Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here’s some footage I had kept around as the last challenge in the base game, something nice and green for the month of March, and I think it is also the only battle fought in the style of a Rogue Mega Evolution without it actually being a Mega Evolution. After you save Lumiose City from an attack from Hyperrogue Ange Floette, L visits Hotel Z and informs the player character that Zygarde is waiting for them at the base of Ange Tower and wants to test your worthiness to catch it. By spaking to Zygarde waiting there (the Alpha Pokémon who spawn in that location in Wild Zone 20 will not reappear until this battle is completed), you will initiate a 3-part battle with it, one of the longest and hardest battles in this game.
(The battle against Hyperrogue Ange Floette is longer by virtue of being pretty much the entire last chapter of the story and every major character working together to stop it, while I personally find the Mega Rayquaza battle to be harder, with Mega Zeraora comparable.)
The three parts of this battle consist of fights against Zygarde in its 10% Forme (the one that looks like a dog), its 50% Forme (the one that looks like a worm), and its 100% Forme (the one that looks like a mech). With each form change, Zygarde gains more HP and stronger attacks. The first part, against the 10% Forme, is pretty short, though Zygarde moves around the most here. With the exception of Thousand Arrows, all of its attacks are close-range and affect only the area in front of it. It also has a long startup time for Thousand Arrows, deals low damage, and gets dizzy a lot. This one is done in a jiffy.
Things get harder at the 50% Forme though. Zygarde now moves to the middle and stays there while launching projectile attacks everywhere. Now it will start using Land’s Wrath, which is one of those big charge-up moves and consists of a series of earthquakes that extend all the way to the outer edge of the field, each one following the player. Though it’s best to recall your Pokémon if you have time, I found it essential to use Meganium for this one for having high defenses and resisting Ground—and when it Mega Evolves, can hit for super-effective STAB. At full HP, it can withstand the full brunt of Land’s Wrath and restore much of the HP lost with Giga Drain.
Afterwards is the last phase, in its 100% Forme. This is the strongest and most resilient form of Zygarde, and it moves around much like a standard Rogue Mega Evolution Pokémon. It will now use mainly its signature moves and introduces Thousand Waves as its main attack, which deals damage in a fairly wide circle around it, meaning attacking it from behind will be just like attacking it head on. This time, Land’s Wrath has an area of effect in a series of concentric circles going inward; I had a hard time figuring out the timing for this one because the next quake begins immediately after the previous one ends and have slight overlap with each other, meaning there is a brief moment you need to use the invincibility frames from rolling to get by. Getting hit by both cycles when it uses Land’s Wrath is enough to faint the player character, so I was stopped a few times by this move.
100% Zygarde will also use Core Enforcer, which is normally an Ability but is an attack here. It goes offscreen, then, from its perspective, will use a laser to carve out a letter “Z” spanning the whole field. A direct hit from this laser will put you in critical danger as well, but the lines carved out by the laser will explode too, meaning you have two safe zones consisting of the gaps on the lower right and upper left created by the letter “Z.” It is important to identify where Zygarde goes so you can see the correct locations to avoid Core Enforcer.
Zygarde will use Core Enforcer, then Land’s Wrath, then Core Enforcer, then Land’s Wrath at fixed amounts of HP remaining.
This Meganium has a move set designed specifically for this fight: Giga Drain and Dazzling Gleam to deal damage, Meganiumite so it can Mega Evolve and deal better damage, Light Screen because most of Zygarde’s attacks are special attacks, and Synthesis for further healing. You might also notice these Pokémon have levels in their 80s: this was recorded in late October 2025, before the Mega Dimensions DLC came out, and was done more or less immediately after the main story had ended and the credits rolled.
Once the battle finishes, Zygarde is ready to be caught. As it does not resist, you can catch it with any Poké Ball type. I didn’t yet have many of the special Apricorn Balls yet, so I used a Premier Ball.
