Is Paras Good in Yellow Playthrough?
The slowest thing in your party and the worst defensive typing in the game. Bug/Grass is weak to everything that matters. MoveSpore for 100% sleep accuracy is the one trick worth knowing about, mostly for catching legendaries.
Brock's typing presses Paras's defenses.
Paras trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Blaine's team hits Parasect's weaknesses hard.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Giovanni's team.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Lorelei's team.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Parasect trades roughly evenly with Agatha's team.
Lance's team hits Parasect's weaknesses hard.
Parasect has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Catchable
Catch Paras in Mt. Moon (walking, Lv 9-11, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- After Brock
- TM28GroundDigPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Returned by the Team Rocket Grunt in Cerulean City after you defeat him
- After Misty
- TM08NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15S.S. Anne
- After Lt. Surge
- TM10NormalDouble-EdgePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Rocket Hideout
- TM09NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20Silph Co.
- After Erika
- TM21GrassMega DrainPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 10Prize for defeating Celadon Gym Leader Erika
- TM40NormalSkull BashPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Safari Zone
- LV 34NormalSlashPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Sabrina
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Pokémon Mansion
Evolve Paras to Parasect
Paras evolves into Parasect at Level 24. Your Paras should hit Level 24 before you reach Lt. Surge, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Brock
- TM28GroundDigPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Returned by the Team Rocket Grunt in Cerulean City after you defeat him
- After Misty
- TM08NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15S.S. Anne
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Rocket Game Corner
- TM10NormalDouble-EdgePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Rocket Hideout
- TM09NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20Silph Co.
- LV 30GrassSporePower —Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Erika
- TM40NormalSkull BashPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Safari Zone
- After Sabrina
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 180Accuracy 100%PP 10Pokémon Mansion
How to Get Paras in Yellow
Paras keeps to a small footprint, rare-to-uncommon across a couple of caves and one route, so there's no wide hunt for it.
2 locations to catch Paras
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1
Badge 2
Badge 3
Badge 4Where To Catch Paras in Y
Paras is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 9-27. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into ParasectSafari Zone - CenterLv.27-32FloorRate 15%Cerulean Cave - 1FLv.54CaveRate 5%Route 18In-game tradeRate 100%Trade for (give Tangela)or evolve from Paras (Step 1)
To plan your throws, open the Yellow catch rate calculator with Paras preloaded.
Paras Weakness
Type-wise, Paras takes extra damage from Fire, Poison, Flying, Ice, Bug, and Rock. Watch out for Fire, Poison, and Flying attacks, those deal 4x damage. 5 resistances help offset the weaknesses.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Fire, Poison, Flying |
| 2x (Weak) | Ice, Bug, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Water, Electric, Fighting |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Grass, Ground |
- Only 15 types exist — Dark, Steel, and Fairy are absent
- Ghost has no effect on Psychic (a known bug, fixed in Gen II)
- Special stat governs both offense and defense — no Sp.Atk / Sp.Def split
What is Paras Weak Against
FragileBest Pokemon Against Paras
 Charmeleon Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Charmander (Route 24 Gift) | ||
 Pidgeotto Normal | C | |
 Spearow Normal | C | |
 Nidoking PoisonGround | C | |
 Butterfree Bug | C | |
 Geodude RockGround | C | |
 Nidorina Poison | D | |
 Bellsprout GrassPoison | D | |
 Oddish GrassPoison | C | |
 Zubat Poison | D | |
 Venonat BugPoison | D | |
Paras Evolutions
Paras starts a line toward Parasect. Can't breed this Bug/Grass type (295 stats), so keep the evolution path going. Evolving adds up to 110 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Y Paras Best Moveset
Carries MoveSpore at 100%% accuracy, the strongest sleep move in the game, on a frame with 70 HP and 55 Special. The guaranteed sleep is worth everything. Surviving long enough to use it is the problem, with 4x Fire weakness making the attempt harder.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Leech Life
- Skull Bash
- Solar Beam
- Double Edge
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
TMs carry this one. Paras learns Solar Beam and Leech Life naturally for STAB, but the offensive range comes almost entirely from technical machines. Normal and Ground and beyond give it real matchup play.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- 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 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 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 17 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Burrows under the ground to gnaw on tree roots. The mushrooms on its back absorb most of the nutrition.
Paras Yellow Guide
- How do I catch Paras in the Yellow Safari Zone?
See the Locations section above for where to find Paras in Yellow.
Safari rules: You can only use Safari Balls. No battling. Two tactical items shift the catch/flee trade-off:
- Throw bait to keep Paras from fleeing (flee rate cut to 1/4) but it becomes harder to catch (catch factor halved).
- Throw a rock to make Paras easier to catch (catch factor doubled) but it flees twice as often.
- Each effect lasts 2-6 random turns; throwing one cancels the other.
For Yellow, you can run Paras through the first few routes without issues. 295 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Parasect as fast as you can.
Game Availability
One of the original 151, Paras has appeared in 19 games: most mainline games. From Red & Blue through the latest titles, it's rarely been left out of a regional Pokedex.
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 Paras.
Keep playing · YellowYellow Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Yellow Tier List