The Rarest Pokémon In Pokémon Go [2023]

Pokémon Go may have felt like a gimmick when it originally came out, but throughout the years it has developed into a wonderful game. Whether you’re challenging trainers, catching Pokémon, traveling to new places, or contributing to your team efforts – there’s seldom a dull moment with this mobile app.

One of the most notable things about Pokémon in any game is that they come in different categories. Some are easy to obtain, some are difficult to obtain, and some are outright rare. And since Pokémon Go has eight generations of Pokemon – there are plenty rare ones that you cannot easily find.

The game is still pretty fun if you only stick to familiar faces. But for those who love building up their collection, you can’t rest until you have some rare Pokémon to show off. Fortunately, we’re here to help you narrow your search down. Here is a list of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go!

Rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go

Since Pokémon Go is a mobile game, there are many Pokémon that were only given out in specific updates and events. So, the rarity of such Pokemon is a bit trickier to track down than the normal games.

Nevertheless, we’ve tried our best to compile a list of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go, regardless of whether or not they can be still obtained in the game.

1. Unown

Unown is one of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go due to how difficult they are to find. Though they do spawn sometimes in the game, there is no way to force it to happen more often.

The best way to catch this 2^nd Generation Pokémon is to wait for events, which have a better rate of giving Unowns out to the player. And certain raids have a chance of giving players a Unown too, though the likelihood of that happening is still rare.

Of course, there is no guarantee that a certain event will give you the Pokémon of your choice. So, it’s a frustrating experience if you really wanted a Unown in particular.

2. Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit (The Lake Guardians Trio)

A very commonly known trio of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go includes Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie. Though older players lucked out in obtaining them, it’s quite a challenge for newer ones to get their hands on one. All three of them are located in different regions, which makes it even harder to get all three of them.

Uxie is in the Asia/Pacific region, Azelf is in the Americas region, and mesprit is in the Middle East, Afrida, and Europe. Even after you go to the right spots though, it still takes a while to find them.

Fortunately, your chances increase at times of special events. And some players managed to get their hands on them during raid hours too by a stream.

3. Shiny Detective Pikachu

Detective Pikachu in Pokémon Go is the result of a collaboration with the motion picture. Though it’s a rare Pikachu to get in the game since it’s event-specific, there is an even rarer version of it that the developers added unintentionally. The Shiny Detective Pikachu was only in the game once and players could only obtain it after the event ended.

That is because the shiny status was off within the event. But if you caught this Pokemon after the event ends, it has a Shiny status that never came back even. Thus, it’s easily one of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go and it possibly won’t come back again as a shiny.

4. Armored Mewtwo

Armored Mewtwo is a very unique Pokémon that was only available in the game at specific times. It’s a special costumed version of Mewtow that was available only two times throughout the history of Pokémon Go. And both of these times it was tied to a special event. Since then, it has never come back, and players can only obtain it by trading. And there seems to be no plans of bringing it back in the future either.

Aside from being one of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go, what makes this Mewtwo so special is that it has different stats compared to its non-costumed variant. And that’s not all, its moveset has differences too. This is extremely rare, as usually the costumes do not add gameplay differences.

5. Galarian Articuno, Moltress & Zapdos

Legendary Pokemon in Pokemon Go are already difficult to encounter. Sure, they may not be as rare as some of the other Pokemon on the list – but they do flee often which makes it even harder to obtain them.

However, when it comes to the Legendary Galarian trio, which includes Articuno, Moltress, and Zapdos, things are more complicated. You can only encounter these Pokémon while you use the Daily Adventure Incense. So, the window of catching them comes down to 15 minutes per day.

So, that’s a 15 minute window and a base catch rate of 0.3% – while they flee up to 90% of times. And this is if you get lucky in encountering them, as that’s a battle in itself. So, you can add them to your collection, but they’re three of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go.

6. Mow Rotom & Wash Rotom

Mow Rotom is one of the two forms of this Pokémon type in the game, with Wash being the other one. Wash Rotom was only available at a limited event at first, but it became available to everyone later for one more event which could be accessed anywhere.

Mow Rotom, on the other hand, was only available for those who attended the Go Fest 2022 Berlin. And it has never returned to the game again other than one Photobomb opportunity which quickly ended. Thus, both Mow Rotom and Wash Motow are one of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go. And out of these two specifically, Mow is even rarer.

7. Spiritomb

Spiritomb is a Pokemon that used to be extremely rare for players to obtain. At first, it was only available within three specific events throughout a couple of years as a part of specific quests. But with time, its rarity changed to a more obtainable degree thanks to the fact that it was added to the Halloween field research tasks.

However, not only do you have to wait an entire year to get a chance of obtaining a Spiritomb – you also have to pay sometimes. Last year, Spiritomb was locked behind a paywall in a timed research quest. This could change in 2023, but if it happens again – that automatically stops many players from obtaining it again even after a year-long wait.

8. Clone Pokémon (Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Pikachu

A specific and very rare category of Pokémon in Pokémon Go are the Clones. They have only been available in the game for a few months three years ago. And since then, they have never been seen again. Thus, the only way of obtaining them is to trade with other players – and some people are charging as much as 100 dollars on eBay for that. Surprisingly, dozens of have been sold too!

These Clone Pokémon are based on the Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution movie. And they have the same designs as the Clone Pokémon that are in the movie. And that explains their name. They are one of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go as of 2023 and this may not change anytime soon either.

Conclusion

That’s it for our list of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go. It was hard to pick which Pokémon to include because there are just so many. But every Pokémon that you saw here is worth its weight in gold.

We hope that you found the guide useful and are going to add some of the obtainable Pokémon to your collection. Those that are no longer available might still come back too – so keep your fingers crossed!

Check also:

• The 10 Best Pokemon Abilities [Ranked 2023]