Is Cacnea Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
Route 111 desert. Grass/Dark with AbilitySand Veil for evasion in sandstorm. Cacturne at 32 has high Attack and Special but terrible Speed and bulk. Glass cannon in the desert. Handles Phoebe and Wallace but dies to anything that outspeeds it, which is most things.
Cacnea resists most of Roxanne's coverage and hits back hard.
Cacnea has the type edge here and should clean up Brawly's team.
Wattson's typing presses Cacnea's defenses.
Flannery's team hits Cacnea's weaknesses hard.
Norman's typing presses Cacnea's defenses.
Winona's team hits Cacnea's weaknesses hard.
Cacturne has the type edge here and should clean up Tate & Liza's team.
Cacturne resists most of Wallace's coverage and hits back hard.
Cacturne trades roughly evenly with Sidney's team.
Cacturne has the type edge here and should clean up Phoebe's team.
Cacturne has the type edge here and should clean up Glacia's team.
Cacturne trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Cacturne trades roughly evenly with Steven's team.
Catchable
Catch Cacnea on Route 111 (walking, Lv 19-21, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- After Wattson
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Fortree City
- LV 29DarkFeint AttackPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Norman
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Safari Zone
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5Route 123
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 115
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- LV 37GrassNeedle ArmPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15
Evolve Cacnea to Cacturne
Cacnea evolves into Cacturne at Level 32. Your Cacnea should hit Level 32 before you reach Tate & Liza, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 32)
- LV 32DarkFeint AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Wattson
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Rusturf Tunnel
- After Norman
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Safari Zone
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5Route 123
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 115
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- LV 41GrassNeedle ArmPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15
How to Get Cacnea in Ruby & Sapphire
Out in the same desert sand as Trapinch, Cacnea shows up uncommon at levels 19 to 21. Both natives share that one harsh stretch, so a single scouting trip can net you each.
Wild Cacnea may be holding when caught:
Poison Barb (5% chance) A hold item that raises the power of POISON-type moves.1 location to catch Cacnea
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 3Where To Catch Cacnea in RS
- Step 1Cacnea ✓
- Step 2Evolve into CacturneBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Cacnea egg.
Not landing the catch? Calculate Cacnea catch rates for Ruby & Sapphire by ball, status, and HP.
How to Get Shiny Cacnea in Ruby & Sapphire
Cacnea stalks the Route 111 desert, so fight through the wild encounters there and keep an eye out for shiny spines. Compare Shiny Cacnea odds across every game
Ruby & Sapphire Shiny Cacnea Calculator
2 MethodsBoth methods here share the same odds, about 1 in 8,192 on each try. Pick whichever fits how you play.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breeding: Hatch eggs of this line; each egg rolls at the base shiny rate (no Masuda before Gen IV).
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 864-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 2,357-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 5,678-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 18,862-- | -- |
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 Ruby & Sapphire with Cacnea preloaded.
Cacnea Weakness
Cacnea's Grass typing leaves it vulnerable to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug. 4 resistances help offset the weaknesses. 5 weaknesses means you'll want teammates that can handle the coverage gaps.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Water, Electric, Grass, Ground |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Cacnea Weak Against
FragileBest Pokemon Against Cacnea
 Combusken FireFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Torchic (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Combusken builds →Overheat 2x216-255%KO Peck 2x38-46% | ||
 Golbat Poison | C | |
Obtain MethodMeteor Falls Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Golbat builds →Sludge Bomb 2x134-158%KO Wing Attack 2x92-109%KO Leech Life 2x23-27% | ||
 Masquerain Bug | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Surskit (Route 102 Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Masquerain builds →Ice Beam 2x112-132%KO Gust 2x51-61% | ||
 Torkoal Fire | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Torkoal builds →Overheat 2x216-255%KO Sludge Bomb 2x93-111%KO | ||
 Swalot Poison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Swalot builds →Sludge Bomb 2x127-150%KO Ice Beam 2x89-105%KO | ||
 Dustox BugPoison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Dustox builds →Sludge Bomb 2x96-114%KO Gust 2x30-35% | ||
 Gloom GrassPoison | C | |
 Volbeat Bug | C | |
 Roselia GrassPoison | C | |
 Skarmory Steel | A | |
 Grimer Poison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Grimer builds →Sludge Bomb 2x134-158%KO Flamethrower 2x59-70% | ||
 Slugma Fire | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cacnea View Slugma builds →Overheat 2x185-219%KO Smog 2x15-19% | ||
 Numel FireGround | C | |
 Swellow Normal | C | |
Cacnea Evolutions
One evolution ahead. Cacnea grows into Cacturne through a straightforward two-stage chain. A decent partner pool for breeding via two egg groups. Eggs take an average time to hatch. The evolved forms gain up to 140 total stats over Cacnea. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Cacnea easily with 35 breeding partners from the Grass and Human-Like egg groups. Pass egg moves like Acid, Counter, Dynamic Punch and 2 more to offspring.
RS Cacnea Best Moveset
Grass/Dark pre-evolution with MoveSpikes access at stats too low for competitive play. AbilitySand Veil boosts evasion in sandstorm but the stats can't take advantage. Cacturne improves the Attack.
Best Build
Cacnea best EVs are HP and Sp. Def
Wall Moveset
- Destiny Bond
- Spikes
- Focus Punch
- Giga Drain
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
You'll want to breed for Acid and Counter on Cacnea. These egg moves aren't just nice to have. Combined with STAB from Solar Beam and Giga Drain, they expand what Cacnea 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 18 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
CACNEA lives in arid locations such as deserts. It releases a strong aroma from its flower to attract prey. When prey comes near, this POKéMON shoots sharp thorns from its body to bring the victim down.
The more arid and harsh the environment, the more pretty and fragrant a flower CACNEA grows. This POKéMON battles by wildly swinging its thorny arms.
Cacnea Ruby & Sapphire Guide
Yes. Wild Cacnea in Ruby & Sapphire can hold Poison Barb (5%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Poison Barb.
Game Availability
Available in 14 titles since its debut in Ruby & Sapphire, Cacnea spans 7 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through catching or hatching as a base form in a solid number of games.
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
Where to go next after Cacnea.
Keep playing · Ruby & SapphireRuby & Sapphire Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Ruby & Sapphire Tier List