Is Cradily Good in Black & White Playthrough?
Lileep evolves at level 40. Rock/Grass with AbilitySuction Cups preventing forced switches. Decent defenses. A tank option from postgame fossil revival.
Lileep has the type edge here and should clean up Cilan's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Chili's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Cress's team.
Lenora's typing presses Lileep's defenses.
Burgh's team hits Lileep's weaknesses hard.
Elesa's typing presses Lileep's defenses.
Clay's typing presses Lileep's defenses.
Skyla's typing presses Lileep's defenses.
Brycen's team hits Lileep's weaknesses hard.
Drayden's team hits Lileep's weaknesses hard.
Shauntal's Pokemon outpace and outclass Cradily here.
Grimsley's team hits Cradily's weaknesses hard.
Caitlin's team hits Cradily's weaknesses hard.
Marshal's team hits Cradily's weaknesses hard.
Alder's Pokemon outpace and outclass Cradily here.
Fossil Lileep
Lileep can be revived from a fossil obtained in Nacrene City. Revive Root Fossil. Revive a fossil at the Nacrene City Museum — fossils found in Relic Castle.
Evolve Lileep to Cradily
Lileep evolves into Cradily at Level 40. Level it up in the post-game, after the credits.
How to Get Cradily in Black & White
Cradily doesn't appear wild. Catch Lileep instead, it shows up at solid rates. Evolve it at level 40 to get Cradily. The 2-stage line is mapped in the step cards below.
How to Obtain Cradily in BW
- Step 2Cradily ✓BREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Lileep egg.
How to Get Shiny Cradily in Black & White
Cradily unfurls from a shiny Lileep, so breed foreign parents for boosted Masuda eggs and evolve the sea lily up. Compare Shiny Cradily odds across every game
Black & White Shiny Cradily Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Masuda Method, about 1 in 1,366 on each try.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
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 |
|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 144 |
| 25%one in four | 393 |
| 50%coin flip | 947 |
| 90%very likely | 3,145 |
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 Black & White with Cradily preloaded.
Cradily Weakness
Type-wise, Cradily takes extra damage from Ice, Fighting, Bug, and Steel. Storm Drain grants an additional Water immunity, reshaping the matchup chart. Cradily's overall bulk (86/97/107) lets it take a hit or two from most weaknesses before going down.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ice, Fighting, Bug, Steel |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Normal, Electric |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Cradily Weak Against
FragileBest Pokemon Against Cradily
 Emboar FireFighting | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tepig (Nuvema Town Gift) | ||
 Scrafty DarkFighting | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Scrafty builds →High Jump Kick 2x85-101%KO | ||
 Sawk Fighting | C | |
 Throh Fighting | C | |
 Gurdurr Fighting | C | |
 Scolipede BugPoison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Scolipede builds →Megahorn 2x88-103%KO Rock Smash 2x21-25% | ||
 Excadrill GroundSteel | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Excadrill builds →X-Scissor 2x50-59% Brick Break 2x46-55% Metal Claw 2x48-56% | ||
 Beartic Ice | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Beartic builds →Superpower 2x71-84% Icicle Crash 2x77-91% | ||
 Leavanny BugGrass | C | |
 Crustle BugRock | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Crustle builds →X-Scissor 2x59-70% Rock Smash 2x21-25% | ||
 Klang Steel | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Klang builds →Flash Cannon 2x41-49% Rock Smash 2x17-20% | ||
 Mienfoo Fighting | C | |
 Anorith RockBug | C | |
Obtain MethodNacrene City Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Anorith builds →X-Scissor 2x55-66% Brick Break 2x35-42% Metal Claw 2x23-28% | ||
 Cryogonal Ice | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Cryogonal builds →Ice Beam 2x62-73% Flash Cannon 2x34-41% | ||
Cradily Evolutions
Evolved from Lileep. Cradily is the final form in this two-stage line. A decent partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs are slow to hatch. Attack grew the most through evolution (+40 over Lileep), and Cradily peaks at 495 total stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Cradily to get Lileep eggs using 25 partners from the Water 3 egg group. Notable egg moves include Barrier, Curse, Endure and 6 more.
BW Cradily Best Moveset
107 Sp. Def behind Rock/Grass typing with AbilityStorm Drain as a hidden ability redirecting Water moves for a Sp. Atk boost. AbilitySuction Cups prevents opponents from forcing switches. The moveset recovers with MoveRecover and stalls with MoveToxic from a position opponents can't force out of.
Best Build
Cradily best EVs are HP and Sp. Atk
Special Tank Moveset
- Recover
- Giga Drain
- Ancient Power
- Toxic
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The egg pool carries weight here. Barrier and Curse aren't available any other way for Cradily, and they meaningfully change what it threatens. Stack those on top of Solar Beam and Stone Edge for solid options.
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 lives in the shallows of warm seas. When the tide goes out, it digs up prey from beaches.
Cradily Black & White Guide
In Black & White, Storm Drain is the hidden ability. It redirects single-target water moves to this Pokémon where possible. Worth hunting for if you want Cradily to compete at a higher level.
Yes. Cradily is not available during the main story. Black & White open the post-game as soon as the credits roll after N’s Castle, and no Hall of Fame entry is needed first.
In Black & White, Cradily plays as a support. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully.
In Black & White, Modest is the go-to nature for Cradily. That's +Sp. Atk / -Attack. Pair it with 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD EVs. Fits the support role.
Game Availability
Available in 14 titles since its debut in Ruby & Sapphire, Cradily spans 7 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through wild encounters 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 Cradily.
Keep playing · Black & WhiteBlack & White Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Black & White Tier List