Is Porygon2 Good in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Playthrough?
Up-Grade trade from Porygon. AbilityDownload boosts the right offensive stat, and AbilityTrace copies the opponent's ability. Bulkier than Porygon-Z but less explosive. Good for story battles where survival matters.
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.
Porygon2 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 Porygon2 in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
Porygon2 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 Porygon2 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 2Porygon2 ✓
Step 3Evolve into Porygon-Z
Porygon2 Weakness
Fighting moves hit Porygon2 for super-effective damage. The upside? Ghost-type moves can't touch it at all. With 85 HP and balanced defenses, Porygon2 can afford to eat a neutral hit or two.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fighting |
| 0x (Immune) | Ghost |
What is Porygon2 Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Porygon2
 Machop Fighting | C | |
Machop Fighting | C | |
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Lucario's Close Combat hits Porygon2 for 64-75%.
A | ||
Recommended Build AbilityIron Barbs ItemLeftovers NatureImpish Moves
Damage vs Porygon2 View Ferrothorn builds →Knock Off6-7% | ||
 Lucario FightingSteel | B | |
Recommended Build AbilityInnerfocus ItemLife Orb NatureJolly Moves
Damage vs Porygon2 View Lucario builds →Extreme Speed14-17% Close Combat 2x64-75% Aura Sphere 2x43-51% | ||
Porygon2 Evolutions
Porygon2 connects Porygon to Porygon Z in this chain. At least one evolution here needs a trade. So far, HP got the biggest boost (+20 from Porygon). The final form adds another 20 stats on top. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Porygon2 is genderless — breed with Ditto to produce Porygon eggs. Part of the Mineral egg group.
Ditto onlyBDSP Porygon2 Best Moveset
Rose from C-tier to B thanks to Held ItemEviolite boosting both defenses by 50% while unevolved. AbilityDownload raises the stronger offensive stat based on the opponent's weaker defense. 85/90/95 defensive stats behind Held ItemEviolite plus 105 Sp. Atk give the moveset serious bulk and special offense. A tool that didn't exist in the original Gen 4.
Best Build
Porygon2 best EVs are HP and Defense
Wall Moveset
- Recover
- Trick Room
- Teleport
- Ice Beam
Moves List
The level-up pool tells the story here. Porygon2 learns Zap Cannon and Hyper Beam naturally, plus enough variety that TMs feel like bonuses. Coverage across 8 types extends the reach beyond that.
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
With planetary development software installed, it became capable of working in space.
Porygon2 Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Guide
At 515 BST, Porygon2 is firmly in pre-evolution territory. Evolve it into Porygon-Z before bringing it to any serious fight.
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, watch for Hitmonlee (Fighting) when using Porygon2. They all hit it super-effectively with STAB. Only 1 weakness means fewer dedicated counters to worry about.
No. Porygon2 only evolves into Porygon-Z 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 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.
Trace copies an opponent's ability upon entering battle. That's the one you want on Porygon2. Analytic is the hidden ability. Niche, but it has its uses. Download works too if your team needs something different.
Porygon2 is a special attacker with base 105 Sp. Atk. Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. At base 60 Speed, it won't be moving first often. Fits the support role.
Game Availability
Since Gold & Silver, Porygon2 has been in 19 games. Requiring a trade evolution to obtain means it's consistently available but requires more effort than simply catching it in the wild.
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 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