Best Pokemon To Catch Early In Pokemon Legends: Z-A And Where To Find Them

Are you still deciding on the best early-game Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Z-A? While there are over 200 creatures to catch in the game, a select few are viable if you’re just starting your adventure. Our guide discusses these options, so sit back, relax, and get your Poke Balls ready.

GAMES UPDATE The best early-game Pokemon to catch in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Before we get started with our guide proper, we’d like to offer one caveat: Generally speaking, the “best” Pokemon tends to be subjective based on a player’s personal preference and other factors. Since most of the Pokemon here are returning from previous titles, long-time fans ought to have their favorites by now. As such, we’ve listed the options that truly made an impact within the first dozen hours of our playthrough.

Yes, it goes without saying that one of the best early-game Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Z-A tends to be the one that you start with. As with many other games in the series, your partner in Legends: Z-A will become a mainstay of your squad from the first quest to the last. With so many battles and opportunities to level up, it’s bound to become a powerhouse throughout your run.

Related guide: Best starter Pokemon

The most popular Pokemon and the series’ mascot, naturally, makes the list. While Pikachu/Raichu isn’t the strongest among all the creatures in the game, it nonetheless offers a decent skill set when you want to zap foes with Electric damage–i.e. Spark, Thunderbolt, and the like. Even better, you can catch one (or several) very early in the game.

Related guide: Where to find a Pikachu

Since this is our best early-game Pokemon Legends: Z-A guide, we’d be remiss if we forget to mention an absolute beast of a beetle: Heracross. This Fighting/Bug fella gains a lot of attack and HP, as well as enough defense, while leveling up. Abilities like Brick Break, Close Combat, and Megahorn ensure that they can beat down most enemies when landing the first strike.

Note: You receive a unique Heracross named Bois as part of Side Mission 2: A Use for an Evolution Stone. Just catch a wild Pikachu and bring it to the NPC to earn your reward. Yes, the second side quest in the game already nets you this bad boy, er, Bois.

Meanwhile, Side Mission 22: A Call from Mable, lets you choose from the three “OG” Gen 1 starter Pokemon–i.e. Red, Blue, and Green. These are, of course, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.

We suggest picking the complete opposite of your main partner in Legends: Z-A. So, if you picked Tepig, then choosing Squirtle during this side quest might be ideal. That way, the former handles Fire-based damage, while the latter dishes out Water damage.

We do have to include the Mareep here primarily because you can get a guaranteed Shiny variant as part of Side Mission 17: A Shiny Mareep. Considering how Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare, having one that you can level up very early in the game is a tremendous boon.

Mareep does have the usual assortment of Electric-based moves, including Charge, Thunder Punch, and Thunder Bolt. However, they also have access to Power Gem (Rock) and Light Screen (Psychic). Light Screen is especially useful since it reduces the damage taken from special moves, and the effect persists even if you swap to a different creature in your squad.

Related guide: Where to find Shiny Pokemon

On the subject of variants, Alpha Pokemon are some of the best early-game options in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. This is primarily because they spawn at a higher level compared to everything else that’s in a Wild Zone. If you can capture one, then you can use them to take out the denizens of Wild Zones and Battle Zones. Doing so allows the rest of your party to earn XP passively–i.e. akin to a catch-up mechanic.

Related guide: Where to find Alpha Pokemon

Aerodactyl, Tyrunt, and Amaura come from special items that you can purchase from the Stone Emporium. That said, you still need to complete Side Mission 27: Restored from a Fossil to make use of the Pokemon Research Center’s functionality. Here are some additional tidbits:

• Aerodactyl is a Rock/Flying type Pokemon. It comes from the Old Amber item.
• Tyrunt is a Rock/Dragon type Pokemon. It comes from the Jaw Fossil item.
• Amaura is a Rock/Ice type Pokemon. It comes from the Sail Fossil item.

Among the three, we genuinely prefer Aerodactyl since they have a better combination of types/elements. Moreover, Tyrunt and Amaura still need to evolve into the Tyrantrum and Aurorus, respectively, before they can equip their Mega Evolution stones. Aerodactyl, meanwhile, has no additional evolutionary path, which means the Mega Evolution can be activated as long as you have the Aerodactylite Stone.

Related guide: How to get Pokemon from Fossils and Ambers

Last but not least, there’s Eevee, another popular pick in the franchise. Just like Pikachu, Eevee won’t win most protracted fights against some of the hardest-hitting opponents in the game. Still, they can evolve into multiple variants depending on the elemental stone that you use–i.e. Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Glaceon, and Leafeon. If you can get several early in the game, then you’ll have more options to choose from when building your team.

Related guide: Where to find an Eevee

That does it for our guide on the best early-game Pokemon to catch in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. We hope these tips help you as you find the perfect additions to your party. In any case, given that we’ve briefly discussed variants, you might want to check our Mega Evolutions guide.

You don’t need to face the challenges in Lumiose City all by your lonesome. We’ve got a Pokemon Legends: Z-A guides hub to help you go from the bottom to the very top of the rankings.