Is Cradily Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Lileep evolves at level 40. Rock/Grass with AbilitySuction Cups. Handles Misty and Water trainers through Grass. Fossil timing keeps Cradily in postgame territory.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Lileep has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Lileep's weaknesses hard.
Jasmine's team hits Lileep's weaknesses hard.
Lileep has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Lileep has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Lileep has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Lileep trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Cradily trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Cradily has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Cradily trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Cradily has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Cradily has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Cradily trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Cradily has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Cradily has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Fossil Lileep
Lileep can be revived from a fossil obtained in Pewter City. Revive Root Fossil. Revive a Root Fossil at the Pewter Museum of Science.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 20)
- LV 20PoisonAcidPower 40Accuracy 100%PP 30
- After Falkner
- TM39RockRock TombPower 75Accuracy 80%PP 10Union Cave
- After Bugsy
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- After Jasmine
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 43
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Lake of Rage
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Lake of Rage
- LV 43RockAncient PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5
- LV 50GrassEnergy BallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10
Evolve Lileep to Cradily
Lileep evolves into Cradily at Level 40. Your Lileep should hit Level 40 before you reach Sabrina, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 40)
- LV 40RockAncient PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5
- After Bugsy
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TUTORNormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Ilex Forest
- After Whitney
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Hiker on Route 42
- After Jasmine
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 43
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 56GrassEnergy BallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Cradily in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Revive the Root Fossil into Lileep at Pewter City, then level it to 40 for Cradily. There is no wild encounter, so the fossil choice is what starts this ancient line.
Wild Cradily may be holding when caught:
Big Root (5% chance) A Pokemon held item that boosts the power of HP-stealing moves to let the holder recover more HP.Catch Lileep at any of these 1 spot to eventually evolve into Cradily.
- 1Catch Lileep
- 2Evolve Cradilyat Lv.40
Badge 8How to Obtain Cradily in HGSS
- Step 2Cradily ✓
How to Get Shiny Cradily in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Cradily evolves from Lileep, so breed that fossil baby Masuda-style and raise it once the shiny shows. Compare Shiny Cradily odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Cradily 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.
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 | 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.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in HeartGold & SoulSilver with Cradily preloaded.
Cradily Weakness
Type-wise, Cradily takes extra damage from Ice, Fighting, Bug, and Steel. 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
 Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Breloom builds →Focus Punch 2x134-158%KO Iron Tail 2x60-71% | ||
 Hariyama Fighting | B | |
 Toxicroak PoisonFighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Toxicroak builds →Focus Punch 2x114-134%KO X-Scissor 2x41-48% | ||
 Gallade PsychicFighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Gallade builds →Focus Punch 2x130-153%KO X-Scissor 2x46-55% | ||
 Blaziken FireFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Torchic (Silph Co Gift) | ||
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) | ||
 Primeape Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Primeape builds →Focus Punch 2x112-132%KO Iron Tail 2x50-59% U-turn 2x35-41% | ||
 Metagross SteelPsychic | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Metagross builds →Meteor Mash 2x84-99% Hammer Arm 2x62-73% | ||
 Machoke Fighting | C | |
 Magnezone ElectricSteel | A | |
 Pinsir Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Pinsir builds →Focus Punch 2x86-102%KO X-Scissor 2x70-82% | ||
 Weavile DarkIce | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Weavile builds →Focus Punch 2x83-98% Avalanche 2x51-61% X-Scissor 2x45-53% Iron Tail 2x56-66% | ||
 Aggron SteelRock | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Aggron builds →Focus Punch 2x78-92% Iron Head 2x63-74% Avalanche 2x32-38% | ||
 Bronzong SteelPsychic | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cradily View Bronzong builds →Flash Cannon 2x45-53% Rock Smash 2x18-22% | ||
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 21 partners from the Water 3 egg group. Notable egg moves include Barrier, Curse, Mirror Coat and 4 more.
HGSS Cradily Best Moveset
Rock/Grass at 107 Sp. Def with AbilitySuction Cups preventing forced switches by MoveRoar and MoveWhirlwind. The moveset absorbs special attacks and recovers with MoveRecover. 86 HP adds to the durability. 43 Speed is slow but the tank doesn't need speed.
Best Build
Cradily best EVs are Sp. Def and HP
Wall Moveset
- Recover
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Seed Bomb
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 Energy Ball 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
All 23 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It lives in warm seas. Its heavy body weighs it down so it won’t get washed away in rough weather.
Cradily HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
Yes. Cradily is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Cradily becomes available after the main story is complete in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Cradily plays as a balanced. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Careful is the go-to nature for Cradily. That's +Sp. Def / -Sp. Atk. Pair it with 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD EVs. Fits the balanced 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
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