Best Pokemon in Legends Z-A’s Season 5 Ranked Battles

A few weeks ago, we reported on the best Pokemon to use in Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Season 4 Ranked Battles. For the most part, every Pokemon we listed there is still perfectly viable in Season 5. This time around, though, Season 5 allows both sub-Legendary Pokemon and Mythical Pokemon. Which means you’re going to see a lot of Magearna and Melmetal running around. They’re now some of the strongest Pokemon in the metagame, and today we’re going over some movesets you can expect to see on each of them.

Melmetal

As you might expect, Melmetal is quite literally disgustingly powerful. Steel is already a fantastic type in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and Melmetal has Double Iron Bash. This is one of the best moves in the game – it has a gigantic range and hits hard off of Melmetal’s huge Attack stat. Melmetal also gets Dynamic Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Earthquake, and Giga Impact for coverage. Ice Punch is an absolute requirement on Melmetal, given that it’s technically weak to Garchomp’s Earthquake. Garchomp is still one of (if not the) best Pokemon in the game, and ironically, its Earthquake beats most of the new Pokemon listed here. For an item, something like Life Orb works great. Most Pokemon should run 252 EVs in HP and 252 EVs in their preferred attacking stat, and that’s no different for Melmetal.

Magearna

This thing is ridiculous. Steel and Fairy is one of the greatest type combinations in the game, and Magearna has the power and defenses to back it up. With Fleur Cannon, Solar Beam, Steel Beam, and Calm Mind, Magearna’s attacks have a huge range and hit extremely hard. Magearna can Mega Evolve into Mega Magearna to drastically increase its Sp. Attack. When you use a beam move, we’d recommend always using them as Plus Moves – this makes them come out way faster so you can get kills easier. If you’re not running Mega Magearna, you can use a Shuca Berry as a held item instead.

Volcanion

Volcanion has an interesting typing, plus high defenses and a high Sp. Attack stat. It’s also got Steam Eruption, which has a high base power and can leave opponents with a burn. Volcanion also gets Heat Wave, Overheat, Earth Power, and Solar Beam, so it’s got plenty of options. Unfortunately, it is weak to Ground-type moves, and Earthquake is absolutely everywhere in Pokemon Legends: Z-A ranked battles. Still, it’s used quite often, and has a good number of unique strengths.

Heatran

Continuing the trend of strong Pokemon with Ground-type weaknesses, we’ve got Heatran. If this thing gets hit by a Ground-type move, it’s dead. So you should probably run a Flying-type Pokemon alongside it just in case. Still, Heatran has some insane strengths: its signature move, Magma Storm, covers a huge area, and can leave enemies with a burn. Heatran should stick to special attacks, and it has a few additional options to use: Earth Power, Solar Beam, Dark Pulse, and Dragon Pulse. Heatran doesn’t have a way to boost its offenses, however, and it’s almost completely helpless against Garchomp. Regardless, it can effortlessly destroy most other opponents, especially when Mega Evolved. Or, you can forgo Mega Evolution and run a Focus Sash instead to guarantee that Heatran survives a Ground-type move.

Terrakion

In this game, Terrakion is the strongest of the Swords of Justice, and it serves as a glass cannon. Run a Life Orb and use Head Smash, Close Combat, Swords Dance, and either Earthquake or Poison Jab. Some Terrakion also fit in Giga Impact instead. This is a pretty simple Pokemon to use, and you’ll definitely be defeated a few times, but Terrakion has a lot of power and is worth using.

You’ll also see Darkrai, Keldeo, Meloetta, Hoopa Unbound, and Genesect every so often during your ranked battles, but these generally have more defined weaknesses than the Pokemon listed above. As a heads-up, Genesect usually runs a Fire or Water Drive with Techno Blast as one of its attacks. Cobalion, Virizion, Latias, Latios, and Zeraora are all allowed here as well – Zeraora looks strong with its new Mega Evolution, but Ampharos generally works better thanks to its access to Charge, Meteor Beam, and Reflect.

Though currently unconfirmed, it’s possible that the next season allows Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. If that happens, expect the power level to increase by a ton! When Season 6 is underway, we’ll report back with more viable Pokemon you can use to win ranked battles. In the meantime, you can learn more about the Mega Dimension DLC over at its official website.