Pokemon Sword & Shield have an intense online metagame, particularly after the Crown Tundra brought all sorts of legendaries into the game. Being prepared for the new Legendary Birds and Regis are now just a part of competitive play, and having non-legendary answers is an important part of becoming a successful Pokemon trainer.
With the Series 8 rules coming in February of 2021, the ability to take down legendaries will only become more valuable as each trainer will be allowed one restricted Pokemon on their team. Trainers will soon need to defeat even stronger legendaries to reach the Master Ball Rank, and while many are certainly capable of this task, not every competitive Pokemon in Galar is up to the challenge.
10 Can Win: Dragapult
Probably the most pushed non-legendary in all of Pokemon Sword & Shield is Dragapult, a Ghost and Dragon-type with one of the highest speed stats in the game. Its list of weaknesses might be a high risk, but its ability to outrun many legendaries with attacks like Dragon Darts and Phantom Force mean it can be surprisingly tricky to take down without losing a lot of time.
Alternately, Dragapult can also diminish the power of some legendaries just as a support player. Using moves like Will-O-Wisp and Light Screen can immensely decrease their stats, turning several Legendary Pokemon into far less infuriating foes for your team to deal with.
9 Will Lose: Noivern
Not every speedy Dragon-type is born equal, as Noivern is not anywhere near as capable as Dragapult in taking down more mythical foes. This Pokemon is intended to be remarkably fast, but ironically it ends up slower than Dragapult with nowhere near as much utility.
It can still deal a large amount of damage through attacks like Boomburst and Draco Meteor, and will still likely outrun most legendaries, but hard damage alone isn’t enough in most battles. Instead, you’ll likely need to find a Pokemon with status moves that can help prevent your foe from annihilating your team single-handedly, otherwise, it’ll just run over your entire team in a few short moves.
8 Can Win: Urshifu
Urshifu is already an absolute pain for most competitive players right now, as this Fighting-type from the Isle of Armor is capable of dealing more damage than nearly any non-legendary in the game. This is because of its signature moves Wicked Blow and Surging Strikes, which are both guaranteed Critical Hits that can resist many forms of stat changes.
Since Pokemon like Zamazenta automatically gain boosts to its defenses, this can make Urshifu much more capable of dealing with growing foes. If your legendary foe tries to be more defensive, though, its overpowered ability Unseen Fist can also break through moves like Protect and Detect to ensure there’s no break from Urshifu’s damage.
7 Will Lose: Rotom
Rotom and its many forms are great Pokemon in the current competitive metagame because of its versatility, since having an Electric-type with Levitate lets it resist many common moves like Earthquake that normally make them unusable. The Fire and Water-type forms are most powerful for this, and lacking weaknesses can help its poor HP stat survive a pleasant amount of damage.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t entirely stop most Legendary Pokemon, who often can be Psychic and Dark-types that don’t care about Rotom’s unique resistances. There are extremely few Ground-types that Rotom resists in the world of Legendary Pokemon, and Rotom’s above-average stats are nothing compared to a mythical opponent.
6 Can Win: Snorlax
Snorlax might not seem substantially stronger than most other Pokemon on this list, but it has a surprisingly effective set of stats that counter a surprising number of legendaries. This especially includes its Special Defense, as a huge majority of legendary Pokemon are built around Special Attacks that most defensive Pokemon are typically weak to.
This does mean Snorlax can often be at risk to certain foes like Zacian, who has one of the largest physical Attack stats in the game, but that’s hardly a problem given the other Pokemon that Snorlax can still deal with. Classic legendaries like Mewtwo and Lugia should absolutely fear this sleepy and Gigantamax-capable threat.
5 Will Lose: Pikachu
Unlike what the anime will tell you, Pikachu is hardly the most competitive Pokemon out there. It’s certainly better than some evolved Pokemon, and its special Light Ball item can give it enough offense to put up a surprisingly good fight against most competitive opponents, but even with this buff, it’s hardly a match against the stats of other strong legendaries.
Pikachu also suffers from its poor defensive stats, meaning that it’ll often faint immediately if it isn’t the fastest Pokemon in play. If you can get a Tailwind behind it, you might be able to get at least one Gigantamax shot in against most legendaries, but you should probably expect this Pokemon to faint in nearly any battle you bring it into.
4 Can Win: Alcremie
Alcremie is one of the more underrated Pokemon that Galar introduced to the series. With proper training, it can have some remarkable defensive stats that stop it from fainting in one hit, and it can maximize these stats further with moves like Acid Armor and Calm Mind to create an unstoppable tank that can heal itself through Draining Kiss and its special G-Max Move.
The real reason to use Alcremie against legendaries, though, is because of its rare Fairy-typing. Dragons are an incredibly common form of Legendary Pokemon that rarely gain Super Effective moves against this new kind of Pokemon, and Alcremie’s low list of weaknesses means it’ll almost always come out ahead of any non-Poison or Steel-type opponents.
3 Will Lose: Hatterene
Hatterene is nearly identical to Alcremie, as its intense bulk can make it incredibly irritating to deal with. Unfortunately, Hatterene’s main drawback is its secondary Psychic-type trait, which opens it up to many common Dark-type moves that several villainous legendaries have.
Hatterene also needs a lot of setup in order to not faint immediately to most Pokemon, as its long list of weaknesses can often diminish its defensive stats more than monotype Pokemon like Alcremie. If you get this slow magician into a Trick Room to outrun a legendary, it’ll probably stand a better chance, but there’s no certainty the one using Trick Room won’t just faint first anyway.
2 Can Win: Cinderace
There’s been a lot said about the speed of legendaries, but there is still something to be said for Pokemon that are moderately fast while able to resist an opponent’s moves. Noivern might be more capable if its Dragon and Fairy-type combination didn’t lead to several vulnerabilities, but the slightly slower starter Cinderace more than makes up for its lower speed thanks to a hidden ability that lets it change its typing.
It’s still fast enough to outrun many legendaries, but the Libero ability can give it a chance to immediately change its resistances while not sacrificing its high damage. Using something like Sucker Punch can immediately change it to a Dark-type before your foe hits with a Psychic-type move, while Ghost-types might be thrown off by a sudden Normal-type shift with Feint.
1 Will Lose: Charizard
Much like Pikachu, Charizard’s power is slightly exaggerated throughout the anime and fame it holds. It’s a wonderful Pokemon in current competitive circles thanks to its solid type coverage in its moves, but a long list of weaknesses and a mildly underwhelming Speed stat make it nowhere near as powerful as the mythical dragons it may soon need to take down.
The only way Charizard can get ahead is the same way as Pikachu can, with a Speed boost that it can safely receive before taking a hit from a legendary. Even then, Charizard lacks many of the utility options to help prevent a legendary from running over its other teammates, making it substantially weaker against the strongest foes in the series.
