Palkia, the Spatial Pokémon. This Pokémon is feared as a deity in Hisuian legend. The birth of Palkia was what caused the walls of our world to disappear, creating a sky that spans for infinity. It soars across the sky in a form that greatly resembles the creator of all things. Perhaps this imitation of appearance is Palkia’s strategy for gaining Arceus’s powers.
Overview
Ever since its introduction in the fourth generation, Palkia always possessed a solid niche among legendaries. While its Base 150 Special Attack is quite impressive and Palkia has more than enough coverage to make the most of it, this is merely on par with most other legendaries. What really has Palkia stand out is its other traits. Water Dragon typing is phenomenal, being a difficult to exploit typing with a quadruple Water resistance that has been invaluable in pivoting into the ever-domineering Kyogre. The sheer coverage of Palkia’s STABs cannot be understated either, with Palkia able to hit every prominent legendary for at least neutral damage. Spacial Rend further piles on the offensive pressure, being an already strong Dragon STAB attack with a high crit ratio, making it even more difficult to safely endure Palkia’s assault. Add in a sold base 100 Speed which outruns many prominent legends including Kyogre, Groudon, Ho-oh, Necrozma-Dusk Mane, Lunala, and Giratina-Origin and it is easy to see how Palkia has remained a persistent threat throughout the generations. Palkia’s Origin form doubles down on these traits, improving Palkia’s Speed to a truly impressive base 120 that makes it hard to outrun while maintaining move flexibility. The fact that Palkia-Origin is stuck with the Lustrous-Globe is a small price to pay, given its built-in boost to both of Palkia’s already excellent STABs.
At least that would be the dream before this generation. The ninth generation has introduced truly ludicrous speed creep, pushing the gold standard all the way up to a base 135 that leaves even Palkia’s Origin form in the dust. The fact that most of these new threats, the Raidons, Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle are well equipped to exploit Palkia’s few weaknesses is just insult to injury, leaving Palkia struggling to contribute in the face of such offense. For the fact of the matter is that while 90/100/120 defenses are far from frail, they are insufficient in the face of the sheer offense that Palkia is forced to face. Water Dragon having no resistances to speak of outside of its quadruple Water and Fire resistances further limits what defensive utility Palkia has. It is a shame that what should have turned out to be a hallmark generation has instead brough Palkia low by the shifting space around it.
Positives
Base 150 Special Attack is amazing and Palkia possesses plenty of coverage to make the most of it.
Water Dragon STABs are amazing with very little able to resist both.
Base 100 Speed or 120 Speed in Origin form allows Palkia to outspeed a host of offense threats and nearly every defensive one.
Negatives
Speed creep has left Palkia’s Speed must less impressive against many offensive staples.
Water Dragon typing offering next to no resistances bar switching into Kyogre.
Underwhelming abilities stand out even more after generations of power creep.
Movesets
Intergalloptic Travel
-Spacial Rend
-Hydro Pump
-Fire Blast
-Substitute
Ability: Pressure
Item: Lustrous Globe
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
The added Speed of Palkia-Origin grants it a unique niche allowing it to outspeed prominent staples like Ho-oh, Kyogre, and Giratina-Origin as well as defensive Eternatus and non maxed out Arceus forms. This allows Palkia-Origin to apply immense pressure to a whole host of threats, especially Kyogre, considering Palkia can freely switch into Kyogre’s Water STAB while not being immediately threatened by its Ice Beam and Thunder. Once in, Palkia-Origin can provide immense pressure. This is in large thanks to Spacial Rend, a base 100 Dragon STAB that few Pokémon can switch into safely without risking severe damage. Even something as naturally specially bulky as Kyogre is still reliably 2HKO’d by the attack. Its high crit rate is invaluable against Calm Mind sweepers like Kyogre and some Arceus forms, making it more likely for Palkia-Origin to break through. Hydro Pump is secondary STAB and is invaluable against Ho-oh, a prominent Special sponge for most teams, while able to hit Tera Fairy targets and Flutter Mane hard. Its ability to hit Necrozma-Dusk Mane hard can’t be discounted either. Fire Blast is the preferred coverage, thanks to its great matchup into Tera Grass and Steel types like Tera Grass Ho-oh and Zacian-Crowned. The prominence of Koraidon’s and Groudon’s Sun can’t be understated either, which makes Fire Blast’s inclusion all the more important for giving Palkia a Pseudo-STAB option when the Sun is weakening its Water STAB. Substitute rounds out the set, taking advantage of the switches Palkia forces and sets up incredibly favorable matchups against opposing Dragon types where they are unable to knock out Palkia before Palkia can obliterate them with Spacial Rend.
Tera Types:
Palkia gets a lot mileage out of its base typing and Water Dragon is not exactly riddled with weaknesses for easy exploitation, allowing Palkia to function without Terastalization. If Palkia does Terastalize, Tera Water is generally recommended as an offensive defensive option. While Spacial Rend is Palkia’s preferred STAB and not ruined by Sun, Tera Water is preferred as Palkia often needs the extra power for Steel and Fairy types and generally benefits from not having a Tera type immune to it. Furthermore, it removes Palkia’s Dragon and Fairy weaknesses, helping out greatly in such matchups. Or one could go all in on the anti-Dragon matchup by going for Tera Fairy, giving Palkia immunity to the super effective STAB its foes are trying to use to fell it, greatly flipping the matchup in Palkia’s favor. Tera Steel is a purely defensive option, giving Palkia resistances Dragon, Fairy and Freeze Dry, but is exploitable by Koraidon and Necrozma-Dusk Mane.
