Is Cubone Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Rock Tunnel in Kanto, postgame only. Marowak hits OK physically but arrives far too late to matter for the Johto story. Ground coverage from Nidoking or Quagsire is available much earlier.
Falkner's typing presses Cubone's defenses.
Bugsy's typing presses Cubone's defenses.
Cubone trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Cubone has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Cubone trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Cubone resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Cubone trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Clair's team hits Cubone's weaknesses hard.
Cubone has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Sabrina's typing presses Cubone's defenses.
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.
Catchable
Catch Cubone in Rock Tunnel (walking, Lv 10-13, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 10)
- LV 10GroundBone ClubPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM28GroundDigPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM48FireFire PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- LV 37NormalThrashPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
Evolve Cubone to Marowak
Cubone evolves into Marowak at Level 28. Your Cubone should hit Level 28 before you reach Erika, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 28)
- LV 28GroundBone ClubPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM28GroundDigPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- 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
How to Get Cubone in Gold & Silver
Four encounters in a single cave, common, around levels 10 to 13. Cubone keeps to that one underground spot, so there is no wandering involved, just a trip to its lone home.
Wild Cubone may be holding when caught:
Thick Club (2% chance) A bone of some sort. Sell low.1 location to catch Cubone
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 8Where To Catch Cubone in GS
Cubone is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking encounters from Lv. 10-14 across 6 total spots in the chain.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Gold & Silver for Cubone.
How to Get Shiny Cubone in Gold & Silver
Cubone waits deep in Rock Tunnel, facing the same long odds every Johto shiny does, so grind the wild encounters down there until one glimmers. Compare Shiny Cubone odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Cubone Calculator
2 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.
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 Gold & Silver 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
 Tangela Grass | C | |
 Gyarados Water | B | |
Obtain MethodLake Of Rage Good Rod Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Gyarados builds →Hydro Pump 2x125-147%KO Blizzard 2x83-98% | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
 Sunflora Grass | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Jumpluff Grass | C | |
 Vaporeon Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Vaporeon builds →Hydro Pump 2x204-240%KO Blizzard 2x136-160%KO | ||
 Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) | ||
 Jynx IcePsychic | B | |
 Golduck Water | C | |
Obtain MethodIlex Forest Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Golduck builds →Hydro Pump 2x180-212%KO Blizzard 2x120-142%KO | ||
 Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Slowbro builds →Surf 2x149-175%KO Blizzard 2x125-147%KO | ||
 Suicune Water | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Suicune builds →Surf 2x137-161%KO Blizzard 2x115-136%KO | ||
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Lapras builds →Hydro Pump 2x164-193%KO Ice Beam 2x131-154%KO | ||
 Feraligatr Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Feraligatr builds →Hydro Pump 2x155-182%KO Blizzard 2x103-122%KO | ||
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 3 more to offspring.
GS Cubone Best Moveset
MoveEarthquake in the movepool from pre-evolution stats that can't deliver competitive damage. Marowak with Held ItemThick Club is the destination, and the gap between them is enormous.
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
If it is sad or lonely, the skull it wears shakes, and emits a plaintive and mournful sound.
It always wears the skull of its dead mother, so no one has any idea what its hidden face looks like.
Cubone Gold & Silver Guide
Yes. Wild Cubone in Gold & Silver 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 Gold & Silver, Cubone has 320 BST and evolves into Marowak. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Yes. Cubone is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Cubone becomes available after the main story is complete in Gold & Silver.
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 · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List