How Catching Works in Pokémon Legends: Z-A — Sneaking, Battling and the Knockout Catch

Catching in Pokémon Legends: Z-A is something you do with your own hands, in real time, rather than from a battle menu. You creep through a wild zone, line up a wild Pokémon with the ZL button, and throw a ball with ZR — no battle required. If the direct approach is not working, you can send your own Pokémon in, wear the target down, and catch it mid-battle instead. Both routes are always open, and most of the skill lies in knowing which one a particular Pokémon calls for.

How do you catch a Pokémon without battling it?

The simplest catch in Lumiose City never involves a fight at all. Hold ZL to bring up your reticle, lock on to a wild Pokémon, and throw with ZR. The ball shakes on the ground and either clicks shut or bursts open. Everything about this is happening in the open world, so your position matters as much as your aim. Crouch to move quietly, use long grass and street furniture as cover, and circle round behind your target. A ball that strikes an unaware Pokémon from behind — a backstrike — carries a noticeably better chance of holding, because the Pokémon never saw it coming.

While you are locked on, look at the arrows beside the reticle, because they are the game being honest with you. Four arrows means your total chance sits somewhere between 80 and 100 per cent; three arrows puts it between 50 and about 80; two arrows means 20 to 50; a single arrow means under 20 per cent; and no arrows at all means that Pokémon cannot be caught in its current state. If the arrows are poor, do not waste good balls — change the situation first, then throw.

What makes a Pokémon notice you, flee, or fight back?

Wild Pokémon in the wild zones react to you according to their temperament. Timid species bolt the moment they spot you, and if a fleeing Pokémon gets far enough away it is gone, so a crouched approach from behind is the reliable way to deal with them. Bolder species do the opposite: they turn aggressive, charge, and aim their attacks at you rather than at your Pokémon. Repeatedly failing to catch something can also enrage it, and an enraged Pokémon cannot be caught with a thrown ball at all until you settle it in battle. Sleeping Pokémon, by contrast, are the easiest targets in the city — a well-placed ball before they wake is often all it takes.

How does battling make a catch easier?

Bringing out one of your own Pokémon starts a real-time battle, and every point of damage you deal improves your odds, because a target's catch chance rises as its health falls. Status conditions help too: a paralysed, poisoned or drowsy Pokémon is easier to hold than a healthy one, so a status move early in the fight is rarely wasted. Match the ball to the moment as well. A Quick Ball thrown at a Pokémon that has not noticed you yet gets a healthy bonus, while specialist balls such as the Net Ball perform better against the types they were designed for.

The biggest change from older games is what happens at zero health. Knocking a wild Pokémon out does not end the encounter. It collapses with stars circling its head, and for a few seconds it can be caught at a greatly increased rate — better, in fact, than the same Pokémon clinging on at one hit point. You get exactly one throw. Land it and the catch is very likely; miss or watch the ball fail, and the Pokémon vanishes. Status conditions do not apply to this final throw, so pick your best ball and throw quickly.

Why do some Pokémon refuse to stay in the ball?

Beyond health and status, several quieter factors feed into the arrows. Level matters, and your current Z-A Royale rank is weighed against the level of what you are trying to catch, so a high-level Pokémon early in your climb will shrug off balls that would hold it later. Alpha Pokémon are harder to catch than ordinary members of their species, though the bonus they receive while stunned after a knockout is larger, which makes the battle route especially attractive for them. Shiny Pokémon, oddly, are easier: they carry a bonus that multiplies their base catch rate, which is some comfort when one appears. If you plan to do a lot of catching, the Blue Canari Plush is worth the Colorful Screws it costs at Racine Construction — its tiers add 10, 20 and finally 35 per cent to your catch chance, and it works on every throw you make.