Is Lapras Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Union Cave on Fridays only, Basement Floor 2. Crystal keeps the weekly encounter. Water/Ice coverage is exactly what you need for Clair and Lance, and Lapras takes special hits better than almost anything else available. The Friday-only catch makes it easy to miss.
Lapras resists most of Falkner's coverage and hits back hard.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Lapras trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Clair's team.
Lapras trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Lapras trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Lapras trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Lapras resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Lapras has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Lapras in Union Cave (interact, Lv 20, limited). Fridays only. Appears in Union Cave B2F every Friday. Surf across the underground lake to find it.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- LV 22GhostConfuse RayPower —Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 36IceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- TM42PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Viridian City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- LV 57WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
How to Get Lapras in Crystal
Lapras appears once a week, every Friday, in the depths of Union Cave at level 20. Miss it or knock it out and you wait until the next Friday, so save before the encounter.
1 location to catch Lapras
Badge 1How to Get Lapras in Crystal
How to Get Shiny Lapras in Crystal
Lapras waits in Union Cave as a single overworld encounter at level 20; save right in front of it and soft reset the battle over and over until the shiny appears. Compare Shiny Lapras odds across every game
Shiny Lapras Evolution
Does Not EvolveCrystal Shiny Lapras Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
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.
Soft Reset: Save in front of a static, gift, or legendary encounter, then reset until it sparkles.
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.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in Crystal with Lapras preloaded.
Lapras Weakness
Lapras's Water/Ice typing leaves it vulnerable to Electric, Grass, Fighting, and Rock. Lapras's overall bulk (130/80/95) lets it take a hit or two from most weaknesses before going down.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Grass, Fighting, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Water |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Ice |
- 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 Lapras Weak Against
VulnerableBest Pokemon Against Lapras
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) | ||
 Elekid Electric | A | |
Obtain MethodRoute 34 Gift | ||
 Bayleef Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lapras View Bayleef builds →Razor Leaf 2x28-34% Rock Smash 2x9-11% | ||
 Pichu Electric | D | |
Obtain MethodRoute 34 Gift | ||
 Geodude RockGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lapras View Geodude builds →Rock Throw 2x34-41% Rock Smash 2x11-14% | ||
 Bellsprout GrassPoison | D | |
 Oddish GrassPoison | C | |
 Onix RockGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lapras View Onix builds →Rock Throw 2x23-27% Rock Smash 2x7-9% | ||
 Skiploom Grass | C | |
 Paras BugGrass | C | |
Lapras Evolutions
No evolution chain to worry about here. Lapras is a standalone Pokemon with a decent partner pool for breeding through two egg groups. Its eggs take forever to hatch. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Lapras easily with 36 breeding partners from the Monster and Water 1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Aurora Beam, Foresight to offspring.
C Lapras Best Moveset
Enormous 130 HP with MoveIce Beam and MoveSurf from 95 Sp. Atk. MoveRest plus MoveSleep Talk recovers without sacrificing turns. MoveThunder Wave paralyzes faster threats. Held ItemLeftovers stacks with the massive HP for near-unbreakable sustain. Outlasts most threats through raw bulk and recovery stacking.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Ice Beam
- Confuse Ray
- Surf
- Thunder
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The level-up pool is slim, so TMs matter here. Lapras's Normal and Dragon coverage and more all comes from technical machines, built on top of Hydro Pump and Blizzard for same-type damage. Ice Beam and Hydro Pump are the payoff moves.
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
21 of 29 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
This gentle POKéMON loves to give people rides and provides a very comfortable way to get around.
Lapras Crystal Guide
Lapras is a static encounter at Johto Union Cave in Crystal. Lapras appears at level 20. Prerequisite: Fridays only. Save before the encounter. These one-shot Pokemon don't respawn if you knock them out or run out of Poke Balls.
In Crystal, use Lapras as a balanced. Special attacks are the main output. Not the fastest, Surf is the primary attack.
Gigantamax Lapras is exclusive to Sword & Shield, so it's not usable in Crystal. The form has a unique appearance and a signature G-Max move.
Game Availability
Available since Red & Blue, Lapras appears in 20 games spanning 9 generations. Beyond its original form, it gained a Gigantamax form in Generation 8.
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 8SwShGigantamax
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 Lapras.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List