Best Pokémon to beat Zygarde in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

If this is your first time fighting Zygarde in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, understanding its typing, weaknesses, and the best Pokémon to use will play a major role in defeating it.

Zygarde is one of the three Kalos legendaries that players can encounter and capture after completing Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s main story. To meet Zygarde, players must first finish the quests involving Xerneas and Yveltal.

Now, unlike most Rogue Mega Pokémon battles, you must face and win against all of Zygarde’s three formes, which means that you need to survive a three-stage boss fight before you can capture the Order Pokémon.

For this post, we’ll give you the best Pokémon to counter a Zygarde, regardless of its forme, including what to do once it unleashes its most powerful move that can knock you out in a few hits.

As a Dragon/Ground-type legendary, Zygarde is weak against the following types:

If you follow the basic Pokémon battle formula, any Pokémon that can use Ice-, Dragon-, or Fairy-type moves can definitely hurt Zygarde, even in its Complete Forme. For the best results, however, you should use Pokémon that share the same type as these weaknesses. For example, an Ice-type Pokémon using an Ice-type move deals more damage thanks to the STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) effect.

With that in mind, considering all available Pokémon in Legends: Z-A, the top Pokémon for beating Zygarde are Mega Abomasnow, Xerneas, Mega Gardevoir, and Glaceon.

Best moveset: Blizzard, Ice Beam, Giga Drain, Leech Seed

Despite lacking in speed, Abomasnow is undeniably one of the best counters against Zygarde due to its versatile offensive stats, which can be EV trained on either Sp. Attack or Physical Attack.

But to beat Zygarde, we highly recommend using an Sp. Attack-oriented Mega Abomasnow. Its Ice-type moves, Blizzard and Ice Beam, deal 4× damage to Zygarde, allowing you to make short work of the Order Pokémon.

Grass-type moves only deal normal damage to Zygarde, but Giga Drain and Leech Seed can still provide some layer of survivability to your Abomasnow. 

Best moveset: Moonblast, Geomancy, Dazzling Gleam, Psychic

With its high HP stat, you can EV train a bulky Xerneas that can tank most of Zygarde's moves. Xerneas can just spam Moonblast and further amplify its damage using Geomancy until Zygarde is out of HP.

Xerneas doesn’t have a Mega form, but you can still boost its damage by using its Plus moves.

Best moveset: Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, Calm Mind, Psychic

Gardevoir ranks just below Xerneas when it comes to the best Fairy-type Pokémon in Legends: Z-A. If you use its Mega form, its high Sp. Attack can take down Zygarde with relative ease.

Don’t forget to take advantage of Calm Mind to increase Gardevoir’s Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense.

Best moveset: Blizzard, Ice Beam, Calm Mind, Icy Wind

If not for Abomasnow having a Mega form, Glaceon would be the best Ice-type Pokémon for taking down Zygarde. As a pure Ice type, Glaceon has access to multiple Ice-type moves, including the most powerful ones like Blizzard, Ice Beam, and Icy Wind.

And like Gardevoir, you can also make Glaceon deal more damage with Calm Mind.

Many players struggle against Zygarde not because of poor Pokémon choices, but because they have trouble dodging the massive attack it unleashes in its Complete Forme.

Complete Forme Zygarde moves very slowly, but before you can take it down, it will use an attack where it flies into the air and fires a laser that traces a Z-shaped pattern across the battlefield. Once the attack starts, only a small safe area remains. Standing anywhere else will deal heavy damage and can easily knock you down.

In case you keep failing to reach that safe area in time, here’s an easy trick to survive Zygarde’s attack. The moment you see Zygarde flying and the battlefield is about to turn green, put your Pokémon back in its Poké Ball and start rolling around, and don’t stop until Zygarde completes the attack. As long as you keep rolling, you’ll take no damage, allowing your Pokémon to finish off Zygarde with a counterattack.

For more tips and tricks for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, stay tuned to esports.gg.