Rayquaza

Rayquaza
Official artwork of Rayquaza from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
Universe	Pokémon
Debut	Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Versions (2002)
Smash Bros. appearances	Brawl SSB4 (Wii U only) Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022)
Console/platform of origin	Game Boy Advance
Species	Rayquaza
Gender	Genderless
Place of origin	Hoenn
Created by	Hironobu Yoshida
Voice actor	Katsuyuki Konishi (Brawl)
Article on Bulbapedia	Rayquaza (Pokémon)

Rayquaza (レックウザ, Rayquaza), stylized as RAYQUAZA in European versions of Brawl, is a draconic creature from the Pokémon media franchise.

Origin

Rayquaza's sprite from Pokémon Emerald.

Rayquaza is a dual Dragon/Flying-type legendary Pokémon that debuted in the third generation of Pokémon games, serving as the version mascot for Pokémon Emerald, the solitary third version of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and fifth main series game in Generation III overall. It is categorized within the Pokédex at #384 as the "Sky High Pokémon". A green serpentine creature, it is part of a trio of legendary Pokémon commonly referred to as the Super-ancient Pokémon along with Groudon and Kyogre, and in its games is able to mediate the fights between those two. Symbolising this, it has the ability Air Lock, which neutralises weather effects. It is considered very territorial and usually flies around in the ozone layer, often having battles with Deoxys.

Rayquaza first appeared in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire as a legendary Pokémon residing in Sky Pillar. However, it did not have a significant story role, with little even implying its existence. In Pokémon Emerald, however, Rayquaza is the mascot and served a much bigger role, becoming the one who stops the fight between Kyogre and Groudon. It also stays in Sky Pillar once the conflict is finished and can be obtained much earlier. Rayquaza later returned in the remakes, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, playing a major role in the post-game's "Delta Episode", where it was shown to be capable of Mega Evolution. Uniquely, Mega Rayquaza is the only Mega Evolution accessible without the use of a Mega Stone, instead simply by having the move Dragon Ascent.

Rayquaza's distinctive metallic roars heard in Brawl are re-purposed from the Pokémon anime film, Destiny Deoxys, where it was voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Rayquaza
A boss in	Brawl
Universe	Pokémon
Location	The Lake

Rayquaza is the second boss of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. In the mode, Rayquaza first appears at The Lake after Diddy Kong goes to investigate a crashed Arwing. Rayquaza bursts out of the water, destroys the Arwing with an energy blast from its mouth, and then seizes Diddy. Before the Pokémon can harm him, Fox ejects from the ruined Arwing and attacks Rayquaza using Fox Illusion, causing it to lose its grip on Diddy. Rayquaza then attacks Fox with another energy blast, but Fox reflects the attack back at Rayquaza using his Reflector, sending it tumbling back into the water. Both Diddy and Fox then face off against it.

Even though it was not working for the Subspace Army, Tabuu brings back Rayquaza to slow down the heroes in The Great Maze.

Additionally, when Rayquaza is defeated, it twitches at the last second, suggesting it was only knocked out (a possible nod to the Pokémon series, where a Pokémon that is defeated in battle is said to have fainted).

It can also be battled at any given time in Boss Battles mode.

Moveset

Rayquaza fighting against Diddy Kong and Fox in The Lake

Notes: The "d" below is a multiplier based on the difficulty value. Final damage is rounded down to the nearest whole number. Boss Battles halves the final damage, rounding down again. The move names are fan-made in the absence of an official source.

