
Is Pichu Good in Platinum Playthrough?
Trophy Garden at level 21. Baby Pokemon evolving into Pikachu through friendship. Pikachu is already available in the Trophy Garden directly, so starting from Pichu adds unnecessary steps. Raichu at Thunder Stone, but Luxray is still the better Electric.
Roark's Pokemon outpace and outclass Pichu here.
Gardenia's Pokemon outpace and outclass Pichu here.
Fantina's Pokemon outpace and outclass Pichu here.
Maylene's team hits Pichu's weaknesses hard.
Pichu trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Raichu has the type edge here and should clean up Byron's team.
Raichu has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Raichu trades roughly evenly with Volkner's team.
Raichu has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Bertha's team hits Raichu's weaknesses hard.
Raichu has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Raichu has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Raichu resists most of Jupiter's coverage and hits back hard.
Raichu resists most of Mars's coverage and hits back hard.
Raichu resists most of Saturn's coverage and hits back hard.
Raichu trades roughly evenly with Cynthia's team.
Catchable
Catch Pichu in Trophy Garden (walking, Lv 21-22, common).
Recommended Moves
- After Gardenia
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Amity Square
- After Fantina
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 10Lake Valor
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Veilstone Game Corner
- TM34ElectricShock WavePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 215
- After Crasher Wake
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Iron Island
- After Volkner
- TM57ElectricCharge BeamPower 75Accuracy 90%PP 10Prize for defeating Volkner
- Post-Game
- TUTORBugSignal BeamPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Survival Area
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Pichu to Raichu
Pikachu evolves into Raichu with a Thunder Stone. You can usually obtain this item before you reach Byron.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 37)
- LV 37ElectricThunderboltPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Fantina
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 10Lake Valor
- TM34ElectricShock WavePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 215
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- TM52FightingFocus BlastPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- After Maylene
- TUTORElectricThunder PunchPower 113Accuracy 100%PP 15Route 212
- After Byron
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Oreburgh Gate
- Post-Game
- TUTORBugSignal BeamPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Survival Area
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Pichu in Platinum
Pichu turns up rare at one mid-game route at levels 21 to 22. That single spot is where the baby appears, though many players instead breed a Pikachu to hatch one.
Wild Pichu may be holding when caught:
1 location to catch Pichu
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Where To Catch Pichu in Pt
Step 1Pichu ✓
Step 3Evolve into RaichuBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Pichu egg.
To plan your throws, open the Platinum catch rate calculator with Pichu preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Pichu in Platinum
Pichu skips into the Trophy Garden grass, common enough to chain to 40 for a shiny. Compare Shiny Pichu odds across every game
DAS PIKACHU-FARBENE PICHU!; PICHU COLOR PIKACHU!; PIKACHU-COLORED PICHU!
Shiny Pichu Evolution
3 FormsPlatinum Shiny Pichu Calculator
3 MethodsThe best route is PokeRadar Chain at full boosts, about 1 in 200 on each try. Tune it below.
PokeRadar Chain: Chain shaking-grass patches without breaking the combo. The rate peaks at a chain of 40.
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 | 22-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 58-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 139-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 460-- | -- |
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.
For time estimates and charm math, open the Platinum shiny odds calculator with Pichu already selected.
Pichu Weakness
Pichu is weak to Ground. Few weaknesses and 3 resistances make the typing clean. Just 1 weak spot to worry about, which keeps teambuilding straightforward.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ground |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Electric, Flying, Steel |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Pichu Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Pichu
Pichu Evolutions
This is the baby stage. Pichu grows into Pikachu by leveling up. Want more? Breed the adults. Baby Pokemon sit in the Undiscovered egg group. Evolving adds up to 280 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Pt Pichu Best Moveset
Unevolved Electric stage with stats in the 15-60 range. The moveset has no competitive use. AbilityStatic can paralyze on contact. Evolve to Pikachu.
Best Build
Pichu best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Sweeper Moveset
- Volt Tackle
- Fake Out
- Return
- Hidden Power Ice
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Pichu gets Bide and Charge exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Coverage across 8 types rounds out the picture alongside Thunder and Thunderbolt.
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
25 of 27 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
The electric sacs in its cheeks are small. If even a little electricity leaks, it becomes shocked.
Pichu Event Distributions
In Platinum, Pichu has seen a few separate Mystery Gift events rather than a steady stream of them.
PIKACHU-COLORED PICHU!DiamondPearlPlatinumAlways shiny
Pikachu-Colored Pichu GiftDiamondPearlPlatinumAlways shiny
Pikachu-Colored Pichu GiftDiamondPearlPlatinumAlways shiny
Pichu Platinum Guide
Yes. Wild Pichu in Platinum can hold Oran Berry (5%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Oran Berry.
For Platinum, you can run Pichu through the first few routes without issues. 205 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Pikachu as fast as you can.
Game Availability
Available in 19 titles since its debut in Gold & Silver, Pichu spans 8 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through catching or hatching as a base form in most mainline games.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB

Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GSDebut

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 Pichu.
