Is Porygon Good in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Playthrough?
Trophy Garden or Underground. Porygon-Z via Dubious Disc trade is a special attacking nuke, but requires two trade evolutions. AbilityDownload boosts whichever offensive stat the opponent is weaker in. 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 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 in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
Porygon isn't available in the wild in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. Start by transferring Porygon from Red & Blue, Yellow, or Scarlet & Violet. The evolution path from Porygon to Porygon is covered in the steps below.
How to Obtain Porygon in BDSP
Step 1Porygon ✓CARTRIDGE 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 3Evolve into Porygon-Z
Porygon Weakness
Fighting moves hit Porygon for super-effective damage. The upside? Ghost-type moves can't touch it at all. Porygon's Normal typing only leaves 1 gap to cover.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fighting |
| 0x (Immune) | Ghost |
What is Porygon Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Porygon
 Machop Fighting | C | |
Machop Fighting | C | |
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Lucario can KO Porygon with Close Combat (122-143%).
 Lucario FightingSteel | B | |
Recommended Build AbilityInnerfocus ItemLife Orb NatureJolly Moves
Damage vs Porygon View Lucario builds →Extreme Speed27-32% Close Combat 2x122-143%KO Aura Sphere 2x40-48% | ||
Porygon Evolutions
To get Porygon2 from Porygon, you need a trade. The evolution method matters here. The evolved forms gain up to 140 total stats over Porygon. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Porygon is genderless and can only breed with Ditto. Part of the Mineral egg group.
Ditto onlyBDSP Porygon Best Moveset
AbilityDownload boosts the stronger offensive stat based on the opponent's weaker defense, and hidden AbilityAnalytic boosts damage when moving last. 85 Sp. Atk at 40 Speed gives the moveset special presence. Two evolutions through Porygon2 (defensive with Held ItemEviolite) or Porygon-Z (offensive with 135 Sp. Atk).
Best Build
Porygon best EVs are HP and Sp. Def
Wall Moveset
- Toxic
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Teleport
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The level-up pool is slim, so TMs matter here. Porygon's coverage across 8 types all comes from technical machines, built on top of Giga Impact and Hyper Beam for same-type damage. Zap Cannon and Blizzard are the payoff moves.
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
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Porygon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Guide
At 395 BST, Porygon is firmly in pre-evolution territory. Evolve it into Porygon2 before bringing it to any serious fight.
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, watch for Hitmonlee (Fighting) when using Porygon. They all hit it super-effectively with STAB. Only 1 weakness means fewer dedicated counters to worry about. At base 40 Speed, Porygon won't outrun any of these threats so switching to a resist is usually the safer play.
No. Porygon only evolves into Porygon2 through a real trade. There is no in-game alternative in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. Trade needs a Game Boy Advance link cable and a second GBA running another Gen 3 game (FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald). Trade Porygon 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 Upgrade must be held during the trade. Bring one over from a sibling Gen 3 game if needed.
Trace copies an opponent's ability upon entering battle. That's the one you want on Porygon. Analytic is the hidden ability. Niche, but it has its uses. Download works too if your team needs something different.
Porygon is leaning toward the special side (base 85 Sp. Atk). Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. Base 40 Speed is low. Priority moves or Trick Room are the way to go. Fits the support role.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Porygon appears in 22 games spanning 10 generations. Gen 1 originals like Porygon have the longest track record of availability in the series.
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 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