Is Caterpie Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
Insert FireRed into the DS and Caterpie appears on Route 204. One of the few Gen 1 Pokemon accessible during Sinnoh's story through the Dual Slot system. Butterfree at level 10 comes fast.
Roark's Pokemon outpace and outclass Caterpie here.
Butterfree resists most of Gardenia's coverage and hits back hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Maylene's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Crasher Wake's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Fantina's team.
Byron's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Volkner's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Butterfree resists most of Bertha's coverage and hits back hard.
Flint's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Jupiter's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Cynthia's team.
Catchable
Catch Caterpie on Route 204 (walking, Lv 6, rare). Pokémon FireRed in GBA slot.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 6)
- LV 6NormalTacklePower 35Accuracy 95%PP 35
Evolve Caterpie to Butterfree
Metapod evolves into Butterfree at Level 10. Your Caterpie should hit Level 10 before you reach Gardenia, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- LV 12GrassStun SporePower —Accuracy 75%PP 30
- After Gardenia
- TM89BugU-turnPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Veilstone Game Corner
- TM40FlyingAerial AcePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 213
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Veilstone Department Store
- LV 40BugBug BuzzPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Candice
- TM85PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Valor Lakefront
- Post-Game
- TM53GrassEnergy BallPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 226
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Caterpie in Diamond & Pearl
Caterpie only turns up once you slot a FireRed cartridge into the GBA port and unlock dual-slot mode. After that it is a rare grass catch on a single early route, level 6 and easy to evolve.
1 location to catch Caterpie
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1Where To Catch Caterpie in DP
Caterpie is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 6. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
- Step 1Caterpie ✓
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into Metapodor evolve from Caterpie (Step 1)
- Step 3Evolve into ButterfreeBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Caterpie egg.
Bring the right balls: check Caterpie catch odds in the Diamond & Pearl Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
How to Get Shiny Caterpie in Diamond & Pearl
Caterpie crawls through the grass on Route 204, where running a PokeRadar chain drops its shiny rate to 1 in 200 with every unbroken link. Compare Shiny Caterpie odds across every game
Diamond & Pearl Shiny Caterpie Calculator
3 MethodsThe best route is PokeRadar Chain at full boosts, about 1 in 200 on each try. Tune it below.
PokeRadar Chain: Chain shaking-grass patches without breaking the combo. The rate peaks at a chain of 40.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 22-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 58-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 139-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 460-- | -- |
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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Caterpie in the Diamond & Pearl Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Caterpie Weakness
Type-wise, Caterpie takes extra damage from Fire, Flying, and Rock. Standard number of weaknesses for the Bug typing.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Flying, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Ground |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Caterpie Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Caterpie
 Monferno FireFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chimchar (Lake Verity Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Monferno builds →Fire Blast 2x250-295%KO Rock Tomb 2x55-66% | ||
 Golbat Poison | C | |
Obtain MethodMt Coronet Surfing | ||
 Aerodactyl Rock | B | |
Obtain MethodOreburgh City Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Aerodactyl builds →Wing Attack 2x117-140%KO Rock Tomb 2x100-119%KO Fire Fang 2x84-100%KO | ||
 Growlithe Fire | C | |
 Vespiquen Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Vespiquen builds →Power Gem 2x98-117%KO Gust 2x88-103%KO | ||
 Murkrow Dark | C | |
 Doduo Normal | C | |
 Staravia Normal | C | |
 Beautifly Bug | C | |
 Solrock RockPsychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Solrock builds →Rock Tomb 2x91-109%KO Fire Blast 2x131-155%KO | ||
 Anorith RockBug | C | |
Obtain MethodOreburgh City Gift | ||
Butterfree Bug | C | |
 Drifloon Ghost | C | |
Obtain MethodValley Windworks Interact Encounter | ||
 Masquerain Bug | C | |
Caterpie Evolutions
Three stages ahead. Caterpie grows into Metapod, then pushes on to Butterfree. Check the evolution methods below. For breeding, quick to hatch with a decent partner pool via one egg group. Evolving adds up to 200 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Caterpie easily with 48 breeding partners from the Bug egg group.
DP Caterpie Best Moveset
No competitive moves, base stats near single digits in some places, and nothing to build a moveset around. Evolve immediately.
Best Build
Caterpie best EVs are Sp. Atk and Sp. Def
Utility Moveset
- Tackle
- String Shot
- Snore
- Bug Bite
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Not a lot to pick from. Caterpie gets Bug STAB for same-type damage, and Normal coverage rounds things out. You're building around what's available rather than choosing from a deep bench.
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
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It releases a stench from its red antenna to repel enemies. It grows by molting repeatedly.
Caterpie Diamond & Pearl Guide
For Diamond & Pearl, you can run Caterpie through the first few routes without issues. 195 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Metapod as fast as you can.
Game Availability
One of the original 151, Caterpie has appeared in 19 games: most mainline games. From Red & Blue through the latest titles, it's rarely been left out of a regional Pokedex.
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 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 Caterpie.
Keep playing · Diamond & PearlDiamond & Pearl Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Diamond & Pearl Tier List