
Is Piplup Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Breed-only Sinnoh Water starter. AbilityTorrent boosts Water. Empoleon at 36 adds Steel. Requires Sinnoh imports. Battle Frontier candidate.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Piplup has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's typing presses Piplup's defenses.
Piplup has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Clair's typing presses Piplup's defenses.
Piplup has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Misty's typing presses Piplup's defenses.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Erika's team hits Piplup's weaknesses hard.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Sabrina's team hits Piplup's weaknesses hard.
Piplup has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Will's typing presses Piplup's defenses.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Koga's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Karen's team.
Piplup trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Trade
Piplup cannot be caught in this game. It must be traded in from a compatible game where it appears in the wild. Cross-region trading typically becomes available after defeating the Elite Four.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM28GroundDigPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 10National Park
- LV 18WaterBubble BeamPower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- LV 29WaterBrinePower 98Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Pryce
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
- LV 43WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
How to Get Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Piplup can't be caught in HeartGold & SoulSilver. Transfer one in from Diamond & Pearl or Platinum.
How to Obtain Piplup in HGSS
Step 1Piplup ✓CARTRIDGE TRADEfrom Diamond & PearlAvailableCatch in Diamond & Pearl via Gift · Lake Verity · Starter Pokémon, then trade to the current game via link cable.CARTRIDGE TRADEfrom PlatinumAvailableCatch in Platinum via Gift · Route 201 · Starter Pokémon, then trade to the current game via link cable.LATER APPEARANCENot TradeableAppears in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire via Gift · Route 101 · Post-Elite Four second time. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCENot TradeableAppears in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl via Gift · Lake Verity. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Legends: ArceusNot TradeableAppears in Legends: Arceus via Walking · Spring Path. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Scarlet & VioletNot TradeableAppears in Scarlet & Violet via Overworld · Polar Biome. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.
Step 2Evolve into Prinplup
Step 3Evolve into Empoleon
How to Get Shiny Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Piplup has no wild home here, so earn its shiny in Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum and bring it over by trade. See every game where Shiny Piplup can be hunted
Piplup Weakness
Electric and Grass moves hit Piplup for super-effective damage. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage. Only 2 weaknesses makes it relatively easy to build around defensively.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Grass |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Water, Ice, Steel |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Piplup Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Piplup
Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
Parasect BugGrass | C | |
Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Silph Co Gift) | ||
Tangrowth Grass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Piplup View Tangrowth builds →Solar Beam 2x182-214%KO Shock Wave 2x61-72% | ||
Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
Venusaur GrassPoison | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Bulbasaur (Pallet Town Gift) | ||
Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
Raikou Electric | B | |
Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
Carnivine Grass | C | |
Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) | ||
Piplup Evolutions
Piplup is the start of a three-stage chain. It evolves into Prinplup first, then eventually reaches Empoleon. For breeding, average hatch time with a massive partner pool via two egg groups. The evolved forms gain up to 216 total stats over Piplup. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Piplup easily with 131 breeding partners from the Field and Water 1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Agility, Aqua Ring, Double Hit and 8 more to offspring.
HGSS Piplup Best Moveset
61 Sp. Atk with AbilityTorrent for emergency Water power and 40 Speed. Basic special Water output. Empoleon's Water/Steel typing is the destination.
Best Build
Piplup best EVs are Speed and Sp. Atk
Utility Moveset
- Stealth Rock
- Surf
- Hidden Power Grass
- Icy Wind
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Don't skip the egg moves. Piplup picks up Agility and Aqua Ring only through breeding, and both fill gaps the natural movepool can't. STAB runs through Hydro Pump and Surf while Normal and Flying coverage and more adds range.
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 23 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It doesn’t like to be taken care of. It’s difficult to bond with since it won’t listen to its Trainer.
Piplup HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
Piplup isn't catchable in HeartGold & SoulSilver. Pick it as your starter in Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum, then trade it to HeartGold & SoulSilver.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Piplup has 314 BST and evolves into Prinplup. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Game Availability
Piplup first appeared in Diamond & Pearl and has been available in 12 games across 6 generations. Obtainable through catching or hatching as a base form in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB

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

Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS

Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG

FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DPDebut

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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