Is Hippowdon Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
AbilitySand Stream sets sandstorm automatically. Hippowdon handles Volkner, Flint, and Byron with physical Ground. The sandstorm damages opponents every turn and boosts Sand Veil evasion for teammates. A team-defining Pokemon if you build around weather.
Hippopotas has the type edge here and should clean up Roark's team.
Hippopotas trades roughly evenly with Gardenia's team.
Hippopotas trades roughly evenly with Maylene's team.
Crasher Wake's team hits Hippopotas's weaknesses hard.
Hippowdon trades roughly evenly with Fantina's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Byron's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Volkner's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Bertha's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Hippowdon resists most of Jupiter's coverage and hits back hard.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Saturn's team.
Hippowdon has the type edge here and should clean up Cynthia's team.
Catch Hippopotas
Catch Hippopotas in Ruin Maniac Tunnel (walking, Lv 22-23, rare).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- LV 22NormalYawnPower —Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Gardenia
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Lost Tower
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Route 212
- LV 31DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Fantina
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Iron Island
- LV 37GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 44NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Hippopotas to Hippowdon
Hippopotas evolves into Hippowdon at Level 34. Your Hippopotas should hit Level 34 before you reach Fantina, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 34)
- LV 34NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- LV 34DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Gardenia
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Lost Tower
- LV 40GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Volkner
- TM71RockStone EdgePower 100Accuracy 80%PP 5Victory Road
- LV 50NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Hippowdon in Diamond & Pearl
Hippowdon walks that same desert route as Hippopotas but turns up far higher, common to uncommon in the low 50s. You can catch the heavyweight there directly instead of raising a Hippopotas up.
1 location to catch Hippowdon1 location to catch Hippopotas
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 8Catch Hippopotas at any of the 1 location below, then level it up to 34 — it evolves into Hippowdon.
Badge 3Where To Catch Hippowdon in DP
The only way to get Hippowdon during the story is evolving Hippopotas (Lv 34).
- Step 2Hippowdon ✓or evolve from Hippopotas (Step 1)
To plan your throws, open the Diamond & Pearl catch rate calculator with Hippowdon preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Hippowdon in Diamond & Pearl
Hippowdon lumbers across the Route 228 sand, so a PokeRadar chain in that grass hands over its shiny. Compare Shiny Hippowdon odds across every game
Diamond & Pearl Shiny Hippowdon 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 Hippowdon already selected.
Hippowdon Weakness
Type-wise, Hippowdon takes extra damage from Water, Grass, and Ice. Electric moves do nothing thanks to a full immunity. Hippowdon's physical bulk (base 118 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Grass, Ice |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison, Rock |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Hippowdon Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Hippowdon
 Carnivine Grass | C | |
 Exeggutor GrassPsychic | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Exeggutor builds →Leaf Storm 2x135-160%KO | ||
 Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
 Pelipper Water | C | |
Obtain MethodCanalave City Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Pelipper builds →Hydro Pump 2x93-110%KO Ice Beam 2x49-58% | ||
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
 Torterra GrassGround | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Turtwig (Lake Verity Gift) | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Victreebel builds →Leaf Storm 2x112-132%KO | ||
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Abomasnow GrassIce | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Abomasnow builds →Wood Hammer 2x61-71% Ice Beam 2x72-85% Water Pulse 2x30-36% | ||
 Kingler Water | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Kingler builds →Crabhammer 2x67-80% Ice Beam 2x30-36% | ||
 Jynx IcePsychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Jynx builds →Ice Beam 2x86-101%KO Energy Ball 2x48-57% Water Pulse 2x37-44% | ||
 Empoleon WaterSteel | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Piplup (Lake Verity Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Empoleon builds →Hydro Pump 2x106-125%KO Ice Beam 2x56-66% | ||
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Hippowdon View Ludicolo builds →Solar Beam 2x89-105%KO Surf 2x71-83% Ice Beam 2x47-56% | ||
Hippowdon Evolutions
Hippowdon is the evolved form of Hippopotas. Breeding produces Hippopotas eggs, and they are slow to hatch. Evolving from Hippopotas gave Hippowdon the biggest boost in HP (+40), bringing the total to 525 stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Hippowdon to get Hippopotas eggs easily using 131 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Body Slam, Curse, Sand Tomb and 4 more.
DP Hippowdon Best Moveset
Permanent sandstorm from AbilitySand Stream chips opponents every turn while 108 HP and 118 Defense make Hippowdon one of the best physical tanks in the game. The moveset sets MoveStealth Rock, absorbs physical attacks, and uses MoveEarthquake off 112 Attack to hit back. Sand chip plus hazards wear teams down passively.
Best Build
Hippowdon best EVs are HP and Defense
Wall Moveset
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The egg pool carries weight here. Body Slam and Curse aren't available any other way for Hippowdon, and they meaningfully change what it threatens. Stack those on top of Earthquake and Sand Tomb 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. 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
29 of 30 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It blasts internally stored sand from ports on its body to create a towering twister for attack.
Its huge mouth is almost seven feet across. It has enough power to completely crush a car.
Hippowdon Diamond & Pearl Guide
In Diamond & Pearl, Hippowdon plays as a tank. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully. Earthquake is the primary attack.
In Diamond & Pearl, Impish is the go-to nature for Hippowdon. That's +Defense / -Sp. Atk. Pair it with 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def EVs. Fits the tank role.
Game Availability
Hippowdon first appeared in Diamond & Pearl and has been available in 14 games across 6 generations. Obtainable through wild encounters in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DPDebut
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 Hippowdon.
Keep playing · Diamond & PearlDiamond & Pearl Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Diamond & Pearl Tier List