Name	Damage	Description	Move number
Iron Tail	8 + 2.2d (early, mid body) 18 + 2.8d (middle, mid body) 20 + 3.0d (middle, tail) 16 + 1.6d (late, tail)	Rayquaza sweeps its tail across the ground. The middle of Rayquaza's length and its tail have a hitbox, with the mid-section hitbox coming out 1 frame sooner and potentially leading into the tail hit; with the early hit having 16% shield damage and the middle hit having 18% shield damage, it can quite easily break shields at higher difficulties. Its late hit is weaker and only hits behind it, but also deals 18% shield damage.	1
Fly	22 + 2.2d (sweetspot) 16 + 1.8d (sourspot)	Rayquaza flies up slowly, then crashes into the player while burrowing into the ground, then appears on the other side. The attack has a sweetspot on Rayquaza's head and sourspots on its horns. The sweetspot has vertical knockback and deals 33% shield damage. The sourspot deals slash damage, 20% shield damage, and the knockback is also vertical but not has much as the sweetspot. The lightning bolt attack is the substitute for this at lower HP.	3
Dash	16 + 2.0d (head) 13 + 1.8d (mid body)	Rayquaza ducks down and rushes to the other side of the stage. All hitboxes are active from frames 59-80, roughly before Rayquaza's head reaches the ground to roughly after its mid-section touches the ground. The head deals slash damage and 18% shield damage. The mid-section deals 16% shield damage	1
Outrage	12 + 0.8d (start) 24 + 2.6d (return)	Rayquaza twists and flies up, and then flies back and forth near the ground. When returning, only Rayquaza's head has a damaging hitbox, however it has the second highest base damage of its attacks and deals 33% shield damage. At lower HP, Rayquaza flies across two or three times. Its speed increases with difficulty. Small characters can evade this attack by ducking if they can fit between the "waves" of Rayquaza's wavy shape and the ground, but the move also produces a wind that can push characters around into a spot where they can be hit, making crawling an asset.	3
Diagonal Zap Cannon	2 + 2.0d (mouth, charge) 20 + 2.5d (mouth, launch) 12 + 1.0d (mid body, launch) 2 + 1.6d (ball, charge) 2 + 1.4d (ball, launch) 14 + 2.4d (explosion)	Rayquaza sends a ball of electricity in front of itself diagonally, which can be reflected by various reflecting attacks but not absorbed by PSI Magnet or Oil Panic. The ball explodes when it hits the ground. As it charges, Rayquaza's head deals weak electric damage. Upon firing, it deals moderate damage in front of it and its mouth also deals damage that can potentially stack with the electric ball. All hitboxes deal 15% shield damage.	2
Horizontal Zap Cannon	2 + 2.0d (ball, charge) 2 + 1.4d (ball, launched edge) 14 + 2.4d (ball, launched center)	Rayquaza lowers its head and sends the lightning orb in front of itself. Like its diagonal counterpart, it can be reflected but not absorbed. All hits deal 15% shield damage except for the center of the electric ball, which deals 20%.	2
Thunder	2 + 1.6d (body) 2 + 1.8d (arm segment) 1 + 0.2d (lightning)	Rayquaza flies up in a tight circle and attacks with a multi-hit lightning bolt. The lightning is weak and has negligible knockback, but it hits every 2 frames and deals 2% shield damage, causing the damage to accumulate quickly and potentially break shields. During the time Rayquaza rises and spins, touching it will deal electric damage along with 10% shield damage. It's one of the few attacks that are easier to dodge on higher difficulties due to its much shorter duration. Rayquaza only uses at lower HP. Similar to Pikachu's Thunder	3
Dig	10 + 2.0d (burrow) 25 + 2.4d (emerge, head) 18 + 2.1d (emerge, horns)	Rayquaza burrows underground, then bursts out of the ground where the player was standing. When burrowing its head deals 33% shield damage while its horns deal 20% shield damage. The burrowing head hitbox has the highest base damage of Rayquaza's attacks. After coming out of the ground, all of its hitboxes deal 10% shield damage. At lower HP, Rayquaza does this three times. When its HP is low enough that it can be captured with a Trophy Stand, it will perform this attack four times.	2
Explosion	16 + 1.8d (head) 16 + 2.3d (explosion)	Rayquaza's eyes glow, and then it creates an explosion at the location where the character was at that time. While Rayquaza's eyes glow, fighters in contact with its head will be spiked to the ground, often a perfect setup for the explosion. The head hitbox deals 15% shield damage while the explosion itself deals 10% shield damage.	3

Gallery

• 

  Rayquaza roars.

• 

  Rayquaza uses Iron Tail.

• 

  Rayquaza sweeps to the other side of the stage.

• 

  Rayquaza charges Zap Cannon.

• 

  Rayquaza releases Zap Cannon along the ground.

• 

  Rayquaza shoots Zap Cannon diagonally downwards.

• 

  Rayquaza soars into the sky before using Fly.

• 

  Rayquaza diving after Fly.

• 

  Rayquaza flashes its eyes before creating an explosion.

• 

  Rayquaza creates said explosion.

• 

  Rayquaza releases Thunder.

• 

  Rayquaza uses Outrage from the side of the screen.

• 

  Rayquaza prepares to use Dig.

• 

  Rayquaza's model as viewed through BrawlBox.

HP and damage taken

HP Values
The Lake	185.68			208.4			225.44			253.84			282.24
The Great Maze	151			173			188			211			235
Round	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9
Boss Battles	115.4	121	133.2	128	135	148.6	141.5	150	164	155	165	182.7	191	205	224.5

Damage taken	×0.7	×0.7	×0.5	×1.0	×0.7	×0.5	×0.5	×0.7	×0.7	×0.7	×0.3
Unused weak point	×1.0	×1.0	×0.7	×1.5	×1.0	×0.7	×0.7	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0	×0.8

Phase changes	Phase 2	Phase 1 set	Phase 2 set
The Lake	45%	1	3
The Great Maze	50%	2	4
Boss Battles (round 1-3)	35%	1	2
Boss Battles (round 4-6)	40%	1	3
Boss Battles (round 7-9)	45%	2	4
Note: When HP% is checked it is rounded down, causing the phase changes to occur 1% sooner.

While Rayquaza technically has less health than later bosses, its massive battery of resistances practically gives it a very large amount of health. In fact, the only moves which it does not resist are those with freezing hitboxes, which is a nod to the Pokémon games, where Rayquaza's typing makes it 4x weak to Ice-type moves. However with there being only a few moves in the game with hitboxes of the freezing type, only possessed by the Ice Climbers, Lucas and Mr. Game & Watch, this lone relative weakness can rarely be exploited. Even then, most of those few freezing moves are projectiles, meaning Rayquaza will still resist them, while also being low-damaging and laggy moves that would make them ineffective for using against bosses. With this inability to use moves that Rayquaza does not possess an at least x0.7 resistance to, it is effectively about as or even more durable than Duon, the most durable boss outside of Tabuu.

