Is Grimer Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Route 16 and 17 in Kanto, postgame only. Muk is bulky enough on the physical side to handle some Kanto rematches, but the Poison typing and postgame timing make it a collection piece. Crystal's Johto story never sees Grimer.
Grimer has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Grimer has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Grimer trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Grimer trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Grimer trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Jasmine's typing presses Grimer's defenses.
Grimer trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Grimer trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Grimer trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Sabrina's team hits Grimer's weaknesses hard.
Grimer has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Janine's team hits Grimer's weaknesses hard.
Muk trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Muk has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Muk has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Muk trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Muk trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Muk trades roughly evenly with Koga's team.
Muk trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Muk has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Muk has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Grimer on Route 16 (walking, Lv 26-28, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 26)
- LV 26PoisonSludgePower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- TM48FireFire PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- TM33IceIce PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- After Lt. Surge
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- LV 50PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10
Evolve Grimer to Muk
Grimer evolves into Muk at Level 38. Your Grimer should hit Level 38 before you reach Misty, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- LV 45PoisonSludgePower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- TUTORFireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- TM03GhostCursePower —Accuracy 100%PP 10Gift in the Celadon Mansion roof house, at night only
- LV 60PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Grimer in Crystal
Grimer clusters on the polluted Kanto Cycling Road routes, common day or night, plus a surf spot off Celadon. Eight encounters, all in that grimy corner of Kanto.
Wild Grimer may be holding when caught:
Nugget (2% chance) Made of pure gold. Sell high.4 locations to catch Grimer
Encountered via Surfing, tall grass encounters
Badge 8Where To Catch Grimer in C
Grimer is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking and surfing encounters from Lv. 15-33 across 12 total spots in the chain.
- Step 1Grimer ✓
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into MukCeladon CityLv.15-19Surfing on waterRate 10%Route 16Lv.30GrassRate 5%Route 18Lv.30GrassRate 5%Route 17Lv.33GrassRate 5%or evolve from Grimer (Step 1)
To plan your throws, open the Crystal catch rate calculator with Grimer preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Grimer in Crystal
Grimer oozes across Kanto's Route 16 through Route 18 day and night as a common spawn, and surfing the Celadon City pond turns up more; the routes chain fastest. Compare Shiny Grimer odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Grimer 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 Crystal shiny odds calculator with Grimer already selected.
Grimer Weakness
Grimer is weak to Ground and Psychic. 4 resistances help offset the weaknesses. Just 2 weak spots to worry about, which keeps teambuilding straightforward.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ground, Psychic |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug |
- 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 Grimer Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Grimer
 Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
 Marowak Ground | B | |
 Donphan Ground | B | |
 Nidoqueen PoisonGround | C | |
 Nidoking PoisonGround | B | |
 Kadabra Psychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Grimer View Kadabra builds →Future Sight 2x176-207%KO Dig 2x24-28% | ||
 Graveler RockGround | B | |
 Sandslash Ground | C | |
 Piloswine IceGround | C | |
 Jynx IcePsychic | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Grimer View Jynx builds →Dream Eater 2x141-166%KO Mud-Slap 2x11-13% | ||
 Celebi PsychicGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodIlex Forest Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Grimer View Celebi builds →Future Sight 2x151-178%KO Mud-Slap 2x17-21% | ||
 Pupitar RockGround | C | |
 Lugia Psychic | S | |
Obtain MethodWhirl Islands Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Grimer View Lugia builds →Dream Eater 2x116-137%KO Earthquake 2x77-91% | ||
 Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Grimer View Slowbro builds →Dream Eater 2x126-148%KO Earthquake 2x66-78% | ||
Grimer Evolutions
One evolution ahead. Grimer grows into Muk through a straightforward two-stage chain. A small partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Evolving adds up to 175 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Grimer easily with 11 breeding partners from the Amorphous egg group. Pass egg moves like Haze, Lick, Mean Look to offspring.
C Grimer Best Moveset
Poison pre-evolution with MoveSludge Bomb now giving Poison a real move, but the stats can't support it competitively. Muk improves the Attack to levels where the Poison TermStab actually hurts.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Fire Blast
- Curse
- Sludge Bomb
- Explosion
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding opens up real options for Grimer. Haze and Lick come exclusively from egg moves, and they're worth the effort. The rest of the kit covers basics through Sludge Bomb and Sludge 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.
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 25 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
When two of these POKéMON’s bodies are combined together, new poisons are created.
Grimer Crystal Guide
Yes. Wild Grimer in Crystal can hold Nugget (2%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Nugget.
In Crystal, Grimer has 325 BST and evolves into Muk. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Yes. Grimer is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Grimer becomes available after the main story is complete in Crystal.
Yes. Alolan Grimer is a regional variant with different typing and a reworked stat spread. Introduced in Gen 7. Plays completely differently from the original.
Game Availability
Since debuting in Red & Blue, Grimer has appeared in 19 titles over 9 generations. Along the way, it received an Alolan form in Generation 7, keeping it relevant across different competitive metas.
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 7SMAlolan
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 Grimer.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List