Is Lapras Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Union Cave every Friday. Lapras shows up once a week on the basement floor. Ice/Water typing handles Clair's Dragons and Lance's entire team. Bulky enough to survive mistakes. One of the best catches in Gold and Silver if you show up on the right day.
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 every Friday in the basement of Union Cave. Surf is required to reach it.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- 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
- TM42PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Viridian City
- TM29PsychicPsychicPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Saffron City
- LV 57WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
How to Get Lapras in Gold & Silver
Lapras shows up exactly once a week. A single level 20 encounter sits in Union Cave, but only on Fridays, so you have to time your visit. Miss the day and the spot is empty until next week.
1 location to catch Lapras
Badge 1How to Get Lapras in Gold & Silver
How to Get Shiny Lapras in Gold & Silver
Lapras appears in Union Cave only on Fridays, so make the trip that day, save right beside it, and soft-reset the encounter over and over until it shows up shiny. Compare Shiny Lapras odds across every game
Shiny Lapras Evolution
Does Not EvolveGold & Silver 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 Gold & Silver 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
 Flaaffy Electric | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lapras View Flaaffy builds →Thunder 2x66-78% Rock Smash 2x9-11% | ||
 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% | ||
 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.
GS Lapras Best Moveset
130 HP and 95 Sp. Atk fire MoveIce Beam and MoveSurf with solid power. MoveThunder Wave paralyzes and MoveRest plus MoveSleep Talk provide reliable recovery without sacrificing turns. Held ItemLeftovers stacks with the massive HP pool. Bulk and coverage that outlasts most threats.
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
They have gentle hearts. Because they rarely fight, many have been caught. Their number has dwindled.
It ferries people across the sea on its back. It may sing an enchanting cry if it is in a good mood.
Lapras Gold & Silver Guide
Lapras is a static encounter at Johto Union Cave in Gold & Silver. 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 Gold & Silver, 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 Gold & Silver. 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 · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List