In the vast world of Pokemon, Legendaries are always an interesting and much-discussed subject. They are representatives of the various Generations and games and yet, in many cases, they remain unseen (and unfortunately, unusable) until the very end. However, the fact remains that fans love the Legendaries.
As players continue to celebrate 25 years of Pokemon, they are rediscovering some of the favorite Legendary creatures found in each Generation. All Legendaries, however, are not created equal. So, let's have a look at the strongest Legendary Pokemon of each Generation, based on stats.
8 Mewtwo
Starting off, we have Generation 1's Mewtwo. Mewtwo is a pure Psychic-type Pokemon with a base stat total of 680. The closest thing it has to even a remotely bad stat is its defenses, but 90 points in each are far from terrible. Its movepool is phenomenal, learning so many strong attacking moves from a huge variety of types.
Mewtwo certainly isn't perfect. Its abilities could be better, with its Pressure Ability (forcing opponent's Moves to use twice as many Power Points) being just OK. However, its Unnerve Ability (disabling opposing Pokemon from eating berries) is pretty good.
7 Ho-oh and Lugia
Ho-oh and Lugia are the mascot Legendaries of the Generation 2 games, Gold and Silver. Ho-oh is a Fire/Flying-type while Lugia is a Psychic/Flying-type, both with a shared base stat total of 680. Their stats are nearly identical, except for the fact the Ho-oh is more offensively focused, while Lugia is more defensively focused.
They both come with solid Movepools, having pretty good variety in the Moves they can learn. Ho-oh and Lugia also get 1 excellent Ability each that greatly helps their durability. Ho-oh gets Regenerator, meaning it gains 1/3 of its HP whenever it switches out, and Lugia gets Multiscale, making it so that when Lugia is at full HP, it takes 1/2 damage from damaging moves.
6 Rayquaza
Rayquaza is the strongest Pokemon in the entirety of Generation 3's Pokédex, having a base stat total of 680. These stats are great all around. The attack stats and HP are amazingly high, with everything else being above average. The Dragon/Flying-type also gives it a great offensive presence, with only the big weakness to Ice being a drawback.
The Movepool is fantastic. Rayquaza can learn just about any move you could ask for. Not to mention that its Ability, Air Lock, turns off the effects of weather conditions, making it the perfect counter to weather-reliant teams.
5 Arceus
In Generation 4, we were introduced to what is essentially the Pokemon world's god, Arceus. Arceus can do just about anything you ask of it, thanks to it having 120 points in every stat, adding up to a massive total of 720. Additionally, its Ability, Multitype makes Arceus an even greater powerhouse.
Arceus is a pure Normal-type on its own, but if have it hold a plate of any type, it will become whatever type the plate boosts. On top of all of this, its signature move Judgement also matches whatever type Arceus is, meaning it will always have a STAB move.
4 Black Kyurem and White Kyurem
Black Kyurem and White Kyurem are the mascot Legendary Pokémon for Generation 5's Black 2 and White 2, both sharing a base stat total of 700. They both also share the same type of combination with Dragon/Ice. Black Kyurem has its focus placed in its physical attack, while White Kyuem has its focus placed in its Special Attack. Said focus is incredibly intense, as each form has 170 points in their respective attacking stat. They also have 2 great abilities in Teravolt and Turboblaze, meaning they can use Moves regardless of what abilities your opponents have (using a Ground-type move on a Pokemon with levitate, for example). While not as amazing as some other Pokemon on this list, they both have good movepools as well.
3 Xerneas, Yveltal, and Hoopa (Unbound)
Xerneas and Yveltal are the mascot Legendary Pokémon for Generation 6, with Hoopa (Unbound) being a separate Pokemon also introduced in the same gen. All 3 of them share a base stat total of 680. Xerneas is a pure Fairy-type, Yveltal is a Dark/Flying-type, and Hoopa (Unbound) is Psychic/Dark. Both Xerneas and Yveltal use their base stats in the exact same way, they boast wonderful HP and attacking stats, with everything else being decent. Xerneas can boost its power up to terrifying levels thanks to its ability Fairy Aura and the downright broken move that is Geomancy. Meanwhile, Yveltal gets a similar ability in Dark Aura, as well as an HP draining move called Oblivion Wing that increases its survivability.
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Hoopa has solid stats in everything except physical defense, with a good ability in Magician (if Hoopa has no held item and hits a Pokemon that does, Hoopa steals it). However, all of this seems to come at cost of Move variety, as that is nowhere near as good compared to a lot of other Legendaries. The type combination helps it out a lot, though, giving it weaknesses to only Ghost and Dark.
2 Ultra Necrozma
Ultra Necromza was introduced in the second half of Gen 7, and it's ridiculous in every sense of the word. It has a colossal base stat total of 754 (with the focus being put into the attacking stats and speed). It has the rather peaks and valleys Psychic/Dragon-type combination (6 weaknesses but also 6 resistances). It also has an insane Ability called Neuroforce, which increases the strength of super-effective moves by 25%, and a solid movepool to cap it all off. The bottom line? This Pokemon is a beast no matter how you look at it.
1 Zacian (Crowned Sword) and Zamazenta (Crowned Shield)
Zacian and Zamazenta are the mascot Pokemon for Generation 8. The forms that this list is talking about in particular are accessed when Zacian is given the Rusted Sword, and when Zamazenta is given the Rusted Shield. They will both gain the same base stat total of 720. Fairy/Steel and Fighting/Steel are both absolutely wonderful type combinations, as they have incredible resistances while also having a good offensive presence.
When it comes to stats, Zacian is the more offensively focused one while Zamazenta is more defensively focused, as I'm sure you can guess. While neither one comes with a superb movepool, they're both good enough to get the job done.