How to start Legendary Pokemon encounters in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Finally, some cartridge love.

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Wild Legendary encounters are controllable, to an extent, in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. After becoming the Champion and entering your team in the Hall of Fame, you’ll gain access to Ramanas Park. This brand new facility is where you’ll encounter Legendary Pokémon. You’ll need to download the day one patch to access everything first. 

After meeting with Kanto’s Professor Oak, you’ll be granted access to Ramanas Park. At first glance, it seems to function like the Amity Square region in the post-game of the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Inside the park are rooms with pedestals. Placing a slate into the corresponding pedestal will summon a Legendary Pokémon. We still don’t know how slates are obtained, so we’ll need to explore the Sinnoh region to find answers.

Version exclusives

The Legendary Pokémon you can get is based on the game version you own. Here’s what we know right now. 

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Pokemon Brilliant Diamond

  • Ho-Oh (Fire/Flying) – Solid physical attack stat and weak to Rock Slide 
  • Raikou (Electric) – Decent speed and bulk, great for rain teams.
  • Entei (Fire) – Good physical attack and speed. Excels in the sun.  
  • Suicune (Water) – Great defensive stats. Access to Tailwind offsets its low speed.
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  • Lugia (Psychic/Flying) – Typing has a ton of weaknesses but Multiscale ability and Weakness Policy help. Good defensive stats.
  • Articuno (Ice/Flying) – Best defense stats but worse typing. Put on hail teams to make use of Snow Cloak.
  • Zapdos (Electric/Flying) – Awesome special attack stat and good speed. Send in late-game to hit things hard.
  • Moltres (Fire/Flying) – Good physical and special attack stats. Best of the three in terms of resistances.