When are natures and ivs determined for roaming legendaries in gen 4 and 6?

Question

I'm trying to catch Entei, Raikou, Cresselia, Mesprit, and the three legendary birds. I keep hearing mixed ideas from multiple sources, not to mention that my party needs to be under leveled (my lv. 39 absol to lv. 40 Entei) to actually encounter any of the legends. I know I can ko the roaming dogs to reset their stats after defeating the elite four again, but I'm not sure if I can do the same or something similar for Cresselia and Mesprit.

Comments

In Generation 4, your Pokemon don't need to be underleveled to encounter them. I don't know where that idea came from.

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If you're using Repels, then your lead Pokémon needs to be a lower level than the roaming Pokémon, or else the Repel will keep it a from appearing.

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Oh that makes sense.

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Thanks for clearing up the level cap thing. I started hunting for them ,and there is a small chance for the legends to appear w/ repels and a over leveled team. But is there a way to manipulate their stats ,or do I have to encounter them to check their stats and if not favorable, reset before encountering? I don't think it is the same as soft resetting  for stationary legends.

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I think you need to save before the first encounter and soft reset from there.

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I did that. Raikou is modest with 15 ivs in most stats after a couple times soft resetting.

Answer 1

In gen 4, roaming legendary Pokemon's nature and IV's are set upon release into the wild. If their nature and IV's aren't to your liking, you'll need to KO them and beat the Elite Four again to re-release them into the wild to try again. There are no actual roaming legendary Pokemon in gen 6; you can soft reset the birds once they settle in to Sea Spirit's Den.

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