Notes and Strategy (14)

Learn the best strategy for snagging all of Greevil's Shadow Pokémon in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, including team composition and battle order.

Alright, so you've reached what feels like one of the toughest parts of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness – snagging a whole team of Shadow Pokémon! It sounds super daunting, but trust me, it's way more manageable if you bring out your new buddies, Shadow Lugia and Electabuzz. They're a fantastic combo for this challenge.

As soon as the battle kicks off, your first move should be to switch in Shadow Lugia. This is crucial to avoid Greevil using Shadow Hold on you right away. Most of the time, the enemy Shadow Moves will target Lugia, which is perfect. This gives you the opening to use Electabuzz's Shadow Half ability. Its job is to weaken the opposing Shadow Pokémon just enough so you can successfully Snag them. Keep your Revives and Moomoo Milks handy, though – Greevil can sometimes land critical hits, so be ready to heal up!

Now, a little tip from me: I'd suggest leaving Tauros out of your active lineup for this fight. Its Shadow Rush move isn't super effective here, and you really don't want to have to deal with two Legendary Birds at once. Also, it's a good idea to take care of Rhydon early on. It knows the annoying Shadow Panic, and it might even have the Lightningrod ability, which could mess with your strategy. Don't stress too much if you can't snag every single Shadow Pokémon on your first try; you can always come back to Citadark Isle later to try again.

In my experience, here's how I'd rank Greevil's Shadow Pokémon from easiest to hardest to capture:

1. Tauros
2. Exeggutor
3. Rhydon
4. Moltres
5. Articuno
6. Zapdos

Once you finally defeat Greevil, you've basically beaten the main story! Congrats! Before the credits roll, you'll get a prompt to save your game. Definitely do that to keep your progress. Just a heads-up, nobody in the game world will really acknowledge that Cipher has been defeated, but you can head back to Citadark Isle anytime to challenge Greevil again.