Is Chikorita Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Crystal's hardest starter choice hasn't changed from Gold and Silver. Grass typing struggles against Falkner, Bugsy, and Morty. The difference in Crystal is the move tutor: MoveFlamethrower and MoveIce Beam don't help Chikorita directly, but they make other team members stronger around it. Meganium still needs the team to carry its bad matchups.
Falkner's team hits Chikorita's weaknesses hard.
Bugsy's team hits Chikorita's weaknesses hard.
Bayleef trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Bayleef trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Bayleef trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Meganium has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Meganium resists most of Pryce's coverage and hits back hard.
Clair's team hits Meganium's weaknesses hard.
Meganium has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Meganium has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Meganium resists most of Misty's coverage and hits back hard.
Meganium resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Meganium has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Koga's team.
Meganium has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Karen's team.
Meganium trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Starter
Chikorita is available as a starter at Lv 5.
Recommended Moves
- LV 8GrassRazor LeafPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 25
- After Falkner
- HM01NormalCutPower 50Accuracy 95%PP 30Ilex Forest
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- LV 29NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Lt. Surge
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
- LV 50GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10
Evolve Chikorita to Bayleef
Chikorita evolves into Bayleef at Level 16. Your Chikorita should hit Level 16 before you reach Whitney, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 16)
- LV 16GrassRazor LeafPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 25
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- LV 31NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- After Lt. Surge
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Prize for defeating Janine
- LV 55GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10
Evolve Bayleef to Meganium
Bayleef evolves into Meganium at Level 32. Your Bayleef should hit Level 32 before you reach Jasmine, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 32)
- LV 32GrassRazor LeafPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 25
- LV 32NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- After Lt. Surge
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- LV 61GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Chikorita in Crystal
Chikorita is one of Professor Elm's three starters, offered in New Bark Town at level 5. Pick it and the Grass path is yours, but Cyndaquil and Totodile are locked out for that save.
1 location to catch Chikorita
How to Obtain Chikorita in C
- Step 1Chikorita ✓
- Step 3Evolve into Meganium
How to Get Shiny Chikorita in Crystal
Chikorita sits in Professor Elm's lab in New Bark Town; save before choosing your starter and soft reset the pick until the leaf shows shiny colors. Compare Shiny Chikorita odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Chikorita Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
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.
Soft Reset: Save in front of a static, gift, or legendary encounter, then reset until it sparkles.
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.
For time estimates and charm math, open the Crystal shiny odds calculator with Chikorita already selected.
Chikorita Weakness
Chikorita is weak to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug. The Grass typing picks up 4 resistances to work with. That's a lot of weak spots to cover so team support is important.
| 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
- Special stat split into Sp.Atk and Sp.Def
What is Chikorita Weak Against
Fragile
Chikorita Evolutions
Chikorita kicks off a three-stage evolution line through Bayleef all the way to Meganium. For breeding, average hatch time with a decent partner pool via two egg groups. Evolving adds up to 207 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Chikorita easily with 23 breeding partners from the Grass and Monster egg groups. Pass egg moves like Ancient Power, Counter, Flail and 3 more to offspring.
C Chikorita Best Moveset
Grass starter at pre-evolution stats facing Fire and Ice coverage everywhere. MoveRazor Leaf and defensive screens exist in the movepool. Meganium provides the bulk that makes the Grass support role function.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Body Slam
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
Moves List
Breeding opens up real options for Chikorita. Ancient Power and Counter come exclusively from egg moves, and they're worth the effort. The rest of the kit covers basics through Solar Beam and Giga Drain and Normal and Steel coverage and more.
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
18 of 23 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It loves to bask in the sunlight. It uses the leaf on its head to seek out warm places.
Chikorita Crystal Guide
In Crystal, for a casual playthrough, Chikorita works as a placeholder. Grass coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Bayleef. That's where the stats start mattering.
Game Availability
Debuting in Gold & Silver, Chikorita appears in 17 games across 8 generations. A reliable presence in most mainline games, typically found through catching or hatching as a base form.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GSDebut
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 Chikorita.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List