How to battle and catch Noble Pokemon in Legends: Arceus

Noble Pokemon are a huge part of Pokemon Legends: Arceus’ story, but what are they?

Pokemon Legends: Arceus does things that player have never seen before. Even Pokemon veterans are going to have trouble figuring out many of the new facets to the game, both in and out of battle.

Noble Pokemon are the best example of this. While Pokemon games have always had bosses, they’ve almost exclusively been trainers, not Pokemon themselves. But even compared to things like Pokemon Sun and Moon’s Totem Pokemon, Legends: Arceus’ bosses are something else entirely.

So what are Noble Pokemon? What do players do with them? And can they be caught? Here’s everything you need to know.

What are Noble Pokemon?

Noble Pokemon are Pokemon that are deified by people within the Hisui region.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus has a much greater focus on story than other Pokemon games. A large portion of that revolves around the Diamond and Pearl Clans. These two groups both worship a god known as “Sinnoh,” but the Diamond Clan believes it to be a god of time while the Pearl Clan believes Sinnoh to be the god of space. This is a reference to Pokemon Diamond and Pearl legendaries Dialga and Palkia.

As part of their worship, they hold certain Pokemon up in high esteem as guardians of portions of the Sinnoh region. Each noble has a caretaker assigned to them by either the Diamond or Pearl Clan.

During the story, these Pokemon become corrupted by an unknown force to become “frenzied.” Frenzied Noble Pokemon serve as the final boss for each area of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, with players needing to hit them with items to calm them down.

All the Noble Pokemon in Legends: Arceus

There are five Noble Pokemon, that are encountered by the player in this order:

1. Kleavor
2. Hisuian Lilligant
3. Hisuian Arcanine
4. Hisuian Electrode
5. Hisuian Avalugg

Each of them has a unique boss fight that balances Pokemon battles with the action using the trainer. Frenzied Noble Pokemon are defeated by hitting them with balms, which are thrown items exclusive to boss fights. 

During battles with Frenzied Noble Pokemon, a health bar appears at the top of the screen. Players need to drain that health bar down using balms. During the course of this, players need to alternate between battling with their own party and ducking and dodging with the trainer.

Can you catch Noble Pokemon?

Players cannot catch Noble Pokemon, but they can catch Pokemon of the same species.

Most of these Pokemon evolve in familiar ways to longtime Pokemon fans, even though evolution in Pokemon Legends: Arceus works differently. A Sun Stone is required to get Hisuian Lilligant and Hisuian Growlithe evolves using a Fire Stone. Hisuian Voltorb mixes things up by evolving into Electrode with a Leaf Stone. Bergmite evolves into Hisuian Avalugg just by leveling up.

The one Pokemon that’s radically different is Scyther. Scyther can evolve into Kleavor using a new evolution item, though players also have the ability to evolve one into Scizor using a Metal Coat.

In each case, players can catch wild Pokemon and evolve them into the same species as the Noble Pokemon. With the exceptions of Scyther and Sneasel, the basic form of the Noble Pokemon are exclusive to the regions that the species protects. For example, Hisuian Growlithe can only be found in the area that is protected by Hisuian Arcanine.