Pokemon Scarlet And Violet: Baxcalibur Guide

Baxcalibur is a pseudo-legendary introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. With a base stat total of 600 and an exceedingly practical move set, it’s no wonder that Baxcalibur is considered a competitive Pokemon.

Being a dual Dragon/Ice-type Pokemon, it has great utility in battle and can counter many different types of Pokemon. In this guide, we will go over the basics of Baxcalibur in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet as well as how to play with it competitively.

Key Takeaways

• Baxcalibur is a dual Dragon/Ice-type Pokemon with a base stat total of 600.
• This Pokemon can be obtained by evolving a Frigibax to level 54.
• Baxcalibur is strong against Water, Electric, and Grass-type Pokemon. But it’s weak to Fairy and Steel-type moves.
• The best natures for this Pokemon are the Jolly and Adamant natures and the best Tera Types are Fire, Dragon, and Ice.
• We also take a look at the particular items, IV spreads, and move sets you should have on your Baxcalibur.

Basic Info Of Baxcalibur

1. Generation: IX
2. Type: Dragon/Ice
3. Gender Ratio: 50% male, 50% female
4. Catch Rate: 10 (3.9%) (in Gen VII, when a PokeBall is thrown at full health)

Baxcalibur is one of the 109 new Pokemon introduced in Generation XI. This is a Dragon/Ice-type Pokemon resembling a bipedal theropod-like monster. It’s a highly competitive Pokemon given that it’s a pseudo-legendary.

This is a Pokemon that you don’t want to waste using defensively. It has incredible HP and Attack, making it a highly offensive Pokemon. Therefore, it will easily take down even the stronger Pokemon, including many pseudo-legendaries. Additionally, its design concept makes it a stunning ode to traditional Kaiju genres.

Base Stats

• HP: 115
• Attack: 145
• Defense: 92
• Special Attack: 75
• Speed: 87
• Base Stat Total: 600

Baxcalibur has some astonishing base stats when compared to other Pokemon. For one thing, it has an exceptional base HP and Attack. And its Defense is also relatively higher than other Pokemon. Hence, it’s the perfect offensive as well as defensive Pokemon. 

However, it lacks in some areas, such as Special Attack and Special Defense. Thus, it’s not a good Pokemon for attacking with special moves. Additionally, its base Speed is not very impressive.

Moreover, being a pseudo-legendary, it has a base stat total of 600. Every other pseudo-legendary Pokemon shares this base stat total. 

Baxcalibur Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Evolution

Baxcalibur evolves from Arctibax upon reaching level 54. If you choose not to evolve it, it will try to evolve again once it gains another level. Arctibax is the evolved form of Frigibax, evolving at level 35 and higher if you choose to not evolve it.

Type Effectiveness

• Resists (0.5x): Electric, Water, Grass
• Takes typical damage (1x): Bug, Ghost, Ground, Normal, Fire, Ice, Flying, Psychic, Poison, Dark
• Weak to (2x): Rock, Fighting, Dragon, Fairy, Steel

Baxcalibur is a dual Dragon/Ice-type Pokemon, which means that it’s a great counter against Water, Electric, and Grass-type moves. It easily tanks down Volt Tackle and Water Spout.

However, do not make the mistake of using Baxcalibur against strong Fairy and Steel-type Pokemon. That’s because it’s extremely weak to those two types and will take double the damage from the moves of these types.

Hence, even though this is a massive Kaiju-inspired monster, it’s no match for Pokemon like Clefairy and Tinkaton.

Abilities And Hidden Abilities

• Thermal Exchange: Baxcalibur’s Signature Ability. Baxcalibur’s Attack stats get boosted by one stage when it is attacked by Fire-type moves. Additionally, Baxcalibur is immune to getting burned.
• Ice Body (Hidden): Baxcalibur regenerates 1/16th of its maximum HP after each turn if it’s snowing or hailing. Moreover, this Pokemon is not damaged by hail. 

