Is Cranidos Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
Diamond fossil from Oreburgh Mining Museum. Rock with AbilityMold Breaker ignoring abilities like Levitate and Sturdy. Rampardos at 30 has one of the highest Attack stats in the game. Fragile but devastating.
Cranidos has the type edge here and should clean up Roark's team.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Gardenia's team.
Maylene's team hits Cranidos's weaknesses hard.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Fantina's team.
Rampardos trades roughly evenly with Byron's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Volkner's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Rampardos trades roughly evenly with Bertha's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Rampardos trades roughly evenly with Lucian's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Rampardos resists most of Jupiter's coverage and hits back hard.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Rampardos trades roughly evenly with Cynthia's team.
Fossil
Cranidos can be revived from a fossil obtained in Oreburgh City. Revive Skull Fossil. Revive from Skull Fossil at the Oreburgh Mining Museum. Skull Fossil is found in the Underground (Diamond only).
Recommended Moves
- After Gardenia
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Lake Verity
- TM35FireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Veilstone Game Corner
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 216
- After Byron
- TM69RockRock PolishPower —Accuracy 100%PP 20Mt. Coronet
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Wayward Cave (secret entrance under bike path)
- After Candice
- TM80RockRock SlidePower 113Accuracy 90%PP 10Mt. Coronet
- LV 43RockHead SmashPower 225Accuracy 80%PP 5
- After Volkner
- TM71RockStone EdgePower 150Accuracy 80%PP 5Victory Road
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Cranidos to Rampardos
Cranidos evolves into Rampardos at Level 30. Your Cranidos should hit Level 30 before you reach Fantina, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Gardenia
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Lake Verity
- After Byron
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Oreburgh Gate
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Wayward Cave (secret entrance under bike path)
- After Candice
- TM80RockRock SlidePower 113Accuracy 90%PP 10Mt. Coronet
- After Volkner
- TM71RockStone EdgePower 150Accuracy 80%PP 5Victory Road
- LV 52RockHead SmashPower 225Accuracy 80%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Cranidos in Diamond & Pearl
Cranidos is revived from the Skull Fossil, dug only in the Diamond Underground. Hand the fossil to the Oreburgh lab and the headbutt Pokemon returns at level 20, so Pearl players need a trade for one.
1 location to catch Cranidos
How to Obtain Cranidos in DP
- Step 2Evolve into RampardosBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Cranidos egg.
How to Get Shiny Cranidos in Diamond & Pearl
Cranidos revives from the Skull Fossil, but breeding it the Masuda way gives a much faster shot at a shiny. Compare Shiny Cranidos odds across every game
Diamond & Pearl Shiny Cranidos 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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Diamond & Pearl shiny odds for Cranidos.
Cranidos Weakness
Cranidos is weak to Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, and Steel. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage. That's a lot of weak spots to cover so team support is important.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Normal, Fire, Poison, Flying |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Cranidos Weak Against
FragileBest Pokemon Against Cranidos
 Cubone Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Cubone builds →Focus Punch 2x94-111%KO Bone Club 2x64-77% | ||
 Bibarel NormalWater | C | |
 Geodude RockGround | C | |
 Onix RockGround | C | |
 Psyduck Water | D | |
Obtain MethodCelestic Town Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Psyduck builds →Focus Punch 2x94-111%KO Water Gun 2x53-64% | ||
 Turtwig Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodLake Verity Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Turtwig builds →Razor Leaf 2x64-77% Rock Smash 2x32-38% | ||
 Piplup Water | C | |
Obtain MethodLake Verity Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Piplup builds →Brick Break 2x49-60% Bubble 2x32-38% | ||
 Surskit BugWater | D | |
 Seedot Grass | C | |
 Lotad WaterGrass | D | |
Cranidos Evolutions
Cranidos evolves into Rampardos. It's a two-stage chain with the method shown below. Plenty of partners for breeding via one egg group. Eggs are slow to hatch. Evolving adds up to 145 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Cranidos with 63 breeding partners from the Monster egg group. Pass egg moves like Crunch, Double-Edge, Hammer Arm and 5 more to offspring.
DP Cranidos Best Moveset
125 Attack at the unevolved stage is enormous, and AbilityMold Breaker ignores defensive abilities when attacking. But 30 in both defensive stats and 58 Speed leave the moveset too fragile. Evolve to Rampardos for the full power.
Best Build
Cranidos best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Wallbreaker Moveset
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Head Smash
- Fire Punch
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The TM pool is where it gets interesting. Coverage across 10 types means almost nothing walls Cranidos cleanly, with Head Smash and Stone Edge anchoring the STAB side. Matchup flexibility isn't a problem.
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
42 of 43 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It lived in jungles around 100 million years ago. Its skull is as hard as iron.
It was resurrected from an iron ball-like fossil. It downs prey with its head butts.
Cranidos Diamond & Pearl Guide
Revive from Skull Fossil at the Oreburgh Mining Museum. Skull Fossil is found in the Underground (Diamond only). Cranidos is revived at level 5. Give it Rare Candies or experience-share if you want it ready for the late-game.
In Diamond & Pearl, Cranidos does the job early-game if you need a Rock type on your team. Evolve it into Rampardos before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
In Diamond & Pearl, Cranidos plays as a cannon. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully.
In Diamond & Pearl, Adamant is the go-to nature for Cranidos. That's +Attack / -Sp. Atk. Pair it with 56 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 196 Spe EVs. Fits the cannon role.
Game Availability
Cranidos first appeared in Diamond & Pearl and has been available in 12 games across 6 generations. Obtainable through catching or hatching as a base form in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DPDebut
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 Cranidos.
Keep playing · Diamond & PearlDiamond & Pearl Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Diamond & Pearl Tier List