How to Beat Moltres and Articuno

If you have find yourself constantly fainting from Moltres and Articuno during the infamous fugitive arc in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX on the Nintendo Switch, this article is for you. It talks about a foolproof strategy in the battle against these two Legendary Birds!

Moltres and Articuno

The first fight with Zapdos on Mt. Thunder allows you to fight it with a total of eight (8) Pokemon. These Pokemon despite their low offensive capabilities take hits away from your starters! Plus, their attacks can easily add up so this means a lot of damage against Zapdos.

Moltres and Articuno on the other hand does not allow to you recruit any Pokemon at all. It's a 2v1 fight to the end! You also don't have access to the Kecleon Shops in the Pokemon Square so restocking after each failed fight is tedious. Don't worry as this article will guide you through both of these fights.

Gathering Items in Rock Path and Snow Path

Important Optional Dungeons

In the Fugitive Arc, the key to defeating Moltres and Articuno lies in being able to prepare for the fight well. You are given the chance to go through two optional dungeons, Rock Path before facing Moltres and Snow Path before facing Articuno.

The strategy is to run these dungeons over and over again until you get the specific items below.

Through dialogue, the game will suggest you that Alakazam and company will catch up to you each and everytime you run these optional dungeons. There are no consequences to running these dungeons multiple times.

LoL: Link Boxes over Levels

You are not running these dungeons for stats or levels. Don't bother trying to defeat as many Pokemon as you can.

Link Boxes are common in both these dungeons. You need to get them and sell them as they have a high selling price. Poke will be used to buy more important items for the fight.

Kecleon Shop in Rock Path

Sell Link Boxes by dropping them onto the Kecleon Shop's tiles and leave the tiles. Kecleon will ask you if you would want to sell the item before you leave.

Kecleon Shop in Snow Path

Items to Obtain

Link Box
Effect	Use it to link or delink moves. Link or delink as many moves as you'd like at one time, but once you're finished, the box will disappear.
Buying Price	6500	Selling Price	650

You can find these both as an in-dungeon item and inside a Kecleon Shop. Do not bother buying one from the Kecleon Shop as it is very expensive. Get all the Link Boxes and sell them in the next Kecleon Shop. If you prefer, you can keep one to link your partner's moves to maximize its damage per turn. Linking your Pokemon's moves is not necesarry because you will be using Blast Seeds to damage the birds instead.

Tiny Reviver Seed
Effect	If this item is in your Toolbox, it will revive a fainted Pokemon. It turns into a Plain Seed once it revives a Pokemon.
Buying Price	200	Selling Price	20

This is the most important item you can get from the dungeons. It automatically revives your Pokemon if they faint from the bosses. You can get Tiny Reviver Seeds as in-dungeon items or you can buy them from the Kecleon Shops. You should not have much trouble accumulating lots of Tiny Reviver Seeds.

Aim to get at least five (5) Tiny Reviver Seeds for each boss.

Blast Seed
Effect	Eating it makes you attack 1 tile in front of your with a blast, causing huge damage. You can also throw it to use it, but the power is weaker.
Buying Price	30	Selling Price	8

This is the second most important item you can get as it deals 100HP worth of damage in a turn. Because both of the Legendary Birds have around 500HP, aim to get at least four (4) in each of the fights.

Your partner should be atleast dealing at least 30HP worth of damage per turn. Make sure it uses a powerful move so disable its weaker moves from the move screen.

Oran Berry
Effect	Eating it restores HP. Additionally, it increases your max HP during that adventure only. If your max HP is 100 or more, your max HP won't increase unless you eat this Berry when your HP is full.
Buying Price	25	Selling Price	5

A substitute to the Tiny Reviver Seeds. At this stage in the game, this completely fills up your HP but it costs you a turn when you use it. Because it is a back-up item, aim to get at least three (3) in each of the fights.

Helper Orb
Effect	Use it and another rescue team will come to help you. They will only help you on the floor you used the orb on.
Buying Price	50	Selling Price	5

If you happen to have a Helper Orb, use it as it summons three (3) additional Pokemon to fight for you. If you don't have a Helper Orb, you can find the corresponding Wonder Mail Code that can give you some Helper Orbs in this article.

Pokemon Summoned using a Helper Orb

Waypoint Storages

After each dungeon run, you should store your items in the Waypoint Storages found in the pre-dungeon hubs. Only when you raid the main dungeons, Mt. Blaze and Frosty Forest, you should take all the items out.

Waypoint Storages Marked as Kangaskhan Statues

Battle Strategy

1. Disable the weaker moves of the Pokemon who has stronger offensive capabilities to ensure it will be only using its stronger moves (or moves that are type effective against the Legendary Birds)
2. Set the party leader to your weaker Pokemon.
3. Set Go After Foes as the Current Tactic of your partner Pokemon
4. Enter the floor of either Moltres or Articuno
5. Get in Melee range using the party leader so you can use the Blast Seeds. Throwing them at range would only deal half the damage.
6. Spam Blast Seeds as you will get automatically revived by the Tiny Reviver Seeds every time you faint. The battle might take around five (5) turns.

You don't need to disable them through Orbs, Wands and Seeds. This strategy will work on its own. In fact, trying to disable them will only lengthen the process as the main priority is just to deal as much damage as possible using Blast Seeds.

Blast Seeds dealing 100HP of damage per turn

Legendary Birds defeated by the Legendary Seeds...

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