All Baxcalibur have just one Ability: Thermal Exchange. This Ability makes it practically immune to burning. And along with that, Baxcalibur also gains a boost in Attack when hit by Fire-type moves. Hence, this Ability makes it the best counter for Fire-type Pokemon such as Blaziken and Cinderace.

However, since Baxcalibur isn’t inherently weak to Fire, it doesn’t give it any type advantage.

Its Hidden Ability, Ice Body, makes it immune to damage from hail and also regenerates HP when it is snowing or hailing. And considering that it can learn moves like Snowscape, this gives it an advantage on the battlefield.

Interestingly though, Generation IX does not have hail. Instead, all moves and Abilities that generate hail now generate snow. Thus, although the Ability still works with the same moves, the immunity to hail doesn’t make much of a difference.

Breeding

Much like every other Pokemon, Baxcalibur can breed with several different Pokemon. If you use the right breeding strategy, you can breed a highly powerful Baxcalibur.

Egg Group

Baxcalibur and its previous evolutions fall under two Egg Groups: Dragon and Mineral. Hence, you can breed this Pokemon with other Dragon Pokemon like Salamence and Charizard. Additionally, it can breed with Pokemon in the Mineral Egg Group like Froslass and Duraludon. 

What’s more, being in two Egg Groups means that Baxcalibur is perfect for chain breeding. You can also chain breed a Frigibax to have the move set you prefer.

Hatch Time

To hatch a Baxcalibur Egg, it will take around 10,280 to 10,536 steps.

Egg Moves

Egg Moves are moves that a Pokemon can only learn if one of its parents already knows that move. These moves cannot be learned any other way, that is, they cannot be learned via TMs, HMs, or leveling up, at least by that specific Pokemon.

In that regard, Baxcalibur has the following Egg Moves:

1. Aqua Tail
   • Type: Water
   • Category: Physical
   • Power: 90
   • Accuracy: 90%
   • PP: 10
   • STAB: No
2. Dragon Rush
   • Type: Dragon
   • Category: Physical
   • Power: 100
   • Accuracy: 75%
   • PP: 10
   • STAB: Yes
3. Freeze-Dry
   • Type: Ice
   • Category: Special
   • Power: 70
   • Accuracy: 100%
   • PP: 20
   • STAB: Yes
4. Icicle Spear
   • Type: Ice
   • Category: Physical
   • Power: 25
   • Accuracy: 100%
   • PP: 30
   • STAB: Yes

Baxcalibur Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Pokedex Entries

• Pokemon Scarlet: This Pokémon blasts cryogenic air out from its mouth. This air can instantly freeze even liquid-hot lava.
• Pokemon Violet: It launches itself into battle by flipping upside down and spewing frigid air from its mouth. It finishes opponents off with its dorsal blade.

How To Acquire Baxcalibur In Pokemon Scarlet And Violet

To acquire a Baxcalibur in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll need to evolve your Frigibax. Unfortunately, Baxcalibur cannot be found in the wild. Hence, you must keep leveling up your Frigibax to evolve it into an Arctibax. After that, level up your Arctibax so that it evolves into a Baxcalibur.

Baxcalibur Best Nature

The best Nature for Baxcalibur that is recommended for competitive battling is the Adamant Nature. This Nature boosts Attack while lowering Special Attack. It’s a highly offensive Nature that complements Baxcalibur’s base Attack stats well. 

If you want something a bit more on the quick side, then try Jolly Nature. This Nature also lowers Special Attack stats just like the Adamant Nature. However, it also significantly boosts your Speed.

If you don’t have a Baxcalibur with these natures, you can always use Nature Mints. If you want more information on Nature Mints and which ones are best for your Pokemon, head on over to our Nature Mints guide.

Best Tera Types For Baxcalibur

Here are the best Tera Types to use on Baxcalibur:

Fire Tera Type

If you want to use Tera Types with Baxcalibur, then it’s highly recommended to use the Fire Tera Type. This Tera Type is highly essential if you want to expand your coverage and be able to deal with more Pokemon Types effectively. 

