Pokémon Legends: Arceus players are reporting issues catching Cherrim [Update]

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-02-02 15:52 JST)

[Update 2022/02/09 15:58 JST]
A new update has been released for Pokémon Legends: Arceus and with it comes a fix for Cherrim. While it doesn’t go into much detail, the update notes include, “Fixed an issue that sometimes made it difficult to catch Cherrim.” It looks like a handful of more serious issues were taken care of as well, so check the update notes here for more information.

[Original Text 2022/02/02 17:37 JST]
Many players are reporting that they cannot catch Cherrim in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it’s possible to catch Pokémon by directly throwing Pokéballs at them without entering a battle. But like in past titles, it’s also possible to weaken them through a battle first before throwing a Pokéball.

Cherrim is a Pokémon that lurks in the trees spread across the region. By throwing a Pokéballwith a Pokémoninside at one of these trees, Cherrim can appear and a battle will ensue. It’s also possible to see a Cherrim walking around during a Mass Outbreak, but this is extremely rare making battles the more likely scenario.

There’s also a subquest involving Cherrim meaning more than a few trainers are likely searching for one. It’s a Pokémon whose location is hard to pinpoint, especially when considering it lives hiding in the trees.

However, just because you’ve managed to track down a Cherrim doesn’t mean you’ll be able to easily catch it. That brings us to the Cherrim catch rate issue. Users on Twitter and Reddit have reported that no matter how many Pokéballs they throw, it always breaks out.

There’s even a player that claimed they threw over 100 Pokéballs, including the more powerful Great Ball, to still not end up catching it, leaving players to speculate that it’s a bug related to the Pokémon’s catch rate.

There are some players reporting that they’ve managed to catch the elusive Cherrim, though, so it seems possible that there are specific conditions causing the phenomenon. One possibility that’s getting attention is the fact that Cherrim changes forms depending on sunlight. During the daytime when it’s sunny, Cherrim blooms into its Sunshine form. And at night or under rainy conditions, it closes into its Overcast form. Many players that have reported issues catching Cherrim have said they were trying during the day. This led some players to think that Cherrim’s catch rate has issues when it’s in Sunshine form.

And their hunch was proven correct as the issue was addressed via the Pokémon support website (Japanese). The page says to try catching Cherrim when it’s in Overcast form either during the evening or night, or during non-sunny weather. The message also says they plan to fix the issue in the next update.

But before the issue was officially confirmed, I decided to visit an area where Cherrim is known to frequent and headed to the southwest portion of the Crimson Mirelands. And as expected, when I tried catching Cherrim during the day, I wasn’t able to. I saw it bust out of at least 20 Pokéballs. I also started a battle during the day and waited until nightfall to try catching it which also failed.

However, when I engaged Cherrim at night, I had no problems. In addition, some players have reported that they engaged Cherrim at night and waited until daytime while in battle and were able to catch it in Sunshine form.

To wrap up this investigation, if you engage Cherrim in battle during the day, you won’t be able to catch it. If you do so at night, it becomes possible to catch. Players have also reported that starting the battle at night but catching Cherrim during the day counts as it being caught during the day. So if you’re looking to complete the Pokédex, for now, your only choice seems to be starting a battle at night and waiting until morning.

For trainers that want a Cherrim on their team, you could also catch a Cherubi and evolve it into a Cherrim. Cherubi walks around out in the open in the southwest part of the Crimson Mirelands and can be caught day or night.

As mentioned earlier, the next update to Pokémon Legends: Arceus is planned to fix this issue.