Is Heracross Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
Honey Tree encounter in Sinnoh, native to the regional dex. Bug/Fighting with AbilityGuts turning status into Attack boosts. The physical/special split means Heracross's Fighting and Bug moves are all physical now, matching that massive Attack. Handles Byron, Candice, and Bertha. One of the best native Pokemon in DP.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Roark's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Gardenia's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Maylene's team.
Heracross trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Heracross trades roughly evenly with Fantina's team.
Heracross resists most of Byron's coverage and hits back hard.
Heracross resists most of Candice's coverage and hits back hard.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Volkner's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Bertha's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Jupiter's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Heracross has the type edge here and should clean up Cynthia's team.
Catchable
Catch Heracross on Route 205 (Honey Tree, Lv 5-15, rare).
Recommended Moves
- LV 19FightingBrick BreakPower 113Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Gardenia
- TM52FightingFocus BlastPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- LV 37FightingClose CombatPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 5
- After Byron
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 225Accuracy 100%PP 20Oreburgh Gate
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Wayward Cave (secret entrance under bike path)
- LV 55BugMegahornPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 10
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Diamond & Pearl Heracross Locations
Heracross is a Honey Tree headliner alongside Aipom. Slather honey, wait six hours, and it turns up rare across 18 trees at level 5 to 15. No grass or cave holds one, only the sap-covered trees do.
18 locations to catch Heracross
Badge 1
Badge 2
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7Best Locations to Catch Heracross in Diamond & Pearl
Heracross isn't a quick catch. 21 headbutt encounters from Lv. 5-15 with slim rates across the board. Commit to one spot instead of jumping between areas.
How to Get Shiny Heracross in Diamond & Pearl
Heracross wants a foreign parent, so breed it Masuda-style for a real shiny shot. Compare Shiny Heracross odds across every game
Shiny Heracross Evolution
Does Not EvolveDiamond & Pearl Shiny Heracross Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Masuda Method, about 1 in 1,639 on each try.
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 | 173-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 472-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 1,136-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 3,773-- | -- |
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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Heracross in the Diamond & Pearl Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Heracross Weakness
Type-wise, Heracross takes extra damage from Flying, Fire, and Psychic. Watch out for Flying attacks, those deal 4x damage. 5 resistances help offset the weaknesses. With 80 HP and balanced defenses, Heracross can afford to eat a neutral hit or two.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Flying |
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Psychic |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Ground, Bug, Dark |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Heracross Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Heracross
 Golbat Poison | C | |
Obtain MethodMt Coronet Surfing | ||
 Aerodactyl Rock | B | |
Obtain MethodOreburgh City Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Heracross View Aerodactyl builds →Wing Attack 4x116-138%KO Fire Fang 2x43-51% | ||
 Murkrow Dark | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Heracross View Murkrow builds →Wing Attack 4x103-122%KO | ||
 Doduo Normal | C | |
 Vespiquen Bug | C | |
 Staravia Normal | C | |
 Beautifly Bug | C | |
 Monferno FireFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chimchar (Lake Verity Gift) | ||
 Butterfree Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Heracross View Butterfree builds →Gust 4x61-73% Confusion 2x24-30% | ||
 Masquerain Bug | C | |
 Drifloon Ghost | C | |
Obtain MethodValley Windworks Interact Encounter | ||
 Growlithe Fire | C | |
 Kadabra Psychic | A | |
 Lunatone RockPsychic | C | |
Heracross Evolutions
What you see is what you get. Heracross sits outside any evolution chain, so focus on the egg moves and a decent partner pool from one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Heracross easily with 48 breeding partners from the Bug egg group. Pass egg moves like Bide, Double-Edge, False Swipe and 4 more to offspring.
DP Heracross Best Moveset
125 Attack with Bug/Fighting coverage hits hard against a huge portion of the defensive field. AbilityGuts boosts Attack by 50% when burned or poisoned, and the moveset becomes devastating with a Held ItemFlame Orb trigger. 85 Speed is decent, and the physical/special split keeps all Fighting and Bug moves on the physical side where they belong.
Best Build
Heracross best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Revenge Killer Moveset
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding's the move. Bide and Double-Edge give Heracross options it can't learn any other way, and Normal and Dark coverage and more already covers a decent range on top of Focus Punch and Close Combat. The egg moves push it further.
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
35 of 37 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Transfer Moves
Base Stats
It gathers in forests to search for tree sap, its favorite food. It’s strong enough to hurl foes.
With powerful legs and claws, it generates enough power to hurl foes over great distances.
Heracross Diamond & Pearl Guide
Mega Evolution isn't available in Diamond & Pearl, but Heracross does have a Mega form in Gen 6-7 games (X/Y, ORAS, Sun/Moon). Mega Heracross hits 600 BST.
In Diamond & Pearl, Heracross plays as a wallbreaker. Speed is middling, so pick your spots carefully. Megahorn is the primary attack.
In Diamond & Pearl, Jolly is the go-to nature for Heracross. That's +Speed / -Sp. Atk. Pair it with 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe EVs. Fits the wallbreaker role.
Game Availability
Since debuting in Gold & Silver, Heracross has appeared in 19 titles over 8 generations. Along the way, it received a Mega form in Generation 6, keeping it relevant across different competitive metas.
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 6ORASMega
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 Heracross.
Keep playing · Diamond & PearlDiamond & Pearl Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Diamond & Pearl Tier List