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Pokemon GO's collection of obtainable creatures is expanding at regular intervals. However, novice and veteran trainers alike know that some Pocket Monsters are much more difficult to get a hold of. Many of them don't spawn regularly in the wild, only appear during events, or have only popped up in the game on one or two occasions. Some are no longer obtainable at all without trading.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the rarest creatures in Pokemon GO, there isn't a ton of data available to determine them. Certain community sites attempted to track them as best they could, but many no longer have affiliate status with Niantic.
Rare creatures are tricky to parse in Pokemon GO, but if trainers find the Pocket Monsters listed below, they should certainly keep a hold of them for the foreseeable future.
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Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer
The rarest Pocket Monsters in Pokemon GO based on available information as of June 2023
1) The Galarian Bird Trio
The three Galarian counterparts to Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are well-known for their rarity in Pokemon GO. They can only be caught in the wild by using the Daily Adventure Incense, and their appearance rates are incredibly low even when the item is active.
To make matters worse, the three Galarian Legendary Pokemon have a roughly 90% chance to flee upon the first failed catch attempt. The introduction of the Master Ball has helped trainers capture this trio, but finding and securing all three of them is still an incredibly daunting task.
2) The Clone Kanto Starters
The Kanto starter trio of Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard is enduringly popular among Pokemon GO players and franchise fans as a whole. However, during February and March 2020, Niantic released the clone iterations of these three creatures that were created by Mewtwo in the animated movie Mewtwo Strikes Back!
When the movie received a remake, these three Pokemon were released as part of a promotional campaign. They haven't appeared in the game since, meaning trainers will have to trade for these unique Pocket Monsters.
3) Wash and Mow Rotom
In the main series of Pokemon games, Rotom possesses six distinct forms (seven if you include the Rotom Phone, but that's essentially used as an item). To date, only two forms have made their way to Pokemon GO, the Wash and Mow variants. These two iterations alone have been incredibly difficult to obtain for most trainers.
Mow Rotom was only made available in 2022 as a photobomb creature during Pokemon GO Fests in Sapporo, Seattle, and Berlin. Wash Rotom was only obtainable at GO Fest 2020 as a photobomb monster and during the sixth Anniversary Event as a research completion reward.
Fortunately, Pokemon GO fans will get the chance to obtain Frost Rotom during GO Fest 2023 as a photobomber in New York City, London, and Osaka. Be that as it may, keeping Rotom reserved only for trainers who travel to these massive events has made this creature incredibly scarce in the community.
4) Larvesta and Volcarona
Larvesta and its evolution Volcarona have only been a part of Pokemon GO for a short while, but their debut has been mired in controversy among trainers. Larvesta was only made available through egg hatching during the "An Instinctive Hero" event in May 2023, but it had a vanishingly small chance of being hatched.
This made Volcarona even more difficult to obtain since trainers need 400 Larvesta candies to initiate evolution. Even when massing large amounts of eggs and using Larvesta as a buddy, the two Pokemon's debut event didn't give trainers much time to acquire them.
Larvesta and Volcarona may appear in later Pokemon GO events with better appearance rates, but for the time being, these two Pocket Monsters remain incredibly rare among players. Larvesta can still be hatched during normal gameplay, but the chance of doing so is immensely small.
5) Unown
Complete with a variant for each letter of the English alphabet and also two forms for exclamation points and question marks, Unown ranks as one of the rarest creatures in Pokemon GO. Although it can technically appear in the wild by default, its spawn rate is vanishingly small.
Unown can appear more often during events like GO Fest or can be found as part of the Trainer Level 50 challenge, but its incredibly situational spawns make it remarkably difficult to find nonetheless.
6) Zarude
This mythical Grass/Dark-type species arrived in Pokemon GO only during the Secrets of the Jungle event in October 2021 and could only be obtained by completing the fifth stage of the event's research. Like the clone Pokemon, Zarude was introduced as part of a promotional event for the animated movie "Secrets of the Jungle."
Since it appeared, Zarude hasn't been attainable for trainers who didn't have access to the event research. Furthermore, the creature can't be traded for, making it even more difficult to acquire. Hopefully, Niantic brings it back in an event in the future.
7) Salandit and Salazzle
These two Alolan native Pokemon debuted during the All-Hands Rocket Retreat in April 2022 but with a pretty significant catch. Specifically, Pokemon GO players can only hatch Salandit from Strange Eggs (aka 12km eggs), and it has an incredibly low hatch chance compared to other creatures in its egg pool.
To make matters worse, only female Salandit are capable of evolving into Salazzle. This means if Pokemon GO players finally hatch a Salandit and it ends up being male, they have to go through the process of hatching again until they find a female capable of evolving. Fortunately, evolution only costs 50 candies.
8) Kecleon
Kecleon became the final species from the Hoenn region to be added to Pokemon GO back in January 2023. However, it remains quite elusive outside of events. This enigmatic creature only appears attached to Pokestops, where players will notice that they can't spin the stop until Kecleon is removed from it with repeated taps.
Once it has been dislodged from the Pokestop, Kecleon isn't particularly difficult to capture. However, for trainers who don't reside near many stops, the creature is quite rare, though it can at least be traded for if all else fails.
9) The Lake Guardians
The Legendary Sinnoh Lake Guardians Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit have gotten some recent opportunities to be acquired in Pokemon GO, but it's still very rare for trainers to acquire all three of them legitimately. Although they can appear in the wild, this trio has a very low spawn rate, and each Pokemon is locked to a specific world region.
Sadly, the recent nerfs to remote raiding have made these three Pokemon even tougher to obtain, even when an event is ongoing. This has led more than a few trainers to use illicit tricks like spoofing to acquire all three of the guardians.
10) Armored Mewtwo
Mewtwo remains one of the most popular species to use in Pokemon GO's PvP and PvE, but its armored variant, reminiscent of its appearance at the beginning of Mewtwo Strikes Back!, is absurdly difficult to snag. The armored creature has only been made available twice, in July 2019 and during Pokemon Day 2020.
One would think that recent updates to Team GO Rocket in Pokemon GO, like Shadow Raids, may see the return of Armored Mewtwo. So far, though, this hasn't been the case, and it remains one of the rarest Pocket Monsters in the game.
