Which is more effective when catching Pokemon?

[Operative #19]

Is paralysis more effective or is sleep? Or are they the same? I'm having trouble catching some legendaries right now. I paralyze them but it still takes forever to catch em.

[Milo Rambaldi]

Personally, and I am in no way saying this is for fact, I have found sleep works much better than paralysis...

I remember back in Red I caught Mewtwo at full health with an ultra ball on the first try after putting him to sleep.

[Seerow]

I think all status effects have the same effect. I'm not sure though. At the very least I'm pretty sure Paralysis is not better than Sleep.

[Bulbasaurus Rex]

According to Serebii.net, Sleep and Freeze are the same and better that Paralysis, Burn, and Poison.

[Alice!]

(( 1 + ( MaxHP * 3 - CurrentHP * 2 ) * CatchRate * BallRate * Status# ) / ( MaxHP * 3 )) / 256

That's the abbreviated version of the capture formula. The status you have inflicted on the opposing pokemon will reflect the number in the Status# slot. Here's the list of all the status conditions and what their value is. No status - 1 Poison - 5 Burn - 5 Paralysis - 5 Freeze - 10 Sleep - 10Thus, putting a pokemon to sleep is twice as good as paralyzing it.

[Dark Sage]

Has it always been like that?

I remember on my Yellow that I used Zapdos and thundered Mewtwo to about 40% and paralyzed him then caught on the first throw.

Played recently and I tried sleeping him. It took like 30 tries at 5% hp. :bashhead:

[Bulbasaurus Rex]

You were very lucky the first time (or you used the Master Ball and forgot you used it). You can almost never catch a legendary without a Master Ball (or a fully charged Timer Ball) with that much health left.

[Dark Sage]

It was pretty funny, I crit and paralyzed him.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I didn't use the masterball because I used it on a ponyta because I wanted to fill my dex and I didn't have any balls left.

[Alice!]

Dusk Balls are ultimate champions for catching Legendaries. They have the same catch rate as a maxed out Timer Ball (4) but work right away instead of waiting for many turns! And almost every legendary is in a cave anyway.

Also, it's technically possible to catch any pokemon on the very first turn by just throwing a normal pokeball at it. It's an incredibly tiny chance for legendaries and other low capture rate stuff, but still possible.

[Chris!]

You'd want to use a Quick Ball if you felt like trying that.

[Alice!]

I was not talking about the best odds; I was talking about the worst odds.

[Seerow]

Has it always been like that?

I remember on my Yellow that I used Zapdos and thundered Mewtwo to about 40% and paralyzed him then caught on the first throw.

Played recently and I tried sleeping him. It took like 30 tries at 5% hp. :bashhead:

Are these both on Yellow version? Or was one of them on FireRed/LeafGreen? Because if I recall correctly the legendaries did not have their own special "you can't catch me" thing in Yellow, Red, and Blue. At the very least I remember catching each of the birds on the first throw (after being weakened).

[Cytosine]

I'm pretty sure the Pokéballs could "miss" the birds and possibly Mewtwo on Yellow; haven't played it for a while though.

[Dark Sage]

Are these both on Yellow version? Or was one of them on FireRed/LeafGreen? Because if I recall correctly the legendaries did not have their own special "you can't catch me" thing in Yellow, Red, and Blue. At the very least I remember catching each of the birds on the first throw (after being weakened).

Yes both on yellow.