Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

In any Pokémon game, once I’ve beaten the Elite Four and the Champion and cleared up any lingering story threads, my first order of business is to catch all of the Legendary Pokémon. Obviously, you need to in order to complete the PokéDex, but more than that, they’re big, elaborately designed Pokémon, and I just want them. I’m guessing you want them as well, so here’s a list of the Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as well as a general overview of how to obtain them.

As of writing, there are 36 Legendary Pokémon confirmed to be in the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl PokéDex. For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to divide these Pokémon into three groups: base Legendaries that you can catch either while playing through the game’s story or by entering particular locations, extra Legendaries that have some other kind of external requirement, and unknown Legendaries that can’t be found yet. It should also go without saying that each version of the game has some exclusive Legendaries, so if you don’t have that particular version, the only way you’ll be able to get those Pokémon is by trading with a friend. 

Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Base Legendaries

These Pokémon can all be encountered and caught over the course of the game’s main story, or by entering certain locations. Bear in mind, many of those locations are blocked off until you’ve defeated the Elite Four, so you should probably wait until you’ve dealt with them before you start your Legendary hunt in earnest.

• Dialga (BD Exclusive): Spear Pillar, story event
• Palkia (SP Exclusive): Spear Pillar, story event
• Azelf: Lake Valor after beating Elite Four
• Uxie: Lake Acuity after beating Elite Four
• Mesprit: Initially encountered at Lake Verity after beating Elite Four, will begin roaming the region afterwards. Must be tracked with the Poketch to catch.
• Heatran: Stark Mountain
• Altered Forme Giratina: Turnback Cave

Extra Legendaries

These Pokémon aren’t native to the Sinnoh Dex, so you’ll have to jump through a few hoops in order to get them. 

First, we have save data Legendaries. These Pokémon will appear if you talk to a certain NPC in Floaroma Town with the right Pokémon game save data on your Switch. The Pokémon and data you need are:

• Mew: Let’s Go Eevee! or Let’s Go Pikachu! save file
• Jirachi: Pokémon Sword or Shield save file

Second, we have Mystery Gifts. This is a long-running feature of online-enabled Pokémon games where you can connect to the internet and receive special stuff for free. The current Mystery Gift is the Legendary Pokémon Manaphy, though you only have until February 2022 to claim it. If you get a Manaphy, you can breed it with a Ditto at the daycare to get Phione as well.

Third are event Pokémon. These Legendaries require you to either possess a particular item or Pokémon or complete a little quest. These Pokémon and the means to obtain them are:

• Cresselia: Talk to Sailor Eldritch’s son in the southwestern house of Canalave City. Go talk to Eldritch at the docks and he’ll take you to Fullmoon Island. Interact with Cresselia there and it will begin roaming the region. Track it down with the Poketch to catch it.
• Regigigas: After obtaining the National Dex, bring all three members of the Golem Trio (Regirock, Registeel, Regice) to Snowpoint Temple and interact with the Regigigas statue to activate it.

Finally, we have Ramanas Park. This is a special location unlocked once you defeat the Elite Four and are entered into the Hall of Fame. Scattered around Ramanas Park are special stone pedestals with slots for slates that just so happen to resemble various Game Boy cartridges. There’s a trader in Ramanas Park who will give you these slates in exchange for Mysterious Fragments, though the only way to get those is by digging them up in the Underground, so hopefully you’ve been making use of that feature. Once you’ve got a slate, insert it into its designated pedestal, and a certain Legendary Pokémon will appear, ripe for the catching. The slates and the particular Pokémon they can make appear are as follows:

• Kanto Slate (SP Exclusive): Summons Articuno, Zapdos, or Moltres
• Johto Slate (BD Exclusive): Summons Entei, Raikou, or Suicune
• Squall Slate (SP Exclusive): Summons Lugia
• Rainbow Slate (BD Exclusive): Summons Ho-Oh
• Genome Slate: Summons Mewtwo
• Oceanic Slate: Summons Kyogre
• Tectonic Slate: Summons Groudon
• Stratospheric Slate: Summons Rayquaza 
• Discovery Slate: Summons Registeel, Regirock, or Regice
• Soul Slate: Summons Latios or Latias
• Distortion Slate: Summons Origin Forme Giratina

Unknown Legendaries

All of these Pokémon have been confirmed to be present in the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl PokéDex by dataminers. However, much like in the original Diamond and Pearl, they can’t be accessed without some kind of special item or event. Presumably, the items required for these Pokémon will be distributed via Mystery Gift in the future, but as of writing, there is no way to obtain them. The currently unavailable Legendaries include:

• Darkrai: Required Member Card in original game to visit Newmoon Island
• Shaymin (Land and Sky Formes): Required Oak’s Letter in original game to trigger an event at Seabreak Path, followed by an encounter at Flower Paradise
• Arceus: Required Azure Flute in original game to encounter at Hall of Origin
• Celebi: Not Sinnoh native, method unknown
• Deoxys: Not Sinnoh native, method unknown