How to unlock Zacian
Zacian is not sold directly, so the only route is the Galar banner, where it occupies a 5★ slot. The 5★ band takes 1.5% of all pulls and holds 103 partners, so one specific Zacian works out to about 0.0146% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter guarantees a 5★, but it does not target Zacian specifically, so a guarantee can still resolve to another 5★. A duplicate Zacian refunds 300 coins at the 5★ rate.
Zacian stats and rank
Zacian reads 111 HP, 136 speed, ×1.36 attack, ×1.36 physical, ×1.14 special, 115 defense and 115 special defense, for a 660 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 87.9 out of 100, which puts Zacian at rank 22 of 966 and in tier S. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is speed (99th percentile) and its weakest is special multiplier (64th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Zacian's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Play Rough at 54.6 damage per 0.45s (165.0 effective DPS, ×1.36 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (144.3 effective DPS, ×1.36 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (121.9 effective DPS, ×1.36 multiplier). 6 of its 12 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 6 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its physical multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.36 against ×1.14), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 20.7 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. The figure is a ceiling for a single target: splash, piercing and knockback can outweigh a gap this size.
Evolution cards for Zacian
Its starting move, Fairy Wind, evolves into Moonblast once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. A level 5 move without Power in the run is still just a level 5 move. 12 of its 16 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Play Rough at 165.0 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Zacian compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Zamazenta (+0 HP, +0 speed, same attack multiplier, +0 total) and Koraidon (+4 HP, -1 speed, +0.08 attack, +10 total). Against Zamazenta, the two are level on speed and the two carry an identical ×1.36 attack multiplier, and the rank gap is 1 places. The exchange rate is the point: nothing here improves on both lines at once, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.