15 Strongest Pokemon Of All Time, Ranked

Determining the strongest Pokémon of all time isn't an exact science. Power scaling is all too real, especially in the anime, with Ash Ketchum's Pikachu defeating Zekrom in one battle and then losing to a measly Snivy in the next. Yeah, there are some inconsistencies, but what do you expect out of one of the longest-running anime ever? In the games, a Level 100 Rattata could probably beat a Level 5 Mewtwo, but most wouldn't consider Rattata generally stronger than Mewtwo. With over 1,000 Pokémon to filter through, with variants and mega evolutions to consider as well, you practically need a PhD (Pokémon Honorary Doctorate) to sort through all the possibilities.

To figure out the most powerful Pokémon ever, we have to dig deep and do some educated guessing. This ranking of the strongest Pokémon is based on established lore of these monsters, as well as feats they've accomplished across the anime, games, and manga. We think we have a good idea of the most fearsome creatures you wouldn't want to encounter in the woods. 

In the "Pokémon Red and Blue" video games, you set out to capture the three legendary birds (Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres). However, subsequent installments would prove those birds are small pickings compared to the almighty power of Lugia. "Pokémon the Movie 2000," which remains one of the best Pokémon films, establishes that Lugia is the guardian of the sea with the ability to control the aforementioned birds. When it's power gets disrupted, chaos ensues. 

Various Lugia Pokédex entries state how it chooses to stay at the bottom of the sea to prevent its power from causing destruction; however, when it flaps its wings, it can cause a 40-day storm. Additionally, the movie shows Lugia able to communicate with humans telepathically, which is a rare skill, as most Pokémon just say their names. Humanity in the Pokémon universe should just be glad Lugia is mostly a benevolent force and stays out of the way most of the time.

Since the start of the Pokémon anime, Ho-Oh has captured fans' imaginations. It appears in the very first episode, "Pokémon, I Choose You," as a mysterious bird Ash (Veronica Taylor in the English dub) sees flying across the sky. It's a big reason why that first episode remains one of the best in the "Pokémon" series; it showed just how wondrous this world could be. When watching the Pokémon franchise in order, it pays to start at the pilot for more reasons than one. It would take years before anyone would realize it was Ho-Oh, as it graced the cover of the "Pokémon Gold" game. But we wouldn't see its true power until the 2017 film "Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You."

It's an alternate version of Ash's beginning as a Pokémon trainer, one in which he actually dies but gets revived by Ho-Oh's feather. In the "Gold and Silver" games, it's state how Ho-Oh resurrected the three legendary beasts, namely Suicune, Entei, and Raikou. The power of resurrection gives Ho-Oh a spot on this list, but even when you're only focusing on the games, Ho-Oh can learn Sacred Fire, one of the strongest fire-based moves that also comes with a high chance of burning an opponent. Ho-Oh is a healer and a tank all in one. 

In ancient times, Kyogre was locked in a perpetual war with Groudon (more on him in a bit). Whereas Groudon wanted to create more land mass, Kyogre wanted to expand the sea, and millennia later, Team Aqua wanted to bring Kyogre under their control to bring more ocean to the world. It'd an odd plan, since they themselves can't breathe underwater, but make no mistake, Kyogre is one of the strongest Pokémon around.

Kyogre can enter its Primal Reversion form via the Blue Orb, which greatly enhances its core six stats, in this case referring to its HP, Speed, Attack, Special Attack, Defense, and Special Defense. This also gives it the Primordial Sea ability, which negates any fire-type attack moves while also boosting its own water-type moves. Kyogre is best understood as a personification of the sea itself, and it could easily bring a great flood to wipe out all land if it wanted. Like Lugia, it's often chosen to stay asleep at the bottom of the sea where all great beasts apparently go to catch some Zs. 

Groudon is a pure elementary force like Lugia. It controls land masses, capable of expanding them across oceans and forming new continents. But to see Groudon's true power, one needs to make it undergo Primal Reversion, which is described as an ancient form of evolution that restores all of its original power, as seen in "Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages."

Now you might be wondering why Groudon ranks higher than Kyogre, especially since Kyogre is a water-type that would have a double advantage against Groudon, being a dual fire/ground-type. Well, in the anime "Pokémon: Advanced Battle," Groudon and Kyogre duke it out, with Groudon knocking its opponent out cold. In the games, a Primal Reversion Groudon has the special ability Desolate Land, which negates all water attacks, meaning Kyogre would have its work cut out for it trying to beat it there. Even though a Primal Reversion Kyogre could use Primordial Sea to negate fire moves, Groudon still has an assortment of ground-based attacks, so it still seems like it could have a slight advantage. 

