PokéSurvivor Judgment of Arceus

How the Judgment of Arceus works

1. Minute 30. The screen darkens, Arceus descends in a pillar of light and you are moved to a large, closed arena (the Ruins of Judgment). The cinematic lasts about 10 seconds; the first time you must watch it, after that you can skip it (Space, Enter, Esc or the A button; in co-op only the host can skip).
2. Arceus is invincible. It is not an enemy, so your moves never target it. It chases the nearest player and its touch removes 40% of your max HP. It also casts telegraphed attacks: pillars of light on and around each player, sweeping cross beams (4, then 8 after 30 seconds) and a shockwave when you are close. All of them warn on the ground first.
3. Arceus damage is “pure”. It is a share of your max HP and ignores types, Defense, Special Defense and damage reduction (Harden, Assault Vest, Armor, the melee bonus). Focus Sash still works: it leaves you at 1 HP once every 60 seconds.
4. Nothing else spawns. No waves, events, weather or rifts during the Judgment; no new rifts open from minute 28 either.
5. No time limit. The run ends when you fall. The best runs end a few minutes after minute 30, and since 18 October it is practically impossible to go past about minute 40.

Legendary wave pattern in the Judgment

A random legendary (any legendary or mythical except Arceus) joins about 1.2 seconds after the fight starts, then one more every 5 seconds for as long as you survive. They spawn at the edge of the arena, away from players. Each one has double the HP and damage of the previous one. The first one’s HP is set from roughly 3 seconds of the damage you were dealing to a single enemy before minute 30 (with a minimum), so it never melts instantly. Psychic, Electric, Ghost, Fairy, Fire, Water, Ice and Dragon legendaries shoot from range; the rest charge you.

Judgment legendaries give experience only (no coins, tickets or items). Killing three of them in one run earns the Divine challenge achievement. Poison still deals a percentage of HP, but since 18 October that percentage is lower against huge HP pools like these legendaries.

The 18 October anti-kiting rules

Before 18 October 2026, a partner with all its speed upgrades could survive to minute 60 by running in circles. The update closed that, and every leaderboard was reset because those records are no longer reachable:

• Speed soft cap. During the Judgment, any movement speed above 130 counts only 25%. A maxed-out runner that would move at about 290 moves at about 170 instead. Nothing changes before minute 30.
• Legendaries keep pace. Each legendary runs at least 80% as fast as the fastest living player, so they almost match you.
• Arceus accelerates. It starts slower than you, catches up within about 20 to 35 seconds and settles at about 1.22× your speed; after 5 minutes of Judgment it keeps accelerating without a cap.
• One-hit KO around minute 40. From 7 minutes into the Judgment, its touch removes more and more HP, reaching 100% at 10 minutes, which is about minute 40 of the run.

Computed from the formulas in the game code (speed relative to the player Arceus is chasing, after the soft cap; never below a flat minimum). Values can change with future patches.

Best Pokémon for the Judgment of Arceus

Because of the soft cap, extra speed is worth little in the Judgment: a partner with in-game speed of about 105 or more reaches the 130 threshold with all 8 Stride levels (+24%), and Choice Scarf (+35%) or Agility stacks push almost anyone past it. Arceus damage is a percentage of HP, so bulk does not help against it, but the legendaries deal flat damage that doubles every 5 seconds, so HP and damage both matter. Our data-based shortlist ranks non-legendary partners with in-game speed of at least 100 by HP × ATK, the same proxy as our PokéSurvivor tier list:

#	Pokémon	Type	★	HP	ATK	SPD	Stronger side
1	Slaking	normal	5	138	1.58	120	Physical
2	Blissey	normal	4	185	1.11	101	Special
3	Cetitan	ice	4	146	1.32	109	Physical
4	Rampardos	rock	4	114	1.61	102	Physical
5	Baxcalibur	dragonice	5	122	1.50	115	Physical
6	Xurkitree	electric	4	107	1.65	113	Special
7	Wailord	water	4	146	1.20	103	Physical
8	Great Tusk	groundfighting	4	122	1.42	115	Physical
9	Excadrill	groundsteel	4	120	1.44	115	Physical
10	Bewear	normalfighting	4	124	1.39	103	Physical

These are rare gacha pulls. With a starter, favour the one you have upgraded most, and pick moves on its stronger side (see physical vs special).

Plan the first 28 minutes around rifts to collect bonds, build with the best builds, and check the patch notes for later changes.

Ready to try it?

PokéSurvivor is free and runs in your browser. Play it on the official site so your progress, co-op and leaderboards work.

Play on pokesurvivor.com ↗itch.io page ↗