The 10 Best Paradox Pokemon of All Time [Ranked]

Great Tusk

Great Tusk is my personal favorite Paradox Pokemon, past or future. Its fantastic prehistoric design makes it the best Past Paradox Pokemon too, easily outclassing its future Paradox Pokemon counterpart Iron Treads in pretty much every way.

Featuring a unique type combination in the form of Ground and Fighting type, Great Tusk has carved out an awesome niche for itself in competitive battles, making it one of the best Pokemon to use in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet era competitive play.

Great Tusk is great because it looks and feels like a Donphan right out of the ancient past, and its absolutely awesome utility makes it a logical choice as well as a stylish one.

Nowhere can the disparity in Paradox Pokemon designs be seen better than in Great Tusk and its counterpart Iron Treads. On the one hand is Great Tusk, a superbly crafted prehistory inspired design from Pokemon Scarlet, and on the other is ... Donphan, except a bit shiny and made of metal.

But Great Tusk has absolutely everything it needs to be the best Paradox Pokemon: a super high Attack stat, great Defense, a great dual typing, and access to powerful moves like Headlong Rush and Close Combat.

Miraidon (Iron Serpent)

The box art Legendary Pokemon from Pokemon Violet, Miraidon is a future Paradox Pokemon and the player character's constant companion throughout Pokemon Violet. Miraidon is a future Paradox form that I think works really well.

One of the best lizard Pokemon, Miraidon is a technofuturistic lizard motorcycle dragon, and its design is frankly, inspired. It's such a weird choice but on Miraidon it absolutely works, creating a Paradox Pokemon that's worthy of the name.

Miraidon is, with Koraidon, the most powerful Paradox Pokemon. And it's a pretty great Pokemon, with a nice movepool and great stats, including a fantastic Special Attack stat.

Its Ability, Hadron Engine, creates Electric Terrain when it enters battle, something with synergizes very well with its fellow future Paradox Pokémon and gives it a nice boost since it's an Electric type Pokemon itself.

Iron Valiant

One of the best Future Paradox Pokemon, Iron Valiant has an eye-catching design that builds on those of its inspirations while feeling like something completely new.

This Future Paradox form is one of the best to come out of Pokemon Violet in my opinion, and its design, strong stats, and great movepool combine to make it a top three Paradox Pokémon.

Iron Valiant is unique in that it's based on two separate Pokemon, being a Paradox form for both Gallade and Gardevoir.

For me, this design choice gives it an identity which makes it feel like a whole new Pokemon unlike some of its fellow Future Paradox Pokémon from Pokemon Violet which can sometimes feel a bit lazy. Pokemon Scarlet definitely got the better designs, but Iron Valiant is one of the clear exceptions - unlike poor Iron Treads.

With its high Special Attack and Attack stats Iron Valiant is a real terror in battle, and its great Speed makes it easy and fun to use.

Walking Wake

The past Paradox Pokémon Walking Wake is a bold and ferocious reimagining of popular Legendary Pokemon Suicune, and for me, it hit every note it needed to.

I like the sharp contrast between the elegance and sophistication of Suicune's original design and what was presented with Walking Wake, which looks like the prehistoric monster that it's supposed to be.

With the Water and Dragon typing, Walking Wake occupies a different niche from Suicune, and gets different moves such as Dragon type Dragon Dance.

Its Signature Move Hydro Steam goes a step further. Hydro Steam gets a boost to its damage in sunlight unlike other Water type moves, making it great to use against Sun Team users! Which gives Walking Wake a bit of extra utility.

Unfortunately for fans of this ancient form Walking Wake was available only as a timed event through Tera Raids, which is a bit disappointing, but it's likely that this Pokemon Scarlet Paradox Pokémon will return in (ironically) the future.

Slither Wing

Slither Wing is a prehistoric counterpart to Volcarona from Pokemon Scarlet, making it a direct counterpart to Pokémon Violet future Paradox Pokemon Iron Moth. For me, Slither Wing has the better design, even though both are great.

It looks like something that could be found creeping around the prehistoric forest floor, and it shows off its lore really well, being an ancient past form of Volcarona before it got its wings.

Its dual typing, with both the Bug and Fighting type, give it an interesting place in battle and make it one of the best Bug type Pokemon.

But it occupies a totally different niche from Iron Moth, being a strong physical attacker with two completely different types.

Iron Hands

Iron Hands is an extremely popular Pokemon to use in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids, and for good reason!

Iron Hands gets the powerful combination of the moves Belly Drum and Drain Punch, which lets it raise its Attack at the cost of HP, and then recover the lost HP using Drain Punch.

This powerful combination can make many Tera Raids an absolute breeze, including the extremely difficult 7 star Tera Raids! So it's super easy to see why Iron Hands is such a popular Paradox Pokémon despite its relatively uninspired design.

But its powerful Attack stat, great HP, and strong Defense stats make Iron Hands an awesome choice in many scenarios. And Iron Hands is absolutely one of the best Paradox Pokémon to come out of Pokémon Violet.

Roaring Moon

A Past Paradox Pokémon from Pokemon Scarlet, Roaring Moon has the distinction of being based on a Mega Pokemon, Mega Salamence, rather than a more standard form. In fact it's the only Paradox Pokémon to be based on a Mega Form!

I really like Roaring Moon. For me, this design really evokes the feel of the ancient past, and adds pieces of much needed flair to what was an otherwise very simple Mega form design. 

Roaring Moon feels enough like a familiar Pokemon to tick the nostalgia box, while adding enough that's new to help it feel fresh.

Swapping its Flying type for the Dark type instead, Roaring Moon admittedly melts to nothing when faced with Fairy type moves, but it gains a whole new niche because of it, with access to great new Dark type moves.

Flutter Mane

Flutter Mane is one of the less interesting designs to come out of Pokemon Scarlet, but Flutter Mane is a powerful Pokemon that's got a lot of other good points.

Its dual typing of Fairy and Ghost give it three useful type immunities, and it has fantastic Special Attack and Special Defense stats to go with its awesome Speed. Although Flutter Mane does suffer from its low HP stat.

Flutter Mane is deceptively strong, and that's why so many fans of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet absolutely adore it.

Iron Moth

The Future Paradox form of Volcarona exclusive to Pokemon Violet, Iron Moth is a flashy robotic moth that evokes the look and feel of the original design really well - even if it isn't quite as bold as its Pokemon Scarlet counterpart, Slither Wing.

But Iron Moth is a great Pokemon, with a nice dual type in the form of Fire and Poison, which makes it a really good Pokemon to use against Grass type Pokemon.

Iron Moth has a crazy high Special Attack stat to go with its great Special Defense and Speed stats, making it really fun to use since it burns away opposing Pokemon with ease.

Iron Bundle

Iron Bundle is a cute little robotic Delibird, which is a fun choice for a Paradox Pokémon even if it isn't the most exciting. But Iron Bundle doesn't have the most bold design, which is a shame.

Still, Iron Bundle is fun, and the moment it's first seen deep in Area Zero is one that offers a bit of a surprise. Unfortunately for Iron Bundle, it isn't all that useful. It's certainly no Iron Hands!

But its sweet reveal, fun look, and the amusing fact that it can set Electric Terrain makes Iron Bundle one of the best Paradox Pokémon to come out of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.