Is Kabuto Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
Not native to Hoenn. Trade from FireRed or LeafGreen. AbilitySwift Swim for rain Speed. Kabutops is the physical counterpart to Omastar under rain. Rock/Water typing adds Rock coverage. Trade-only but strong in Sapphire's rain environment.
Kabuto has the type edge here and should clean up Roxanne's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Brawly's team.
Wattson's team hits Kabuto's weaknesses hard.
Kabuto resists most of Flannery's coverage and hits back hard.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Winona's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Tate & Liza's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Sidney's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Phoebe's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Kabuto trades roughly evenly with Steven's team.
Trade
Kabuto cannot be caught in this game. It must be traded in from a compatible game where it appears in the wild. Cross-region trading typically becomes available after defeating the Elite Four.
Recommended Moves
- After Brawly
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Abandoned Ship
- After Wattson
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- After Norman
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Petalburg City
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Tate & Liza
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Cave of Origin
- After Wallace
- TM03WaterWater PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Wallace
- LV 55RockAncient PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 5
How to Get Kabuto in Ruby & Sapphire
Kabuto has no Hoenn revival, since the Dome Fossil is not among the region's digs. To start the line you bring a traded one over.
How to Obtain Kabuto in RS
- Step 1Kabuto ✓CARTRIDGE TRADEfrom FireRed & LeafGreenAvailableCatch in FireRed & LeafGreen via Gift · Cinnabar Island · Revive Dome Fossil, then trade to the current game via link cable.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Red & BlueNot TradeableAppears in Red & Blue via Gift · Cinnabar Island · Revive Dome Fossil. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom YellowNot TradeableAppears in Yellow via Gift · Cinnabar Island · Revive Dome Fossil. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Diamond & PearlNot TradeableAppears in Diamond & Pearl via Gift · Oreburgh City · Revive Dome Fossil. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom PlatinumNot TradeableAppears in Platinum via Gift · Oreburgh City · Revive Dome Fossil. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCENot TradeableAppears in HeartGold & SoulSilver via Gift · Pewter City · Revive Dome Fossil. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Black & WhiteNot TradeableAppears in Black & White via Gift · Nacrene City · Revive Dome Fossil. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.
- Step 2Evolve into Kabutops
How to Get Shiny Kabuto in Ruby & Sapphire
Revive the Dome Fossil at the Cinnabar Island Pokemon Lab in FireRed or LeafGreen, soft resetting for a shiny Kabuto that Hoenn never buries, then trade it home. See every game where Shiny Kabuto can be hunted
Kabuto Weakness
Kabuto is weak to Grass, Electric, Fighting, and Ground. Watch out for Grass attacks, those deal 4x damage. The Rock/Water typing picks up 5 resistances to work with. Kabuto's physical bulk (base 90 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Grass |
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Fighting, Ground |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Normal, Ice, Poison, Flying |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Fire |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Kabuto Weak Against
VulnerableBest Pokemon Against Kabuto
 Breloom GrassFighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Breloom builds →Focus Punch 2x222-262%KO Solar Beam 4x321-378%KO | ||
 Hariyama Fighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Hariyama builds →Focus Punch 2x206-243%KO Earthquake 2x92-109%KO | ||
 Heracross BugFighting | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Heracross builds →Focus Punch 2x215-254%KO Earthquake 2x96-113%KO | ||
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Cacturne builds →Solar Beam 4x545-642%KO Focus Punch 2x133-157%KO | ||
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Sceptile builds →Solar Beam 4x503-592%KO Focus Punch 2x103-122%KO Earthquake 2x70-83% | ||
 Blaziken FireFighting | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Torchic (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Blaziken builds →Focus Punch 2x206-243%KO Earthquake 2x92-109%KO | ||
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Shiftry builds →Solar Beam 4x442-520%KO Brick Break 2x60-71% Dig 2x48-57% | ||
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Ludicolo builds →Solar Beam 4x442-520%KO Focus Punch 2x89-105%KO | ||
 Machoke Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Machoke builds →Focus Punch 2x178-210%KO Earthquake 2x79-94% | ||
 Cradily RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Lileep (Rustboro City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Cradily builds →Solar Beam 4x410-483%KO Earthquake 2x67-80% Rock Smash 2x15-18% | ||
 Roselia GrassPoison | C | |
 Swampert WaterGround | S | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Mudkip (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Swampert builds →Earthquake 2x130-153%KO Focus Punch 2x128-151%KO | ||
 Flygon GroundDragon | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Kabuto View Flygon builds →Solar Beam 4x269-316%KO Earthquake 2x119-141%KO Rock Smash 2x17-21% | ||
Kabuto Evolutions
Kabuto is the base form in a two-stage line leading to Kabutops. Check the evolution method below. Plenty of partners for breeding via two egg groups. Eggs are slow to hatch. Evolving adds up to 140 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Kabuto with 58 breeding partners from the Water 1 and Water 3 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Aurora Beam, Bubble Beam, Confuse Ray and 4 more to offspring.
RS Kabuto Best Moveset
Pre-evolution heading toward the Swords Dance rain attacker. AbilitySwift Swim doubles Speed in rain and AbilityBattle Armor blocks critical hits. Stats not competitive at this stage.
Best Build
Kabuto best EVs are Sp. Atk and Speed
Special Sweeper Moveset
- Surf
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Rapid Spin
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Kabuto gets Aurora Beam and Bubble Beam exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Coverage across 7 types rounds out the picture alongside Surf and Waterfall.
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 24 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
KABUTO is a POKéMON that has been regenerated from a fossil. However, in extremely rare cases, living examples have been discovered. The POKéMON has not changed at all for 300 million years.
Kabuto Ruby & Sapphire Guide
No. Kabuto isn't catchable in Ruby & Sapphire. Revive it from a fossil in FireRed or LeafGreen, then trade it over.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Kabuto appears in 19 games spanning 9 generations. Gen 1 originals like Kabuto have the longest track record of availability in the series.
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 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV
Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW
Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Kabuto.
Keep playing · Ruby & SapphireRuby & Sapphire Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Ruby & Sapphire Tier List