Is Psyduck Good in Emerald Playthrough?
Wild catch in Emerald. AbilityDamp prevents Explosion, situational but occasionally clutch. Psyduck evolves into Golduck at 33 for decent Water Special. Handles Flannery without trouble. Overlaps with Wallace's Champion typing but contributes through mid-game fine.
Psyduck has the type edge here and should clean up Roxanne's team.
Psyduck has the type edge here and should clean up Brawly's team.
Wattson's team hits Psyduck's weaknesses hard.
Psyduck has the type edge here and should clean up Flannery's team.
Psyduck trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Psyduck trades roughly evenly with Winona's team.
Golduck has the type edge here and should clean up Tate & Liza's team.
Golduck trades roughly evenly with Juan's team.
Golduck trades roughly evenly with Sidney's team.
Golduck has the type edge here and should clean up Phoebe's team.
Golduck trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Golduck trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Wallace's team hits Golduck's weaknesses hard.
Catchable
Catch Psyduck in the Safari Zone (Surf, Lv 20-35, common). Safari Zone: 500 entry fee, 30 Safari Balls, 500-step limit.
Recommended Moves
- After Brawly
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Mauville Game Corner
- After Norman
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Given by Wally's father at Wally's house in Petalburg City after you defeat Norman
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 115
- After Tate & Liza
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Given by Wallace in Sootopolis City
- HM08WaterDivePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Given by Steven Stone in his house in Mossdeep City
- TUTORNormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Sootopolis City
- LV 50WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TUTORNormalMega KickPower 120Accuracy 75%PP 5Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalMega PunchPower 80Accuracy 85%PP 20Battle Frontier
- TUTORIceIce PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Battle Frontier
Evolve Psyduck to Golduck
Psyduck evolves into Golduck at Level 33. Your Psyduck should hit Level 33 before you reach Tate & Liza, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Brawly
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Mauville Game Corner
- After Norman
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Given by Wally's father at Wally's house in Petalburg City after you defeat Norman
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 115
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- After Tate & Liza
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Given by Wallace in Sootopolis City
- TUTORNormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Sootopolis City
- TM04PsychicCalm MindPower —Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Tate & Liza
- LV 58WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TUTORNormalMega KickPower 120Accuracy 75%PP 5Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalMega PunchPower 80Accuracy 85%PP 20Battle Frontier
- TUTORIceIce PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Battle Frontier
How to Get Psyduck in Emerald
Psyduck swims the Safari Zone water, common while surfing around levels 20 to 35. That pond is its only home in Emerald, so the 500-step Safari limit is the real catch window.
1 location to catch Psyduck
Encountered via Surfing
Badge 6Where To Catch Psyduck in E
Psyduck is where the line starts, caught through surfing encounters at Lv. 20-35. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into Golduckor evolve from Psyduck (Step 1)
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Emerald for Psyduck.
How to Get Shiny Psyduck in Emerald
Psyduck paddles the water inside the Safari Zone, so grab a Pokemon and Surf across those ponds, tapping through every splash you trigger and watching for the odd blue duck to break the surface shining. Compare Shiny Psyduck odds across every game
Emerald Shiny Psyduck Calculator
2 MethodsBoth methods here share the same odds, about 1 in 8,192 on each try. Pick whichever fits how you play.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breeding: Hatch eggs of this line; each egg rolls at the base shiny rate (no Masuda before Gen IV).
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 864-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 2,357-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 5,678-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 18,862-- | -- |
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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Emerald shiny odds for Psyduck.
Psyduck Weakness
Type-wise, Psyduck takes extra damage from Electric and Grass. 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 |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Psyduck Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Psyduck
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Route 101 Gift) | ||
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
 Sunflora Grass | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (Littleroot Town Gift) | ||
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
 Ampharos Electric | C | |
 Magneton ElectricSteel | A | |
 Tropius Grass | C | |
 Breloom GrassFighting | B | |
 Manectric Electric | C | |
 Cradily RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Lileep (Rustboro City Gift) | ||
 Pikachu Electric | C | |
Psyduck Evolutions
Psyduck evolves into Golduck. It's a two-stage chain with the method shown below. A massive partner pool for breeding via two egg groups. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Evolving adds up to 180 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Psyduck easily with 102 breeding partners from the Field and Water 1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Cross Chop, Foresight, Future Sight and 5 more to offspring.
E Psyduck Best Moveset
Water pre-evolution with AbilityCloud Nine canceling all weather while active. 65 Sp. Atk hints at Golduck's offensive role, but 55 Speed means going last against most competitive targets. Golduck fixes the Speed.
Best Build
Psyduck best EVs are HP and Sp. Atk
Special Tank Moveset
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding's the move. Cross Chop and Foresight give Psyduck options it can't learn any other way, and coverage across 7 types already covers a decent range on top of Hydro Pump and Surf. The egg moves push it further.
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 27 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
When its headache intensifies, it starts using strange powers. However, it has no recollection of its powers, so it always looks befuddled and bewildered.
Psyduck Emerald Guide
- How do I catch Psyduck in the Emerald Safari Zone?
See the Locations section above for where to find Psyduck in Emerald.
Safari rules: You can only use Safari Balls. No battling. Two tactical items shift the catch/flee trade-off:
- Throw bait to keep Psyduck from fleeing (flee rate cut to 1/4) but it becomes harder to catch (catch factor halved).
- Throw a rock to make Psyduck easier to catch (catch factor doubled) but it flees twice as often.
- Each effect lasts 2-6 random turns; throwing one cancels the other.
In Emerald, Psyduck does the job early-game if you need a Water type on your team. Evolve it into Golduck before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
Game Availability
Psyduck has been part of the series since Red & Blue, appearing in 21 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 Psyduck.
Keep playing · EmeraldEmerald Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Emerald Tier List