Is Donphan Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
AbilitySturdy prevents one-hit KOs in Gen 3. Trade-only in RS. Donphan is fast for a Ground-type with strong Attack, but Swampert and Sandslash cover Ground natively. Sturdy is a defensive bonus the local options don't have.
Roxanne's typing presses Phanpy's defenses.
Phanpy has the type edge here and should clean up Brawly's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Wattson's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Flannery's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Phanpy trades roughly evenly with Winona's team.
Tate & Liza's team hits Donphan's weaknesses hard.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Sidney's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Phoebe's team.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Drake's typing presses Donphan's defenses.
Donphan trades roughly evenly with Steven's team.
Catch Phanpy
Catch Phanpy in the Safari Zone (walking, Lv 27-29, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 27)
- LV 27NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Wattson
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Rusturf Tunnel
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Fortree City
- After Norman
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Tate & Liza
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Seafloor Cavern
- After Wallace
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Meteor Falls
- LV 49NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
Evolve Phanpy to Donphan
Phanpy evolves into Donphan at Level 25. You get it at Level 27 or higher, past Level 25, so it evolves into Donphan the next time it levels up.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 25)
- LV 25NormalHorn AttackPower 65Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Wattson
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Rusturf Tunnel
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Fortree City
- After Norman
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Wallace
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Meteor Falls
- LV 49GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Donphan in Ruby & Sapphire
A Safari Zone Phanpy evolves into Donphan at level 25. No wild Donphan rolls around on its own here.
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 6How to Obtain Donphan in RS
- Step 2Donphan ✓BREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Phanpy egg.
How to Get Shiny Donphan in Ruby & Sapphire
Donphan isn't catchable in the wild here, so hunt a shiny Phanpy in the Safari Zone and evolve it up into Donphan. Compare Shiny Donphan odds across every game
Ruby & Sapphire Shiny Donphan Calculator
2 MethodsBoth methods here share the same odds, about 1 in 8,192 on each try. Pick whichever fits how you play.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breeding: Hatch eggs of this line; each egg rolls at the base shiny rate (no Masuda before Gen IV).
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 864-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 2,357-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 5,678-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 18,862-- | -- |
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 Ruby & Sapphire 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
What is Donphan Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Donphan
 Tropius Grass | C | |
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Route 101 Gift) | ||
 Pelipper Water | C | |
Obtain MethodDewford Town Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Pelipper builds →Surf 2x95-112%KO Ice Beam 2x63-75% | ||
 Roselia GrassPoison | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
 Breloom GrassFighting | B | |
 Cradily RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Lileep (Rustboro City Gift) | ||
 Regice Ice | B | |
Obtain MethodRoute 105 Interact Encounter | ||
 Swampert WaterGround | S | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Mudkip (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Swampert builds →Surf 2x87-103%KO Ice Beam 2x58-69% | ||
 Lombre WaterGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Lombre builds →Solar Beam 2x85-101%KO Surf 2x68-81% Ice Beam 2x46-54% | ||
 Sealeo IceWater | A | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Spheal (Shoal Cave Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Sealeo builds →Surf 2x80-94% Ice Beam 2x80-94% | ||
 Azumarill Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Azurill (Petalburg City Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Donphan View Azumarill builds →Surf 2x68-81% Ice Beam 2x46-54% | ||
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 102 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Ancient Power, Body Slam, Counter and 3 more.
RS Donphan Best Moveset
120 Attack fires MoveEarthquake for devastating Ground TermStab. AbilitySturdy blocks OHKO moves while MoveRapid Spin clears hazards and MoveRoar forces out into MoveSpikes chip. Held ItemLeftovers sustains. Physical Ground attacker combining hazard removal and forcing switches.
Best Build
Donphan best EVs are HP and Defense
Bulky Support Moveset
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Hidden Power Rock
- Rock Slide
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 Fissure and Normal and Rock coverage and more.
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
All 19 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
DONPHAN’s favorite attack is curling its body into a ball, then charging at its foe while rolling at high speed. Once it starts rolling, this POKéMON can’t stop very easily.
If DONPHAN were to tackle with its hard body, even a house could be destroyed. Using its massive strength, the POKéMON helps clear rock and mud slides that block mountain trails.
Donphan Ruby & Sapphire Guide
Donphan is obtained in Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire by evolving Phanpy under specific conditions.
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 · Ruby & SapphireRuby & Sapphire Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Ruby & Sapphire Tier List