Fire Red & Leaf Green: The Legendary Dogs

In order to honor our current cover image, in our first ever article we are going to talk about the three legendary dogs: Suicune, Raikou and Entei.

Location

Those three beasts can only be found in the Leaf Green and Fire Red games. However, they don’t have a standard location like Mewtwo or the three legendary birds do. They are unlocked only once you have beaten the Elite Four and appear randomly on the map with no standard pattern.

Suicune

Suicune can be unlocked only if you have chosen the Pokémon Charmander as your starter. It is a Water type Pokémon with the Ability Pressure. It is encountered at Level 50 and at that time it uses Bubblebeam, Aurora Beam, Gust and Rain Dance. It is, without question, one of the best Pokémon in the whole third generation, as it has very high Defense and Special Defense stats, and can easily boost its Special Attack with Calm Mind, which can be taught to Suicune later on in the game.

Raikou

Raikou can be unlocked only if you have chosen the Pokémon Squirtle as your starter. Raikou is an Electric type Pokémon with the Ability Pressure as well. You encounter it at Level 50 and at that time it has the moves Roar, Thundershock, Spark and Quick Attack. Overall it is one of the greatest Pokémon in the game, thanks to its high Special Attack and Speed stats.

Entei

Entei can be unlocked only if you have chosen the Pokémon Bulbasaur as your started. It is a Fire type Pokémon with the Ability Pressure (just like the other two). You encounter it at Level 50 and at that time it packs Ember, Fire Spin, Roar and Stomp as its moveset. Compared to the other two legendary dogs it is the least good, but it still is a very good Pokémon.

Capturing Method

As you may have already realized, the fact that these three Legendaries have no standard location, makes their capturing a very difficult task. In addition to that, they won’t battle you once you encounter them, but will attempt to flee immediately. And even if you manage to stop them from fleeing by using Pokémon with abilities such as Arena Trap or moves like Mean Look, the two of them – Entei and Raikou – can still use Roar to escape. So, if you are wondering how on earth you are going to capture them, you should know that the best and safest way is by using the Master Ball that you have been given at some point in the game*. If you have already used it to capture other Pokémon, though, you can still capture them, but you will need much more time and patience.

You will need a number of (Max) Repels, a Pokémon with Level lower than 50 as the leader of your party and many Ultra Balls (or your Master Ball, if you have kept it). The three beasts randomly change their location every time you do too, so by searching them in one standard location, you will sooner or later find them. I suggest that you go to Route 2, above Viridian City, or Route 7 before Celadon City. Use your Repel and start walking on grass. If you don’t encounter the legendary beast, enter the house with the guard, and exit right away. By doing this, you have made your legendary dog change its location, so there is a possibility that you will encounter it this time, by walking on the grass with a < 50 Level Pokémon as your party leader and under the effects of a Repel. Keep repeating this and soon you will find what you are looking for. If you don’t have a Master Ball, capturing the dog will not be an easy task, but the use of moves like Mean Look to prevent it from escaping normally, or Spore to put them to sleep will make everything easier.

*NOTE: Thanks to Pokémon Emerald and the cloning method introduced in it, you can have more than one Master Ball with great ease. In future articles we are going to talk about that method in great detail, so if you are in possession of a Pokémon Emerald game, you can just clone another Master Ball and go dog-hunting with it. Just be patient until the article is published!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: If I use a Repel, won’t it repel the legendary dog too?

A: No, it won’t, as long as you use a lower than 50 Level Pokémon as your party leader. Repels can only repel Pokémon that are at a lower level than your party leader’s level.

Q: How can I find them in Shiny Mode?

A: Without the use of Hacks or other similar methods, the only way to find them in Shiny Mode is to be lucky. The game determines whether your dog will be shiny or not by the moment you start the game, so by using soft resetting and other such procedures you will earn absolutely nothing. So, at that matter, lady luck is your only way to encounter a Shiny Legendary Beast.

Q: What if I kill the Beast?

A: Then I suggest you immediately turn off the game, as you will not be able to encounter it once you have killed it.

Q: Taking their movesets into consideration, could we say that Suicune is the easiest dog to catch?

A: That would be correct. If you manage to keep Suicune from fleeing, then you have all the time in the world to catch it normally. This is not the case with the other two dogs, however, as they will still be able to use Roar.

This is all you need to know about the three Legendary Beasts. Our Youtube Channel is open, as of yesterday, so we will upload a video where you will be able to see the whole capturing method described above. Until then, happy Beast-hunting and we’ll see you in our next article! Comments and e-mails are highly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.