In Gold & Silver, Ninetales works as a support with 505 BST behind it. C-Tier on our list: a niche pick in Gold & Silver's meta. Hypnosis with Leftovers is the standard set.

What is Ninetales weak to?

In Gold & Silver, Ninetales's biggest threats include Gyarados (Water), Rhydon (Ground), and Golem (Rock), all carrying super-effective STAB moves.

What role does Ninetales play in battle?

Ninetales is a special attacker with base 81 Sp. Atk. Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. Base 100 Speed lets it outrun most of the field. Fits the support role.

What are the best moves for Ninetales?

For Gold & Silver, the core moveset is Hypnosis, Confuseray, Fire Blast, and Substitute. Hypnosis leads at 16% usage. This set covers the support role with a mix of damage and utility.

What counters Ninetales?

In Gold & Silver, the best way to handle Ninetales: Super-effective STAB from faster Pokemon is the simplest answer. Water, Ground, and Rock-type attackers hit hardest.

Ninetales - Weakness, Evolution, Moveset, EVs & Stats

Special

Support

CTier

100Speed · Fast

Stats & Training

Nothing fancy in Ninetales's spread. It leans mixed with Sp. Def out front. And you'll get 2 Sp. Def and Speed stat exp per KO for it. Follows a medium-fast 1M XP curve.

Base Stats

High

HP73

Attack76

Defense75

Sp. Atk81

Sp. Def100

Speed100

Total505

Details

Catch Rate

Challenging75 / 255

Growth Rate

Medium Fast1M XP

Height1.1 m

Weight19.9 kg

Base XP177

Abilities

Abilities were introduced in Generation III. Shown below for reference.

Flash Fire

Protects against fire moves. Once one has been blocked, the Pokémon's own Fire moves inflict 1.5× damage until it leaves battle.

DroughtHA

Summons strong sunlight that lasts indefinitely upon entering battle.

Flash Fire grants Fire immunity

EV Yield

HPAtkDefSpASpD+1Spe+1

Special Defense training target

Pokedex Entries

Some legends claim that each of its nine tails has its own unique type of special mystical power.

Ninetales Weakness

Type-wise, Ninetales takes extra damage from Water, Ground, and Rock. The Fire typing picks up 5 resistances to work with. Ninetales's special bulk (base 100 Sp.Def) helps absorb special-type weaknesses, though physical moves exploit the lower Defense.

Ninetales Weakness and Resistance Chart
Damage	Types
2x (Weak)	Water, Ground, Rock
0.5x (Resist)	Fire, Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel

Type ChartAvg

3Weak

5Resist

0Immune

Score-1

Gen II Type Chart

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

4xCritical

None

2xWeak

Water Ground Rock

½xResist

Fire Grass Ice Bug Steel

¼xResist

None

0xImmune

None

STAB (4)

Grass Ice Bug Steel

How to Beat Ninetales in Gold & Silver (Best Counters)

In Gold & Silver, Golem can KO Ninetales with Earthquake (112-132%). Nidoking threatens a KO with Earthquake (98-115%). Vaporeon deals 75-88% with Surf.

Golem RockGround	A
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves EarthquakeSTAB Explosion Rapid Spin RoarUtility Damage vs Ninetales Earthquake 2x 112-132%KO Explosion 93-109%KO Rapid Spin 19-22% View Golem builds →
Nidoking PoisonGround	B
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves EarthquakeSTAB Ice Beam Lovely Kiss Thunder Damage vs Ninetales Earthquake 2x 98-115%KO Ice Beam 10-11% Thunder 24-29% View Nidoking builds →
Vaporeon Water	B
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves GrowthSetup SurfSTAB RestRecovery Acid Armor Damage vs Ninetales Surf 2x 75-88% View Vaporeon builds →

Gold & Silver Evolution

Ninetales evolved from Vulpix's chain using an evolution item. It's a non-standard trigger, so check the details below. Breed this form to get Vulpix eggs (average hatch time). The evolution from Vulpix pushed Ninetales to 505 total stats. HP saw the largest single gain at +35. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.

How to Evolve

2 Forms

#037Vulpix

Fire Stone

#038Ninetales

Stat Comparison 2 Stages

Vulpix

Fire

Ninetales

Fire

73+35

ATK

76+35

DEF

75+35

SP.ATK

81+31

SP.DEF

100+35

SPE

100+35

BST

299D-Tier

505B-Tier+206

ROLE

Balanced

Pivot

TYPE

Utility

Mixed

Breeding

Easy

Breed with Ninetales to get Vulpix eggs easily using 66 partners from the Ground egg group. Notable egg moves include Disable, Feint Attack, Flail and 2 more.