With Kyogre and Groudon controlling the sea and land, respectively, there needs to be someone in charge of the sky, and that's Rayquaza, who's handily stronger than the other two. According to Pokémon lore, when Kyogre and Groudon battled all those years ago for dominance, it was ultimately Rayquaza that stopped them from destroying everything, sending them both to slumber. 

Rayquaza's true might would be seen in "Pokémon the Series: XY" when it transforms into Mega Rayquaza all on its own. Whereas most Pokémon require a specific mega stone to mega evolve, Rayquaza can do it all on its own as long as it knows the move Dragon Ascent. It's so powerful in this form that it can stop both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. As far as the games, when it's Mega Rayquaza, it has the highest base Attack and Special Attack stats out of any other Dragon Pokémon.

Necrozma might be one of the most overpowered Pokémon in the franchise. It can travel via wormholes, and its origin sees it taking vengeance on those who've wronged it and stole its light. Therefore, it can travel from world to world to steal whatever light source is available. Even other legendaries aren't immune from its powers. 

Necrozma appears in the "Pokémon Sun and Moon" games, which have Solgaleo and Lunala as legendaries, but Necrozma is capable of absorbing both of those creatures to turn into different forms, specifically Dusk Mane Necrozma and Dawn Wings Necrozma. But even those forms don't hold a candle to Ultra Necrozma, which is the only Pokémon capable of learning Light That Burns the Sky, one of the most powerful psychic moves in the game. If nothing else, Necrozma's power seems to stem from the fact it's so existentially terrifying. It's a legitimate malevolent being that seems to want to inflict damage onto mankind. 

Many Pokémon represent elemental forces, like water and earth. However, Palkia belongs to a special group of Pokémon that date back to the creation of the universe, and even though Palkia is a water/dragon-type, it ultimately has power of space. Like, literally all of space. That's why in "Pokémon Generations," the villainous Cyrus (Sean Schemmel in the English dub) intends to capture Palkia and Dialga to destroy the current universe and rebuild a new one. That's right; Palkia can destroy all of reality if it wanted to. 

Its true power is perfectly exemplified in its special move, Spacial Rend. It's an immensely powerful psychic move where all of space-time around an opponent's Pokémon is manipulated, vastly improving the chances of landing a critical hit to deal even more damage. In the game, this merely results in a lot a powerful blow, but it's a foreboding concept that a little Pikachu would have everything it's ever known warped in the middle of a battle. 

Dialga exists alongside Palkia, exerting domain over time as opposed to space. This means Dialga can travel through time or send others through time, as shown in "Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life" when Dialga sends Ash and his friends back in time to help undo the damage caused by Arceus. With that in mind, Dialga could presumably win any battle by simply going back in time often enough to figure out an opponent's weakness and know what moves they're about to use. 

In the games, Dialga is a great Pokémon to have on your team. Any legendary Pokémon would be, but Dialga has the advantage of being a dual dragon/steel-type, an incredibly rare combination. Dragon-type attacks offer an incredibly powerful offense while steel-types typically have solid defense stats. It becomes even stronger when it's holding the Adamant Orb, which boosts the attack power of dragon and steel moves by 20%. 

Giratina is one of the most existentially horrific Pokémon. It rounds out the Legendary Creation Trio alongside Dialga and Palkia, representing the chaos present within antimatter. It looks like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story, and there's a good reason for that. According to canon, Giratina's rage couldn't be contained in the regular universe, so it got banished to Distortion World by Arceus. The fact Arceus felt the need to send Giratina away should tell you all you need to know about its power. That doesn't stop it from traveling through portals into the mainline continuity from time to time. 

Giratina is the one who saves Dialga and Palkia from Cyrus' plan in "Pokémon Generations," and for good measure, it brings Cyrus back to Distortion World where he's presumably trapped forever. Giratina also has a couple of variants depending on what item it's holding, as it can utilize an Altered Forme (that boosts its defense stats) and an Origin Forme (that boosts attack). 

Compared to dragons and celestial entities, Mew being a little floating kitty-cat creature may not seem all that imposing. But make no mistake, Mew is one of the most integral Pokémon in existence. For starters, it contains the DNA of every single Pokémon, meaning it can learn any move. That includes Transform, a move usually designated solely to Ditto, but Mew can also turn into any other creature, making it a truly special specimen. That's probably why it's part of some of the most important moments in the entire Pokémon franchise. 

