How to unlock Solgaleo
Getting Solgaleo means pulling the Alola banner and hitting its 5★ slot. The 5★ band takes 1.5% of all pulls and holds 103 partners, so one specific Solgaleo works out to about 0.0146% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter guarantees a 5★, but it does not target Solgaleo specifically, so a guarantee can still resolve to another 5★. A duplicate Solgaleo refunds 300 coins at the 5★ rate.
Solgaleo stats and rank
Solgaleo carries 132 HP, 119 speed, a ×1.45 attack multiplier, ×1.45 physical, ×1.32 special, 107 defense and 89 special defense, 680 in total. On the three-stat percentile this is 92.6 out of 100, which puts Solgaleo at rank 8 of 966 and in tier S. What separates it from its neighbours is shape, not size: its strongest slot is HP (98th percentile) and its weakest is special defense (77th percentile), so it spreads its value fairly evenly.
Best moves in Solgaleo's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (153.9 effective DPS, ×1.45 multiplier), then Metal Claw at 37.8 damage per 0.38s (146.2 effective DPS, ×1.45 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (129.9 effective DPS, ×1.45 multiplier). 9 of its 18 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 9 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its physical multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.45 against ×1.32), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 7.7 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call.
Evolution cards for Solgaleo
Its starting move, Confusion, evolves into Psyshock once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Reflexes card, which boosts cooldown for that run. That card has to drop inside the run; nothing in the permanent menu replaces it. 18 of its 22 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Magnet). The strongest of them is Body Slam at 153.9 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Solgaleo compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Kyurem (-6 HP, -1 speed, -0.03 attack, -20 total) and Xerneas (-5 HP, +1 speed, -0.03 attack, +0 total). Against Kyurem, Solgaleo is 1 speed faster and Solgaleo hits harder by ×0.03, and the rank gap is 10 places. Treat the gaps as the price of the switch rather than free stats, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.