Is Houndour Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Route 7 in Kanto, postgame only. Dark/Fire is excellent but the timing wastes it. Crystal needed Fire-types during the Johto story, and Houndoom shows up after the hard part is over. Handles Kanto gym rematches and Red's Espeon, but that's cleanup duty.
Houndour has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Houndour resists most of Bugsy's coverage and hits back hard.
Houndour trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Houndour has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Houndour's weaknesses hard.
Houndour has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Houndour has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Clair's team hits Houndour's weaknesses hard.
Houndour trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Houndour has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Houndour resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Houndoom has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Houndoom has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Houndoom resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Houndoom trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Houndoom has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Houndoom resists most of Will's coverage and hits back hard.
Houndoom resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Houndoom trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Houndoom has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Houndoom trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Houndour on Route 7 (walking, Lv 18, common).
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- LV 20DarkBitePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 25
- LV 27DarkFeint AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- LV 35FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Jasmine
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Gift from an officer in the Route 43 gate
- After Clair
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 27
- LV 43DarkCrunchPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Lt. Surge
- TM42PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Viridian City
Evolve Houndour to Houndoom
Houndour evolves into Houndoom at Level 24. Your Houndour should hit Level 24 before you reach Janine, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 24)
- LV 24DarkBitePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- LV 30DarkFeint AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Clair
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 27
- LV 41FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- TM42PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Viridian City
- LV 52DarkCrunchPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
How to Get Houndour in Crystal
Houndour comes out only at night on Route 7, common there but absent everywhere else. That short Kanto path after dark is the entire map for it.
1 location to catch Houndour
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 8Where To Catch Houndour in C
- Step 1Houndour ✓
- Step 2Evolve into HoundoomBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Houndour egg.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Crystal for Houndour.
How to Get Shiny Houndour in Crystal
Houndour prowls Kanto's Route 7 once night falls, a common level 18 spawn; park there after dark and chain encounters until the shiny hound appears. Compare Shiny Houndour odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Houndour 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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Crystal shiny odds for Houndour.
Houndour Weakness
Houndour is weak to Water, Fighting, Ground, and Rock. On the flip side, it's immune to Psychic-type moves entirely. 6 resistances give it solid defensive coverage on top of that.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Fighting, Ground, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Grass, Ice, Ghost, Dark, Steel |
| 0x (Immune) | Psychic |
- 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 Houndour Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Houndour
 Marowak Ground | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Marowak builds →Earthquake 2x190-224%KO Dynamic Punch 2x127-149%KO | ||
 Tyranitar RockDark | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Tyranitar builds →Rock Slide 2x220-260%KO Earthquake 2x196-231%KO Surf 2x99-117%KO Dynamic Punch 2x196-231%KO | ||
 Vaporeon Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Vaporeon builds →Hydro Pump 2x211-249%KO Mud-Slap 2x23-27% | ||
 Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Rhydon builds →Earthquake 2x285-336%KO Dynamic Punch 2x190-224%KO Rollout 2x87-104%KO Surf 2x56-66% | ||
 Donphan Ground | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Donphan builds →Earthquake 2x267-315%KO Rollout 2x55-65% Rock Smash 2x37-44% | ||
 Suicune Water | B | |
Obtain MethodTin Tower Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Suicune builds →Surf 2x142-167%KO Dig 2x73-86% Rock Smash 2x25-30% | ||
 Poliwrath WaterFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Poliwag (Ecruteak City Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Poliwrath builds →Surf 2x116-137%KO Earthquake 2x146-172%KO Submission 2x175-207%KO | ||
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Lapras builds →Hydro Pump 2x170-201%KO Rock Smash 2x28-34% | ||
 Golduck Water | C | |
Obtain MethodIlex Forest Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Golduck builds →Hydro Pump 2x187-220%KO Dig 2x79-93% Dynamic Punch 2x130-154%KO | ||
 Nidoking PoisonGround | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Nidoking builds →Earthquake 2x233-275%KO Surf 2x91-107%KO Dynamic Punch 2x156-183%KO | ||
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Hitmonlee builds →High Jump Kick 2x227-268%KO Mud-Slap 2x37-44% | ||
 Sandslash Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Sandslash builds →Earthquake 2x230-270%KO Dynamic Punch 2x153-180%KO Rollout 2x46-55% | ||
 Nidoqueen PoisonGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Nidoqueen builds →Earthquake 2x215-254%KO Surf 2x82-97% Dynamic Punch 2x144-169%KO | ||
 Piloswine IceGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Houndour View Piloswine builds →Earthquake 2x230-270%KO Rock Smash 2x32-38% | ||
Houndour Evolutions
Houndour evolves into Houndoom. It's a two-stage chain with the method shown below. Plenty of partners for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Evolving adds up to 170 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Houndour easily with 66 breeding partners from the Field egg group. Pass egg moves like Beat Up, Counter, Fire Spin and 4 more to offspring.
C Houndour Best Moveset
Dark/Fire pre-evolution with MovePursuit hinting at Houndoom's locking role. Stats too low for competitive play. Evolve for the Sp. Atk that makes the typing dangerous.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Flamethrower
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Houndour gets Beat Up and Counter exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Coverage across 8 types rounds out the picture alongside Fire Blast and Flamethrower.
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
23 of 28 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Around dawn, its ominous howl echoes through the area to announce that this is its territory.
Houndour Crystal Guide
In Crystal, Houndour has 330 BST and evolves into Houndoom. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Yes. Houndour is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Houndour becomes available after the main story is complete in Crystal.
Game Availability
Houndour first appeared in Gold & Silver and has been available in 17 games across 8 generations. Obtainable through catching or hatching as a base form in most titles where it appears.
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 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 Houndour.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List