Some of the best things come in threes, and that's certainly true with Legendary Pokemon. They comprise some of the strongest Pokemon in the game, and most of them come in threes thanks to the incredible lore surrounding them. But what does that mean for competitive battling?
Certainly, some of these trios will just be made up of Pokemon banned from competitive battling for being too powerful. Still, some are better than others. This list will look at the trios recognized either officially by Pokemon or the general Pokemon community, and stack them against each other to find out which triangle stands the tallest.
Updated June 18, 2023 by Kyle Laurel: The newest installments in the Pokemon series haven't introduced any new Legendary trios at the moment, but Pokemon's battling meta is ever-changing. Some of these trios have improved when it comes to viability, so it's good to see where they stand from a battling perspective in Gen Nine. Here's an updated ranking for all the Pokemon legendary trios.
13 The Original Titans: Regirock, Regice, And Registeel
The first three Regis are practically the weakest of the Regi bunch, when looking at both raw power and competitive viability. Regigigas has much better stats, and both Regieleki and Regidrago have proven to wield far more offensive potential.
Still, while Regice has been largely unviable, the other two have their niches and work well in their respective competitive tiers. Regirock is a physical defensive beast with solid tank-like offensive stats and a passable movepool. Registeel has been the competitive standout of sorts, making waves in the meta with its all-around defensive stats and utility-focused movepool.
12 The Lake Guardians: Azelf, Mesprit, And Uxie
Despite all boasting a pure Psychic-typing and similar movepools, the individual competitive viabilities of the Lake Guardians vary significantly. Because of the widely different stat distributions of the three, this trio is composed of two low-to-mid lurkers and one of the most important Pokemon in competitive history.
Uxie has been the least viable of the three in the meta, as its defensive makeup is much less effective with its defensively weak pure Psychic-typing, and Mesprit has been OK at best, providing relative versatility as a support 'mon. Contrarily, Azelf is a competitive game-changer, once revolutionizing the lead role and still going strong today.
11 The Legendary Beasts: Suicune, Entei, And Raikou
If you factored popularity, the Legendary beasts might be surprisingly low on this list, considering how much attention different Pokemon media have given them. In reality, Suicune, Entei, and Raikou have seen better days in terms of competitive viability.
Once dominating early Pokemon's competitive meta, the beasts have been overtaken by other more versatile Legendaries, as their singular typing and relatively shallow movepools make them comparatively one-note. They're not completely washed, though; Suicune and Raikou are still going strong in mid-to-high-tier competitive play, with Entei on the outside looking in somewhat, all playing predictable but potent offensive roles.
10 The Swords Of Justice: Terrakion, Cobalion, & Virizion
While the Swords of Justice are technically a quartet with Keldeo, Keldeo is generally regarded as the pseudo-baby brother of the other three members: Terrakion, Cobalion, and Virizion.
Those remaining three have had pretty good stints in competitive Pokemon, though they aren't on the same level as Keldeo in terms of viability, thanks to not having access to Secret Sword. How Terrakion, Cobalion, and Virizion differ is mainly in their types and stat spreads: Terrakion is Rock-type and specializes in Attack, Cobalion is Steel-type and specializes in Defense, and Virizion is Grass-type and specializes in Special Defense.
9 The Legendary Birds: Articuno, Zapdos, And Moltres
The first-ever Legendary trio has been a persistent competitive presence for quite a while now. These days, they're not strong enough to be banned from regular competition, but they are strong enough to dominate there. That's particularly true with Zapdos and Moltres, but Articuno, while still sporting a great base 580 base stat total, suffers from its terrible Ice-flying typing.
Their Galarian regional variants are just as strong, and kind of took the competitive scene by storm with their unique battling niches. They all came with new typings and abilities and even have their own signature moves to boot.
8 The Forces Of Nature: Tornadus, Thundurus, And Landorus
Like the Swords of Justice, this once-trio is now a quartet, with Enamorus entering the fold in Legends: Arceus. Still, the original three Forces of Nature introduced in Unova are all mighty fine competitively, considered elite competitive battlers one way or another.
They're most commonly seen in their Therian Formes, mainly because of the superior abilities they carry. While Tornadus and Thundurus are more straight-up attackers, the infamous Landorus is a Swiss army knife, working great in any role the teambuilder needs. They have the stats to back it up, with Tornadus and Thundurus rocking a 580 base stat total and Landorus sitting pretty at 600.
