How to Catch Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres in Pokémon X and Y

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: March 26, 2021 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to catch your playthrough's legendary bird Pokémon in Pokémon X and Y. The legendary birds include Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, though you'll only be able to catch one of these depending on the starter that you chose at the beginning of the game. Before you can capture a legendary bird, you must corner it in Sea Spirit's Den.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:
Cornering the Bird

1
Make sure that you meet the prerequisites. You'll need to have completed the following prerequisites both to view Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres and to have a chance of catching them:^{[1]
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- Defeated the Elite Four after earning all eight badges
- Have the National Pokédex available
- Have a Pokémon near level 70
2
Determine which legendary bird you'll be able to capture. The legendary bird that appears in your game is contingent on the starter that you chose at the beginning of the game:
- Chespin - You'll be able to catch Articuno.
- Fennekin - You'll be able to catch Zapdos.
- Froakie - You'll be able to catch Moltres.
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3
Travel to the Kalos region. If you aren't already here after the Elite Four fight, travel back to Kalos in order to find the legendary bird.
4
Run into your game's legendary bird. Simply walk around in some grass to trigger the bird to appear. You shouldn't run into any other Pokémon while doing this, though your experience may vary.
5
Track the bird. Open the National Pokédex and find the bird (which should be in your Pokédex due to your recent encounter with it), then select the bird to view its current route on the map. The route will be glowing red.
6
Travel to the bird's new area via bike. Flying to a different city will cause the bird to move again, so you'll need to travel on your bike instead.
- If the bird is several cities over, flying to a new city in order to reset the bird's location to be closer to you is a good strategy.
7
Encounter the legendary bird. Walk around in some grass until the legendary bird appears and then flees. This should be the second time that you've encountered the bird.
8
Encounter the legendary bird at least 9 more times. Each time you run into the bird, it will flee to a different section of the map, at which point you can track the bird and then bike (but not fly) to that section and repeat the process. You'll need to do this at least 10 times after your initial encounter in the Kalos region, though this number may vary by an encounter or two.
- There's no discernible pattern for the legendary bird's travel routes.
- If you pass through too many areas in succession, the bird will move again. This makes it impossible to catch up with the bird if it moves to a cross-map area, so you'll need to fly to a different city and wait for the bird to move again.
9
Wait for the bird to flee to Sea Spirit's Den. After you've encountered the legendary bird enough times, it will show up in Sea Spirit's Den, which is where it will stay until you capture it.

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Part 2

Part 2 of 2:
Catching the Bird

1
Stock up on the right PokéBalls. You'll predominately want to use Dusk Balls to catch your bird, but there are a few other options you might want to try as well:^{[2]
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- Quick Ball - Use one of these at the beginning of the fight. Quick Balls have a 5x chance of catching a Pokémon when used as the first move in a fight, after which point they drop to a 1x chance.
- Dusk Ball - Best used for most of the catch phase. Dusk Balls have a 3.5x chance of catching a Pokémon that's in a cave, which applies to Sea Spirit's Den.
- Timer Ball - Best used after your 31st turn, as the Timer Ball has a 4x chance of catching Pokémon after this point.
- Master Ball - While the Master Ball should be used for Mewtwo, you can use the Master Ball on Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres to guarantee a capture.
2
Make sure that you have a Pokémon who knows the "Surf" HM. Since Sea Spirit's Den is across a pier, you can only access the Sea Spirit's Den cave by surfing over to it.
- You can initiate the "Surf" action by approaching a body of water.
3
Travel to Sea Spirit's Den. It's in the north part of Azure Bay, which is a point on the far-left side of the map. Once you take the tram there, you'll wade into the water to activate the "Surf" HM and then surf over to the cave.
4
Save before entering Sea Spirit's Den. Since the chances of you capturing the legendary bird are low, you'll want to save your progress right before entering the cave so that you can reload and try again if your Pokémon dies or if you run out of PokéBalls.
5
Initiate the battle if necessary. In most cases, walking into Sea Spirit's Den and moving around a bit will trigger the fight, but you may have to navigate through a conversational prompt or dialogue option before the fight will begin.
- This is why it's important to save before you enter Sea Spirit's Den, as the fight may be triggered immediately after you enter the cave.
6
Toss a Quick Ball at the bird. Even with the Quick Ball's high chances of catching a Pokémon on the first try, this will rarely be enough to catch a legendary bird; however, it's worth a shot.
7
Get the bird down to under 10 HP. The way in which you do this will depend on the type of Pokémon that you use and the types of attacks that your legendary bird uses, but you'll generally want to err on the side of lower-damage attacks once the bird is under 50 percent health. Once you've knocked the bird's health down into a small sliver of red, you can proceed.^{[3]
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- Your chances of catching the bird increase as the bird's health decreases.
- If you accidentally defeat the bird, you'll need to reload your save and try again.
8
Begin trying to catch the bird. For every turn that you get, toss a Dusk PokéBall at the bird.
- After you've had 31 turns, start using Timer Balls, as the extra .5x chance of catching a Pokémon will often give you the edge that you need.
- If you run out of PokéBalls before you can catch the bird, you'll need to reload your save and try again.
9
Save your game once you catch the bird. Now that you've finally caught your legendary bird, you don't want all of your hard work to go to waste!
- Many of your lower-level Pokémon will level up after your catch the legendary bird.
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Community Q&A

Question

Can you fly after it, or must you walk?

Community Answer

You must walk to its location. If you use fly, it will move locations more frequently.
Question

Can you catch the legendary birds while using repels?

Community Answer

Yes, it is actually better if you use repels because it makes all the regular Pokemon go away so you can focus on catching your legendary bird, without other Pokemon getting in the way.
Question

Does it appear in all grass patches on a route? Or just one?

Community Answer

It should appear in any of the patches on that route as long as you have defeated the Pokemon League
Question

Can I ride my bicycle to a legendary bird?

Community Answer

Yes, but remember you cannot use fly to go to where the legendary bird is.
Question

What is the best way to find the bird while roaming Kalos?

Bun bun

Top Answerer

Go to a place where you can move locations without a new map loading, such as moving from Route 4 and Santalune City rapidly.
Question

How do I get him in the cave?

Community Answer

To get him in the cave, you have to encounter him multiple times before you actually go to the cave. Once you're in the cave with him, just interact with him like Mewtwo, then you can battle and catch him there.
Question

How can I know if it is in the Sea Spirit's Den?

Community Answer

If you look in the Pokédex and at the bird's location, the Sea Spirit's Den will be flashing red.
Question

What about using a luxury ball?

Community Answer

It can work, but you have to get lucky. Any ball can catch it; Ultra Balls and Dusk Balls are simply the best ones.
Question

Can I get all of the legendary birds?

Community Answer

You can't without trading. Only one bird will appear per save file. The bird you encounter will be based on your starter. If you started with Chespin, you'll get Articuno. If you started with Fennekin, you'll get Zapdos. If you started with Froakie, you'll get Moltres.
Question

Do I have to have the bird appear? I made it appear once and it kept moving, only once, close to Sea Spirit's Den.

Community Answer

You must encounter it multiple times before it goes to the cave. There is no pattern. If it was close to the cave, it was just a coincidence.

Warnings

Don't use moves that inflict Poison or Burn. These status effects do damage every turn, so the legendary bird may faint before you can catch it.

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Ground-type Pokémon don't affect flying-type Pokémon.

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