Is Lotad Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Breed-only in HGSS. Water/Grass with AbilitySwift Swim for rain Speed. Ludicolo at Water Stone is a unique typing with few weaknesses. The breeding requirement limits who invests in this chain.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Jasmine's team.
Lotad has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Clair's typing presses Lotad's defenses.
Lotad has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Lt. Surge's typing presses Lotad's defenses.
Erika's team hits Lotad's weaknesses hard.
Janine's team hits Lotad's weaknesses hard.
Sabrina's typing presses Lotad's defenses.
Lotad trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Blue's team hits Lotad's weaknesses hard.
Ludicolo trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Ludicolo trades roughly evenly with Koga's team.
Ludicolo has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Ludicolo trades roughly evenly with Karen's team.
Ludicolo trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Lotad in the Safari Zone (walking, Lv 38). Requires 8 Water objects placed in Desert.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 38)
- LV 38WaterBubble BeamPower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- LV 38PsychicZen HeadbuttPower 80Accuracy 90%PP 15
- After Bugsy
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TUTORNormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Ilex Forest
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- LV 45GrassEnergy BallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10
Evolve Lotad to Ludicolo
Lombre evolves into Ludicolo with a Water Stone. You can receive the Water Stone from an NPC in Route 42. 2 other locations are also available. Use the Water Stone in the post-game, after you beat Lance.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM52FightingFocus BlastPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Chuck
- After Pryce
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
How to Get Lotad in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Breeding is the only road to Lotad here, since it has no wild encounter at all. Hatch one from a Lombre or Ludicolo egg at the Day-Care, which first means importing a parent to start the line.
1 location to catch Lotad
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 8Where To Catch Lotad in HGSS
Lotad is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking encounters from Lv. 38-47 across 6 total spots in the chain.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in HeartGold & SoulSilver for Lotad.
How to Get Shiny Lotad in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Lotad hatches from breeding, so pair it with a foreign-language parent the Masuda way for a shiny. Compare Shiny Lotad odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Lotad 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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your HeartGold & SoulSilver shiny odds for Lotad.
Lotad Weakness
Type-wise, Lotad takes extra damage from Poison, Flying, and Bug. 3 weaknesses is about average, nothing too hard to play around.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Poison, Flying, Bug |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Ground, Steel |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Water |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Lotad Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Lotad
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
 Pinsir Bug | C | |
 Altaria Dragon | C | |
 Scyther Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lotad View Scyther builds →X-Scissor 2x199-234%KO Wing Attack 2x151-178%KO | ||
 Tentacruel WaterPoison | B | |
Obtain MethodCherrygrove City Surfing | ||
 Parasect BugGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lotad View Parasect builds →Cross Poison 2x104-123%KO Aerial Ace 2x89-104%KO Leech Life 2x47-56% | ||
 Haunter GhostPoison | C | |
 Skarmory Steel | B | |
 Kricketune Bug | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lotad View Kricketune builds →X-Scissor 2x161-191%KO Aerial Ace 2x81-96% | ||
 Beedrill BugPoison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lotad View Beedrill builds →Poison Jab 2x170-200%KO U-turn 2x148-175%KO Aerial Ace 2x84-100%KO | ||
 Dodrio Normal | C | |
 Farfetch'd Normal | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lotad View Farfetch'd builds →Fly 2x191-225%KO Poison Jab 2x113-133%KO U-turn 2x99-117%KO | ||
 Venomoth BugPoison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Lotad View Venomoth builds →Sludge Bomb 2x138-163%KO Signal Beam 2x117-138%KO Aerial Ace 2x67-79% | ||
Lotad Evolutions
Lotad is the start of a three-stage chain. It evolves into Lombre first, then eventually reaches Ludicolo. For breeding, quick to hatch with a decent partner pool via two egg groups. Evolving adds up to 260 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Lotad easily with 45 breeding partners from the Grass and Water 1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Counter, Flail, Leech Seed and 5 more to offspring.
HGSS Lotad Best Moveset
Water/Grass with AbilitySwift Swim doubling 30 Speed in rain and AbilityRain Dish for passive HP recovery in rain. Stats below 50 everywhere limit what the moveset accomplishes. Evolve toward Ludicolo.
Best Build
Lotad best EVs are Sp. Atk and Sp. Def
Utility Moveset
- Surf
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding's the move. Counter and Flail give Lotad options it can't learn any other way, and Ghost and Normal coverage and more already covers a decent range on top of Solar Beam and Energy Ball. The egg moves push it further.
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 23 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Its leaf grew too large for it to live on land. That is how it began to live floating in the water.
Lotad HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
- How do I catch Lotad in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Safari Zone?
See the Locations section above for where to find Lotad in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
Safari rules: You can only use Safari Balls. No battling. Two tactical items shift the catch/flee trade-off:
- Throw bait to keep Lotad from fleeing (flee rate cut to 1/4) but it becomes harder to catch (catch factor halved).
- Throw a rock to make Lotad easier to catch (catch factor doubled) but it flees twice as often.
- Each effect lasts 2-6 random turns; throwing one cancels the other.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Lotad has 220 BST and evolves into Lombre. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Game Availability
Lotad first appeared in Ruby & Sapphire and has been available in 15 games across 7 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 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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