Is Cubone Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Rock Tunnel in Kanto, postgame only. Ground-type coverage with solid physical Attack once Marowak evolves at 28. Crystal's Johto story gives you Quagsire and Donphan for Ground before Kanto opens up. Cubone arrives after its niche is filled.
Cubone trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Bugsy's typing presses Cubone's defenses.
Cubone trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Marowak resists most of Morty's coverage and hits back hard.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Marowak resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Marowak resists most of Lt. Surge's coverage and hits back hard.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Marowak resists most of Blaine's coverage and hits back hard.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Purchase
Cubone can be purchased in Goldenrod City at Lv 15. Purchase for 800 Coins at the Goldenrod Game Corner prize counter.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 15)
- LV 15GroundBone ClubPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM28GroundDigPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- LV 37NormalThrashPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- After Lt. Surge
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORIceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod City
Evolve Cubone to Marowak
Cubone evolves into Marowak at Level 28. Your Cubone should hit Level 28 before you reach Morty, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM28GroundDigPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 46NormalThrashPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORIceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod City
How to Get Cubone in Crystal
Cubone has two routes in: common in Rock Tunnel, or bought from the Goldenrod Game Corner for 800 coins. The cave is free, so the coins are only worth it if you hate the encounter rate.
Wild Cubone may be holding when caught:
Thick Club (2% chance) A bone of some sort. Sell low.2 locations to catch Cubone
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 2
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Where To Catch Cubone in C
The line opens with Cubone at Lv. 10-15 via walking and gift encounters. 2 catchable stages total, with locations listed for each one below.
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into MarowakRock Tunnel - 1FLv.12CaveRate 5%Morning/dayRock Tunnel - B1FLv.15CaveRate 5%Morning/dayRoute 10Lv.15GrassRate 5%Morning/dayRoute 9Lv.18GrassRate 5%Morning/dayor evolve from Cubone (Step 1)
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Crystal for Cubone.
How to Get Shiny Cubone in Crystal
Cubone knocks around Rock Tunnel in the morning and day as a common find, and the Goldenrod Game Corner offers a level 15 prize you can soft-reset before claiming. Compare Shiny Cubone odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Cubone Calculator
3 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Crystal shiny odds for Cubone.
Cubone Weakness
Cubone is weak to Water, Grass, and Ice. On the flip side, it's immune to Electric-type moves entirely. Cubone's physical bulk (base 95 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Grass, Ice |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison, Rock |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- 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 Cubone Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Cubone
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Lapras builds →Blizzard 2x163-193%KO Water Gun 2x59-70% | ||
 Smoochum IcePsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodRoute 34 Gift | ||
 Skiploom Grass | C | |
 Psyduck Water | D | |
Obtain MethodIlex Forest Surfing | ||
 Bayleef Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) | ||
 Croconaw Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Croconaw builds →Blizzard 2x84-100%KO Water Gun 2x45-54% | ||
 Quagsire WaterGround | B | |
Obtain MethodRoute 32 Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Quagsire builds →Ice Punch 2x57-68% Water Gun 2x50-59% | ||
 Poliwag Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEcruteak City Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Poliwag builds →Blizzard 2x66-79% Water Gun 2x36-43% | ||
 Bellsprout GrassPoison | D | |
 Slowpoke WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Slowpoke builds →Blizzard 2x66-79% Water Gun 2x36-43% | ||
 Oddish GrassPoison | C | |
 Paras BugGrass | C | |
Cubone Evolutions
Cubone is the base form in a two-stage line leading to Marowak. Check the evolution method below. A decent partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Evolving adds up to 105 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Cubone easily with 36 breeding partners from the Monster egg group. Pass egg moves like Ancient Power, Belly Drum, Perish Song and 4 more to offspring.
C Cubone Best Moveset
Ground pre-evolution heading toward Marowak's Held ItemThick Club transformation. MoveEarthquake exists at stats that can't deliver competitive damage. The gap between Cubone and Thick Club Marowak is the largest power jump in the format.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
- Body Slam
- Fire Blast
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding opens up real options for Cubone. Ancient Power and Belly Drum come exclusively from egg moves, and they're worth the effort. The rest of the kit covers basics through Earthquake and Dig and coverage across 8 types.
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
26 of 30 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It lost its mother after its birth. It wears its mother’s skull, never revealing its true face.
Cubone Crystal Guide
Cubone costs 800 Coins in Crystal. Earn coins by playing the slot machines on the Game Corner floor or buying them at the counter (1,000 coins for ₽10,000).
Yes. Wild Cubone in Crystal can hold Thick Club (2%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Thick Club.
In Crystal, for a casual playthrough, Cubone works as a placeholder. Ground coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Marowak. That's where the stats start mattering.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Cubone appears in 20 games spanning 9 generations. Gen 1 originals like Cubone have the longest track record of availability in the series.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RBDebut
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
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 Cubone.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List