With Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Game Freak stepped away from the game’s traditional approach to gameplay, storytelling, and progression, which includes replacing Gym Leaders and the Elite Four with actual boss fights against a special set of wild Pokémon.
That isn’t to say Pokémon battles aren’t still included in the game, but you will be seeing them less often than a potential encounter with an Alpha Pokémon in the wild.
The bosses in Legends: Arceus are mostly referred to as Noble Pokémon, or a special group of Pokémon that are said to be descended from ancestors who were granted blessings from “Ancient Sinnoh” themselves. In the end, this leads to the Diamond and Pearl Clans assigning special trainers known as Wardens to care for them, as they are important to the clans and the Hisui region as a whole.
Related: Can you catch Noble Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus?
Throughout the game, the player will be tasked with calming five Noble Pokémon that have entered a frenzy after being struck by lightning from the space-time rift sitting above Mt. Coronet. This will be done through a multi-phase boss fight where the player will need to avoid the Noble Pokémon’s attacks and throw special Balms to weaken it.
At certain points in each fight, the Balms will create an opening where the player can send out their own Pokémon and battle the Noble Pokémon just like a normal Pokémon battle. And if they succeed in defeating it, they will have an extended window to use the Balms to calm down the Pokémon even further.
Here are all five Noble Pokémon you will need to defeat throughout the five main areas of Legends: Arceus.
How to beat Noble Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- How to Beat Noble Kleavor
- How to Beat Noble Lilligant
- How to beat Noble Arcanine
- How to beat Noble Electrode
- How to beat Noble Avalugg
Once you manage to defeat all five Noble Pokémon you will delve deeper into the mystery of what is truly happening in the Hisui region, including the conflict between the Diamond and Pearl Clans.
Depending on which clan you end up aligning with earlier in the story, players will eventually need to face new, Origin Forme variants of Dialga or Palkia. These will play out almost exactly the same way as a Noble Pokémon fight, with the player avoiding attacks to throw Balms and battling the Legendary Pokémon when the chance arrives.
The same applies to the true final boss of the game, where players who have completed their Pokédex can climb to the Temple of Sinnoh and challenge Arceus to a battle. There are also some smaller, and hidden, boss fights you can search out on your own time.
