How To Get Munkidori in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet The Teal Mask

Munkidori is a short Pokémon, but it can be your biggest challenge. I’ve been playing Pokémon for over 20 years and even so was impressed with how difficult it was to catch it. It’s the only legendary Pokémon in the first part of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet expansion, The Teal Mask, that you can fight up to three times, and every time, it seems to get tougher. If you want to catch one, prepare a lot of Ultra and Timer Balls.

Munkidori is a Poison and Psychic-type Pokémon with high Sp. Attack and Speed numbers. Its ability Toxic Chain lets it badly poison any Pokémon it hits with an attack, making this another factor to worry about when fighting it.

Here are some tips on how to handle and catch Munkidori in The Teal Mask.

Table of Contents

• How to easily beat Munkidori in the story
• Where to find and how to catch Munkidori
• All Munkidori stats
• Best Munkidori moveset

How to easily beat Munkidori in the story

Use Bisharp or Kingambit to beat Munkidori. These two Pokémon will be immune to Psychic and Poison moves thanks to their Dark and Steel typing, and they can’t be poisoned either. Wild Munkidori knows no offensive moves at level 70 that are not Psychic or Poison, which makes it unable to deal damage to Bisharp and Kingambit. You’re invincible and can take your time to beat it.

You can find Bisharp in North Province Area Two and in Area Zero to evolve it into Kingambit. Otherwise, you can catch Kingambit directly in The Teal Mask DLC in the Timeless Woods.

Otherwise, hit Munkidori with Ghost, Ground, or Dark-type moves to beat it during the story, both when you face it to help Ogerpon and when you fight it by the lake as a Titan Pokémon. All these types are super-effective against it, dealing double the damage other move types would. Avoid using Grass, Fight, Poison, and Fairy moves against it, since it has resistance against these types.

Where to find and how to catch Munkidori

You can find and catch Munkidori by the lake southwest of Kitakami, south of Wistful Fields. It’s on the same spot where you battled its Titan form. However, it can only be caught after beating The Teal Mask’s story, which ends after you catch Ogerpon and meet with your fellow students at the center to say goodbye.

To catch Munkidori, paralyze it, drop its health until the bar is red, and use Timer Balls. Again, use Bisharp or Kingambit as your main Pokémon to tank hits while you throw Pokéballs at it.

When I caught Munkidori, I used Magnezone’s Thunder Wave to paralyze it, then dropped its health using Flash Cannon. When I finally got its health low enough, I switched to Kingambit. It took me 21 Ultra Balls to catch it while having a full Paldea Pokédex.

Don’t waste sandwiches for this fight. Catching power doesn’t work against legendary Pokémon, so using a Catching Power: Poison or Psychic sandwich will not increase your odds of catching Munkidori.

All Munkidori stats

Here are all Munkidori base stats in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask:

• Type: Poison/Psychic
• HP: 88
• Attack: 75
• Defense: 66
• Sp. Attack: 130
• Sp. Defense: 90
• Speed: 106
• Ability: Toxic Chain – The power of the Pokémon’s toxic chain may badly poison any target the Pokémon hits with a move.
  • Hidden Ability: Frisk – Reveals the foe’s held item.
• Weaknesses: Ground, Ghost, Dark.
• Resistances: Grass, Fight, Poison, Fairy.

Best Munkidori moveset

These are the best moves to use in Munkidori to take advantage of its high Sp. Atk, Speed, and the need for coverage against some Pokémon types:

• Nasty Plot or Tera Blast
• Psychic
• Sludge Wave or Sludge Bomb
• Focus Blast
• Item: Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, or Life Orb

Nasty Plot is useful to increase Sp. Atk fast and set up a sweep against your opponent. If you’re using this, use Life Orb as its held item. Otherwise, if you don’t want to spend time setting up, you can replace Nasty Plot with Tera Blast for extra coverage depending on the Tera type you choose.

Psychic and Sludge Wave or Sludge Bomb allow Munkidori to hit hard with the same-type attack bonus. Focus Blast is there to help it hit Dark and Steel-type Pokémon that it struggles against.

Choice Specs or Scarf will make Munkidoki hit even harder with a Sp. Atk boost or just be faster than opponents with a Speed boost. The downside is that these items will lock it into the first move it uses in battle, and you can only change that by switching Munkidori out.