Before you can catch Wo-Chien, however, you need to find and pull the eight purple stakes found across Paldea. Below you find all of the purple stake locations and the Grasswither Shrine location, along with how to catch Wo-Chien in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. On this page: If you’d like to learn more about your adventure in Paldea, then visit our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough. We do recommend unlocking all of the Koraidon / Miraidon abilities before attempting this side-quest. You can try searching for the stakes after defeating the Open Sky Titan and False Dragon Titan for the swimming and climbing abilities, but traversing Paldea is far easier with all of the mount upgrades. If you’d like to learn about the myth surrounding the shrines and have them placed on your overworld map, then complete the history lessons at the Academy. Taking these lessons is not a requirement for pulling the stakes though. Below you’ll find the eight purple stake locations in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet:
Purple Stake 1 location
The easiest way to find this stake is to fly to Mesagoza (East Gate) - if you accidentally fly to the Pokémon Center, just leave the city by the east gate. Once there, head directly north-east and climb the rocks until you find the stake. It’s roughly in the middle of this area north of the road.
Purple Stake 2 location
Like Stake 1, the easiest way to find this stake is to fly to Mesagoza (East Gate). From there, you’ll be able to see the stake if you look south towards Los Platos. To reach it, climb across the stone gate bridging the gap between South Province (Area Three) and (Area Five). Now all you have to do is jump down to the ledge below.
Purple Stake 3 location
This stake is located atop the mountain in South Province (Area Five). If you’ve just found Stake 2, you can easily reach it by climbing up the mountain from your current location. If not, it can be found by going north-west from the South Province (Area Five) Pokémon Center, heading north-east from Los Platos or going south from the South Province Province (Area Three) Pokémon Center and crossing the land bridge.
Purple Stake 4 location
This stake is located atop a hill north-east of the Los Platos Pokémon Center. You can quickly find it by climbing this hill and following its edge northward until you encounter the stake.
Purple Stake 5 location
This stake sits atop the mountain directly south of Los Platos in South Province (Area One) - on the land surrounding the pool where the waterfall springs from.
Purple Stake 6 location
This is the hardest Grasswither Stake to find due to how it sits on the northern border between South Province (Area Three) and East Province (Area One). One way to find it is to fly to the South Province (Area Three) Watchtower and then head north, crossing the gap to the green field. There you’ll want to head west along the cliff edge until you find the stake. If you don’t, turn back and head east - you’ve probably missed it! It can also be found by flying to either the South Province (Area Three) Pokémon Center and East Province (Area Two) Pokémon Center, before heading to the northern edge of the gorge. Again, you’ll want to partoll this cliffedge till you find the stake.
Purple Stake 7 location
You can find this stake on the brown hill directly south of the Artazon (West) Pokémon Center.
Purple Stake 8 location
This final stake can be found on the cliff directly above the Grasswither Shrine in South Province (Area One).
Upon pulling the final stake, a roar will come from the shrine signalling the awakening of Wo-Chien. Before you meet it, however, we recommend stocking up on Ultra Balls and healing items like Max Potions.
Our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough can take you through the entire game - including The First Day of School, Victory Road, Starfall Street, Path of Legends and when you’re ready, The Way Home and the final boss.
Elsewhere, we can help with the Normal Gym test Secret Item menu, version differences, the best Scarlet and Violet starter, EXP farming, shiny Pokémon and learning how to fly, swim, climb and dash.
When it comes to individual Pokémon, we can help with Gimmighoul, Ditto, Bellibolt, Pawmot, Scovillain, Frigibax, Sinistea, Brambleghast, Annihilape, Farigiraf, Dudunsparce, Lycanrock forms, Armarouge and Ceruledge.
By completing the history lessons at the Academy and following Raifort’s storyline, the shrines will be placed on your overworld map. This will also allow you to fast-travel to them.
The quickest way to reach the shrine by path is to fly to the Poco Path Lighthouse and then follow the coastline eastward until you spot the shrine embedded in a hillside.
This means it’s weak to Bug, Fairy, Fire, Fighting, Flying, Ice and Poison-types. Psychic-type moves will have no effect on Wo-Chien.
It’s a good idea to stock up on Ultra Balls and healing items, like Max Potions, before trying to catch Wo-Chien.
We recommend beginning the battle with a Pokémon which has both an advantage over Wo-Chien and is at a similar level. This will ensure you can knock down its health to that all important bright red section without having to knock it out completely.
You will, however, want to look out for Wo-Chien’s Giga Drain, because this attack allows this Pokémon to heal itself.
For this reason, it’s a good idea to switch to Pokémon with moves which are less effective against Wo-Chien once you’ve reached the red section of the health bar. This will allow you to carefully knock the health bar back down if needed after Wo-Chien heals itself.
Dark, Electric, Ghost, Grass, Ground and Water-types are ideal for this task. Moves like Bite also work well as it may cause Wo-Chien to flinch and, in doing so, prevents its attack.
Paralysing or putting Wo-Chien to sleep will also assist you in catching this Pokémon. Just avoid poisoning it!
You may also want to switch to a Pokémon that will take little damage from Wo-Chien’s attacks, so you can focus on tossing out Ultra Balls.
We quickly caught Wo-Chien with an Ultra Ball, but you may find a Timer Ball more useful if your battle has lasted a considerable amount of time. This Poké Ball’s effectiveness is tied to how many turns have passed in a battle, so a longer fight equals a strong Timer Ball!
Wo-Chien has the Tablets of Ruin ability, which lowers the Attack stats of every Pokémon but itself.
Wo-Chien will have the following moveset when you catch it:
Once you’ve caught Wo-Chein, why not try adding Ting-Lu, Chien-Pao and Chi-Yu to your Pokédex!
To learn more about the Ruinous Pokémon and their tale, we recommend completing the history lessons. If you’ve been following this mini-storyline, then visit Raifort after catching all of the Ruinous Pokémon for an extra reward.
Good luck catching Wo-Chein!