Egg Groups

Ground

Gender

♂25.0%♀75.0%

Hatch Time

20 cycles·5,140 steps

Quick~5 min with Flame Body

Egg Moves

5moves

Breed With (best first)

Gold & Silver Ninetales Best Moveset

Best Build

Experimental

Utility

Ability

Not in Gen 2

Item

LeftoversSUSTAIN

Nature

Not in Gen 2

Utility Moveset

HypnosisUtility
Confuse Ray
Fire BlastSTAB
SubstituteUtility

Recommended Teammates

UmbreonGood

RaichuGood

VaporeonGood

Moves

Breeding's the move. Disable and Feint Attack give Ninetales options it can't learn any other way, and Normal and Ground coverage and more already covers a decent range on top of Fire Blast and Ember. The egg moves push it further.

Level-Up Moves

Lv 1

Confuse Ray

A—10010Ghost

Lv 1

Ember

—4010025Fire

Lv 1

Quick Attack+1

D4010030Normal

Lv 1

Safeguard

D——25Normal

Lv 43

Fire Spin

—357015Fire

TM Moves

TM45

Attract

D—10015Normal

TM03

Curse

C——10Ghost

TM28

Dig

C6010010Ground

TM32

Double Team

———15Normal

TM20

Endure+4

D——10Normal

TM38

Fire Blast

A120855Fire

TM21

Frustration

D—10020Normal

TM02

Headbutt

D7010015Normal

TM10

Hidden Power

—6010015Normal

TM15

Hyper Beam

C150905Normal

TM23

Iron Tail

D1007515Steel

TM17

Protect+4

C——10Normal

TM44

Rest

B——10Psychic

TM27

Return

D—10020Normal

TM05

Roar-6

C——20Normal

TM35

Sleep Talk

B——10Normal

TM13

Snore

—4010015Normal

TM11

Sunny Day

B——5Fire

TM34

Swagger

C—8515Normal

TM39

Swift

D60—20Normal

TM06

Toxic

C—8510Poison

Egg Moves

Egg

Disable

D—5520Normal

Egg

Feint Attack

D60—20Dark

Egg

Flail

D—10015Normal

Egg

Hypnosis

S—6020Psychic

Egg

Spite

——10010Ghost

Tutor Moves

Ninetales can't learn any Tutor moves

How to Get Ninetales in Gold & Silver

You're catching Vulpix first, not Ninetales. Vulpix appears at decent rates in the encounters below. The step cards map the full 2-stage line with evolution methods between each stage.

How to Obtain Ninetales in Gold & Silver

The path to Ninetales starts with Vulpix at Lv. 13-18 via walking encounters. 1 catchable stage total, with locations listed for each one below.

Step 1Catch Vulpix
Route 37
Grass Lv.14-16 Route
15%Early
Day
Route 36
Grass Lv.13 Route
10%Early
Route 37
Grass Lv.14 Route
10%Early
Morning/night
Route 7
Grass Lv.18 Route
25%Mid
Day
Route 7
Grass Lv.18 Route
20%Mid
Morning/night
Route 8
Grass Lv.18 Route
10%Mid
Morning/day
Route 8
Grass Lv.18 Route
5%Mid
Night
Fire Stone
Step 2Ninetales ✓

Ninetales Guide

In Gold & Silver, Ninetales works as a support with 505 BST behind it. C-Tier on our list: a niche pick in Gold & Silver's meta. Hypnosis with Leftovers is the standard set.
In Gold & Silver, Ninetales's biggest threats include Gyarados (Water), Rhydon (Ground), and Golem (Rock), all carrying super-effective STAB moves.
Ninetales is a special attacker with base 81 Sp. Atk. Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. Base 100 Speed lets it outrun most of the field. Fits the support role.
For Gold & Silver, the core moveset is Hypnosis, Confuseray, Fire Blast, and Substitute. Hypnosis leads at 16% usage. This set covers the support role with a mix of damage and utility.
In Gold & Silver, the best way to handle Ninetales: Super-effective STAB from faster Pokemon is the simplest answer. Water, Ground, and Rock-type attackers hit hardest.

Game Availability

Available since Red & Blue, Ninetales appears in 21 games spanning 10 generations. Beyond its original form, it gained an Alolan form in Generation 7.

Click a game to view version-specific details

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