Is Ekans Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
Route 212 encounter if FireRed is in the GBA slot. Ekans with AbilityIntimidate drops Attack on switch-in, useful through Maylene and beyond. AbilityShed Skin is the alternative for status-heavy fights like Fantina.
Roark's typing presses Ekans's defenses.
Ekans has the type edge here and should clean up Gardenia's team.
Ekans trades roughly evenly with Maylene's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Fantina's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Byron's team.
Arbok has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Arbok has the type edge here and should clean up Volkner's team.
Arbok has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Bertha's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Flint's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Lucian's team.
Arbok trades roughly evenly with Mars's team.
Arbok has the type edge here and should clean up Jupiter's team.
Arbok has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Cynthia's team hits Arbok's weaknesses hard.
Catchable
Catch Ekans on Route 212 (walking, Lv 18-20, rare). Pokémon FireRed in GBA slot.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 18)
- LV 18NormalGlarePower —Accuracy 75%PP 30
- After Gardenia
- TM28GroundDigPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 10Maniac Tunnel
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Lost Tower
- After Fantina
- TM84PoisonPoison JabPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 212
- After Byron
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Wayward Cave (secret entrance under bike path)
- LV 41PoisonGunk ShotPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
- After Candice
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Galactic HQ B2F in Veilstone City
- After Volkner
- TM79DarkDark PulsePower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Victory Road
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Ekans to Arbok
Ekans evolves into Arbok at Level 22. Your Ekans should hit Level 22 before you reach Crasher Wake, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Gardenia
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- After Fantina
- TM84PoisonPoison JabPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 212
- After Byron
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Wayward Cave (secret entrance under bike path)
- After Candice
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Galactic HQ B2F in Veilstone City
- After Volkner
- TM79DarkDark PulsePower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Victory Road
- LV 56PoisonGunk ShotPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Ekans in Diamond & Pearl
Ekans will not spawn at all unless a FireRed game is sitting in the GBA port. Link that cart and it becomes a rare grass catch on one mid-game route, level 18 to 20.
1 location to catch Ekans
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 3Where To Catch Ekans in DP
Ekans is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 18-20. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
To plan your throws, open the Diamond & Pearl catch rate calculator with Ekans preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Ekans in Diamond & Pearl
Ekans slithers through the grass on Route 212, where a maintained PokeRadar chain drives its shiny rate steeply. Compare Shiny Ekans odds across every game
Diamond & Pearl Shiny Ekans 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 Ekans already selected.
Ekans Weakness
Ekans's Poison typing leaves it vulnerable to Ground and Psychic. The Poison typing picks up 4 resistances to work with. Ekans's Poison typing only leaves 2 gaps to cover.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ground, Psychic |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Ekans Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Ekans
 Marowak Ground | C | |
 Exeggutor GrassPsychic | C | |
 Gliscor Ground | B | |
 Sandslash Ground | B | |
 Kadabra Psychic | A | |
 Bronzor SteelPsychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ekans View Bronzor builds →Dream Eater 2x69-81% Earthquake 2x50-60% | ||
 Donphan Ground | B | |
 Mr. Mime Psychic | C | |
 Lunatone RockPsychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ekans View Lunatone builds →Dream Eater 2x163-193%KO Earthquake 2x81-97% | ||
 Girafarig NormalPsychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ekans View Girafarig builds →Dream Eater 2x156-184%KO Earthquake 2x109-129%KO | ||
 Gabite DragonGround | C | |
 Graveler RockGround | C | |
 Quagsire WaterGround | C | |
Obtain MethodGreat Marsh Surfing | ||
 Gastrodon WaterGround | C | |
Ekans Evolutions
Ekans is the base form in a two-stage line leading to Arbok. Check the evolution method below. A decent partner pool for breeding via two egg groups. Eggs take an average time to hatch. The evolved forms gain up to 160 total stats over Ekans. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
Breeding
Breed Ekans easily with 30 breeding partners from the Dragon and Field egg groups. Pass egg moves like Beat Up, Disable, Poison Fang and 5 more to offspring.
DP Ekans Best Moveset
The utility is AbilityIntimidate on the switch cutting physical attackers down, but 60 Attack and 55 Speed can't follow through on anything. MovePoison Jab is now available for physical Poison damage, and that's the best this moveset offers. Evolve it.
Best Build
Ekans best EVs are Sp. Def and Attack
Bulky Support Moveset
- Poison Jab
- Glare
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The natural movepool does the job, but Beat Up and Disable from the egg pool give Ekans something extra.
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
Transfer Moves
Base Stats
It sneaks through grass without making a sound and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind.
Ekans Diamond & Pearl Guide
In Diamond & Pearl, for a casual playthrough, Ekans works as a placeholder. Poison coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Arbok. That's where the stats start mattering.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Ekans appears in 20 games spanning 9 generations. Gen 1 originals like Ekans 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
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