Here’s some footage I had kept around as the last challenge in the base game, something nice and green for the month of March, and I think it is also the only battle fought in the style of a Rogue Mega Evolution without it actually being a Mega Evolution. After you save Lumiose City from an attack from Hyperrogue Ange Floette, L visits Hotel Z and informs the player character that Zygarde is waiting for them at the base of Ange Tower and wants to test your worthiness to catch it. By spaking to Zygarde waiting there (the Alpha Pokémon who spawn in that location in Wild Zone 20 will not reappear until this battle is completed), you will initiate a 3-part battle with it, one of the longest and hardest battles in this game.
(The battle against Hyperrogue Ange Floette is longer by virtue of being pretty much the entire last chapter of the story and every major character working together to stop it, while I personally find the Mega Rayquaza battle to be harder, with Mega Zeraora comparable.)
The three parts of this battle consist of fights against Zygarde in its 10% Forme (the one that looks like a dog), its 50% Forme (the one that looks like a worm), and its 100% Forme (the one that looks like a mech). With each form change, Zygarde gains more HP and stronger attacks. The first part, against the 10% Forme, is pretty short, though Zygarde moves around the most here. With the exception of Thousand Arrows, all of its attacks are close-range and affect only the area in front of it. It also has a long startup time for Thousand Arrows, deals low damage, and gets dizzy a lot. This one is done in a jiffy.
Things get harder at the 50% Forme though. Zygarde now moves to the middle and stays there while launching projectile attacks everywhere. Now it will start using Land’s Wrath, which is one of those big charge-up moves and consists of a series of earthquakes that extend all the way to the outer edge of the field, each one following the player. Though it’s best to recall your Pokémon if you have time, I found it essential to use Meganium for this one for having high defenses and resisting Ground—and when it Mega Evolves, can hit for super-effective STAB. At full HP, it can withstand the full brunt of Land’s Wrath and restore much of the HP lost with Giga Drain.
Afterwards is the last phase, in its 100% Forme. This is the strongest and most resilient form of Zygarde, and it moves around much like a standard Rogue Mega Evolution Pokémon. It will now use mainly its signature moves and introduces Thousand Waves as its main attack, which deals damage in a fairly wide circle around it, meaning attacking it from behind will be just like attacking it head on. This time, Land’s Wrath has an area of effect in a series of concentric circles going inward; I had a hard time figuring out the timing for this one because the next quake begins immediately after the previous one ends and have slight overlap with each other, meaning there is a brief moment you need to use the invincibility frames from rolling to get by. Getting hit by both cycles when it uses Land’s Wrath is enough to faint the player character, so I was stopped a few times by this move.
100% Zygarde will also use Core Enforcer, which is normally an Ability but is an attack here. It goes offscreen, then, from its perspective, will use a laser to carve out a letter “Z” spanning the whole field. A direct hit from this laser will put you in critical danger as well, but the lines carved out by the laser will explode too, meaning you have two safe zones consisting of the gaps on the lower right and upper left created by the letter “Z.” It is important to identify where Zygarde goes so you can see the correct locations to avoid Core Enforcer.
Zygarde will use Core Enforcer, then Land’s Wrath, then Core Enforcer, then Land’s Wrath at fixed amounts of HP remaining.
This Meganium has a move set designed specifically for this fight: Giga Drain and Dazzling Gleam to deal damage, Meganiumite so it can Mega Evolve and deal better damage, Light Screen because most of Zygarde’s attacks are special attacks, and Synthesis for further healing. You might also notice these Pokémon have levels in their 80s: this was recorded in late October 2025, before the Mega Dimensions DLC came out, and was done more or less immediately after the main story had ended and the credits rolled.
Once the battle finishes, Zygarde is ready to be caught. As it does not resist, you can catch it with any Poké Ball type. I didn’t yet have many of the special Apricorn Balls yet, so I used a Premier Ball.
