- Home
- Legends: Arceus
- How to Beat Palkia and Dialga
How to Beat Palkia and Dialga
Whether you face off against 
Palkia or 
Dialga depends on your decisions during the story. These Pokémon have slightly different stats, battle moves, and weaknesses. Luckily the boss battle is the same for both! This is the most difficult boss battle to date. While there are several opportunities to throw Balms during the fight, you need to hold ZL for a bit longer, and aim up a bit above Palkia or Dialga to gain range and hit your target. Stand back at the start of the fight as Palkia and Dialga like to open with a roar that does AoE damage. Alternatively, you can use Y to dodge the roar to avoid damage.
The following explanation focuses on Palkia as that's what we got for our playthrough, however the moves (Roar, Meteor, etc) are the same for Dialga. Check the battle section for more details on the differences!
Palkia and Dialga Move Set
Most commonly, the Counterpart begins its sequence with a meteor move. Its shoulder glows, a large orange circle appears below your character, then after a delay a meteor lands leaving a fire puddle for a short duration. Typically it fires 4 meteors.
- Use L-Stick to run out of the orange zone or Y to dodge out.
- Once you're safe, throw balms until the next meteor circle appears.
- On the last meteor in the sequence, make sure you're far away from the Counterpart.
- WARNING - At low health, the Counterpart does a more dangerous version of this where the meteors land almost instantly! Focus on dodging and don't waste time throwing balms.
The Counterpart follows the meteor move with a wave move. It generates 3 shockwaves which expand outward.
- Dodge through each wave using Y.
As its health gets lower, the Counterpart begins using a meteor line attack. Functionally, this is identical to the meteor sequence, and is also followed up by shockwaves. But since it's a line you should prioritize moving left/right to avoid the projectiles.
- Move out of the orange circles.
- Throw balms.
- Get ready to dodge waves at the end of the sequence.
Transition Phase and Battle
As the fight continues, the Counterpart roars summoning 4 floating orbs. Then it begins to charge up a massive explosion while meteors rain down.
- You need to avoid damage from the meteors or their puddles.
- Throw 4 Balms to interrupt the Counterpart before it finished charging!
- Then throw out a Pokémon to do battle.
How to Battle Palkia
Palkia is weak to both 
Dragon and 
Fairy moves. It's hard to 1-shot due to having well-rounded stats. Dialga is a great counter. Alternatively you can use a strong Fairy type like 
Gardevoir. Be prepared to tank a couple hits during the battle. This is the easier of the two options, as Palkia has more weaknesses than Dialga.
How to Battle Dialga
Dialga resists most types of damage. It is weak to 
Fighting and 
Ground moves and has lower Sp. Def than Def. Watch out for its Roar of Time. 
Lilligant is a solid counter who can take advantage of the Fighting weakness without taking too much damage. Alternatively you can use a tanky Pokémon like 
Ursaluna and grind Dialga down.
- After the Counterpart is exhausted, throw as many balms as possible to chip away at its health.
From there, continue dodging, throwing balms when you can and chipping away at the golden bar. If you managed to land most of your balms you may only need to do 1 stun sequence. Otherwise it could take 2-3, use a 
Hyper Potion on your Pokémon if it needs healing! Once you deplete the golden bar, you automatically use the 
Origin Ball to capture Palkia or Dialga.
Pro Tip: After completing the Mission and rolling credits, speak to Professor Laventon in the Galaxy Team HQ to get whichever starters you didn't pick at the beginning of the game.
