The legendary birds of thePokemonuniverse, also known as the winged mirages, were the first legendary trio to ever grace the games with their presence back in the first generation. Since then, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres have made appearances in numerousPokemongames, including the most recent installment duo,Pokemon SwordandShieldvia theCrown TundraDLC expansion.
But unlike past appearances of the bird trio that tend to stay fundamentally the same with each new generation that they showed up in,Pokemon SwordandShieldcontinued with the recent trend of regional forms that mainly started with the fictional Alola region. With the most recent main-series installment,Galarian Pokemon are abundantin the wild.
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But big news hit the Pokemon fanbase when it was revealedArticuno, Zapdos, and Moltres would have unique Galarian forms, and they are vastly different from the original versions. They can only be found in theCrown Tundraexpansion that takes trainers to a replica of Scotland in the fictional universe. Likewise, these forms are seemingly specific to the Galar region and will likely not appear in future installments, unless the UK-inspired region is visitable in later titles. But the Kantonian bird trio can also be caught and trained via Dynamax Adventures.
Articuno
Rather than being both an ice and flying-type Pokemon, inSwordandShield,Articuno’s Galarian form is a psychic and flying-type. Likewise, its move set is mostly different from the original Articuno, but with a few similarities. Instead of being equipped with moves specific to ice-type Pokemon such as Hail, Ice Beam, and Blizzard, the Galarian Articuno can learn moves like Hypnosis, Dream Eater, and Future Sight. However, some moves are the same between the new and old bird Pokemon, as they are still half flying-types. For Articuno, it still has abilities such as Gust, Tailwind, and Hurricane.
As far as the physical design of the Pokemon goes, Articuno is perhaps the bird that shares the most similarities between its Galarian and Kantonian counterparts as the visual differences are reserved mainly to the color schemes. While the original Articuno is the classic light-blue coloration known to ice-type Pokemon, the Articuno featured intheCrown TundraDLCshows off an array of dark and light purples, a common color seen with physic Pokemon. Otherwise, the only big design difference between the two is the black feathers that extend from the Galarian Articuno’s eyes to give it a more mysterious look.
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Zapdos
The second of the bird legendaries, noted by the “dos” in its name, perhaps features the biggest differences between the Kantonian and Galarian breeds. Interestingly,Galarian Zapdos keeps the ground as a fighting-type Pokemonand runs away from the trainer when attempting to catch it in the wild, much like a Chocobo. It also has an orange and black plumage that fits the fighting theme well.
Many consider Zapdos to be the “best” of the three bird legendariesas far as the Kanto trio goes, specifically because of its type duality. Electric moves are super effective against flying-type Pokemon, but this is counteracted by Zapdos being an electric-type itself. Additionally, electric-type Pokemon would also be vulnerable to ground-type attacks. This means Kantonian Zapdos is only weak to ice and rock attacks. Though Galarian Zapdos loses this major edge, it’s so far the only Pokemon that can learn the attack Thunderous Kick and reigns with the highest attack power by far out of the three.
Moltres
ThoughMoltres’s build inSwordandShieldis similar to its previous forms, it’s coloration is drastically different to fit the new dark-type theme with a black body and magenta flames to replace the overall yellow and orange plumage seen in the Kantonian bird. Its wings are no longer powered by flames but by a dark energy that Moltres inflicts upon its opponents to drain them of their energy and spirits.
Kantonian Moltres used to reign as the legendary bird with the highest attack power, but Galarian Moltres now ties with Galarian Articuno for the lowest. It’s also the slowest in comparison to its counterparts and has no major edges against a wide range of types and their effectiveness the way Kantonian Moltres does with only rock, water, and electric.Galarian Moltres also loses the edge given by Kantonian Moltres’s flame body, offering a 30% to inflict burn on its enemy, and replaces it with Berserk, which is only useful if the Pokemon’s health drops below half.
Whether or not theKantonian versions of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltresare better than the newly released Galarian breeds is still up for debate. At the very least, the three legendary birds found in theCrown Tundraexpansion feature a completely different experience than the original trio.
Pokemon SwordandShieldare out now for the Nintendo Switch.
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