Frustrating Legendary encounters have Pokémon Go fans claiming Master Ball fears have come true

Pokémon Go‘s Galarian Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres are still available in the wild for most players, and they’re speculating that the Master Ball was solely introduced to the game for them.

In a Reddit thread from Aug. 1, a player frustratingly asked if anyone in the community could catch one of those without the use of a Master Ball, and the answers weren’t reassuring.

Most of them complained about encountering them very rarely, and not having succeeded in catching one yet. “I haven’t even seen one yet. How often do you see them appear on the daily incense?” wrote one of the top-voted comments.

“I caught mine with the Pokéball+ while on a run with my phone in my pocket. So regular Pokéball unboosted catch rate. Arguably the luckiest thing that’s happened to me in the game,” wrote another user.

Galarian Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres made a surprise debut in Pokémon Go in July 2022. They’re hard to encounter, as players need to use the Daily Adventure Incense to have any chance of making them spawn, which opens a time window of 15 minutes once a day.

And then, the chances of catching them are even lower. Players have a three percent chance of getting them, while the Pokémon have a 90 percent chance of running away. It makes the Master Ball almost mandatory to get those Legendary forms.

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That’s what players feared when the item finally made its way to the game in May. They speculated the Master Ball was solely added so that players could catch the Galarian Legendary trio, instead of bringing a comfort catch for other content.

It’s almost impossible to get them even by using other ways, such as berries, Excellent throws, and Ultra Balls, due to the species’ painfully high flee rate.

“If you don’t get it on the first throw, they’re gone. So yeah, I think you either have insane luck or have a Master Ball,” wrote a user under the thread.

The Master Ball is a free item in Pokémon Go at the moment, as players can get one by completing the Let’s Go! Special Research that was introduced alongside Season 10: Rising Heroes.

It’s still unclear whether more of them will join the game through free events or if they’ll be locked behind a paywall in the future —which is what player dread.