Is Butterfree Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
MoveSleep Powder is still Butterfree's main contribution. Useful for catching Legendaries and shutting down Whitney's Miltank if you can put it to sleep before Rollout starts. The stats fall off by mid-Johto, but the utility never goes away entirely.
Falkner's Pokemon outpace and outclass Metapod here.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Butterfree resists most of Morty's coverage and hits back hard.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Chuck's team.
Jasmine's Pokemon outpace and outclass Butterfree here.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Lt. Surge's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Butterfree resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Blaine's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Lance's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Catch Metapod
Catch Metapod on Route 30 (walking, Lv 4, uncommon).
Evolve Metapod to Butterfree
Metapod evolves into Butterfree at Level 10. Your Metapod should hit Level 10 before you reach Bugsy, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- LV 28FlyingGustPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 35
- LV 34PsychicPsybeamPower 65Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Clair
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 27
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- TM29PsychicPsychicPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Saffron City
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
How to Get Butterfree in Gold & Silver
Silver keeps Butterfree to the National Park, so Gold is where you actually hunt one: 25 spots, rare in every tree, most needing a headbutt. Evolving Metapod at level 10 is far quicker.
Wild Butterfree may be holding when caught:
Silver Powder (2% chance) Powers up bug-type moves. (HOLD)13 locations to catch Butterfree15 locations to catch Metapod
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1
Badge 2
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Catch Metapod at any of the 15 locations below, then level it up to 10 — it evolves into Butterfree.
Badge 1 Badge 2 Badge 3 Badge 4 Badge 5 Badge 6 Badge 7 Badge 8Where To Catch Butterfree in GS
Metapod gets you Butterfree sooner: catch it at the very start and evolve it at Lv 10. Wild Butterfree first appears at Azalea Town (after Badge 1).
- Step 1Catch CaterpieAzalea TownLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Ilex ForestLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Lake of RageLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 34Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 35Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 36Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 37Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 38Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 39Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 26Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Route 27Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 65%Ilex ForestLv.5-6GrassGoldRate 60%DayRoute 30Lv.3-4GrassGoldRate 50%MorningIlex ForestLv.5-6GrassGoldRate 50%MorningAzalea TownLv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Ilex ForestLv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Lake of RageLv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%National ParkLv.10-12FloorGoldRate 50%MorningRoute 34Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 35Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 36Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 37Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 38Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 39Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 26Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 27Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 50%Route 30Lv.3-4GrassGoldRate 35%DayRoute 31Lv.4-5GrassGoldRate 35%Morning/dayRoute 2Lv.3GrassGoldRate 30%Morning/dayNational ParkLv.10FloorGoldRate 30%DayNational Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.7-18FloorRate 20%Bug-Catching Contest only, on Tuesdays, Thursdays
- Step 2Catch or Evolve MetapodIlex ForestLv.5-6GrassGoldRate 30%DayIlex ForestLv.6GrassGoldRate 30%MorningNational ParkLv.10FloorGoldRate 30%Morning/dayRoute 2Lv.5GrassGoldRate 20%Morning/dayRoute 30Lv.4-5GrassGoldRate 15%DayRoute 31Lv.5GrassGoldRate 15%MorningRoute 31Lv.5-6GrassGoldRate 15%DayAzalea TownLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Ilex ForestLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Lake of RageLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 34Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 35Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 36Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 37Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 38Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 39Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 26Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 27Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 15%Route 30Lv.4GrassGoldRate 10%MorningNational Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.9-18FloorRate 10%Bug-Catching Contest only, on Tuesdays, Thursdaysor evolve from Caterpie (Step 1)
- Step 3Butterfree ✓Route 2Lv.7GrassGoldRate 10%MorningAzalea TownLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Azalea TownLv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Ilex ForestLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Ilex ForestLv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Lake of RageLv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Lake of RageLv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 34Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 34Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 35Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 35Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 36Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 36Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 37Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 37Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 38Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 38Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 39Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 39Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 26Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 26Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%Route 27Lv.10Headbutting treesGoldRate 5%Route 27Lv.10Headbutting special treesGoldRate 5%National Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.12-15FloorRate 5%Bug-Catching Contest only, on Tuesdays, Thursdaysor evolve from Metapod (Step 2)
Not landing the catch? Calculate Butterfree catch rates for Gold & Silver by ball, status, and HP.
How to Get Shiny Butterfree in Gold & Silver
Butterfree rarely turns up beyond the special Headbutt slot in the trees near Ilex Forest, with only the odd one in the grass, so lean on those trunks and keep the grind going. Compare Shiny Butterfree odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Butterfree Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breed w/ Shiny Parent: Eggs inherit stats from a shiny parent, so about 1 in 64 hatch shiny. A shiny Ditto helps every egg, and any other shiny parent (the red Gyarados works) helps only eggs of the opposite gender.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 7-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 19-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 45-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 147-- | -- |
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 Gold & Silver with Butterfree preloaded.
Butterfree Weakness
Butterfree is weak to Rock, Fire, Electric, Ice, and Flying. Watch out for Rock attacks, those deal 4x damage. On the flip side, it's immune to Ground-type moves entirely. Butterfree's special bulk (base 80 Sp.Def) helps absorb special-type weaknesses, though physical moves exploit the lower Defense.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Rock |
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Electric, Ice, Flying |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Bug |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
- Special stat split into Sp.Atk and Sp.Def
What is Butterfree Weak Against
Vulnerable
Butterfree Evolutions
Butterfree is the final form in a three-stage chain from Caterpie through Metapod. Breeding this form produces Caterpie eggs (quick to hatch). Evolving from Caterpie gave Butterfree the biggest boost in Sp.Atk (+60), bringing the total to 385 stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Butterfree to get Caterpie eggs easily using 23 partners from the Bug egg group.
GS Butterfree Best Moveset
Still defined by MoveSleep Powder and nothing else. Sp. Atk can't follow up on the sleep, and Bug/Flying typing offers no useful TermStab. Puts one threat to sleep, then hopes the team capitalizes before Butterfree folds.
Best Build
Support Moveset
- Sleep Powder
- Psychic
- Stun Spore
- Giga Drain
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
TMs define Butterfree's movepool. The natural moves cover basics with Gust, but the real versatility comes from technical machines giving it Psychic and Normal 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.
- 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.
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
15 of 22 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It collects honey every day. It rubs honey onto the hairs on its legs to carry it back to its nest.
Water-repellent powder on its wings enables it to collect honey, even in the heaviest of rains.
Butterfree Gold & Silver Guide
Yes. Wild Butterfree in Gold & Silver can hold Silver Powder (2%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Silver Powder.
Honestly, in Gold & Silver Butterfree is a tough sell. It rates just E-Tier, and stronger Bug/Flying options exist. Fun pick, not a practical one.
In Gold & Silver, Butterfree plays as a balanced. Speed is middling, so pick your spots carefully.
Game Availability
Butterfree first appeared in Red & Blue and spans 19 games across 9 generations. It later gained a Gigantamax form in Generation 8, adding new dimensions to its competitive identity.
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 8SwShGigantamax
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 Butterfree.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List