Is Caterpie Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Bug Catching Contest regular from National Park. Also found on Route 30 from the start. Butterfree at level 10 arrives fast, but Bug/Flying doesn't hold up past Bugsy. Replace before Whitney.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Jasmine's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Butterfree resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Butterfree resists most of Misty's coverage and hits back hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge'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 Sabrina's team.
Blaine's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Butterfree resists most of Will's coverage and hits back hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with 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
- LV 15BugBug BitePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
How to Get Caterpie in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Caterpie crawls through early grass on the first Johto routes and in Ilex Forest, with a Headbutt option too. The National Park slot shifts level once you finish the Pokedex, and it is a Bug-Catching Contest regular on the right days.
6 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 HGSS
Caterpie is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking and headbutt encounters from Lv. 3-36 across 39 total spots in the chain.
- Step 1Caterpie ✓Ilex ForestLv.5-6GrassHeartGoldRate 60%DayRoute 30Lv.3-4GrassHeartGoldRate 50%MorningIlex ForestLv.5-6GrassHeartGoldRate 50%MorningNational ParkLv.10-12FloorHeartGoldRate 50%MorningViridian ForestLv.3GrassHeartGoldRate 40%Morning/dayRoute 30Lv.3-4GrassHeartGoldRate 35%DayRoute 31Lv.4-5GrassHeartGoldRate 35%Morning/dayRoute 2 - NorthLv.3-4GrassHeartGoldRate 31%Morning/dayRoute 2 - SouthLv.3-4GrassHeartGoldRate 31%Morning/dayIlex ForestLv.3-5Headbutting treesHeartGoldRate 30%National ParkLv.10FloorHeartGoldRate 30%DayNational Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.7-18FloorRate 20%Before post-gameNational Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.24-36FloorRate 20%Post-game (Tue)
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into MetapodViridian ForestLv.3-5GrassHeartGoldRate 30%Morning/dayIlex ForestLv.5-6GrassHeartGoldRate 30%DayIlex ForestLv.6GrassHeartGoldRate 30%MorningNational ParkLv.10FloorHeartGoldRate 30%Morning/dayRoute 2 - NorthLv.5GrassHeartGoldRate 20%MorningRoute 2 - SouthLv.5GrassHeartGoldRate 20%Morning/dayRoute 30Lv.4GrassHeartGoldRate 15%DayRoute 31Lv.5GrassHeartGoldRate 15%Morning/dayIlex ForestLv.3-5Headbutting treesHeartGoldRate 10%Route 30Lv.4GrassHeartGoldRate 10%MorningNational Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.9-18FloorRate 10%Before post-gameRoute 47Lv.25-28Headbutting special treesHeartGoldRate 50%National Park - Bug Catching ContestLv.26-36FloorRate 10%Post-game (Tue)or evolve from Caterpie (Step 1)
- Step 3Catch or Evolve into ButterfreeIlex ForestLv.6-8Headbutting treesHeartGoldRate 10%Route 2 - NorthLv.7-8GrassHeartGoldRate 10%Morning/dayRoute 2 - SouthLv.7-8GrassHeartGoldRate 10%MorningViridian ForestLv.7GrassHeartGoldRate 10%Morningor evolve from Metapod (Step 2)
Bring the right balls: check Caterpie catch odds in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
How to Get Shiny Caterpie in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Caterpie crawls through Viridian Forest and Ilex Forest, but a shiny hatches faster by breeding it Masuda-style. Compare Shiny Caterpie odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Caterpie Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route 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.
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 | 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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Caterpie in the HeartGold & SoulSilver 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
 Ninetales Fire | C | |
 Arcanine Fire | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Arcanine builds →Fire Blast 2x333-393%KO Aerial Ace 2x90-106%KO | ||
 Golbat Poison | C | |
 Camerupt FireGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Camerupt builds →Fire Blast 2x348-410%KO Rock Slide 2x103-122%KO | ||
 Scyther Bug | C | |
 Magmar Fire | C | |
 Dodrio Normal | C | |
 Flareon Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) | ||
 Farfetch'd Normal | C | |
 Fearow Normal | C | |
 Quilava Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Cyndaquil (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Quilava builds →Fire Blast 2x280-331%KO Aerial Ace 2x59-69% | ||
 Noctowl Normal | C | |
 Ninjask Bug | C | |
 Vespiquen Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Caterpie View Vespiquen builds →Aerial Ace 2x105-124%KO Power Gem 2x109-129%KO | ||
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.
HGSS Caterpie Best Moveset
Base stats in the 20-45 range with Bug typing and no competitive moves. AbilityShield Dust blocks secondary effects, but the moveset has nothing to protect. 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 Bite 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
For protection, it releases a horrible stench from the antennae 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 HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
For HeartGold & SoulSilver, 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