Catching them the non-Master Ball way, of course.

These are the general guidelines as to what to do when confronting any Pokemon that you only get one chance to battle. Most Legendaries fall under this category. (NOTE: Entei, Raikou, Latias, Latios, and Suicune (Suicune in Gold and Silver versions  does not fall under this category, but Suicune in Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver versions does) have different strategies; these will be covered immediately afterward.)

For any stationary Legendary that you choose when you fight it (assuming you’ve progressed to certain points in the games’ storylines, of course), the number one rule is to SAVE BEFORE YOU FIGHT IT. This ensures that you WILL eventually catch it as long as you persevere.

Generally, you want to go in with a ton of Ultra Balls (or Dusk Balls if it’s night/in a cave) and maybe a few Quick Balls (both of those last two are Sinnoh region only). You’d throw the Quick Balls at the beginning, maybe after attacking once or twice. After the fifth turn of battle, it’s not worth it to use the Quick Balls, so forget about them and switch to general capturing tactics: 1. Get the Pokemon to low health, as low as possible (False Swipe is great for this as it always leaves them with 1HP if the move was going to kill it) without killing it. (This is why you save before fighting it. If you run out of Ultra/Dusk Balls to catch it, or if you kill it by mistake, or if it kills all your Pokemon, just shut your DS off immediately [DON’T SAVE AFTER FIGHTING IT UNLESS YOU CATCH IT!] and then turn it back on, load your save, and you get a second chance. If you have bad luck again, you get a third chance. You get as long as you want to catch any Legendary… all you have to do is save before you fight it the first time.) 2. Inflict a status ailment on it if possible. (Status ailments are burn, poison, confusion, sleep, frozen, and paralysis. Burn, poison, and confusion are not recommended because they can kill the Pokemon. Sleep and freeze are good, but they wear off after a few turns. Paralysis lasts the entire battle and also cuts the Pokemon’s speed in half, which may or may not matter.)

After this, just keep throwing Ultra Balls/Dusk Balls in dark conditions. You will eventually catch it. If you run out, turn your game off and on as stated earlier and try again.

Pokemon that you use this tactic against along with the games they appear in:

• The legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres (Red, Yellow, Blue, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver)
• Mewtwo (Red, Yellow, Blue, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver)
• Mew (activated by events in all of these: Red, Yellow, Blue, FireRed, LeafGreen)
• Suicune (Crystal, HeartGold, SoulSilver)
• Ho-oh (Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, SoulSilver, FireRed (event), LeafGreen (event)
• Lugia (Same as Ho-oh)
• Celebi (activated by events in all of these: Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, SoulSilver)
• Groudon (Ruby, Emerald, SoulSilver)
• Kyogre (Sapphire, Emerald, HeartGold)
• Rayquaza (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, HeartGold, SoulSilver)
• Regirock (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (with event)
• Regice Same as Regirock
• Registeel Same as Regirock
• Deoxys (activated by events in all of these: Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen)
• Jirachi (activated by events in all of these: Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald)
• Dialga (Diamond, Platinum)
• Palkia (Pearl, Platinum)
• Giratina (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Heatran (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Regigigas (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Uxie (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Azelf (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Darkrai (activated by events in all of these: Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Shaymin (activated by events in all of these: Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Arceus (activated by events in all of these: Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)

Roaming Legendaries

These are Legendaries that randomly move throughout the land and you will sometimes encounter in tall grass or on the open water. These are much more annoying to catch than even the normal Legendaries. They can be caught without using a Master Ball though. First, here’s some things you should know about them:

1. As soon as you find one, it will run away as soon as it can (If it’s faster than the first Pokemon in your party, you won’t even get a chance to attack.)
2. If you get it down to (for example) half health in your one attack before it runs, it will still be at half health next time you encounter it.
3. The same as number 2 is true for status ailments (Again, paralysis is recommended).

To catch these, first you need to track them down. If you haven’t encountered the target Pokemon before, just play your game as normal until you encounter it in the tall grass or on the open water (never in caves). After the first time you find it, its location (constantly changing) will be shown in your Pokedex (or in the Map Marker app on your Poketch for Sinnoh users). Whenever you enter a new route or city, the Legendary’s location will move by one adjacent to the route it was last in (If you Fly anywhere or enter a building, it goes to a random route anywhere in the region. You need to walk/run/bike to your destination.). It skips over cities, and doesn’t enter caves or climb mountains. The way to find it is to find two routes that have tall grass and/or water in them, and keep going back and forth between those routes, checking the Legendary’s location until it’s in the same route you are. Then SAVE, enter the tall grass/water (If you use a Repel then the legendary will be the first Pokemon you encounter, but it doesn’t really matter), and wander around until you encounter it. Then make your one attack and inflict some damage or a status ailment, SAVE (assuming you actually got an attack in and it didn’t die) and then track it down all over again until you’re ready to catch it.

OR, you could go STRAIGHT to Phase 2 which is just confronting it in a direct battle. To do this, you need a Pokemon with either the ability Arena Trap (like Trapinch), the ability Shadow Tag (like Wobbuffet), or the move Mean Look or a similar move (Most Ghost-types can learn Mean Look.)

Phase 2 can be done right away, or after you’ve encountered the Pokemon a few times and have it at red health and paralyzed. Basically you just fight it as any other Legendary throwing Quick Balls for the first 5 turns and then Ultra Balls (Dusk Balls if it’s nighttime) until you catch it. Once you have it locked into battle, you need to keep the same Pokemon with Arena Trap/Shadow Tag/Mean Look in battle with the Roaming Pokemon. If your Pokemon dies or if you switch it out, the Roaming Legendary will flee. Use items on your Pokemon to keep it alive if needed. After you catch it, SAVE, then breathe a sigh of relief that you caught one of the most annoying Pokemon in the game to catch.

These are all the Roaming Legendaries and the games they appear in:

• The 3 legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres (These are only Roaming in Platinum. They are normal Legendaries in Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.)
• Raikou (Gold, Silver, Crystal, FireRed, LeafGreen)
• Entei (Same as Raikou)
• Suicune (Suicune is only Roaming in Gold, Silver, FireRed, and LeafGreen. It’s a normal Legendary in Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.)
• Latios (Ruby, Emerald, SoulSilver)
• Latias (Sapphire, Emerald, HeartGold)
• Mesprit (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Cresselia (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum)
• Key for Game Platforms:
• Red, Yellow, and Blue are for GB (Compatible with GBA as well) (Kanto region)
• Gold, Silver, and Crystal are for GBC (Compatible with GBA as well) (Johto region, afterwards unlocks Kanto region)
• Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are for GBA (Compatible with DS as well) (Hoenn region)
• FireRed and LeafGreen are for GBA (Compatible with DS as well) (Remake of RYB era; Kanto region)
• Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum are for DS (Sinnoh region)
• HeartGold and SoulSilver are for DS (Remake of GSC era; Johto region, afterwards unlocks Kanto region)

Black and White are for DS/3DS/Japanese DSi (Seeing as Black and White have only been released in Japan at the time this guide was published, no information is available in this guide about their Legendaries)

Hopefully you’re now familiar with how to catch Legendaries of both kinds. Good luck catching them all.