Strong point: Defense — higher than 95% of species. Overall it is one of the stronger species — above 91% of the Pokédex. It does not evolve: it does not come from anything and does not change into anything. On defense it has 3 weaknesses, 8 resistances and 1 full immunity. Poison-type moves do nothing to it at all. This is a Legendary Pokémon: one per game, no offspring. Very hard to catch — bring plenty of Poké Balls and something that puts it to sleep or paralyzes it.
Base stats
Last column: what percentage of 1084 species and regional forms have a lower value. Strong point: Defense.
A nature can improve this entry further: its boost hits hardest on Defense, the stat in which this species already leads. Which nature does that — see the list of natures.
Which nature to choose
Attack (90) and Sp. Atk (90) are nearly equal, so neither of these two stats can be lowered for free. The price has to be paid in defense — in the weaker one, because Sp. Def does not stop anything here anyway.
- Naive +Spe · −SpD A mixed set that does not intend to take any hits: all that matters is striking first.
- Naughty +Atk · −SpD The same price, but the boost goes into the stronger of the two offensive stats.
A conclusion drawn from base stats alone — a specific moveset can reverse it. All 25 natures.
Regional numbers 4
The header shows the national number. Inside the game the Pokédex counts from the beginning — below is the number you will see in your version.
| Unova | #144 | Black / White |
|---|---|---|
| Unova | #225 | Black 2 / White 2 |
| Crown Tundra | #205 | Sword / Shield , Sword/Shield: The Crown Tundra |
| Hyperspace | #115 | Legends: Z-A , Legends: Z-A: Mega Dimension |
Abilities
- Justified Raises Attack one stage upon taking damage from a dark move.
How players use it
Data from 574,541 ranked battles on Smogon (Gen 9 OU, 2026-09). These are not numbers from the game — they are player habits. Gen 9 OU is the most popular format with no top-down team restrictions — everything is allowed except what was deemed too strong.
Rank 223 among 309 Pokémon in use — it is on 0.04% of teams.
Each row is a separate distribution, not a single set: the most common item and the most common move do not have to appear on the same Pokémon.
Pokédex entry
This legendary Pokémon battled against humans to protect Pokémon. Its personality is calm and composed.
Resistances and weaknesses
Type chart →How much damage Cobalion takes when it is hit by a move of each type. The multipliers of both its types are already combined here.
How it was drawn
2010–2016The sprites come straight from the games in which Cobalion appeared — one from each release.
Variant gallery
The gallery shows only the appearance variants that exist for this Pokémon. Every image shows the same character and differs in source — a Pokémon HOME render or a pixel sprite — and in coloring, regular or shiny.
TCG cards (12)
All Cobalion cards →Cobalion has 12 cards in 8 sets. The oldest of them are shown below.
Breeding
All Egg Groups →Cobalion does not breed. You cannot get an Egg from it — this is how the games treat almost all Legendary and Mythical species.
Where to catch it (6)
All locations →The levels shown are the widest range across all game versions — in a specific release it may be narrower. The exact area, catch method and chance are on the page of each location.
Alola
Galar
Hoenn
Unova
Moves (82)
Full move list →Below are the moves learned by leveling up. The rest (73 via TM/TR, 14 via tutor) are on the full list.
| Lv. | Move | Type | Cat. | Power | Acc. | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helping Hand | Normal | Status | — | — | 20 |
| 1 | Leer | Normal | Status | — | 100% | 30 |
| 1 | Quick Attack | Normal | Physical | 40 | 100% | 30 |
| 1 | Work Up | Normal | Status | — | — | 30 |
| 7 | Metal Claw | Steel | Physical | 50 | 95% | 35 |
| 14 | Quick Guard | Fighting | Status | — | — | 15 |
| 21 | Double Kick | Fighting | Physical | 30 | 100% | 30 |
| 28 | Retaliate | Normal | Physical | 70 | 100% | 5 |
| 35 | Metal Burst | Steel | Physical | — | 100% | 10 |
| 42 | Take Down | Normal | Physical | 90 | 85% | 20 |
| 49 | Sacred Sword | Fighting | Physical | 90 | 100% | 15 |
| 56 | Swords Dance | Normal | Status | — | — | 20 |
| 63 | Iron Head | Steel | Physical | 80 | 100% | 15 |
| 70 | Close Combat | Fighting | Physical | 120 | 100% | 5 |