Is Relicanth Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Wild encounter in various waterways. Water/Rock with AbilitySwift Swim in rain. Ancient Pokemon with decent physical bulk. A niche option for collectors more than competitors.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Relicanth resists most of Bugsy's coverage and hits back hard.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Relicanth's weaknesses hard.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Lt. Surge's team.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Sabrina's team hits Relicanth's weaknesses hard.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Relicanth trades roughly evenly with Karen's team.
Relicanth has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Relicanth on Route 12 (Old Rod fishing, Lv 10, rare). Swarm.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- After Pryce
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 50NormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 57WaterDivePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 71WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
- LV 78RockHead SmashPower 225Accuracy 80%PP 5
HeartGold & SoulSilver Relicanth Locations
Easy grab on Relicanth with high spawn rates across 3 locations in post-game fishing spots. The sorted list below shows the full spread so you can pick the most convenient spot.
Wild Relicanth may be holding when caught:
Deep Sea Scale (5% chance) An item to be held by CLAMPERL. A scale that shines a faint pink, it raises the Sp. Def stat.1 location to catch Relicanth
Encountered via fishing with a Rod
Badge 8Best Locations to Catch Relicanth in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Bring Old Rod, Good Rod, and Super Rod for Relicanth. There are 3 fishing encounters from Lv. 10-40 with no walking alternatives. Pick the spot with the best rate and settle in.
How to Get Shiny Relicanth in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Relicanth surfaces around Route 12, so breed it Masuda-style with a foreign parent at 1 in 1,638. Compare Shiny Relicanth odds across every game
Shiny Relicanth Evolution
Does Not EvolveHeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Relicanth Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Masuda Method, about 1 in 1,639 on each try.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 173-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 472-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 1,136-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 3,773-- | -- |
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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Relicanth in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Relicanth Weakness
Grass, Electric, Fighting, and Ground moves hit Relicanth for super-effective damage. Grass hits land at 4x, so they're the biggest threat. It resists 5 types, giving it decent defensive coverage. Relicanth's physical bulk (base 130 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 4x (Critical) | Grass |
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Fighting, Ground |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Normal, Ice, Poison, Flying |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Fire |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Relicanth Weak Against
VulnerableBest Pokemon Against Relicanth
 Tangrowth Grass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Tangrowth builds →Solar Beam 4x237-279%KO Earthquake 2x34-41% Focus Blast 2x79-93% Shock Wave 2x40-47% | ||
 Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Silph Co Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Sceptile builds →Leaf Storm 4x266-314%KO Focus Punch 2x45-53% Earthquake 2x30-36% | ||
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Cacturne builds →Solar Beam 4x247-291%KO Focus Punch 2x58-68% | ||
 Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Breloom builds →Seed Bomb 4x106-124%KO Focus Punch 2x97-115%KO | ||
 Venusaur GrassPoison | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Bulbasaur (Pallet Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Venusaur builds →Solar Beam 4x220-259%KO Earthquake 2x29-35% Rock Smash 2x12-15% | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Victreebel builds →Leaf Storm 4x256-301%KO | ||
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Vileplume builds →Solar Beam 4x237-279%KO Drain Punch 2x17-21% | ||
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Shiftry builds →Leaf Storm 4x235-276%KO Dig 2x28-33% Focus Blast 2x67-79% | ||
 Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Meganium builds →Solar Beam 4x188-222%KO Earthquake 2x29-35% Rock Smash 2x12-15% | ||
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Ludicolo builds →Solar Beam 4x201-237%KO Focus Punch 2x39-46% | ||
 Toxicroak PoisonFighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Toxicroak builds →Focus Punch 2x81-96% Earthquake 2x37-43% | ||
 Cradily RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Lileep (Pewter City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Relicanth View Cradily builds →Solar Beam 4x186-219%KO Earthquake 2x29-35% Rock Smash 2x12-15% | ||
 Carnivine Grass | C | |
Relicanth Evolutions
What you see is what you get. Relicanth sits outside any evolution chain, so focus on the egg moves and plenty of partners from two egg groups. Eggs take forever to hatch. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Relicanth with 69 breeding partners from the Water 1 and Water 2 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Amnesia, Aqua Tail, Magnitude and 7 more to offspring.
HGSS Relicanth Best Moveset
Water/Rock at 130 Defense and 90 Attack with AbilityRock Head removing recoil from MoveHead Smash and MoveDouble-Edge. The moveset fires powerful recoil-free physical attacks while tanking physical hits. 55 Speed and 65 Sp. Def are the weak spots.
Best Build
Relicanth best EVs are Defense and Attack
Bulky Support Moveset
- Head Smash
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Double Edge
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Don't skip the egg moves. Relicanth picks up Amnesia and Aqua Tail only through breeding, and both fill gaps the natural movepool can't. STAB runs through Head Smash and Hydro Pump while Normal and Ice coverage and more 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. 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 23 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Discovered by chance during deep-sea explorations, it has not changed since ancient times.
Relicanth HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
Yes. Wild Relicanth in HeartGold & SoulSilver can hold Deep Sea Scale (5%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Deep Sea Scale.
Yes. Relicanth is a post-game Pokemon. You need to defeat the Elite Four and enter the Hall of Fame first. Relicanth becomes available after the main story is complete in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, use Relicanth as a balanced. Physical side carries the damage. Not the fastest, Waterfall is the primary attack.
For HeartGold & SoulSilver, run Adamant on Relicanth. +Attack is what matters, and the -Sp. Atk cut doesn't hurt this set. Fits the balanced role.
Game Availability
Relicanth first appeared in Ruby & Sapphire and has been available in 14 games across 7 generations. Obtainable through wild encounters in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RSDebut
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
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