EVs and Items:
As a general attacker, max Speed and Special Attack investment are recommended for Palkia-Origin to deal as much damage as possible and to outspeed as many targets as possible. Modest is recommended for the extra damage, allowing Palkia-Origin to 2HKO even defensive Kyogre and secure it on Arceus-Fairy, as well as make the OHKO on Specially Defensive Eternatus far more likely as well as make the OHKO on defensive Ho-oh possible, all important bench marks Being more likely to OHKO Zacian-Crowned with Tera Water Hydro Pump is a nice bonus as well. Timid misses. This is not without cost, as with Timid Palkia-Origin is far more likely to outspeed defensive Eternatus and will Speed tie purely offensive Arceus forms. Though given how rarely Arceus maxes out Speed investment, it is far from a deal breaker. Lustrous Globe is mandatory as the item for unlocking the form but is a small price to pay. A lot of Palkia-Origin’s pressure comes from its high natural base speed and the ability to switch moves, making it far more difficult to pivot around, unlike the faster Choice Scarf Palkia. The power boost to Water and Dragon moves means Palkia-Origin hits harder than Scarf Palkia as well.
Partners:
:
Given Palkia-Origin’s issues with the many other faster Dragon types a Fairy pivot is invaluable when Palkia-Origin is caught in a bad spot. Arceus-Fairy, and to a lesser extent, Zacian-Crowned work well with Palkia-Origin for this reason. Both freely pivot into opposing Dragon attacks and love Palkia-Origin’s fantastic matchups into Ho-oh who is otherwise a troublesome wall for both. The fact that Palkia-Origin doesn’t fear Sacred Fire at all makes it even more attractive of an option. Zacian-Crowned also effectively deals with Extreme Speed Arceus, a prominent revenge killer for Palkia-Origin while Palkia-Origin’s matchup into Scarf Kyogre more than repays the favor.
Kyogre is a good partner for Palkia, who’s Water STABs in the Rain are just as devastating as Kyogre’s. With Rain up, Palkia-Origin easily OHKOs the likes of Necrozma-Dusk Mane and even the bulky Extreme Killer Arceus will fall to a Tera Water Rain Boosted Hydro Pump. Clodsire remains an issue for both however.
Other Options:
Dragon Tail is a more reliable option for Calm Mind Kyogre and Arceus, forcing them out and wiping away their boosts, while dealing passable damage in the process.
Draco Meteor is a far stronger STAB option to Spacial Rend, but is heavily punishable by a Steel, Fairy or Blissey switching in. Also good as a secondary STAB when you need to delete a target.
Thunder Wave is another way to ruin predicted switch ins, preventing naturally faster targets from pressuring Palkia. Pairs well with Substitute or Terastalization.
Surf is a far more reliable option compared to Hydro Pump, but the lower power is painful.
Doubles and VGC Options
The generation shift has hit Palkia even harder in Doubles than in Singles. Palkia had a solid niche in the 8th generation given how much Palkia synergized with Dynamaxing and checking one of the most dominant restricted choices in Kyogre on top of being faster than most restricted Pokémon save Zacian-Crowned, Calyrex-Shadow Rider and Eternatus. Come the ninth generation, and everything has gone wrong for Palkia. This generation has been one of the roughest for Kyogre yet, greatly reducing Palkia’s worth. The massive Speed creep has set in to the point there is no lack of foes that outspeed and OHKO Palkia, many of whom aren’t even restricted. Without Dynamax, Palkia’s offense, while not bad by any measure, is riddled with flaws. Palkia’s STABs in particular are all but locked to single target attacks with imperfect accuracy, making them unreliable with the extremely contested restricted slot. What little Palkia can eek out from its competition is being a Trick Room setter that can excel in Tailwind but is far from enough to excel in such a hostile environment.
Spacial Room
-Trick Room
-Spacial Rend
-Hydro Pump
-Protect
Ability: Telepathy
Item: Lustrous Orb
Tera Type: Steel/Stellar
EVs and Nature:
116 HP / 124 Def / 136 SAtk / 132 SDef
Modest Nature
With its good bulk and typing Palkia stands out as a great back up Trick Room setter, more able to survive until the late game to reestablish or even reverse Trick Room depending on the matchup given Palkia's Speed allows it to excel in and out of Trick Room. Spacial Rend is Palkia's primary STAB, its Dragon typing boasting extremely wide coverage on top of directly threatening the other prominent Dragons in the format, Koraidon, Miraidon and Raging Bolt. Furthermore, Fairies are generally scarce outside of Flutter Mane, Clefairy and Terastalization, meaning opponents are unlikely to have a safe pivot increasing the opportunity cost of negating Spacial Rend. Hydro Pump is secondary STAB, but no less important, great for hitting those fairies as well as obliterating Incineroar, Volcarona, Ursaluna, Iron Treads, Iron Moth and Chi-Yu. Protect is the best move in Doubles, allowing Palkia to stall out unfavorable field conditions, scout for Terastalizations, punish focus fire attempts, ward off Fake Out, the list goes on and on.
