What are the Black Stakes?

Discover the purpose of the mysterious Black Stakes in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Learn how they unlock legendary Pokemon and where to find them across Paldea.

So, you've been exploring Paldea and stumbled upon these weird Black Stakes stuck in the ground, right? You're probably wondering what they're all about. Well, it's pretty cool: each set of these stakes, when all found, will unseal a hidden shrine. Inside each shrine? One of the four awesome Ruin Legendary Pokémon, all chilling at Level 60!

Don't worry about waiting until the very end of the game for this quest; you can actually tackle it much sooner. If you're confident you can handle a tough fight, your best bet is to try and poison the Legendary with Poison-type moves, then use Ultra Balls to catch them. Just keep in mind, since they're Level 60, they won't listen to you until you've earned all eight Gym Badges from the Victory Road storyline.

Unsealing these shrines means you'll get to battle and potentially catch these powerful Legendary Pokémon.

There are four different sets of 8 Black Stakes scattered across the world. Once you've found all 8 for a specific color, you can unseal its corresponding shrine. You can hunt for these stakes in any order you like, so no need to stress about a specific sequence. However, it's probably a good idea to focus on one set at a time. The game doesn't keep track for you, so you'll need to remember how many you've collected for each shrine.

These locations should give you a good starting point for your hunt. If you want the exact spots for every single stake, make sure to check out our dedicated pages for each color!