The Fire Tera Type will not only change the typing of your Baxcalibur but it will also give your Fire-type moves STAB. In case you don’t know, if a Pokemon uses moves that are the same type as itself, then it will gain STAB. STAB stands for Same-Type Attack Bonus and it boosts a STAB move’s power by 1.5 times. 

Ice Or Dragon Tera Type

If you want to get even more benefit from the STAB damage, then you should opt for either an Ice or Dragon Tera Type. This will give a 2x power boost to your moves and will be more offensive than the Fire Tera Type. However, since you’re retaining your old type, you’re not exactly expanding on your coverage. 

Counter Tera Types

On the defensive side, you can choose to Terastalize into any type that instantly removes any of your type weaknesses. For instance, Steel is a weakness of the Ice type. Hence, you could Terastalize into a Steel-type to eliminate this weakness. Other Tera Types that are good for countering other types include Poison, Flying, Water, Electric, and Fighting.

Recommended Movesets And Builds

To help you pick out the right move sets, Natures, Abilities, and Tera Types, here are a few recommended builds:

Build 1

• Level: 100
• Gender: Any
• Ability: Thermal Exchange
• Item: Heavy-Duty Boots
• Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
• Tera Type: Dragon

Moves

1. Dragon Dance
2. Icicle Crash
3. Glaive Rush
4. Earthquake
5. Tera Blast (Situational)

EVs And IVs

Stat	Base	EV	IV	Final Value
HP	115	Any	31	371
Attack	145	252	31	389
Defense	92	Any	31	220
Special Attack	75	Any	31	167
Special Defense	86	4	31	209
Speed	87	252	31	300

Strategy

This build is the best for Baxcalibur as it is offensive and boosts your Speed stat exponentially. Firstly, there are the stats. The Attack and Speed stats have maxed out EVs while every stat also has max IVs. Hence, you’re getting the fastest and most offensive version of Baxcalibur you can get. The maxed-out Speed will help you counter Choice Scarf Gholdengo.

Additionally, this build uses a Dragon Tera Type. It complements and STABs well with moves like Dragon Dance. Additionally, since this Pokemon cannot be burned, it will not be affected by Will o’ Wisp and Flamethrower. 

The recommended item for this build is Heavy-Duty Boots. These allow you to country Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Sticky Web. 

The move set includes Dragon Dance, a powerful move that boosts Baxcalibur’s Speed and Attack stats. Glaive Rush is another damaging move that has a drawback: the next move made against you will never miss and will deal double the damage. This is a viable option given that Dragon Dance will improve your Attack and Speed stats anyway.

To counter Steel better, you can always change the Tera Type to Fire. Keep in mind that when you do so, there won’t be many moves left that STAB well with it. Hence, you can always replace any move (preferably Earthquake) with Tera Blast. Tera Blast will change its type to a Fire-type move and will deal either physical or special damage. 

Build 2

• Level: 100
• Gender: Any
• Ability: Thermal Exchange
• Item: Never-Melt Ice
• Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
• Tera Type: Ice

Moves

1. Swords Dance
2. Icicle Crash
3. Ice Shard
4. Earthquake

EVs And IVs

Stat	Base	EV	IV	Final Value
HP	115	Any	31	371
Attack	145	252	31	389
Defense	92	4	31	221
Special Attack	75	Any	31	167
Special Defense	86	Any	31	208
Speed	87	252	31	300

Strategy

Here’s another useful build that’s also on the offensive side. It features maxed-out EVs for Attack and Speed and max IVs for all stats. With this build, you’ll be using the Tera Type Ice. It STABs well with Icicle Crash and Ice Shard.

It’s recommended to use the item Never-Melt Ice as it will boost the power of your Ice-type attacks by 20%. When paired with the STAB from the Tera Type, you’re looking at highly damaging Ice-type moves. 

