Pokemon Legends Z-A Season 13 has officially kicked off on June 25, 2026, and if you were running any Legendaries or Mythicals in your Ranked Battle team, bad news — all 25 of them are gone from the competitive pool. This is a massive meta reset coming right off the back of Season 12, which was arguably the wildest and most chaotic season the game has ever seen. And now? We’re back to basics in the Z-A Battle Club, and it’s going to change a lot about how you build your team.
Season 12 Was a Free-for-All — Season 13 Is the Hard Reset
If you played through Season 12, you already know how insane it got. That season let players bring up to two Restricted Legendaries on a single team, which basically turned every Ranked match into a boss fight. Kyogre, Groudon, and Xerneas were everywhere — and for good reason, because those three absolutely wrecked everything they touched in the real-time battle system. After weeks of that, Season 13 is going the complete opposite direction.
Starting June 25 and running through July 16, 2026, the new ruleset wipes all 25 Legendary and Mythical Pokemon from Ranked eligibility in one go. No restricted slots, no one-per-team exception — nothing. If your mon falls under the Lumiose Pokedex numbers 228 to 232, or the Hyperspace Pokedex numbers 113 to 132, you’re sitting this season out entirely.
Full List of Banned Pokemon in Season 13
Here’s every Pokemon getting the boot from Ranked Battles this season:
Lumiose Pokedex — Numbers 228 to 232
- Xerneas
- Yveltal
- Zygarde
- Diancie
- Mewtwo
Hyperspace Pokedex — Numbers 113 to 132
- Heatran
- Volcanion
- Cobalion
- Terrakion
- Virizion
- Keldeo
- Meloetta
- Genesect
- Hoopa
- Marshadow
- Meltan
- Melmetal
- Darkrai
- Latias
- Latios
- Kyogre
- Groudon
- Rayquaza
- Magearna
- Zeraora
That’s the full 25. And before you ask — yes, Mega forms count too. So if you were grinding Mega Heatran or Mega Zeraora, both of which got their Mega Evolutions for the first time in Pokemon Legends Z-A, neither of them can be brought into Ranked this season. That one genuinely stings, especially since players had to put serious work into unlocking those Mega Stones.
What the Meta Actually Looks Like Now
Here’s the thing — as frustrating as the bans can feel, this is probably going to make Season 13 one of the more interesting competitive environments in a while. When Kyogre, Groudon, and Xerneas are in the pool, they tend to warp the entire meta around them. Everything either counters them or runs with them. Take them out, and suddenly there’s actual room for variety in team building.
With the real-time battle system that Z-A runs, the absence of busted Legendaries should mean faster, more read-dependent matches where your actual mechanics matter more than whether you brought a rain team led by Kyogre. Pokemon like Mega Baxcalibur, Mega Greninja, Mega Garchomp, and Mega Staraptor should all see a bump in usage this season, and team compositions that leaned on having a Legendary anchor are going to need a full rethink.
It’s also worth remembering that the Nintendo competitive gaming scene has been heating up across the board in 2026, and Pokemon Legends Z-A’s seasonal structure is a big part of keeping players engaged well past launch.
Season 13 Rewards — What You Can Actually Earn
Even with the restrictive ruleset, Season 13 has solid incentives to keep climbing the ladder. All of the Ranked-exclusive Mega Stones are back as rank-up rewards again this season, which is great news for anyone who’s newer to the game or missed them in previous seasons. The returning Mega Stones include:
- Greninjite — Rank Y
- Delphoxite — Rank X
- Chesnaughtite — Rank W
- Baxcalibrite — Rank V
- Sceptilite — Rank U
- Swampertite — Rank T
- Blazikenite — Rank S
On top of that, useful training items like Bottle Caps and Seeds of Mastery are also in the rotation. And if you’re pushing toward the upper ranks, going from Rank M all the way to Rank A nets you 17 Beast Balls — which is a genuinely great haul for shiny hunters who want color-matching Poke Balls for specific catches.
Is This Just Going to Keep Cycling?
The honest answer is probably yeah. The pattern in Pokemon Legends Z-A has been pretty consistent — Legendaries get banned, then they come back in restricted form, then they come back with no limits, then they’re banned again. It’s a loop, and Season 13 is just another step in that cycle.
That said, Season 8 showed that the developers are actually willing to shake things up when they want to. That season only allowed Pokemon capable of Mega Evolution, which turned the format into something completely different and honestly a lot of fun. If Season 14 or 15 does something similarly creative instead of just toggling the Legendary ban switch again, that would be a huge win for the competitive scene.
The other thing worth noting is that Legendary and Mythical Pokemon are also not available in Pokemon Champions’ current Regulation M-B roster, so if you were hoping to use your restricted mons across both games, that’s not happening right now either. For players sticking to Z-A’s Ranked Battles, the focus is entirely on non-Legendary mons until at least mid-July.
If you want to stay across the wider gaming news cycle while grinding your Season 13 rank, check out what’s happening with Lords of the Fallen 2’s delay to Q1 2027 — there’s a lot going on in gaming right now beyond Lumiose City.
TL;DR — Pokemon Legends Z-A Season 13 Ban List Key Points
- Season 13 runs from June 25 to July 16, 2026
- All 25 Legendary and Mythical Pokemon are banned from Ranked Battles
- Mega Heatran and Mega Zeraora are both ineligible this season
- All Ranked-exclusive Mega Stones return as rank-up rewards
- 17 Beast Balls available for players who climb from Rank M to Rank A
- The format is the same as Season 4’s ruleset — standard battles, no restricted slots
