Pokemon in Legends differs from the official Pokémon series in many ways. The Poké Balls are different, there are no gyms, and you must actively make all your Pokémon evolve.
When it comes to the Pokémon in this game, even the way they help you travel has changed. You get to ride them, but there is a very specific way to do so in this game. If you are looking for information on riding Pokémon in Legends: Arceus, then look no further than here.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about riding Pokémon. We’ll go over each type of mount that exists, their pros and cons, which ones can fly, which ones can swim, and more!
How to Ride Pokémon
Riding Pokémon is Arceus is very straightforward; you just need to call the Pokémon that you want to ride by pressing the plus key on your joy-con. However, you can’t just ride any Pokémon.
There are specific Pokémon that you can ride, and you come across them when playing the game and advancing in the main storyline. Doing so will naturally give you access to mounts available in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The more you progress, the more Pokémon to ride you will have.
At first, when you complete The Frenzy of the Lord of the Woods quest, you will get the Celestica Flute. That’s the item that you need to summon your Pokémon mounts. You will come across it by naturally progressing through the story, so just keep playing the main storyline until you have it.
With the flute, you can press the plus (“+”) key to instantly start riding a Pokémon. Your first mount is Wyrdeer. It can run really fast through the map, and it can also jump.
Pokémon mounts are not treated the same way as other Pokémon. They are not part of your team, don’t battle, and aren’t even within a Poké Ball. Their only function is transportation, but each has a different ability.
You can change the Pokémon you want to call with the flute by pressing the left or right arrow keys.
Although much of the game’s progression is tied to how star ranks work, mounts are tied only to the progression of the main storyline.
Each Mount and What They Do
As mentioned above, each mount in Pokémon Legends: Arceus does something different. Here’s a list with all Pokémon mounts, when you get them, and what makes them different from the others:
How to Ride Wydeer
First, you need to defeat the rampaging Kricketune in Deertrack Heights. Once that’s done, you will get the flute and are immediately able to ride this special Wydeer.
This Pokémon can jump when you hit Y. It can also dash if you hold the B key. It’s a valuable Pokémon to rush through the map, and it remains useful until the end of the game.
How to Ride Ursaluna
Before ever riding this Pokémon, you will have to defeat it in Crimson Mirelands. Once you do, you will learn a song that you can play on the flute to summon your new mount.
Ursaluna is not as fast as Wydeer, but that’s not why you want to ride it. This Pokémon’s special ability is digging for treasure. When riding Ursaluna, you will see an arc in front of it. If it turns red, you’re headed towards something important.
You can dig by hitting the Y key. It won’t always find something, but sometimes you’ll get something nice.
How to Ride Basculegion
Getting Basculegion is a bit of a long process. You will need to be able to cook food for this Pokémon with a Dusclops’ Shadow Ball attack. This means you will need to know how to catch a Dusclops to advance in the main storyline.
Once you finally meet and feed the Basculegion, you will be able to summon it by playing the flute.
Basculegion is the Pokémon you can ride to traverse water. Since there are not any other water Pokémon you can ride, falling in a body of water and hitting the “+” key swill instantly make Basculegion show up.
How to Ride Sneasler
Although Sneasler is supposed to be a mount, it’s a bit unusual. Sneasler carries you on his back as if you were a backpack. You get this mount after winning a fight against Ingo in the Clamberclaw Cliffs.
Sneasler’s unique ability, as a mount, is climbing. Not all surfaces are climbable, but those that are will prompt you with a keypress request so you can start going up.
How to Ride Braviary
Although each mount has its unique abilities, riding a flying Pokémon is by far the coolest thing you can do in the game. It is also the best way to traverse any region.
Unfortunately, you can only ride the Braviary mount after solving the Snowpoint Temple puzzles and winning a Pokémon battle against Sabi. It will take a while to do that, but it is worth it.
When using Briavary as a mount, you can literally go over every obstacle in the game. Traveling in a straight line and flying over everyone’s feels earned once you finally get to do it.
Final Thoughts
There are good things and bad things about the new mount system in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I don’t like the fact I can’t teach Surf to my Pikachu so I can ride on its back for some hilarious moments, but I guess this is a minor issue.
Honestly speaking, this riding system is very practical and well-integrated with the main plot. I do appreciate the fact the developers made mounts part of the main storyline. It seems like a wise choice that makes development easier while allowing for more exciting mechanics because they have specific Pokémon for each different kind of traversal.
I also like very much that they managed to make your mount be a key away from appearing. Having to go through a menu to call up your mount would have seriously impaired the pacing of the game.
Now you know that you just have to advance in the main storyline to unlock the mounts. Keep playing until you get to fly around cause it’s pretty fun.
