Can You Catch Miraidon Without a Master Ball?

As an avid Pokémon Scarlet/Violet gamer and content creator, I‘m often asked if it‘s possible to catch the elusive Miraidon without relying on the easy "I Win" button that is the Master Ball. My answer? Yes – but it requires near endless patience, specialized strategies and an unhealthy dose of luck.

I estimate Miraidon‘s unmodified base catch rate to be around 1% at best. With the right prep work, that rate can reach the 10-20% range under perfect conditions. For context, most non-Legendary Pokémon have base rates of 25-50%. After hundreds of failed attempts over multiple playthroughs, I‘ve developed specialized techniques to push Miraidon‘s capture odds up as high as possible, though it still often takes 20+ resets to succeed.

Dramatically Boosting Miraidon‘s Catch Rate

Here are the essential tips for preparing Miraidon encounters and formulating an elite catching strategy:

Get Miraidon‘s HP as Close to 0 as Possible

This is by far the most crucial element. At full health, even with all other boosts the chances are infinitesimally small. Upon reaching red health (<10% HP), the rate already doubles or triples. Lowering even further to 1 HP provides roughly a 8-10x boost by my calculations. Use False Swipe, Hold Back or extreme caution at the end to avoid accidentally KO‘ing your target.

Apply All Possible Status Effects

In addition to hit point damage, inflicting sleep, freeze, paralysis, poison or burn can make Miraidon much less prone to breaking free. Of these, I‘ve found the sleep status to provide the most sizable boost at 2.5x. Combining with 1 HP I‘ve had Miraidon escape only 1 out of my 20 throws.

Utilize the Most Effective Special Poké Balls

Of the commonly obtainable balls, Timer and Dusk prove most valuable due to their situation-based rate enhancements. However, even combined with all other boosts, regular Poké Ball variants only raise the limits to ~15% capture chance.

Compound Bonuses with Berries, Sandwiches and Skills

In addition to the major improvements from HP draining and status afflictions, I layer on every possible catch rate booster:

• Catch Charm accessory – 1.1x odds
• Razz/Bluk/Spelon Berry held item – 1.1x – 1.5x
• Two Ply Sandwich meal buff (+30%)
• Synchronize ability lead (rumored 10% boost)

Each of these provides relatively minor % based increases. But when combined with the major multipliers – for over 17x base rate in perfect scenarios – they noticeably improve the probability of a successful capture without needing to reset excessively.

Persistence and Patience Are Key

Even armed with the very best catching strategy Pokémon science can engineer, Miraidon‘s capture chance caps out around 15-20% per attempt. Across my four successful non-Master Ball captures, it has taken between 12 and 37 resets – spending hours meticulously executing my crafted strategy again and again until RNGesus smiled upon me.

My record remains a nail-biting 37 attempt process – so if you wish to join the elite squad who‘ve felled this titan without the Master Ball, come prepared for a true test of your Poké-hunting prowess. With some luck, the commitment of a perfect catcher, and above all utmost patience, you too can claim this formidable Pokémon. Let me know if any other aspiring trainers need advice in the endless quest to Catch ‘Em All!