Is Dragonite Good in Crystal Playthrough?
600 BST pseudo-legendary. Dragonite arrives so late that most Crystal teams are already built, but nothing else matches its raw stats. Against Red at Mt. Silver, Dragonite is one of the few Pokemon that can trade blows. The Battle Tower gives it a permanent stage beyond the main story.
Dratini has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Dratini has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Dratini trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Dratini trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Dratini trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Dratini trades roughly evenly with Jasmine's team.
Dratini trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Dragonair has the type edge here and should clean up Clair's team.
Dragonair trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Dragonair trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Dragonair resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Dragonair has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Dragonair trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Dragonair resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Dragonair has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Dragonite has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Dragonite has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Dragonite resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Dragonite resists most of Bruno's coverage and hits back hard.
Dragonite resists most of Karen's coverage and hits back hard.
Dragonite has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Gift Dratini
Dratini is given to you as a gift on Dragon's Den at Lv 15. Given after the Dragon Shrine elder's quiz; every answer right teaches it Extreme Speed. Given by the Dragon Clan elder in the Dragon Shrine after his quiz; if every answer is right it knows Extreme Speed instead of Leer.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- After Clair
- TM24DragonDragon BreathPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Clair
- After Lt. Surge
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORIceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- LV 50DragonOutragePower 135Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 57NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
Evolve Dratini to Dragonair
Dratini evolves into Dragonair at Level 30. Your Dratini should hit Level 30 before you reach Clair, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 30)
- LV 30ElectricThunder WavePower —Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- After Lt. Surge
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORIceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- LV 56DragonOutragePower 135Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 65NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
Evolve Dragonair to Dragonite
Dragonair evolves into Dragonite at Level 55. Your Dragonair should hit Level 55 before you reach Blue, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- After Chuck
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 105Accuracy 95%PP 15Cianwood City
- After Lt. Surge
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORIceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- LV 61DragonOutragePower 135Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 75NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
How to Get Dragonite in Crystal
Dragonite caps the Dratini line at a steep level 55, with no wild shortcut. The climb starts from a Dragon's Den catch or the elder's quiz gift, then a long grind from there.
Wild Dragonite may be holding when caught:
Dragon Scale (2% chance) A rare dragon-type item.Catch Dratini or Dragonair at any of these 2 spots to eventually evolve into Dragonite.
Encountered via fishing with a Rod
Badge 7How to Obtain Dragonite in C
The path to Dragonite starts with Dratini at Lv. 10-40 via fishing, surfing, and more encounters. 2 catchable stages total, with locations listed for each one below.
How to Get Shiny Dragonite in Crystal
Dragonite never appears wild in Crystal, so the realistic shiny path is training a shiny Dratini or Dragonair up to level 55 for the final evolution. Compare Shiny Dragonite odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Dragonite Calculator
3 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.
Soft Reset: Save in front of a static, gift, or legendary encounter, then reset until it sparkles.
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 Crystal shiny odds calculator with Dragonite already selected.
Dragonite Weakness
Ice, Rock, and Dragon moves hit Dragonite for super-effective damage. Ice hits land at 4x, so they're the biggest threat. The upside? Ground-type moves can't touch it at all. The Dragon/Flying typing picks up 5 resistances to work with. Dragonite's overall bulk (91/95/100) lets it take a hit or two from most weaknesses before going down.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Ice |
| 2x (Weak) | Rock, Dragon |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Water, Fighting, Bug |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Grass |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground |
- 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 Dragonite Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Dragonite
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Dragonite View Lapras builds →Ice Beam 4x116-137%KO Dragon Breath 2x25-29% | ||
 Jynx IcePsychic | B | |
 Tyranitar RockDark | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Dragonite View Tyranitar builds →Rock Slide 2x70-82% Dragon Breath 2x26-31% | ||
 Dewgong WaterIce | C | |
 Piloswine IceGround | C | |
 Delibird Ice | C | |
 Sudowoodo Rock | C | |
Obtain MethodRoute 36 Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Dragonite View Sudowoodo builds →Rock Slide 2x54-64% Ice Punch 4x31-37% | ||
Dragonair Dragon | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Dratini (Dragons Den Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Dragonite View Dragonair builds →Blizzard 4x83-97% Outrage 2x48-56% | ||
 Sneasel DarkIce | B | |
 Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Dragonite View Rhydon builds →Blizzard 4x60-71% Rollout 2x28-34% | ||
 Magcargo FireRock | C | |
 Graveler RockGround | B | |
 Onix RockGround | C | |
 Shuckle BugRock | B | |
Dragonite Evolutions
The three-stage chain from Dratini through Dragonair ends here at Dragonite. Want more? Breed for Dratini eggs. A small partner pool available via two egg groups. The evolution from Dratini pushed Dragonite to 600 total stats. Attack saw the largest single gain at +70. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Dragonite to get Dratini eggs easily using 13 partners from the Dragon and Water 1 egg groups. Notable egg moves include Haze, Light Screen, Mist and 1 more.
C Dragonite Best Moveset
134 Attack and 100 Sp. Atk hit from both sides at the highest non-legendary stat total available. Dragon type resistances create switch-in opportunities. MoveThunder Wave controls faster threats. Held ItemLeftovers sustains. 4x Ice weakness is the constant threat, but the raw stats override most matchups.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Dynamic Punch
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Thunderbolt
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Without breeding, Dragonite misses out on Haze and Light Screen. That's 4 egg moves adding depth that the base kit lacks. STAB comes from Outrage and Fly, with coverage across 9 types rounding things out.
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
32 of 39 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It is said that somewhere in the ocean lies an island where these gather. Only they live there.
Dragonite Crystal Guide
In Crystal, use Dragonite as a wallbreaker. Splits damage between physical and special. Speed is middling,
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Dragonite appears in 21 games spanning 9 generations. Gen 1 originals like Dragonite 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 Dragonite.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List