Is Donphan Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
AbilitySturdy blocks OHKO moves. Donphan hits hard with physical Ground attacks. If imported, handles Volkner, Flint, and Byron. The physical/special split helps slightly since Ground was already Physical. Garchomp makes most Ground imports redundant in Sinnoh.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Roark's team.
Gardenia's team hits Phanpy's weaknesses hard.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Maylene's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Fantina's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Byron's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Volkner's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Aaron's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Bertha's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Lucian's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Donphan resists most of Jupiter's coverage and hits back hard.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Cynthia's team.
Catch Phanpy
Catch Phanpy on Route 207 (walking, Lv 5, common). Swarm.
Recommended Moves
- LV 10NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Gardenia
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Lost Tower
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Amity Square
- After Fantina
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Iron Island
- LV 37NormalLast ResortPower 130Accuracy 100%PP 5
- After Byron
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Wayward Cave (secret entrance under bike path)
- LV 42NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Phanpy to Donphan
Phanpy evolves into Donphan at Level 25. Your Phanpy should hit Level 25 before you reach Maylene, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Gardenia
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Lost Tower
- After Fantina
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Iron Island
- TM84PoisonPoison JabPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 212
- LV 46GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Volkner
- TM71RockStone EdgePower 100Accuracy 80%PP 5Victory Road
- LV 54NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Donphan in Diamond & Pearl
Raise a swarm Phanpy to level 25 and it becomes Donphan, with no wild form to catch directly. It all depends on grabbing the elephant during the one daily swarm that brings it to its route.
Wild Donphan may be holding when caught:
Passho Berry (5% chance) Held: Consumed when struck by a super-effective Water-type attack to halve the damage.Catch Phanpy at any of these 1 spot to eventually evolve into Donphan.
Encountered via tall grass encounters
- 1Catch Phanpy
- 2Evolve Donphanat Lv.25
Badge 2How to Obtain Donphan in DP
- Step 1Catch Phanpy
- Step 2Donphan ✓BREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Phanpy egg.
How to Get Shiny Donphan in Diamond & Pearl
Donphan evolves from Phanpy, so chain that shiny on Route 207 and raise it into its armored form. Compare Shiny Donphan odds across every game
Diamond & Pearl Shiny Donphan Calculator
3 MethodsThe best route is PokeRadar Chain at full boosts, about 1 in 200 on each try. Tune it below.
PokeRadar Chain: Chain shaking-grass patches without breaking the combo. The rate peaks at a chain of 40.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 22-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 58-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 139-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 460-- | -- |
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.
For time estimates and charm math, open the Diamond & Pearl shiny odds calculator with Donphan already selected.
Donphan Weakness
Donphan is weak to Water, Grass, and Ice. On the flip side, it's immune to Electric-type moves entirely. Donphan's physical bulk (base 120 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 |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Donphan Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Donphan
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
 Cherrim Grass | C | |
 Leafeon Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Hearthome City Gift) | ||
 Wormadam BugGrass | C | |
 Grotle Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Turtwig (Lake Verity Gift) | ||
 Lombre WaterGrass | D | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Lombre builds →Solar Beam 2x86-102%KO Ice Beam 2x46-54% Water Pulse 2x44-52% | ||
 Lileep RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodOreburgh City Gift | ||
 Budew GrassPoison | C | |
 Floatzel Water | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Floatzel builds →Ice Beam 2x59-70% Water Pulse 2x56-67% | ||
 Gastrodon WaterGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Gastrodon builds →Ice Beam 2x62-74% Water Pulse 2x61-73% | ||
 Prinplup Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Piplup (Lake Verity Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Prinplup builds →Bubble Beam 2x59-70% Ice Beam 2x55-66% | ||
 Bibarel NormalWater | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Bibarel builds →Ice Beam 2x44-52% Water Pulse 2x42-50% | ||
 Omanyte RockWater | B | |
Obtain MethodOreburgh City Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Omanyte builds →Brine 2x64-76% Ice Beam 2x62-74% | ||
 Surskit BugWater | D | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Surskit builds →Solar Beam 2x50-60% Bubble Beam 2x44-52% Ice Beam 2x41-49% | ||
Donphan Evolutions
Evolved from Phanpy. Donphan is the final form in this two-stage line. A massive partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Attack grew the most through evolution (+60 over Phanpy), and Donphan peaks at 500 total stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Donphan to get Phanpy eggs easily using 131 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Ancient Power, Body Slam, Counter and 5 more.
DP Donphan Best Moveset
120 Attack and 120 Defense on a Ground type with MoveRapid Spin and MoveStealth Rock means Donphan sets hazards, clears hazards, and hits hard physically. The moveset fills multiple team roles at once. AbilitySturdy guarantees surviving any single hit from full HP, adding safety to an already durable package.
Best Build
Donphan best EVs are HP and Defense
Hazard Setter Moveset
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding opens up real options for Donphan. Ancient Power and Body Slam come exclusively from egg moves, and they're worth the effort. The rest of the kit covers basics through Earthquake and Magnitude and coverage across 9 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. 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
31 of 32 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Reminder Moves
Transfer Moves
Base Stats
It attacks by curling up, then rolling into its foe. It can blow apart a house in one hit.
Donphan Diamond & Pearl Guide
In Diamond & Pearl, Donphan plays as a wallbreaker. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully. Earthquake is the primary attack.
In Diamond & Pearl, Impish is the go-to nature for Donphan. That's +Defense / -Sp. Atk. Pair it with 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD EVs. Fits the wallbreaker role.
Game Availability
Available in 16 titles since its debut in Gold & Silver, Donphan spans 8 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through wild encounters in most mainline games.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GSDebut
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 Donphan.
Keep playing · Diamond & PearlDiamond & Pearl Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Diamond & Pearl Tier List