Is Donphan Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Fast for a Ground-type with strong physical stats. Donphan handles everything that doesn't resist Ground and takes physical hits well. Available late in Silver but still earns its spot on teams heading into the E4 and beyond.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Phanpy has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Phanpy's weaknesses hard.
Phanpy has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Donphan resists most of Lt. Surge's coverage and hits back hard.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Erika's team hits Donphan's weaknesses hard.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Donphan resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Donphan resists most of Blaine's coverage and hits back hard.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Donphan has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catch Phanpy
Catch Phanpy on Route 45 (walking, Lv 20, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 20)
- LV 20NormalTacklePower 35Accuracy 95%PP 35
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Whitney
- TM13NormalSnorePower 40Accuracy 100%PP 15Moomoo Farm
- LV 25NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 49NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
Evolve Phanpy to Donphan
Phanpy evolves into Donphan at Level 25. Your Phanpy should hit Level 25 before you reach Clair, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 25)
- LV 25NormalHorn AttackPower 65Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Falkner
- TM31GroundMud-SlapPower 30Accuracy 100%PP 10Prize for defeating Falkner
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Whitney
- TM13NormalSnorePower 40Accuracy 100%PP 15Moomoo Farm
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- LV 49GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Donphan in Gold & Silver
Also Silver-only, Donphan roams a few spots from the thirties up to level 50, or you raise a Phanpy to 25. Gold trainers are shut out of both forms in the wild, with importing one the lone option.
3 locations to catch Donphan1 location to catch Phanpy
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 8Catch Phanpy at any of the 1 location below, then level it up to 25 — it evolves into Donphan.
Badge 7Where To Catch Donphan in GS
The path to Donphan starts with Phanpy at Lv. 20 via walking encounters. 2 catchable stages total, with locations listed for each one below.
- Step 1Catch Phanpy
- Step 2Donphan ✓Mt. Silver - 1FLv.44CaveSilverRate 30%Victory Road - 1FLv.33CaveSilverRate 20%Route 28Lv.40GrassSilverRate 20%Mt. Silver - OutsideLv.42CaveSilverRate 20%or evolve from Phanpy (Step 1)
To plan your throws, open the Gold & Silver catch rate calculator with Donphan preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Donphan in Gold & Silver
Donphan roams wild across Mt. Silver, Route 28, and Victory Road, and no spot among them gives you any edge on landing the shiny. Compare Shiny Donphan odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Donphan 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.
For time estimates and charm math, open the Gold & Silver 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 |
- 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 Donphan Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Donphan
 Gyarados Water | B | |
Obtain MethodLake Of Rage Good Rod Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Gyarados builds →Hydro Pump 2x83-98% Blizzard 2x55-65% | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
 Tangela Grass | C | |
 Sunflora Grass | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Jumpluff Grass | C | |
 Vaporeon Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Vaporeon builds →Hydro Pump 2x133-157%KO Blizzard 2x89-105%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 Donphan View Golduck builds →Hydro Pump 2x119-140%KO Blizzard 2x79-93% | ||
 Suicune Water | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Suicune builds →Surf 2x90-106%KO Blizzard 2x75-89% | ||
 Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Slowbro builds →Surf 2x99-116%KO Blizzard 2x82-97% | ||
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Lapras builds →Hydro Pump 2x107-127%KO Ice Beam 2x86-102%KO | ||
 Feraligatr Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Feraligatr builds →Hydro Pump 2x102-120%KO Blizzard 2x68-80% | ||
Donphan Evolutions
Evolved from Phanpy. Donphan is the final form in this two-stage line. Plenty of partners 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 66 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Ancient Power, Body Slam, Focus Energy.
GS Donphan Best Moveset
120 Attack behind MoveEarthquake for devastating Ground TermStab and MoveRapid Spin for clearing MoveSpikes. MoveRoar forces switches into hazard chip. Held ItemLeftovers sustains. Physical Ground attacker with hazard removal and forcing switches, a combination of utilities few Pokemon provide together.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rest
- Ancient Power
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 Mud-Slap and Normal and Rock coverage.
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
19 of 24 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It has sharp, hard tusks and a rugged hide. Its TACKLE is strong enough to knock down a house.
The longer and bigger its tusks, the higher its rank in its herd. The tusks take long to grow.
Donphan Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, Donphan plays as a support. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully. Earthquake is the primary attack.
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 · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List