With the power to learn any offensive or defensive ability, Mew can have the ultimate moveset. But at the end of the day, Mew is a lover, not a fighter. The creature's incredibly hard to catch, and even though you may have tried for hours to move that truck near the S.S. Anne in "Pokémon Red and Blue" to no avail, you actually can get Mew in the game. You just need to follow an incredibly specific set of instruction to exploit a glitch, but it's worth it. 

Most legendary Pokémon are in charge of something. They rule over a given domain, and sometimes, that means coming into conflict with a Pokémon from an opposing domain. It can all be hard to keep track of, but Zygarde basically trumps everyone else by ruling over the concept of order itself. When it detects a threat in the ecosystem, it seeks to stop whoever or whatever is causing it to keep order in check. It would be interesting to see Zygarde combat foes like Groudon and Kyogre who regularly seem to be at each other's throats, but maybe he just lets them do their own thing.

Zygarde is also uniquely powerful in the way it fully comes together. The Pokémon has cells and cores that aren't much, but they can come together to form 10% Zygarde (which looks like a dog), 50% Zygarde (more of a snake), and finally Complete Zygarde (a bipedal organism). "Pokémon the Series: XY" shows 50% Zygarde destroying an entire kingdom, so imagine what the creature with its full power could do. 

"We dreamed of creating the world's most powerful Pokemon... and we succeeded."

Those words in "Pokémon: The First Movie" perfectly sum up Mewtwo, a genetic clone of Mew. The film demonstrates its myriad powers, including immense psychic abilities to where no other Pokémon could even lay a hand on him. Mewtwo creates a hurricane, and by the film's end, it wipes out people's memories so that they don't remember anything. 

But even that baseline Mewtwo would get an upgrade when mega evolution became a thing. Now, players could get Mewtwo X or Y, each of which have a total base stat of 780, something only rivaled by Mega Rayquaza. Mewtwo isn't just strong but also psychologically complex. It's a Pokémon that shouldn't exist and often struggles to determine what it's purpose is. Its monologues alone are a big reason why "Pokémon: The First Movie" remains one of the best anime movies.

Eternatus looks like a demon from another world, and that's precisely what it is. It's literally an alien that came to the main world in an asteroid thousands of years ago. But players found out about it in the "Pokémon Sword and Shield" games, which also introduced the concept of Dynamaxing. In essence, during battle you can make your Pokémon get really big, making certain moves more powerful and possibly even changing the weather. But that also means that Eternatus can consume all of that power, allowing it to enter its Eternamax state to grow even stronger. 

Eternatus has been asleep for thousands of years (that seems to be a constant when it comes to powerful Pokémon). But it wrecked havoc thousands of years ago during the Darkest Day event, which caused other Pokémon to get huge and act out wildly. It could've destroyed Galar if it wasn't for two youths as well as some legendary dogs (Zamazenta and Zacian) to put a stop to it. That's a lot of firepower to take down one Pokémon, but it's a testament to Eternatus' strength. 

Like Mew, Hoopa looks fairly unassuming at first. It's a genie-esque psychic-ghost-type Pokémon, like something you might find in a cave somewhere after collecting a few gym badges. Hoopa's something of a mischievous little imp, able to summon portals via its hoop earrings. However, it can also transform into Hoopa Unbound, one of the most devastating Pokémon in the show's canon.

In "Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages," Hoopa and Hoopa Unbound become separate entities. Hoopa summons some powerful Pokémon, namely Rayquaza, Latios, and Latias, to fight it. But it's all for naught when Hoopa Unbound summons its own Pokémon — Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Giratina, Palkia, Dialga, and Kyurem — to fend them off. Not only is Hoopa Unbound powerful in its own right, but it can bring any other Pokémon under its spell. Hoopa Unbound can get an army of legendaries under its command, and that's the most powerful anyone can get short of becoming literal God. Speaking of which...

Arceus pretty much functions as God, the creator of all, within the Pokémon universe. Various Pokédex entries state how it emerged from an egg when nothing existed and brought all that we know to life. It even created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina to rule over time, space, and antimatter, respectively. And Arceus knows how to carry a grudge. In "Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life," Arceus could've very easily wiped out all of humanity had Dialga not sent Ash and his friends back in time to stop humans from betraying Arceus in the first place. 

In the games, Arceus has the highest base stat total of 720 for any regular form Pokémon (mega evolutions and similar variants have been higher). But when it comes to ranking the strongest Pokémon of all time, there's no question. Arceus rules over everything, yet you can still capture it in a regular Pokéball in "Pokémon Diamond and Pearl." Capturing God in a ball to battle with feels sacrilegious, but apparently, it's fair game in this franchise.