Is Growlithe Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Gold version only, Route 36 and 37. Fire-types are rare in Gold and Silver, so Growlithe fills a real need. Fire Stone into Arcanine gives you one of the strongest Pokemon available if you didn't pick Cyndaquil. The catch: Fire Stones are also scarce.
Growlithe has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Growlithe has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Growlithe trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Arcanine resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Clair's team hits Arcanine's weaknesses hard.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Arcanine resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Brock's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Arcanine resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Arcanine has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Arcanine trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Growlithe on Route 36 (walking, Lv 13, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 13)
- LV 13DarkBitePower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- TM28GroundDigPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- LV 26NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- LV 34FireFlame WheelPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- LV 50FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
Evolve Growlithe to Arcanine
Growlithe evolves into Arcanine with a Fire Stone. Post-Game: You can receive the Fire Stone from an NPC in Route 25.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 20)
- LV 20FireFlame WheelPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 25
- LV 20NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- TM28GroundDigPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- LV 50NormalExtreme SpeedPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 5
How to Get Growlithe in Gold & Silver
Four Gold-side routes hold Growlithe, and Silver gets none of them. Rates sit common by day but thin out at night, so search in daylight. Anyone on Silver has to trade for one.
Wild Growlithe may be holding when caught:
4 locations to catch Growlithe
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Where To Catch Growlithe in GS
Growlithe is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking encounters from Lv. 13-18 across 8 total spots in the chain.
- Step 2Evolve into ArcanineBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Goldenrod Pokemon Day Care to receive a Growlithe egg.
To plan your throws, open the Gold & Silver catch rate calculator with Growlithe preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Growlithe in Gold & Silver
Growlithe prowls the grass along Route 7, Route 36, and Route 37, so comb them battle after battle and brace for a long climb before one glows. Compare Shiny Growlithe odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Growlithe 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 Growlithe already selected.
Growlithe Weakness
Type-wise, Growlithe takes extra damage from Water, Ground, and Rock. 5 resistances help offset the weaknesses. Standard number of weaknesses for the Fire typing.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Ground, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel |
- 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 Growlithe Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Growlithe
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter | ||
 Quagsire WaterGround | B | |
Obtain MethodRoute 32 Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Quagsire builds →Surf 2x104-124%KO Dig 2x87-103%KO Rollout 2x31-37% | ||
 Croconaw Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Croconaw builds →Surf 2x97-116%KO Dig 2x56-66% | ||
 Sandslash Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Sandslash builds →Dig 2x97-116%KO Rollout 2x33-40% | ||
 Sudowoodo Rock | C | |
Obtain MethodRoute 36 Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Sudowoodo builds →Rock Throw 2x83-99% Dig 2x64-77% | ||
 Slowpoke WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Slowpoke builds →Surf 2x76-90% Dig 2x49-57% | ||
 Geodude RockGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Geodude builds →Dig 2x83-99% Rock Throw 2x69-81% | ||
 Onix RockGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Growlithe View Onix builds →Dig 2x57-69% Rock Throw 2x50-60% | ||
Growlithe Evolutions
Growlithe doesn't evolve by leveling. You'll need an evolution item to push it forward to Arcanine. Evolving adds up to 205 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Growlithe easily with 66 breeding partners from the Field egg group. Pass egg moves like Body Slam, Crunch, Fire Spin and 2 more to offspring.
GS Growlithe Best Moveset
Fire pre-evolution where the stats can't support MoveFire Blast at competitive power. Arcanine's jump to the upper tiers happens after evolving.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Crunch
- Agility
- Body Slam
- Curse
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The egg pool carries weight here. Body Slam and Crunch aren't available any other way for Growlithe, and they meaningfully change what it threatens. Stack those on top of Fire Blast and Flamethrower for solid options.
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
18 of 22 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It has a brave and trustworthy nature. It fearlessly stands up to bigger and stronger foes.
Extremely loyal, it will fearlessly bark at any opponent to protect its own trainer from harm.
Growlithe Gold & Silver Guide
Yes. Wild Growlithe in Gold & Silver can hold Burnt Berry (25%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Burnt Berry.
For Gold & Silver, you can run Growlithe through the first few routes without issues. 350 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Arcanine as fast as you can.
In Gold & Silver, Growlithe plays as a balanced. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully. Set up with Agility when you get a free turn.
Game Availability
Since debuting in Red & Blue, Growlithe has appeared in 21 titles over 9 generations. Along the way, it received a Hisuian form in Generation 8, 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 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 8PLAHisuian
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV
Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW
Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Growlithe.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List