Is Porygon-Z Good in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Playthrough?
Dubious Disc trade from Porygon2 (which requires Up-Grade trade from Porygon). Two trade evolutions deep. AbilityAdaptability doubles Normal-type damage. 135 Sp. Atk with Hyper Beam nukes anything. High maintenance, high reward.
Roark's typing presses Porygon's defenses.
Porygon trades roughly evenly with Gardenia's team.
Maylene's team hits Porygon's weaknesses hard.
Porygon trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Fantina's typing presses Porygon's defenses.
Byron's typing presses Porygon's defenses.
Porygon trades roughly evenly with Candice's team.
Porygon trades roughly evenly with Volkner's team.
Porygon trades roughly evenly with Aaron's team.
Porygon trades roughly evenly with Bertha's team.
Flint's team hits Porygon's weaknesses hard.
Lucian's team hits Porygon's weaknesses hard.
Cynthia's team hits Porygon's weaknesses hard.
Porygon Z 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.
How to Get Porygon-Z in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
Porygon-Z can't be caught in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. Transfer Porygon from Red & Blue, Yellow, or Scarlet & Violet and evolve through the 3-stage chain to get it. The step cards below map the full chain.
How to Obtain Porygon-Z in BDSP
Step 1Obtain PorygonCARTRIDGE TRADEfrom Legends: ArceusAvailableCatch in Legends: Arceus via Walking · Space-Time Distortion, then trade to the current game via link cable.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Red & BlueNot TradeableAppears in Red & Blue via Gift · Celadon City · 9,999 Coins. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom YellowNot TradeableAppears in Yellow via Gift · Celadon City · 9,999 Coins. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Gold & SilverNot TradeableAppears in Gold & Silver via Gift · Celadon City · 9,999 Coins. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom CrystalNot TradeableAppears in Crystal via Gift · Celadon City · 5,555 Coins. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom FireRed & LeafGreenNot TradeableAppears in FireRed & LeafGreen via Gift · Celadon City · 9,999 Coins. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Diamond & PearlNot TradeableAppears in Diamond & Pearl via Walking · Trophy Garden. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.
Step 2Evolve into Porygon2
Step 3Porygon-Z ✓
Porygon-Z Weakness
Type-wise, Porygon Z takes extra damage from Fighting. Ghost moves do nothing thanks to a full immunity. With 85 HP and balanced defenses, Porygon Z can afford to eat a neutral hit or two.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fighting |
| 0x (Immune) | Ghost |
What is Porygon Z Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Porygon-Z
 Machop Fighting | C | |
Machop Fighting | C | |
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Conkeldurr can KO Porygon Z with Drain Punch (123-145%).
 Conkeldurr Fighting | B | |
Recommended Build AbilityGuts ItemFlame Orb NatureAdamant Moves
Damage vs Porygon Z View Conkeldurr builds →Mach Punch 2x66-78% Drain Punch 2x123-145%KO Knock Off36-42% Facade38-45% | ||
Porygon-Z Evolutions
Porygon Z doesn't evolve through normal leveling. You'll need a trade to get here from Porygon's line. Breed this form to get Porygon eggs (average hatch time). Evolving from Porygon gave Porygon Z the biggest boost in Sp.Atk (+50), bringing the total to 535 stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Porygon-Z is genderless — breed with Ditto to produce Porygon eggs. Part of the Mineral egg group.
Ditto onlyBDSP Porygon-Z Best Moveset
135 Sp. Atk with AbilityAdaptability doubling the TermStab bonus from 50% to 100% behind Normal TermStab. The doubled bonus gives Normal special attacks power that few types can match per hit. AbilityDownload from the secondary slot boosts the stronger offensive stat. Dropped from A-tier to B because 85/70/75 bulk at 90 Speed is exploitable.
Best Build
Porygon-Z best EVs are Sp. Atk and Speed
Special Sweeper Moveset
- Tri Attack
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Porygon Z develops a solid moveset just through leveling. Zap Cannon and Hyper Beam show up naturally, and the progression handles both STAB and utility without leaning on TMs for the core attacks.
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
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Additional software was installed to make it an even better Pokémon. It began acting oddly, however.
Porygon-Z Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Guide
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Don't let Porygon-Z's 535 base stat total fool you. Adaptability is what makes it tick. It punches way above its weight class. We rate it B-Tier as a wallbreaker. Triattack with Choice Specs is the standard set.
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Porygon-Z's biggest threats include Blaziken (Fighting), all carrying super-effective STAB moves. Only 1 weakness means fewer dedicated counters to worry about.
Porygon-Z is obtained by trade-evolving Porygon2. Catch or evolve a Porygon2 first, then trade. Trade needs a Game Boy Advance link cable and a second GBA running another Gen 3 game (FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald). Trade Porygon2 to a friend, then have them trade it back. The 2026 Switch re-release supports the same trade through local wireless on the Pokemon Center 2F Wireless Club, with no cables required. The Dubious Disc must be held during the trade. Bring one over from a sibling Gen 3 game if needed.
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Run Adaptability on Porygon-Z. It's the ability that defines how you build around it and the main reason it holds a competitive niche. Porygon-Z also gets Download and Analytic, but they don't compare.
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Porygon-Z fills the wallbreaker role. It's a special attacker with base 135 Sp. Atk. Base 90 Speed is workable. Faster than some, slower than many. And it's enough bulk to take a hit or two.
Game Availability
Porygon Z has been available in 14 games since Diamond & Pearl, though obtaining it requires a trade evolution. This extra step makes it less common than Pokemon found through standard wild encounters.
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 7LGPE
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