Is Piloswine Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Swinub evolves at level 33. Ice/Ground with AbilitySnow Cloak boosting evasion in hail. Level up with Ancient Power for Mamoswine, the Gen 4 evolution that pushes this line to another level. The physical/special split gives Piloswine proper physical Ice for Clair.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Morty's typing presses Swinub's defenses.
Chuck's team hits Swinub's weaknesses hard.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Swinub trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Mamoswine resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Mamoswine resists most of Lt. Surge's coverage and hits back hard.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Mamoswine has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catch Swinub
Catch Swinub in Ice Path (walking, Lv 21-23, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 21)
- LV 21GroundMud BombPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 10
- After Bugsy
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM28GroundDigPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- After Whitney
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Hiker on Route 42
- LV 25IceIcy WindPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 15
- LV 32NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- LV 37GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 44IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
Evolve Swinub to Piloswine
Swinub evolves into Piloswine at Level 33. Your Swinub should hit Level 33 before you reach Clair, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 33)
- LV 33IceIce FangPower 98Accuracy 95%PP 15
- LV 33GroundMud BombPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 10
- After Bugsy
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM28GroundDigPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- After Pryce
- TM72IceAvalanchePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Ice Path
- LV 40GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 56IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
Evolve Piloswine to Mamoswine
Usually ready to evolve before you reach Brock, at typical party pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 41)
- LV 41GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 41IceIce FangPower 98Accuracy 95%PP 15
- LV 41GroundMud BombPower 98Accuracy 85%PP 10
- After Bugsy
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM28GroundDigPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- After Pryce
- TM72IceAvalanchePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Ice Path
- LV 56IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
How to Get Piloswine in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Grab a Swinub from the Ice Path and raise it to level 33 for Piloswine. No wild ones turn up, so the easy Ice Path catch is exactly where this line begins.
Catch Swinub at any of these 1 spot to eventually evolve into Piloswine.
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 7How to Obtain Piloswine in HGSS
To get Piloswine, start by catching Swinub through walking encounters at Lv. 21-24. The chain covers 1 catchable stage before reaching the final form.
- Step 2Piloswine ✓
- Step 3Evolve into Mamoswine
How to Get Shiny Piloswine in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Piloswine evolves from Swinub, so breed that Ice Path base form Masuda-style at 1 in 1,638 and raise it up. Compare Shiny Piloswine odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Piloswine 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.
For time estimates and charm math, open the HeartGold & SoulSilver shiny odds calculator with Piloswine already selected.
Piloswine Weakness
Fire, Water, Grass, Fighting, and Steel moves hit Piloswine for super-effective damage. The upside? Electric-type moves can't touch it at all.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Water, Grass, Fighting, Steel |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Piloswine Weak Against
FragileBest Pokemon Against Piloswine
 Hariyama Fighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Hariyama builds →Focus Punch 2x135-159%KO Surf 2x31-37% | ||
 Gallade PsychicFighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Gallade builds →Focus Punch 2x141-166%KO Leaf Blade 2x56-66% | ||
 Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Breloom builds →Focus Punch 2x145-171%KO Seed Bomb 2x78-92% Iron Tail 2x65-76% | ||
 Ho-Oh Fire | S | |
Obtain MethodBell Tower Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Ho-Oh builds →Overheat 2x147-173%KO Solar Beam 2x84-99% Steel Wing 2x46-54% Rock Smash 2x27-32% | ||
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Hitmonlee builds →Focus Punch 2x135-159%KO Blaze Kick 2x51-61% | ||
 Blaziken FireFighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Torchic (Silph Co Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Blaziken builds →Focus Punch 2x135-159%KO Flare Blitz 2x109-128%KO Solar Beam 2x84-99% | ||
 Primeape Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Primeape builds →Focus Punch 2x120-142%KO Iron Tail 2x54-64% Overheat 2x61-71% | ||
 Toxicroak PoisonFighting | C | |
 Charizard Fire | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Charmander (Pallet Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Charizard builds →Overheat 2x146-172%KO Solar Beam 2x84-99% Focus Punch 2x67-79% Iron Tail 2x45-53% | ||
 Machoke Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Machoke builds →Focus Punch 2x116-137%KO Fire Blast 2x45-53% | ||
 Moltres Fire | B | |
Obtain MethodMt Silver Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Moltres builds →Overheat 2x164-193%KO Solar Beam 2x94-110%KO Steel Wing 2x37-43% Rock Smash 2x21-25% | ||
 Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
 Tangrowth Grass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Tangrowth builds →Solar Beam 2x126-148%KO Focus Blast 2x84-99% | ||
 Suicune Water | A | |
Obtain MethodBurned Tower Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piloswine View Suicune builds →Surf 2x85-100%KO Iron Tail 2x41-48% Rock Smash 2x17-20% | ||
Piloswine Evolutions
Piloswine connects Swinub to Mamoswine in this chain. At least one evolution here needs knowing a specific move. So far, HP got the biggest boost (+50 from Swinub). The final form adds another 80 stats on top. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Piloswine to get Swinub eggs easily using 131 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Ancient Power, Bite, Body Slam and 7 more.
HGSS Piloswine Best Moveset
Ice/Ground at 100 Attack and 100 HP giving the moveset physical power and durability. MoveEarthquake and MoveIce Shard for physical Ground and priority Ice damage. AbilityOblivious blocks infatuation. 50 Speed. Evolve to Mamoswine.
Best Build
Piloswine best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Sweeper Moveset
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stealth Rock
Moves List
Without breeding, Piloswine misses out on Ancient Power and Bite. That's 10 egg moves adding depth that the base kit lacks. STAB comes from Blizzard and Earthquake, with Rock and Flying coverage and more rounding things out.
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
Reminder Moves
Base Stats
Because the long hair all over its body obscures its sight, it just keeps charging repeatedly.
If it charges at an enemy, the hairs on its back stand up straight. It is very sensitive to sound.
Piloswine HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, for a casual playthrough, Piloswine works as a placeholder. Ice/Ground coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Mamoswine. That's where the stats start mattering.
Game Availability
Debuting in Gold & Silver, Piloswine appears in 18 games across 8 generations. A reliable presence in most mainline games, typically found through catching or hatching as a base form.
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
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