Is Cranidos Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Fossil revival. Rock with AbilityMold Breaker ignoring opposing abilities. Rampardos at level 30 has one of the highest Attack stats available. Glass cannon from a fossil. Postgame timing.
Cranidos has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Cranidos resists most of Bugsy's coverage and hits back hard.
Cranidos has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's Pokemon outpace and outclass Cranidos here.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Jasmine's team.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Brock's team hits Cranidos's weaknesses hard.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Cranidos has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Cranidos trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Cranidos has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Rampardos trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Rampardos resists most of Blaine's coverage and hits back hard.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Rampardos resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Rampardos trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Rampardos has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Rampardos resists most of Lance's coverage and hits back hard.
Fossil
Cranidos can be revived from a fossil obtained in Pewter City. Revive Skull Fossil. Revive a Skull Fossil at the Pewter Museum of Science.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM35FireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Game Corner
- LV 28RockAncient PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- TM59DragonDragon PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Given by Clair in the Dragon's Den after the Dragon Shrine test
- LV 43RockHead SmashPower 225Accuracy 80%PP 5
Evolve Cranidos to Rampardos
Cranidos evolves into Rampardos at Level 30. Your Cranidos should hit Level 30 before you reach Sabrina, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM35FireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Chuck
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 52RockHead SmashPower 225Accuracy 80%PP 5
How to Get Cranidos in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Cranidos is handed to you at Pewter City. No encounter rates or random spawns involved, so there's nothing to grind. Check the location details below for the exact conditions to trigger it.
1 location to catch Cranidos
Badge 8How to Obtain Cranidos in HGSS
- Step 2Evolve into Rampardos
How to Get Shiny Cranidos in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Cranidos revives from the Skull Fossil in Pewter City, though a shiny hatches faster from Masuda breeding. Compare Shiny Cranidos odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver 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 HeartGold & SoulSilver 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
 Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Breloom builds →Focus Punch 2x301-354%KO Seed Bomb 2x161-189%KO Iron Tail 2x134-158%KO | ||
 Gallade PsychicFighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Gallade builds →Focus Punch 2x290-342%KO Earthquake 2x130-153%KO Leaf Blade 2x116-137%KO | ||
 Hariyama Fighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Hariyama builds →Focus Punch 2x279-329%KO Earthquake 2x125-147%KO Surf 2x61-72% | ||
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Hitmonlee builds →Focus Punch 2x279-329%KO Earthquake 2x125-147%KO | ||
 Blaziken FireFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Torchic (Silph Co Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Blaziken builds →Focus Punch 2x279-329%KO Solar Beam 2x167-197%KO Earthquake 2x125-147%KO | ||
 Toxicroak PoisonFighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Toxicroak builds →Focus Punch 2x253-298%KO Earthquake 2x113-133%KO | ||
 Primeape Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Primeape builds →Focus Punch 2x250-294%KO Earthquake 2x111-131%KO Iron Tail 2x111-131%KO | ||
 Marowak Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Marowak builds →Earthquake 2x133-157%KO Focus Punch 2x133-157%KO Iron Tail 2x89-105%KO | ||
 Garchomp DragonGround | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Garchomp builds →Earthquake 2x201-237%KO Iron Tail 2x134-158%KO Brick Break 2x101-119%KO Surf 2x102-120%KO | ||
 Rhydon GroundRock | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Rhydon builds →Focus Punch 2x201-236%KO Earthquake 2x201-237%KO Iron Tail 2x134-158%KO Surf 2x66-78% | ||
 Machoke Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Machoke builds →Focus Punch 2x241-283%KO Earthquake 2x107-126%KO | ||
 Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Silph Co Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Sceptile builds →Leaf Storm 2x281-331%KO Focus Punch 2x140-165%KO Earthquake 2x94-111%KO Iron Tail 2x94-111%KO | ||
 Steelix SteelGround | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cranidos View Steelix builds →Earthquake 2x141-166%KO Iron Tail 2x141-166%KO Rock Smash 2x38-45% | ||
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, Curse, Double-Edge and 6 more to offspring.
HGSS Cranidos Best Moveset
125 Attack at 58 Speed and defenses in the 30-40 range. AbilityMold Breaker ignores defensive abilities. The moveset hits devastatingly hard but can't outrun anything or survive a returned hit. Evolve to Rampardos.
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 Ancient Power 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
All 31 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
CRANIDOS toughen up their already rock-hard heads by headbutting one another.
Cranidos HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
Revive a Skull Fossil at the Pewter Museum of Science. Cranidos is revived at level 5. Give it Rare Candies or experience-share if you want it ready for the late-game.
Yes. Cranidos is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Cranidos becomes available after the main story is complete in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Cranidos has 350 BST and evolves into Rampardos. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Cranidos plays as a cannon. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, 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
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