Is Ninetales Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
One of the rare Fire-type options in Silver. Ninetales handles Jasmine's Steel-types and contributes against Pryce. In a game where Fire coverage is hard to find outside Typhlosion, Ninetales fills a real need on Silver teams.
Vulpix has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Vulpix has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Vulpix trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Ninetales resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Clair's team hits Ninetales's weaknesses hard.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Ninetales resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Misty's team hits Ninetales's weaknesses hard.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Brock's team.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Ninetales resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Lance's team hits Ninetales's weaknesses hard.
Catch Vulpix
Catch Vulpix on Route 36 (walking, Lv 13, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 13)
- LV 13FireEmberPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- TM28GroundDigPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- LV 31FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- 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 Vulpix to Ninetales
Vulpix evolves into Ninetales with a Fire Stone. Post-Game: You can receive the Fire Stone from an NPC in Route 25.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 20)
- LV 20FireEmberPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- LV 20GhostConfuse RayPower —Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- TM28GroundDigPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- 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
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
How to Get Ninetales in Gold & Silver
A Fire Stone on Vulpix is all it takes, and since Vulpix lives only in Silver, Gold players cannot start this line without trading. No wild Ninetales appears in either game.
Wild Ninetales may be holding when caught:
Catch Vulpix at any of these 4 spots to eventually evolve into Ninetales.
Encountered via tall grass encounters
- 1Catch Vulpix
- 2Evolve NinetalesUse Fire Stone
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8How to Obtain Ninetales in GS
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 2Ninetales ✓BREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Goldenrod Pokemon Day Care to receive a Vulpix egg.
How to Get Shiny Ninetales in Gold & Silver
Ninetales starts on a Vulpix, bred in either version or caught wild in Silver on Route 7, Route 36, and Route 37, and once that base shines a Fire Stone finishes the evolution. Compare Shiny Ninetales odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Ninetales 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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Ninetales in the Gold & Silver Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
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.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Ground, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel |
- 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 Ninetales Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Ninetales
 Marowak Ground | B | |
 Vaporeon Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Vaporeon builds →Hydro Pump 2x100-118%KO Mud-Slap 2x10-12% | ||
 Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Rhydon builds →Earthquake 2x122-143%KO Rollout 2x37-44% Surf 2x27-32% | ||
 Suicune Water | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Suicune builds →Surf 2x67-80% Dig 2x32-37% | ||
 Tyranitar RockDark | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Tyranitar builds →Rock Slide 2x94-111%KO Earthquake 2x84-99% Surf 2x47-55% | ||
 Donphan Ground | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Donphan builds →Earthquake 2x113-133%KO Rollout 2x23-28% | ||
 Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Slowbro builds →Surf 2x74-87% Earthquake 2x52-61% | ||
 Golduck Water | C | |
Obtain MethodIlex Forest Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Golduck builds →Hydro Pump 2x88-103%KO Dig 2x33-39% | ||
 Azumarill Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Azurill (Mt Mortar Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Azumarill builds →Surf 2x49-58% Rollout 2x12-15% Mud-Slap 2x8-10% | ||
 Feraligatr Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Feraligatr builds →Hydro Pump 2x76-90% Earthquake 2x67-80% | ||
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter | ||
 Nidoking PoisonGround | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Nidoking builds →Earthquake 2x99-117%KO Surf 2x42-50% | ||
 Quagsire WaterGround | B | |
Obtain MethodRoute 32 Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Quagsire builds →Earthquake 2x85-100%KO Surf 2x53-62% Rollout 2x17-21% | ||
 Sandslash Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Ninetales View Sandslash builds →Earthquake 2x98-115%KO Rollout 2x20-24% | ||
Ninetales Evolutions
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
Breeding
Breed with Ninetales to get Vulpix eggs easily using 66 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Disable, Feint Attack, Flail and 2 more.
GS Ninetales Best Moveset
The stat split dropped offensive output from 100 Special to 81 Sp. Atk, and MoveFire Blast hits noticeably softer. 100 Speed still goes first, but Steel types now resist Fire and Water remains dominant. Held ItemLeftovers and MoveConfuse Ray add disruption. Speed without the power to close.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Hypnosis
- Confuse Ray
- Fire Blast
- Substitute
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
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.
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
16 of 21 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Some legends claim that each of its nine tails has its own unique type of special mystical power.
Its nine beautiful tails are filled with a wondrous energy that could keep it alive for 1,000 years.
Ninetales Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, Ninetales plays as a support. It outspeeds most threats, so it can pressure opponents before they move.
Yes. Alolan Ninetales is a regional variant with different typing and a reworked stat spread. Introduced in Gen 7. Plays completely differently from the original.
Game Availability
Available since Red & Blue, Ninetales appears in 21 games spanning 9 generations. Beyond its original form, it gained an Alolan form in Generation 7.
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 7SMAlolan
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 Ninetales.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List