dogs who is still irrefutably fantastic over two decades since its introduction.
It’s almost impossible to meaningfully critique Suicune. It’s seamlessly integrated into Gen 2’s story; it has phenomenal stats; and it’s a bona fide powerhouse in battle. Anyone who doesn’t like Sui-cune is probably just a Sui-goon. We got that one from Eusine.
Honestly, we shouldn’t even have to explain ourselves. There is only one Pokémon in existence who is capable of claiming the title of ‘Best Legendary Pokémon’, and you’re looking at it.
No, seriously. We don’t need to explain ourselves because this is objectively correct. Lugia is the best Legendary Pokémon of all time and there are no two ways about it. Thanks for reading.
Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.
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