Is Cubone Good in Red & Blue Playthrough?
Cubone is slow with limited offensive options at this stage. The evolution into Marowak improves things, but there are faster Ground-type options available by the time it matters.
Cubone has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Misty's team hits Cubone's weaknesses hard.
Cubone has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Erika's team hits Cubone's weaknesses hard.
Marowak has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Marowak resists most of Blaine's coverage and hits back hard.
Marowak resists most of Giovanni's coverage and hits back hard.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Lorelei'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 Agatha's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Marowak trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Catchable
Catch Cubone in Pokémon Tower (walking, Lv 20-22, uncommon). Needs the Silph Scope; without it every Pokemon here is an unidentified Ghost that cannot be caught.
Recommended Moves
- After Brock
- TM28GroundDigPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Returned by the Team Rocket thief after you defeat him in Cerulean City
- After Lt. Surge
- TM05NormalMega KickPower 120Accuracy 75%PP 5Celadon Department Store
- TM10NormalDouble-EdgePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Rocket Hideout
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Celadon Department Store roof
- After Erika
- TM40NormalSkull BashPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Safari Zone
- After Koga
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Silph Co.
- After Sabrina
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 90%PP 5Pokémon Mansion
- After Blaine
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Prize for defeating Cinnabar Gym Leader Blaine
Evolve Cubone to Marowak
Cubone evolves into Marowak at Level 28. Your Cubone should hit Level 28 before you reach Koga, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Brock
- TM28GroundDigPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Returned by the Team Rocket thief after you defeat him in Cerulean City
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Rocket Game Corner
- TM10NormalDouble-EdgePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Rocket Hideout
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Celadon Department Store roof
- After Erika
- TM40NormalSkull BashPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Safari Zone
- After Koga
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Silph Co.
- After Sabrina
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 90%PP 5Pokémon Mansion
- After Blaine
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Prize for defeating Cinnabar Gym Leader Blaine
How to Get Cubone in Red & Blue
Cubone lives in the Pokemon Tower alongside the ghosts, ten uncommon encounters on the haunted floors. The lonely bone-keeper shares Lavender's tower with Gastly and Haunter.
1 location to catch Cubone
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 4Where To Catch Cubone in RB
The line opens with Cubone at Lv. 20-24 via walking encounters. 2 catchable stages total, with locations listed for each one below.
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into MarowakVictory Road - 2FLv.40CaveRate 4%Victory Road - 1FLv.43CaveRate 1%Cerulean Cave - B1FLv.55CaveRate 20%Cerulean Cave - 2FLv.52CaveRate 10%or evolve from Cubone (Step 1)
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Red & Blue 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 |
- Only 15 types exist — Dark, Steel, and Fairy are absent
- Ghost has no effect on Psychic (a known bug, fixed in Gen II)
- Special stat governs both offense and defense — no Sp.Atk / Sp.Def split
What is Cubone Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Cubone
 Gyarados Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Magikarp (Route 4 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Gyarados builds →Bubble Beam 2x76-91% Ice Beam 2x75-89% | ||
 Vaporeon Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Celadon City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Vaporeon builds →Bubble Beam 2x124-146%KO Ice Beam 2x118-139%KO | ||
 Wartortle Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Squirtle (Pallet Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cubone View Wartortle builds →Bubble Beam 2x83-99% Ice Beam 2x80-95% | ||
 Ivysaur GrassPoison | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Bulbasaur (Pallet Town Gift) | ||
 Parasect BugGrass | C | |
Cubone Evolutions
Cubone evolves into Marowak, but can't breed. At 310 stats as a Ground type, evolution is the only path. Evolving adds up to 115 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
RB Cubone Best Moveset
Marowak's pre-evolution with MoveEarthquake in the movepool but half the Attack stat behind it. The moves are the same, the power isn't. Evolve first.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Water Gun
- Mega Punch
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Most of Cubone's flexibility comes from TMs. Same-type output runs through Earthquake and Dig, but Normal and Ice and the rest of the TM pool push it from predictable to genuinely threatening.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- 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 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 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 25 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Because it never removes its skull helmet, no one has ever seen this POKéMON’s real face.
Cubone Red & Blue Guide
In Red & Blue, 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 · Red & BlueRed & Blue Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Red & Blue Tier List