Is Illumise Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Safari Zone alongside Volbeat. Bug with AbilityOblivious preventing infatuation. Slightly better offensively than Volbeat, but neither has real combat viability in HGSS.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Illumise's weaknesses hard.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Jasmine's team.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Illumise resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Janine's team hits Illumise's weaknesses hard.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Blaine's team hits Illumise's weaknesses hard.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Koga's team hits Illumise's weaknesses hard.
Illumise trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Illumise has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Lance's team hits Illumise's weaknesses hard.
Catchable
Catch Illumise in the National Park (walking, Lv 26-36, uncommon). Post-National Dex - Saturday.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM89BugU-turnPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Bugsy
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Morty
- TM30GhostShadow BallPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Prize for defeating Morty
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Chuck
- LV 37PsychicZen HeadbuttPower 80Accuracy 90%PP 15
- LV 41BugBug BuzzPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10
HeartGold & SoulSilver Illumise Locations
Illumise takes the Saturday slot in the National Park, an uncommon sighting the National Dex unlocks. It splits the week with Volbeat, so the day you walk in decides which of the pair you meet.
1 location to catch Illumise
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 3Best Locations to Catch Illumise in HeartGold & SoulSilver
How to Get Shiny Illumise in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Illumise dances through the National Park, but a shiny comes faster from Masuda breeding with a foreign parent. Compare Shiny Illumise odds across every game
Shiny Illumise Evolution
Does Not EvolveHeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Illumise 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.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in HeartGold & SoulSilver with Illumise preloaded.
Illumise Weakness
Type-wise, Illumise takes extra damage from Fire, Flying, and Rock. Not too many gaps in the chart, 3 weaknesses to account for.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Flying, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Ground |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Illumise Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Illumise
 Ninetales Fire | C | |
 Arcanine Fire | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Illumise View Arcanine builds →Fire Blast 2x126-149%KO Aerial Ace 2x56-67% | ||
 Magmar Fire | C | |
 Flareon Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) | ||
 Camerupt FireGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Illumise View Camerupt builds →Fire Blast 2x131-154%KO Rock Slide 2x65-77% | ||
 Golbat Poison | C | |
 Scyther Bug | C | |
 Noctowl Normal | C | |
 Dodrio Normal | C | |
 Farfetch'd Normal | C | |
 Ninjask Bug | C | |
 Quilava Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Cyndaquil (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Illumise View Quilava builds →Fire Blast 2x106-125%KO Aerial Ace 2x39-46% | ||
 Fearow Normal | C | |
 Vespiquen Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Illumise View Vespiquen builds →Aerial Ace 2x67-80% Power Gem 2x42-50% | ||
Illumise Evolutions
What you see is what you get. Illumise sits outside any evolution chain, so focus on the egg moves and a decent partner pool from two egg groups. Eggs are quick to hatch. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Illumise with 48 breeding partners from the Bug and Human-Like egg groups. Pass egg moves like Baton Pass, Bug Buzz, Encore and 2 more to offspring.
HGSS Illumise Best Moveset
Resisted moves deal double damage through AbilityTinted Lens, so nothing blocks the moveset through resistances alone. 73 Sp. Atk fires special attacks without being walled. 85 Speed is decent. 65 HP and 75 in both defenses are modest.
Best Build
Illumise best EVs are Speed and HP
Screens Setter Moveset
- Wish
- Bug Buzz
- Light Screen
- Thunderbolt
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Hard to wall, honestly. Illumise threatens 10 types beyond its own STAB, with Normal and Psychic standing out. Pair that with Bug Buzz and U-turn and switchins need to think twice.
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
All 25 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Its fragrance attracts a swarm of VOLBEAT, so they draw over 200 patterns in the night sky.
Illumise HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
For HeartGold & SoulSilver, it depends on your team. Illumise rates C-Tier. Not a powerhouse, but the Bug coverage might be exactly what you're missing.
Yes. Illumise is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Illumise becomes available after the main story is complete in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Illumise plays as a balanced. Speed is middling, so pick your spots carefully.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Timid is the go-to nature for Illumise. That's +Speed / -Attack. Pair it with 160 HP / 96 SpA / 252 Spe EVs. Fits the balanced role.
Game Availability
Debuting in Ruby & Sapphire, Illumise appears in 14 games across 7 generations. A reliable presence in a solid number of games, typically found through wild encounters.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RSDebut
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
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