Key Takeaway
One of the quickest ways to get Baxcalibur is to catch an Arctibax and then evolve it. Arctibax evolves into Baxcalibur at level 54.
In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, the most reliable way to get Baxcalibur is to evolve it from its previous form. However, to catch one of its previous forms, you’ll need to head into the cold north of the Paldea region.
Table Of Contents
How to Evolve Arctibax Into Baxcalibur
Arctibax evolves into Baxcalibur at level 54. It won’t be too hard to increase Arctibax to this level if you are near the end of the game. However, there are other methods besides battling for increasing a Pokémon’s level.
Items that increase your Pokémon’s experience can help a lot here. Exp. Candies are the only real option to do this, although Rare Candies can straight-up increase your pocket monster’s level.
How to Get Rare Candies and Exp. Candies
You can find Rare Candies while exploring the world, however, there are more reliable methods of obtaining them. The two best of the repeatable methods are to enter the Academy Ace Tournament and complete 5-star, 6-star, and 7-star Tera Raid Battles.
As for Exp. Candies, Tera Raid Battles are also great for item farming. The higher the star level of a Tera Raid Battle, the higher quality the Exp. Candy rewards will be. Also, passing midterm and final exams at Naranja and Uva Academy will get you some Exp. Candies—although you can only get these rewards once.
How to Level Up Through Battling Quickly
Like in previous generations, Chansey and Blissey give tons of experience when they are defeated in battle. In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, they will run away if they spot you. As such, your best bet is to sneak up on them or hit them at full speed while riding Koraidon or Miraidon to engage them in battle before they escape.
Although both have low spawn rates, you can find these Pokémon in multiple areas. Chansey can spawn in most of the northern half of Paldea. However, Blissey only spawns in Area One, Area Two, and Area Three of the Northern Province.
Where to Find Frigibax and Arctibax
Both of these Pokémon are fairly rare, though, with enough searching, you can find them amidst the ice and snow. Frigibax can spawn pretty much anywhere on Glaseado Mountain. Keep exploring the light blue area on the map and you will stumble across one eventually.
Arctibax will be a bit tougher to locate. They only spawn in a small area between Casseroya Lake and North Province Area Three. Make sure to stay north of the river connecting the two aforementioned areas. There is a cave in the highlighted area on the map that has higher spawn chances for Arctibax.
Is Baxcalibur Any Good?
Yes, Baxcalibur is a strong offensive Pokémon that can sweep entire teams. Thanks to its signature move, Glaive Rush, it can reliably knock out most opponents with the exception of Fairy-types and foes with high Defense stats that resist Dragon-type moves.
On a more subjective note, Baxcalibur has a unique and aesthetically appealing design. It looks very much like what it is: an ice dragon. The sail on its back also makes it look like a Spinosaurus, which is a large predatory dinosaur that lived around 99 million to 93 million years ago.
Baxcalibur’s Typing
By being both Dragon and Ice-type, Baxcalibur has access to some great STAB (same type attack bonus) moves. It is weak to five different types (Fighting, Rock, Steel, Dragon, and Fairy) and is resistant to three (Water, Grass, and Electric).
Having five weaknesses isn’t great—and neither is only possessing three resistances—which means Baxcalibur doesn’t have the best type match-ups in the game by a long shot.
However, compared to other pseudo-legendaries, like Dragonite and Garchomp—both of whom have a double weakness to Ice-type attacks—Baxcalibur’s typing isn’t that bad.
Both of the aforementioned pseudo-legendaries have been pretty viable across multiple generations, so there’s no reason why Baxcalibur should suffer particularly badly in the metagame.
Baxcalibur’s Stats
Here are Baxcalibur’s base stats:
- HP – 115
- Attack – 145
- Defense – 92
- Special Attack – 75
- Special Defense – 86
- Speed – 87
For the most part, this icy dragon’s base stats are pretty well-rounded. As such, it doesn’t really have any critical flaws in terms of stat distribution. By far its most notable trait is its base Attack stat. At 145, its base Attack stat is the same as Landorus (Therian Forme)—which is a great sign for combat viability.
Thanks to a generous HP base stat and solid defensive base stats, Baxcalibur can take hits fairly well. Since it doesn’t have any crippling double weaknesses, this results in Baxcalibur being somewhat hard to knock out.
More impressively, its Speed stat is also quite good. Usually, more bulky Pokémon suffer from being slower, however, this isn’t the case for Baxcalibur. This is an important feature if you want to sweep teams by spamming Glaive Rush.
Baxcalibur’s Moveset
First and foremost, you need to keep Glaive Rush on Baxcalibur’s moveset. It learns this physical Dragon-type move when it evolves, so you have access to it right away. At 120 base power and 100 accuracy, Glaive Rush is a deadly move.
The only downside is that using it makes Baxcalibur take double the damage from incoming attacks on the next turn. Also, during this next turn, any move used against Baxcalibur is guaranteed to hit.
There are ways to alleviate this downside, such as boosting Baxcalibur’s Speed so that it is more likely to move first. You can’t take damage if you move first and keep knocking out foes every turn!
Thankfully, Baxcalibur can learn Dragon Dance via TM100, so be sure to let it learn this great status move. The boosted Attack and Speed granted by Dragon Dance will be very helpful.
With that said, there are some other viable moves you can teach your Baxcalibur. Here’s a list of the better ones that you should consider:
- Ice Shard (learned at level 1)
- Glaive Rush (learned when evolving)
- Crunch (learned at level 55)
- Icicle Crash (learned at level 62)
- Iron Head (learned via TM099)
- Dragon Dance (learned via TM100)
- Earthquake (learned via TM149)
- Aqua Tail (learned via breeding)
- Icicle Spear (learned via breeding, but wild Frigibax and Arctibax may already know this move)
