Rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go

Time to pack your Pokéballs and find some rare Pokémon in the wild with our handy guide, pointing out locations and how to evolve them.

Rare Pokémon Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit flying through the sky

Some Pokémon are common. Some appear when you least expect them… and then there are rare Pokémon that evade capture for the longest time. We’ve compiled some of the rarest species in Pokémon here and how to catch them. Note that this list doesn’t include costumed Pokémon or seasonal options like Yamask’s yearly Halloween appearance.

Need a refresher on Pokémon battle tactics? Here are all the ghost Pokémon weaknesses, electric Pokémon weaknesses, our Pokédex, and the best normal Pokémon in the mobile game.

Let’s see the rare Pokémon that evade capture.

Rare Pokémon Meltan and Melmetal on a forest background

Meltan and Melmetal

Starting off our list is a strange situation – Meltan and its evolution Melmetal. Getting your hands on this metallic ‘mon is hard. There are two ways to get it. First, you can complete the ‘Let’s Go Meltan’ research tasks and get the catch encounter as a reward, or you can use Mystery Boxes from the Let’s Go Switch games.

The Mystery Boxes are rewards earned by transferring Pokémon in Let’s Go: Eevee and Pikachu at the Go Park. when you’ve got some boxes, activate one in Pokémon Go, which causes Meltan to spawn for a while. Then, when you’ve got a stack of 400 candies, you can evolve them into Melmetal.

Three rare Pokémon Vilvillons on a forest background

Vivillon

Getting a Vivillon can be a total head-scratcher and getting each different pattern is even more hard work. To put it simply, to get a Vivillon, you need to pin postcards from different regions, as each pattern of the Pokémon hails from a different area of the world. There are 18 patterns to collect, so you need to get some friends in far-off places to send you gifts in order to get postcards.

Once you’ve pinned plenty of postcards, you get the chance to catch a Scatterbug, which evolves into Spewpa with 25 candy, and the Vivillon pattern related to the region it came from with 100 candy. To begin with, you need to pin three cards, but the number rises the more encounters you do. Check out our Pokémon Go Vivillon guide for more info.

rare Pokémon Kecleon on a forest background

Kecleon

Kecleon, the chameleon Pokémon, is suitably hard to find and catch. Though it may not take on the colors of its surrounding area, it does hide in plain sight. You find them clinging to Pokéstops in your area. How do you find one? Click every single stop and don’t stop clicking. Eventually, a Pokéstop will have a see-through Kecleon on it – you can still see its pinkish band. Then, tap it until it hops off, exit the Pokéstop, and you can click it on the world map to start the catch encounter. On top of this, Kecleon is a rare spawn – so good luck finding one.

Rare Pokémon Salazzle on a forest background

Salazzle

Most Pokémon players know the deal with Salandit and Salazzle – only the females of the species can evolve, but they’re a rarer spawn. This translates to Pokémon Go where the spawn rate of females is a very low 12.5%. Even worse is that Salandit only hatches from the 12k eggs, don’t spawn anywhere, and are a rare hatch. Getting a Salazzle is likely to be a long journey.

A group of rare Pokémon Unowns in different shapes

Unown

U-know that Unown is going to be a hard Pokémon to catch given that there are 26 variants to get. Best of all, they’re incredibly rare spawns! Love that. They do tend to get a boost during festivals, for instance during the Go Fest, the letters G and F got a significant boost to their spawn rates. Still, even with these events, finding the entire alphabet is a very arduous task.

Rare Pokémon Goodra on a forest background

Goodra

In the Goomy evolutionary line, the issue lies with the final form, Goodra. In order to get the third evolution, you need 125 Goomy candies and a rainy lure module. Why do you need this? Well, sneaky Sliggoo only evolves when it’s at a Pokéstop that has an active rainy lure module. Therefore, we must play to its desires and set one up so it can evolve. The issue is that Goomy’s are rare spawns to begin with as well…

Rare Pokémon Galarian legendary birds Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos on a forest background

Galarian legendary birds

2022 saw many Pokémon appear in Pokemon Go, including the Galarian legendary birds – Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos. Now, legendary Pokémon are rare anyway, but this trio takes the cake. There’s only one way to find them and that’s by using a daily adventure incense. This gives you a tiny 15-minute window to find them. But it doesn’t stop there! Once you find one of these birds, get your finest berries and balls out because their flee rate is high. Very high.

Region-locked rare Pokémon

Now, for those who really want to complete the Pokédex, you’ve got a bit of a roadblock ahead. We recommend finding some online friends and trading for these region-locked specialties, as that’s more feasible than traveling around the entire globe.

Pokémon Location
Azelf US and Greenland
Basculin:
Red stripe
Blue stripe
Eastern hemisphere
Western hemisphere
Bouffalant New York
Carnivine Southern US
Chatot Southern hemisphere
Comfey Hawaii
Corsola Coastal areas between 31N and 26S latitudes
Durant Western hemisphere
Farfetch’d Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea
Flabebe:
Red flower
Yellow flower
Blue flower
Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
Americas
Asia and Pacific regions
Furfrou:
Debutante
Diamond
Star
La Reine
Kabuki
Pharaoh
Americas
Europe, Africa and the Middle East
Asia and Pacific regions
France
Japan
Egypt
Hawlucha Mexico
Heatmor Eastern hemisphere
Heracross Central America and South America
Illumise North America, South America, and Africa
Kangaskhan Australia
Klefki France
Lunatone Europe, Australia, and Asia
Maractus Mexico, Central America, and South America
Mesprit Europe, Africa, India, and the Middle East
Mime Jr. Europe (in 7km eggs)
Mr. Mime Europe
Oricorio:
Baile
Pom Pom
Pa’u
Sensu
Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
Americas
African, Pacific, Caribbean, and Asian islands
Asia and Pacific regions
Pachirisu Arctic hemisphere
Panpour North America, South America, and Greenland
Pansage Asia and Pacific regions
Pansear Europe, Africa, India, and the Middle East
Relicanth Oceania and New Zealand
Sawk Europe, Australia, and Asia
Seviper North America, South America, and Africa
Shellos:
East Sea
West Sea
Eastern Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
Sigilyph Greece and Egypt
Solrock North America, South America, and Africa
Tauros US and Canada
Throh North America, South America, and Africa
Torkoal Western Asia and South-Eastern Asia
Tropius Africa and the Middle East
Uxie Asia and Pacific regions
Volbeat Europe, Australia, and Asia
Zangoose Europe, Australia, and Asia

And there you have it, a guide to the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go. For some respite, why not grab these Pokémon Go codes or Pokémon Unite codes, for some in-game goodies. If you want to learn more about your favorite pocket monsters then check out our lists of big Pokémon and small Pokémon.