
Is Nidorina Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Moon Stone it immediately. Nidoqueen is the payoff and there's no reason to wait.
Nidoran♀ (female) trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Bugsy's typing presses Nidoran♀ (female)'s defenses.
Nidoran♀ (female) trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Morty's team hits Nidorina's weaknesses hard.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Nidoqueen resists most of Lt. Surge's coverage and hits back hard.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Nidoqueen resists most of Blaine's coverage and hits back hard.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catch Nidoran♀ (female)
Catch Nidoran F on Route 35 (walking, Lv 12, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 12)
- LV 12NormalScratchPower 40Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Whitney
- TM13NormalSnorePower 40Accuracy 100%PP 15Moomoo Farm
- LV 30DarkBitePower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
Evolve Nidoran♀ (female) to Nidorina
Nidoran♀ (female) evolves into Nidorina at Level 16. Your Nidoran♀ (female) should hit Level 16 before you reach Morty, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- LV 36DarkBitePower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Lt. Surge
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Prize for defeating Janine
Evolve Nidorina to Nidoqueen
Nidorina evolves into Nidoqueen with a Moon Stone. You can pick up the Moon Stone in Tohjo Falls. 1 other location is also available.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 25)
- LV 25NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- After Lt. Surge
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Prize for defeating Janine
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
How to Get Nidorina in Gold & Silver
Nidorina shows up wild at level 23 across a few grass spots in both games, or you raise a female Nidoran to 16. The wild ones save time if you catch them near that level.
3 locations to catch Nidorina2 locations to catch Nidoran♀ (female)
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Catch Nidoran♀ (female) at any of the 2 locations below, then level it up to 16 — it evolves into Nidorina.
Where To Catch Nidorina in GS
The only way to get Nidorina during the story is evolving Nidoran♀ (female) (Lv 16).
Step 2Nidorina ✓or evolve from Nidoran♀ (female) (Step 1)
Step 3Evolve into Nidoqueen
Not landing the catch? Calculate Nidorina catch rates for Gold & Silver by ball, status, and HP.
How to Get Shiny Nidorina in Gold & Silver
Nidorina hides in the tall grass of Route 13, Route 14, and Route 15, and the wild is her only shiny source since this evolved female cannot breed while her Nidoran♀ pre-evolution can. Compare Shiny Nidorina odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Nidorina Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
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.
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 Nidorina preloaded.
Nidorina Weakness
Type-wise, Nidorina takes extra damage from Ground and Psychic. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage. Only 2 weaknesses makes it relatively easy to build around defensively.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ground, Psychic |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug |
- 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 Nidorina Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Nidorina
Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
Marowak Ground | B | |
Donphan Ground | B | |
Kadabra Psychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Nidorina View Kadabra builds →Future Sight 2x175-207%KO Dig 2x20-24% | ||
Nidoking PoisonGround | B | |
Nidoqueen PoisonGround | C | |
Graveler RockGround | B | |
Sandslash Ground | C | |
Jynx IcePsychic | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Nidorina View Jynx builds →Dream Eater 2x141-166%KO Mud-Slap 2x9-11% | ||
Piloswine IceGround | C | |
Lugia Psychic | S | |
Obtain MethodWhirl Islands Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Nidorina View Lugia builds →Dream Eater 2x115-136%KO Earthquake 2x66-78% | ||
Xatu Psychic | C | |
Pupitar RockGround | C | |
Mr. Mime Psychic | C | |
Obtain MethodCeladon City Gift Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Nidorina View Mr. Mime builds →Dream Eater 2x125-148%KO Mud-Slap 2x9-10% | ||
Nidorina Evolutions
This Poison-type links Nidoran♀ (female) to Nidoqueen. Nidorina has 365 stats but sits in the Undiscovered egg group. HP has grown the most so far (+15), but there's still another 140 stats to gain in the final evolution. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
GS Nidorina Best Moveset
Middle-stage Poison without offensive type value. Everything competitive happens at Nidoqueen. Evolve immediately.
Best Build
Support Moveset
- Toxic
- Moonlight
- Ice Beam
- Attract
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding's the move. Beat Up and Charm give Nidorina options it can't learn any other way, and coverage across 7 types already covers a decent range on top of Poison Sting. 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.
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 25 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
When feeding its young, it first chews and tenderizes the food, then spits it out for the offspring.
It has a calm and caring nature. Because its horn grows slowly, it prefers not to fight.
Nidorina Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, Nidorina does the job early-game if you need a Poison type on your team. Evolve it into Nidoqueen before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
In Gold & Silver, Nidorina plays as a support. Not the fastest, so pick your spots carefully.
Game Availability
Nidorina has been part of the series since Red & Blue, appearing in 19 titles across all 9 generations. As a Gen 1 original, it's one of the most consistently available Pokemon in the franchise.
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 Nidorina.
