Is Nidorina Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Nidoran-F evolves at level 16. AbilityPoison Point carries over. Nidorina is the middle stage waiting for a Moon Stone. Nidoqueen's Poison/Ground typing handles multiple late-game gyms.
Nidoran♀ (female) trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Nidoran♀ (female) trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
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 resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Nidoqueen resists most of Lt. Surge's coverage and hits back hard.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Nidoqueen trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Nidoqueen has the type edge here and should clean up 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
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM28GroundDigPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- After Whitney
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Hiker on Route 42
- After Jasmine
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 43
- LV 37DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
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 Department Store
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM28GroundDigPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- After Whitney
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Hiker on Route 42
- After Jasmine
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 43
- LV 43DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
Evolve Nidorina to Nidoqueen
Nidorina evolves into Nidoqueen with a Moon Stone. You can pick up the Moon Stone in Ruins of Alph. 1 other location is also available.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM28GroundDigPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Chuck
- After Jasmine
- TM36PoisonSludge BombPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 43
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 43GroundEarth PowerPower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 58FightingSuperpowerPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 5
How to Get Nidorina in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Nidorina also shows up wild on a few routes in the mid-teens to low 20s, common but appearing later than its base. You can catch the middle stage directly or evolve a Nidoran-F at level 16, whichever you reach first.
4 locations to catch Nidorina3 locations to catch Nidoran♀ (female)
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Catch Nidoran♀ (female) at any of the 3 locations below, then level it up to 16 — it evolves into Nidorina.
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5 Badge 6Where To Catch Nidorina in HGSS
Nidoran♀ (female) gets you Nidorina sooner: catch it (before Badge 4) and evolve it at Lv 16. Wild Nidorina first appears at Safari Zone (after Badge 4).
- Step 2Nidorina ✓Safari Zone - SavannahLv.15-17FloorRate 30%NightRoute 13Lv.23GrassRate 30%Route 14Lv.23GrassRate 30%Route 15Lv.23GrassRate 30%or evolve from Nidoran♀ (female) (Step 1)
- Step 3Evolve into Nidoqueen
Not landing the catch? Calculate Nidorina catch rates for HeartGold & SoulSilver by ball, status, and HP.
How to Get Shiny Nidorina in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Nidorina roams Route 13, Route 14, and Route 15, though a shiny comes faster from Masuda breeding with a foreign parent. Compare Shiny Nidorina odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Nidorina 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.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in HeartGold & SoulSilver 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 |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Nidorina Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Nidorina
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
HGSS Nidorina Best Moveset
Stats improve slightly but stay below 70 everywhere. The moveset is a holding pattern between Nidoran and Nidoqueen, with AbilityPoison Point as the only notable feature. Evolve with a Moon Stone.
Best Build
Nidorina best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Sweeper Moveset
- Sludge Bomb
- Rest
- Poison Jab
- Poison Fang
Moves List
Breeding's the move. Beat Up and Charm give Nidorina options it can't learn any other way, and coverage across 9 types already covers a decent range on top of Sludge Bomb and Poison Fang. 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 26 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
When feeding its young, it first chews the food into a paste, 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 HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
- How do I catch Nidorina in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Safari Zone?
See the Locations section above for where to find Nidorina 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 Nidorina from fleeing (flee rate cut to 1/4) but it becomes harder to catch (catch factor halved).
- Throw a rock to make Nidorina 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, 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.
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
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