7 The Crown Tundra Trio: Glastrier, Spectrier, And Calyrex
While the Legendaries of the Crown Tundra aren't officially listed as a trio, it might as well be one since Calyrex literally fuses with one of the two steeds: Glastrier and Spectrier.
Either of the two Legendary horses can hold their own, with lumbering slugger Glastrier making waves as a tank, and speedy glass cannon Spectrier even getting banned from regular competitive play. And while Calyrex by itself can't really do jack competitively, it easily becomes overpowered in regular competition when fused with one of the steeds to create either the Ice Rider or Shadow Rider forme, adopting their battling styles in the process.
6 The Creation Trio: Dialga, Palkia, And Giratina
The first box art Legendary trio on the list, the Creation trio is probably the one that's closest to having all three members be equal in strength. It does help that all of them are Dragon-types with a secondary typing that goes extremely well with it.
All three are seriously powerful at 680 base stat total each, and all three now have optimized Origin formes, after Dialga and Palkia got their own in Legends: Arceus. They each function differently, though, with Dialga playing a defensive stalwart, Palkia dealing big offense, and Giratina capable of either, depending on the forme.
5 The Tao Trio: Reshiram, Zekrom, And Kyurem
The Tao trio works similarly to the Crown Tundra's main trio of Glastrier, Spectrier, and Calyrex, but they differ in that Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem can all kick tons of butt on their own.
All three are absolute offensive mega-tanks, boasting fantastic attacking stats, solid defensive stats, explosive signature moves, and decently wide movepools. That includes Kyurem in its most basic forme, so you can only imagine the kind of damage it can do when fused with either one of the other two. Kyurem-White, in particular has been the popular choice in Uber-tier Singles for maximizing the most stats for offense.
4 The Light Trio: Solgaleo, Lunala, And Necrozma
With Necrozma having three powerful alternate formes to its name, it's hard for its trio not to earn one of the higher spots of this list off that alone. Of course, said three formes consist of Dusk Mane, Dawn Wings, and Ultra Necrozma.
Of course, the two other Legendaries that fuse with Necrozma to create the former two formes are plenty strong as well. Solgaleo and Lunala fall under the typical 680 benchmark for incredibly strong Legendaries, but they stand out thanks to their interesting typing of Psychic-steel and Psychic-ghost, respectively, as well as their massive attacking power.
3 The Aura Trio: Xerneas, Yveltal, And Zygarde
Not only are the Kalos Legendaries banned from regular competitive play, but they also have a little something special that other box art Legendaries lack.
For X's titular Xerneas, it's its signature move and probably the best set-up move in the game: Geomancy, which raises its special stats and Speed all by two stages each (ideally in one turn with a Power Herb). The Dark/Flying-type Yveltal, meanwhile, is the most commonly used Pokemon in the Ubers metagame thanks to its favorable matchups against most other box art Legendaries. Finally, Zygarde has its Complete Forme, which it switches into mid-battle as a lifeline it could have gone without.
2 The Darkest Day Trio: Zacian, Zamazenta, And Eternatus
Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus headlined the climax of the Sword and Shield base games. Fitting that they would create a ruckus as big as the second Darkest Day, as all three Pokemon are basically overpowered in terms of raw strength.
Zacian is unquestionably the best of the bunch, though, boasting arguably the best typing in the game and the completely unfair Intrepid Sword ability in its Crowned Sword form. Eternamax Eternatus is inaccessible by legitimate means, but the Poison/Dragon-type's still plenty overpowered on its own. And although Zamazenta's the least potent of the three, that Behemoth Bash still won't be anything to sneeze at.
1 The Weather Trio: Groudon, Kyogre, And Rayquaza
It's hard to argue against three Pokemon that have either Primal Reversions or Mega Evolutions that are seriously overpowered in their own way. Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza transcend their Legendary status to be in a league all their own. There's not much else to expound on here.
Mega Rayquaza is the most powerful Pokemon that ever graced console screens, and Primal Groudon and Kyogre are not far behind. They have incredible base stat totals, powerful signature moves, and unfair signature abilities. Unfortunately –or fortunately, depending on who you ask– these formes have been inaccessible since Sword and Shield.