Is Caterpie Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Available in the National Park and on early routes. Butterfree comes quickly and provides the same MoveSleep Powder utility it always has. Less critical than in Yellow since Falkner's Flying gym isn't a matchup Butterfree wants.
Falkner's team hits Metapod's weaknesses hard.
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.
Catchable
Catch Caterpie on Route 30 (walking, Lv 3-4, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 3)
- LV 3NormalTacklePower 35Accuracy 95%PP 35
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 Caterpie in Gold & Silver
Gold is where Caterpie lives. The National Park aside, Silver locks it out entirely, but Gold has 32 common encounters, mostly headbutting trees across Johto and Kanto with some early grass mixed in.
15 locations to catch Caterpie
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1
Badge 2
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Where To Catch Caterpie in GS
The line opens with Caterpie at Lv. 3-18 via headbutt and walking encounters. 3 catchable stages total, with locations listed for each one below.
- Step 1Caterpie ✓Azalea 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 into 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 3Catch or Evolve into ButterfreeRoute 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)
Bring the right balls: check Caterpie catch odds in the Gold & Silver Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
How to Get Shiny Caterpie in Gold & Silver
Caterpie falls out of Headbutt trees around Azalea Town and Ilex Forest, and since one trunk can be struck over and over, camp a single rustling tree and keep hitting. Compare Shiny Caterpie odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Caterpie 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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Caterpie in the Gold & Silver 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 |
- 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 Caterpie Weak Against
Avg
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 23 breeding partners from the Bug egg group.
GS Caterpie Best Moveset
No moves, no stats, no role. The Bug-type line leads to Butterfree, which gains marginal utility from MoveSleep Powder but nothing from the stats.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- String Shot
- Tackle
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.
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
For protection, it releases a horrible stench from the antenna on its head to drive away enemies.
Its feet have suction cups designed to stick to any surface. It tenaciously climbs trees to forage.
Caterpie Gold & Silver Guide
For Gold & Silver, 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 · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List