The best Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Season 2 Ranked Battles

A while back, we wrote a guide on the worst Pokemon to use in online ranked battles in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. As helpful as that knowledge is, it doesn’t actually help you score wins against other trainers, so this time we’re talking about the strongest Pokemon you can possibly use in competitive battles. This also assumes they’re fully EV and IV trained, which thankfully is fairly simple to do in this game.

Garchomp

At the time of writing, Garchomp is generally the best Pokemon you can use in online ranked battles. Not Mega Garchomp, either – just regular old Garchomp. You’ll usually see it run a Focus Sash as its held item – that way, it can survive a super-effective Ice or Fairy-type move and fire off one more attack before fainting. It can also run Assault Vest or Yache Berry to great effect. Garchomp has a high Attack stat, plus surprisingly strong defenses. Outrage is a particularly strong move here – normally, its drawback is confusion, but confusion in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is extremely undertuned and you usually won’t even notice that your Pokemon is confused at all. Dragon Rush, Iron Tail, Earthquake, Iron Head, Dig, and Swords Dance are more examples of viable moves it can run. Steel-types are very common in ranked battles, so a powerful Ground-type like Garchomp is nearly required.

Metagross

Both Metagross and Mega Metagross are extremely strong, and you’ll quite literally see a Metagross in almost every match you play online. Mega Metagross has fantastic offenses and defenses, plus it learns powerful moves like Heavy Slam, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch. In the fourth slot, Metagross will usually run Earthquake or Explosion. Explosion seems counter-intuitive, but if your Pokemon knocks itself out, no other trainers get the point for it. So when Metagross is at yellow health, you can choose to use Explosion to prevent others from gaining a point as well as dealing big damage to anybody nearby. Regular Metagross is good too, and it usually runs an Assault Vest to become even bulkier. Shuca Berry and Expert Belt are viable too, though. When playing online, make sure you have a Ground-type that can knock out Metagross, because you’ll be seeing it a lot.

Xerneas

As of Season 2, Xerneas and Yveltal are now allowed in online play. Xerneas is currently the strongest Legendary Pokemon available in the game, and it’s absolutely ridiculous with a Quick Claw equipped. Its signature move, Geomancy, boosts its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, but takes a while to set up. Quick Claw doesn’t always activate, but when it does, this boost happens instantly. Moonblast is its strongest attack, but it can also use Thunder, Thunderbolt, Focus Blast, or Psychic for coverage. Xerneas does lose to Metagross and takes heavy damage from Steel-types, but it does very well against every other Pokemon. And even then, it’s surprisingly bulky, so it can sometimes live attacks from Mega Metagross or Excadrill.

Glaceon

Glaceon probably feels out of place here, because Eevee evolutions generally aren’t super-powerful Pokemon. When it holds a Never-Melt-Ice, however, its Freeze-Dry becomes hugely problematic to many kinds of opponents. Freeze-Dry not only deals super-effective damage to Garchomp, but it also hits Gyarados for major damage. Glaceon also has decent defenses as well as a high Special Attack stat, which makes it surprisingly good when used online. Just make sure to switch it out as soon as you see a Metagross headed in your direction.

Gyarados

Both normal and Mega Gyarados are viable online. Of the two, normal Gyarados is slightly stronger because it doesn’t take up your Mega slot and can hold a Wacan Berry to reduce the power of Electric-type moves it’s hit by. Gyarados usually runs Waterfall, Bounce, Earthquake, and Iron Tail. Bounce takes a moment to execute, but it tracks down opponents and hits them even if they’ve started to run away from you. Mega Gyarados can also learn Crunch, which improves its matchup against Metagross. That said, upon Mega Evolving, Gyarados gains weaknesses to Grass, Fairy, Fighting, and Bug-type moves, which definitely isn’t ideal.

Excadrill

Excadrill and Mega Excadrill are both extremely solid contenders. Regular Excadrill tends to run a Focus Sash, a weakness berry, or a Life Orb. It can learn Earthquake, Swords Dance, and Iron Head, which alone hit many Pokemon in the metagame for big damage. Upon Mega Evolving, Excadrill’s Attack increases significantly, making it even more powerful. It is kind of a bummer that Excadrill is weak to Ground-type attacks despite being a Ground-type itself, but it’s still an incredibly strong pick.

These aren’t the only strong Pokemon you can use online – we just went over the absolutely strongest possible options. You’ll also see Pokemon like Chandelure, Ampharos, Hippowdon, Yveltal, and Mega Skarmory online as well. If there are any Pokemon you think we missed, feel free to share them (as well as any movesets you want to share) in the comments down below.

For more on the game, check out our personal list of the worst Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Z-A here.