Is Articuno Good in Yellow Playthrough?
Seafoam Islands. Articuno slots onto most teams easily thanks to Ice coverage for Lance. Bulky enough to take hits and powerful enough to finish fights alone. The easiest legendary bird to justify adding to your team.
Articuno resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Articuno resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Articuno resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Giovanni's team.
Articuno trades roughly evenly with Lorelei's team.
Articuno resists most of Bruno's coverage and hits back hard.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Agatha's team.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Articuno has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Catchable
Catch Articuno on Seafoam Islands (interact, Lv 50, limited). Surf + Strength. Found on B4F at the bottom of the Seafoam Islands. Navigate the boulder puzzles to reach the lowest floor where Articuno rests. Surf and Strength are required.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 50)
- LV 50IceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Lt. Surge
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 105Accuracy 95%PP 15Route 16 (from girl in house)
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Rocket Game Corner
- TM10NormalDouble-EdgePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Rocket Hideout
- TM09NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20Silph Co.
- LV 51IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 90%PP 5
- LV 55PsychicAgilityPower —Accuracy 100%PP 30
- After Giovanni
- TM43FlyingSky AttackPower 210Accuracy 90%PP 5Victory Road
How to Get Articuno in Yellow
Articuno waits deep in the Seafoam Islands, reachable only after Surf and Strength clear the way. At level 50 with a catch rate of 3 and only one to find, a careless knockout loses it for good.
1 location to catch Articuno
Badge 5How to Get Articuno in Yellow
Articuno Weakness
Articuno is weak to Rock, Fire, and Electric. Watch out for Rock attacks, those deal 4x damage. On the flip side, it's immune to Ground-type moves entirely. Articuno's special bulk (base 125 Special) helps absorb special-type weaknesses, though physical moves exploit the lower Defense.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Rock |
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Electric |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Bug |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground |
- Only 15 types exist — Dark, Steel, and Fairy are absent
- Ghost has no effect on Psychic (a known bug, fixed in Gen II)
- Special stat governs both offense and defense — no Sp.Atk / Sp.Def split
What is Articuno Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Articuno
 Jolteon Electric | A | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Celadon City Gift) | ||
 Rhydon GroundRock | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Articuno View Rhydon builds →Rock Slide 4x133-156%KO Fire Blast 2x25-30% Thunderbolt 2x21-24% | ||
 Ninetales Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Vulpix (Celadon City Gift) | ||
 Magneton Electric | C | |
 Arcanine Fire | B | |
 Charizard Fire | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Charmander (Route 24 Gift) | ||
 Raichu Electric | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Pichu (Pallet Town Gift) | ||
 Rapidash Fire | C | |
 Graveler RockGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Articuno View Graveler builds →Rock Slide 4x102-120%KO Fire Blast 2x25-30% | ||
 Aerodactyl Rock | B | |
Obtain MethodCinnabar Island Gift | ||
 Onix RockGround | C | |
Articuno Evolutions
Articuno is a powerhouse with 610 total stats as a Ice/Flying legendary. Can't breed it, so you're locked to whatever you catch or receive. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Y Articuno Best Moveset
MoveBlizzard at 90%% accuracy with the permanent freeze chance that no other Ice-type matches in reliability. 125 Special fires the move with devastating power, and the freeze itself has no cure (nothing thaws in this generation). Ice TermStab that wins games through raw damage or the lottery that ends them outright.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Blizzard
- Agility
- Hyper Beam
- Ice Beam
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
TMs define Articuno's movepool. The natural moves cover basics with Sky Attack and Blizzard, but the real versatility comes from technical machines giving it Normal and Water coverage. That's where the options open up.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Tutor
- NPC tutor (cost: items, BP, money).
- Reminder
- An NPC reteaches any move this Pokemon could have learned by leveling up.
- Transfer
- Carried over from an older game using Pokemon HOME.
- Event
- Given out through Mystery Gift events.
Visual Signals
CAT (Category)
How the move deals damage and which stats it uses.
A small dot on the icon's corner marks the move as contact.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM and Tutor sort by tier by default (best first). On Level-Up, click the Tier header to do the same.
PWR (Power)
Base damage. Numbers shown in a type color include STAB (base × 1.5). Hover any colored number to see the math.
— means no power (status moves) or variable power.
Sorting & Filter
Click any column header to sort. Level-Up opens with Lv 1 at the top. TM and Tutor open with the highest-tier moves at the top.
Search filters by move name or type. The Filter button limits the list to STAB, Physical, Special, or Status moves.
Level-Up Moves
TM Moves
All 20 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
A legendary bird POKéMON. It freezes water that is contained in winter air and makes it snow.
Articuno Yellow Guide
Articuno is a static encounter at Seafoam Islands in Yellow. Articuno appears at level 50. Prerequisite: Surf + Strength. Save before the encounter. These one-shot Pokemon don't respawn if you knock them out or run out of Poke Balls.
In Yellow, Articuno plays as a support. Speed is middling, so pick your spots carefully. Blizzard is the primary attack. Set up with Agility when you get a free turn.
Yes. Galarian Articuno is a regional variant with different typing and a reworked stat spread. Introduced in Gen 8. Plays completely differently from the original.
Game Availability
Articuno has appeared in 20 games since Red & Blue, spanning 9 generations. As a Legendary, it's typically a one-per-save encounter tied to the story or post-game content.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RBDebut
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DP
Diamond & Pearl - Gen 4Pt
Platinum - Gen 4HGSS
HeartGold & SoulSilver - Gen 5BW
Black & White - Gen 5B2W2
Black 2 & White 2 - Gen 6XY
X & Y - Gen 6ORAS
Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire - Gen 7SM
Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7Let's Go
Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwShGalarian
Sword & Shield - Gen 8BDSP
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - Gen 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV
Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW
Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Articuno.
Keep playing · YellowYellow Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Yellow Tier List