Is Primeape Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Fast Fighting-type that helps against Whitney, Pryce, and Karen. Gold-only, so Silver players need to trade for one. Primeape is fragile but the speed usually means it connects before taking damage.
Mankey has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Mankey trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Mankey has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Mankey trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Mankey trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Primeape resists most of Jasmine's coverage and hits back hard.
Primeape resists most of Pryce's coverage and hits back hard.
Primeape trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Primeape has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Sabrina's team hits Primeape's weaknesses hard.
Primeape has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Primeape trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Primeape has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Primeape resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Primeape has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Primeape trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Primeape trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Primeape trades roughly evenly with Koga's team.
Primeape has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Primeape has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Primeape trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catch Mankey
Catch Mankey on Route 42 (walking, Lv 15, common).
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM48FireFire PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- TM33IceIce PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingDynamic PunchPower 150Accuracy 50%PP 5Prize for defeating Chuck
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- LV 39FightingCross ChopPower 150Accuracy 80%PP 5
- LV 51NormalThrashPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
Evolve Mankey to Primeape
Mankey evolves into Primeape at Level 28. Your Mankey should hit Level 28 before you reach Jasmine, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- TM48FireFire PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- TM33IceIce PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod Department Store
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingDynamic PunchPower 150Accuracy 50%PP 5Prize for defeating Chuck
- LV 45FightingCross ChopPower 150Accuracy 80%PP 5
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- LV 63NormalThrashPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
How to Get Primeape in Gold & Silver
A single rare Primeape on one Gold route, and nothing in Silver. Realistically you evolve a Mankey at level 28 instead, since betting on that one wild spawn rarely pays off.
1 location to catch Primeape2 locations to catch Mankey
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 8Catch Mankey at any of the 2 locations below, then level it up to 28 — it evolves into Primeape.
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7 Badge 8Where To Catch Primeape in GS
The only way to get Primeape during the story is evolving Mankey (Lv 28).
To plan your throws, open the Gold & Silver catch rate calculator with Primeape preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Primeape in Gold & Silver
Primeape hides in one narrow band of grass on Route 9, so pitch camp on that route and fight every one that shows until the shiny finally steps out. Compare Shiny Primeape odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Primeape Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breed w/ Shiny Parent: Eggs inherit stats from a shiny parent, so about 1 in 64 hatch shiny. A shiny Ditto helps every egg, and any other shiny parent (the red Gyarados works) helps only eggs of the opposite gender.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 7-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 19-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 45-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 147-- | -- |
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 Gold & Silver shiny odds calculator with Primeape already selected.
Primeape Weakness
Flying and Psychic moves hit Primeape for super-effective damage. Its Fighting typing keeps the defensive matchups simple. Primeape leans offensive (base 105 Atk) rather than trying to tank its weaknesses.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Flying, Psychic |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Bug, Rock, Dark |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
- Special stat split into Sp.Atk and Sp.Def
What is Primeape Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Primeape
 Lugia Psychic | S | |
Obtain MethodWhirl Islands Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Primeape View Lugia builds →Dream Eater 2x99-117%KO Aeroblast 2x111-131%KO | ||
 Kadabra Psychic | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Primeape View Kadabra builds →Future Sight 2x151-178%KO | ||
 Xatu Psychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Primeape View Xatu builds →Future Sight 2x124-147%KO Fly 2x69-81% | ||
 Scyther Bug | B | |
 Jynx IcePsychic | B | |
 Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing | ||
 Ho-Oh Fire | S | |
Obtain MethodTin Tower Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Primeape View Ho-Oh builds →Fly 2x107-127%KO Dream Eater 2x79-93% | ||
 Dragonite Dragon | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Dragonair (Dragons Den Super Rod) | ||
 Mr. Mime Psychic | C | |
Obtain MethodCeladon City Gift | ||
 Girafarig NormalPsychic | C | |
 Dodrio Normal | B | |
 Hypno Psychic | C | |
 Fearow Normal | C | |
 Golbat Poison | B | |
Primeape Evolutions
Primeape is the evolved form of Mankey. Breeding produces Mankey eggs, and they take an average time to hatch. Evolving from Mankey gave Primeape the biggest boost in HP (+25), bringing the total to 455 stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Primeape to get Mankey eggs easily using 66 partners from the Field egg group. Notable egg moves include Beat Up, Counter, Foresight and 3 more.
GS Primeape Best Moveset
105 Attack and 95 Speed power physical Fighting moves that finally have better targets with Dark types in the format. MoveEarthquake and MoveRock Slide add coverage. Held ItemLeftovers sustains through switches. Better matchups than before, though the frailty limits switch-in opportunities.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Cross Chop
- Rock Slide
- Body Slam
- Meditate
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Don't skip the egg moves. Primeape picks up Beat Up and Counter only through breeding, and both fill gaps the natural movepool can't. STAB runs through Cross Chop and Dynamic Punch while coverage across 8 types 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.
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
25 of 30 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
If approached while asleep, it may awaken and angrily give chase in a groggy state of semi-sleep.
It becomes wildly furious if it even senses someone looking at it. It chases anyone that meets its glare.
Primeape Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, Primeape has 455 BST, so weigh it against what your team already covers.
In Gold & Silver, use Primeape as a pivot. Physical side carries the damage. Speed is middling,
Game Availability
Primeape has been part of the series since Red & Blue, appearing in 20 titles across all 9 generations. As a Gen 1 original, it's one of the most consistently available Pokemon in the franchise.
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 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
Explore
Where to go next after Primeape.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List