EVs are to increase Palkia's general bulk while not sacrificing too much power. The given HP and defense investments being more effective than simply maxing out HP investment, while still allowing Palkia to OHKO both Raidons and Raging Bolt unless they are running Assault Vest. Modest allows for a Tailwind mode on the team, though 56 Speed EVs would be required to outrun Timid Calyrex-Shadow Rider. Lustrous Orb is recommended for the free power boost to both of Palkia's STABs, though Life Orb can work as well for the extra damage. Tera Steel is the most common Tera Type for Palkia turning its Fairy, Dragon and Freeze Dry weaknesses into resistances, while Tera Stellar is good for a one time boost and pushes Spacial Rend into OHKO territory for the Assault Vested Dragons.
Preferred Partners:
As a Trick Room setter, Palkia is a natural inclusion to such teams. Ursaluna is particularly noteworthy as thanks to Palkia’s Telepathy, Ursaluna can spam Earthquake without any fear of friendly fire. Calyrex-Ice Rider is another natural inclusion if going for hard Trick Room, both of whom love Palkia’s fantastic matchups into Kyogre and Incineroar. Indeedee-F also deserves mention on such compositions thanks to its Fake Out denying Psychic Terrain which is otherwise a great tool to run out Trick Room’s clock.
Zamazenta-Crowned also appreciates Palkia thanks to its good matchup into Ho-oh and Volcarona as well as directly threatening Landorus-Incarnate. In turn, Zamazenta-Crowned is excellent at brutalizing opposing Assault Vest users as well as Calm Mind Terapagos whose special bulk tends to render Palkia’s Special Offense moot.
Surf is Palkia's only spread option for damage, but with the popularity of Wide Guard and the friendly fire aspect it is very unattractive. Very good if paired with Wellspring Ogerpon to heal it up while attacking.
Earth Power is great for handling Fire types when in the sun (which is uncomfortably common).
Countering Palkia
While Palkia’s offense is truly a sight to behold, it is hindered by a myriad of flaws both offensively and defensively in comparison to its fellow legends.
Defensively checking Palkia is admittedly tricky. Water-Dragon has absurdly good neutral coverage and Palkia’s special coverage pool is robust enough that it has an answer for most checks, whether it be directly or through sheer power. A lack of means to boost its offense does mean dedicated sponges are a hard stop to Palkia. Perennial special sponge Blissey is an ideal example, with even Rain boosted Tera Water Hydro Pumps capping out at just over a 3rd of Blissey’s HP while Blissey can safely Seismic Toss Palkia down. Water Absorb Clodsire is also hard walls Palkia with Earth Power and Lustrous Orb/Globe Spacial Rend and Draco Meteor merely 3HKOing while Clodsire can grind down Palkia with Earthquake and Toxic. It should be noted that Calm Mind sweepers are not an answer to Palkia, between its access to Dragon Tail and the high Crit Rate of Spacial Rend or crippling via Thunder Wave, Palkia can often break through such walls.
While Palkia often runs Fire Blast, the prominence of Sun is a sticking point, especially against opposing Fairies not named Zacian-Crowned. If in the Sun, Calm Mind Arceus-Fairy all but avoids the 2HKO before setting up and Flutter Mane cannot be OHKO’d while threatening catastrophic damage back with their Fairy STABs.
Offensively checking Palkia is far easier given the general lack of resistances from its Water-Dragon typing and its merely good bulk. Iron Bundle, Miraidon, Koraidon, Specs Flutter Mane, Specs Calyrex-Shadow Rider, Zacian-Crowned, Attack-Deoxys and offensive Eternatus all outspeed even Palkia-Origin and threaten an OHKO with their STABs. If going down to Palkia’s base form, that list expands, with Roaring Moon and rarely Specs Mewtwo also picking up the OHKOs. Palkia also remains quite vulnerable to Sticky Webs teams where even its Origin Form becomes slower than invested base 90s leaving it vulnerable to opposing Zekorm, Kyurem, Reshiram, Dialga and Palkia.
It should also be noted that all Palkia’s favored moves boast imperfect accuracy making it a tad inconsistent where a single miss can spell doom for Palkia.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Spear Pillar (Pearl, Platinum)
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Sinjoh Ruins
Black/White:
Trade or Transfer
Black 2/White 2:
Trade or Transfer
X/Y:
Trade from Omega Ruby
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Soaring in the Sky (Omega Ruby)
Sun/Moon:
Trade from Ultra Moon
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Ultra Space Wilds (Ultra Moon)
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Dynamax Adventures
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Spear Pillar (Shining Pearl)
Legends: Arceus:
Temple of Sinnoh
Scarlet/Violet:
Wistful Fields
Legends: Z-A:
Transfer from Pokémon HOME
Anime Appearences