None of Rayquaza's hurtboxes are programmed to be a weak point, though it notably has weak point numbers programmed in that are not the default ×2.0 like they are for other enemies that lack a weak point. This may indicate that Rayquaza originally had a weak point to counterbalance its massive resistances, which was scrapped late in development.

Like all bosses in Brawl, Rayquaza gains an additional ×0.6 damage resistance modifier when fought in co-op mode, effectively gaining 67% more health. This modifier is applied whenever the second player is in-game, and is no longer applied if the second player loses all their stocks.

Trophy

Rayquaza's trophy must be obtained by using a Trophy Stand on it during its Subspace Emissary fight.

Rayquaza's trophy in Brawl

Rayquaza

A Sky High Pokémon. It normally resides high up in the ozone layer where it flies endlessly, so it is rarely seen. However, when Groudon and Kyogre began to fight, it appeared to calm them down. It has the ability Air Lock, which blocks all weather-condition effects. It has exceedingly strong abilities, and its attack power is especially remarkable.

: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire

: Pokémon Emerald

Sticker

Name	Game	Effect	Fighter(s)
Rayquaza	Pokémon series	Attack +24

Rayquaza (Pokémon series)

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

As a stage element

Rayquaza using one of its attacks in the Kalos Pokémon League stage.

Rayquaza appears in the Kalos Pokémon League stage as a stage element. Appearing rarely in the Dragonmark Chamber, it performs Outrage from its The Subspace Emissary boss fight by flying across the stage at various angles, dealing damage to fighters. Its path is shown briefly by lightning before it appears, giving players time to avoid it.

Trophy

Rayquaza's trophy is exclusive to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, where it is part of the Legend of Pokémon Ruby & Pokémon Sapphire Trophy Box.

Rayquaza's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Rayquaza

This Dragon/Flying-type Pokémon usually dwells high in the ozone layer, so it can't be seen from the ground. In the Kalos Pokémon League stage, it occasionally flies at great speed through the Elite Four's Dragon-type chamber, where any fighters in its path will be damaged and launched with great force.

: Pokémon Ruby & Pokémon Sapphire (03/2003)

: Pokémon HeartGold & Pokémon SoulSilver (03/2010)

This Dragon- and Flying-type Pokémon usually dwells high in the ozone layer, so it can't be seen from the ground. In the Kalos Pokémon League stage, it occasionally flies at great speed through the Elite Four's Dragon-type chamber, where any fighters in its path will be damaged and launched with great force.

: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire (07/2003)

: Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver (03/2010)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a stage element

Rayquaza returns in its role on Kalos Pokémon League.

Spirit

Rayquaza appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Ace-class primary spirit.

Rayquaza's Spirit Battle uses a Ridley puppet fighter and is fought on the Kalos Pokémon League stage's Dragonmark Chamber, which features Rayquaza as a stage element. During the battle, heavy winds are immediately in effect, referencing Mega Rayquaza's ability, Delta Stream, which creates strong winds.

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Slots	Base	Max	Base	Max	Base	Max	Ability	Series
500		Rayquaza		★★★	3	2920	8760	1653	4959	1102	3306	Jump ↑	Pokémon Series

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	レックウザ, Rayquaza
English	Rayquaza
French	Rayquaza
German	Rayquaza
Spanish	Rayquaza
Italian	Rayquaza
Chinese	烈空坐
Korean	레쿠쟈, Rayquaza
Dutch	Rayquaza
Russian	Райкваза

Trivia

• Despite being the "Sky High" Pokémon which lives high in the ozone layer, this iteration of Rayquaza seems to be able to live at The Lake (although in its origin series, it is capable of learning the move Dive) and burrowing underground for an attack (via the move, Dig, which it cannot learn). The Pokédex says that Rayquaza never touches the ground, however, unless Groudon and Kyogre were to fight.
• A glitch can happen when facing Rayquaza. It is unknown how this happens, but it can leave some of the playable character's model stuck frozen in the immediate foreground, moving with the camera. Any attack Rayquaza performs that targets the player's location go offscreen, failing to hit the almost-KO'ed player. This glitch lasts until the player quits the battle.
• Rayquaza is the only boss fought at the beginning of a stage whose fight is not the entire stage.
• Rayquaza is the only boss in The Subspace Emissary known to have a specific voice actor (Katsuyuki Konishi), with said voice actor having voiced the Pokémon in Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys, as well as several other Pokémon throughout the anime as well.
• Aside from freezing attacks being the most effective, many of Rayquaza's weaknesses and resistances do not match its properties in the Pokémon games: it resists electric, grass, water and dark attacks more than flame attacks, whereas its Pokémon typing dictates it takes regular damage from electric, ghost and dark, half damage from fire and water and quarter damage from grass.