Is Barboach Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Water/Ground with only Grass weakness. Whiscash at level 30 is functional, and Quagsire fills the same role natively in Johto without breeding.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Barboach trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's typing presses Barboach's defenses.
Barboach resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Clair's typing presses Barboach's defenses.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Misty's typing presses Barboach's defenses.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Erika's team hits Barboach's weaknesses hard.
Barboach trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Sabrina's team hits Barboach's weaknesses hard.
Barboach has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Barboach trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Will's typing presses Barboach's defenses.
Barboach trades roughly evenly with Koga's team.
Whiscash has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Whiscash trades roughly evenly with Karen's team.
Whiscash trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Barboach in the Safari Zone (Super Rod fishing, Lv 42). Requires 4 Water objects placed in Marshland.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 42)
- LV 42GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 42WaterAqua TailPower 135Accuracy 90%PP 10
- LV 42GroundMud BombPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 10
- LV 42WaterWater PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- After Pryce
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
Evolve Barboach to Whiscash
Barboach evolves into Whiscash at Level 30. You get it at Level 42, past Level 30, so it evolves into Whiscash the next time it levels up.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 30)
- LV 30WaterWater PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- After Pryce
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
- LV 39WaterAqua TailPower 135Accuracy 90%PP 10
- LV 45GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Barboach in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Barboach can be bred at the Day-Care from a Whiscash egg. Land a Whiscash first and the rest follows from the breeding.
1 location to catch Barboach
Encountered via fishing with a Rod
Badge 8Where To Catch Barboach in HGSS
Barboach is the chain's first catch. You'll find fishing encounters from Lv. 10-42 across 8 total spots in the chain.
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into WhiscashViolet CityLv.10Old RodRate 15%Swarm activeViolet CityLv.20Good RodRate 65%Swarm activeViolet CityLv.40Super RodRate 100%Swarm activeor evolve from Barboach (Step 1)
Not landing the catch? Calculate Barboach catch rates for HeartGold & SoulSilver by ball, status, and HP.
How to Get Shiny Barboach in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Barboach pairs with a foreign Ditto, so breed it Masuda-style for a shiny of its own. Compare Shiny Barboach odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Barboach Calculator
1 MethodThe only route here is Masuda Method, about 1 in 1,639 on each try.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 173-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 472-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 1,136-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 3,773-- | -- |
Time assumes -- at your pace and does not change your shiny odds.
How is this calculated?
Every encounter has the same shiny chance, the Shiny Odds Per Try shown above. Each one is a separate roll that does not care how many you have already done, so the more you hunt, the higher your overall chance of at least one shiny. The formula below turns your odds and your number of tries into that combined chance.
chance after N tries = 1 − (1 − p)^N, where p = 1 / odds per try
Example at 1 in 8,192 (classic full odds): about 864 encounters for a 10 percent chance, 5,678 for 50 percent, and 18,862 for 90 percent.
The table above flips that around: it shows how many encounters it takes to reach a 10, 25, 50, and 90 percent chance at your current odds. Turning on boosts like the Shiny Charm, sandwiches, or chains improves your odds, so the encounter numbers drop.
These are estimates, not promises. Most games have no pity counter, meaning no guaranteed shiny no matter how many you hunt, so even Very Likely is not guaranteed: some hunters find one early, others go well past that point.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in HeartGold & SoulSilver with Barboach preloaded.
Barboach Weakness
Barboach's Water/Ground typing leaves it vulnerable to Grass. Grass hits land at 4x, so they're the biggest threat. It shrugs off Electric-type attacks completely. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Grass |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Barboach Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Barboach
 Tangrowth Grass | C | |
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
 Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
 Carnivine Grass | C | |
 Parasect BugGrass | C | |
 Leafeon Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) | ||
 Jumpluff Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodSafari Zone Surfing | ||
 Budew GrassPoison | C | |
 Sunkern Grass | D | |
Barboach Evolutions
Barboach evolves into Whiscash. It's a two-stage chain with the method shown below. A decent partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. The evolved forms gain up to 180 total stats over Barboach. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Barboach easily with 19 breeding partners from the Water 2 egg group. Pass egg moves like Dragon Dance, Flail, Hydro Pump and 4 more to offspring.
HGSS Barboach Best Moveset
Water/Ground with only Grass (4x) as a weakness and AbilityAnticipation warning about super-effective moves on switch-in. Stats around 45-60 are too low for competitive play. Evolve to Whiscash.
Best Build
Barboach best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Attacker Moveset
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Return
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
You'll want to breed for Dragon Dance and Flail on Barboach. These egg moves aren't just nice to have. Combined with STAB from Hydro Pump and Earthquake, they expand what Barboach can actually threaten in practice.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Egg
- Inherited via breeding.
- 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. That triggers abilities like Static, Flame Body, Rough Skin, or Iron Barbs, plus items like Rocky Helmet and Sticky Barb.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM, Egg, 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, Egg, 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 21 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
BARBOACH uses its whiskers to taste things just as a person uses his or her tongue to taste things.
Barboach HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
- Where in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Safari Zone can I find Barboach?
See the Locations section above for where to find Barboach in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
Safari rules: You can only use Safari Balls. No battling. Two tactical items shift the catch/flee trade-off:
- Throw bait to keep Barboach from fleeing (flee rate cut to 1/4) but it becomes harder to catch (catch factor halved).
- Throw a rock to make Barboach easier to catch (catch factor doubled) but it flees twice as often.
- Each effect lasts 2-6 random turns; throwing one cancels the other.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Barboach has 288 BST and evolves into Whiscash. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Yes. Barboach is a post-game Pokemon. You need to defeat the Elite Four and enter the Hall of Fame first. Barboach becomes available after the main story is complete in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
Game Availability
Barboach first appeared in Ruby & Sapphire and has been available in 16 games across 7 generations. Obtainable through catching or hatching as a base form in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RSDebut
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 8SwSh
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