Ice Shard goes well against faster Pokemon such as Dragapult as it deals a massive amount of damage paired with a higher priority. Hence, it will always hit before most other moves that haven’t had their priorities increased. Additionally, it’s a great counter for Breloom’s Mach Punch.

The Tera Type Ice also helps to boost your Icicle Crash to take down the opponent’s defenses.

Build 3

• Level: 100
• Gender: Any
• Ability: Thermal Exchange
• Item: Loaded Dice
• Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
• Tera Type: Ice

Moves

1. Icicle Spear
2. Earthquake
3. Glaive Rush
4. Dragon Dance

EVs And IVs

Stat	Base	EV	IV	Final Value
HP	115	4	31	372
Attack	145	252	31	389
Defense	92	Any	31	220
Special Attack	75	Any	31	167
Special Defense	86	Any	31	208
Speed	87	252	31	300

Strategy

This build is similar to the previous ones but with one major difference: the Loaded Dice. Loaded Dice is a new item introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It ensures that multiple-hit moves always hit at least 4 times. When paired with a strong move like Icicle Spear, you get to deal more damage. 

Additionally, when you use the Tera Type Ice, you get a 2x STAB bonus. This means that your Icicle Spear will have an extreme damage output. One thing you must be wary of is that Loaded Dice is a one-time held item. Hence, use it only when you’re ready to deal the finishing blow or up against an especially difficult enemy.

The rest of this build is the same as before. The addition of Icicle Spear makes it useful against opponents that have a Focus Sash.

Best Baxcalibur Pokemon Team

1. Wash Rotom – First line of defense.
2. Baxcalibur – Main offense.
3. Hippowdon – Tank.

Baxcalibur has great Attack and HP stats and hence, you’re better off using it as your main attacker. You won’t get much output by building defense upon Baxcalibur. Instead, for defense, you should opt for Wash Rotom and Hippowdon. 

Wash Rotom is a strong Electric/Water Pokemon with balanced stats. It features high base Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense, making it an ideal defensive solution. Additionally, the Electric/Water typing makes it a good counter against Rock-type Pokemon.

Then, you should pair it with a Hippowdon as your main tank/defensive Pokemon. Hippowdon is a pure Ground-type Pokemon with both high base Attack and base Defense. Hence, it makes for both a tank and utility Pokemon. However, it has an extremely slow Speed, which makes it worse on the offensive side. Additionally, its Ground typing makes it the best for Steel-type Pokemon.

Best Counter Pokemon For Baxcalibur

Baxcalibur can be easily countered by Steel and Fairy-type Pokemon. Here are a few Pokemon that will help you counter an enemy Baxcalibur with ease:

1. Magnezone – A good choice as it will withstand Baxcalibur’s extreme STAB combos. Moreover, it can take down Baxcalibur with ease via its Flash Cannon and Steel typing.
2. Tinkaton – One of the best counters due to its dual Fairy/Steel typing. It can KO Baxcalibur with its Gigaton or Play Rough. It can even stand through Baxcaliur’s heavy STAB moves.
3. Azumarill – A good choice due to the typing as well as the Play Rough moves that deals tons of damage while lowering Baxcalibur’s offense.

Final Thoughts

Baxcalibur in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet certainly has a lot of potential in battle. It has impressive base Attack and HP stats that only complement its Jolly and Adamant natures. And its Ability gives it an advantage over Fire-type moves.

If you want to play this Pokemon competitively, then you should pair it with Wash Rotom and Hpppowdon. You should build Tera Types Fire, Ice, or Dragon on Baxcalibur and use Loaded Dice, Heavy-Duty Boots, or Never-Melt Ice.

Now that you know all about Baxcalibur, you should apply your newfound knowledge in competitive battles. Game on!

Planning on using Baxcalibur to defeat the Elite Four and Champion? Check out our Elite Four and Champion guide so you know what you’re up against.