Is Shellder Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Fishing in Johto's coastal areas. Cloyster needs a Water Stone and hits hard physically with Ice-type attacks. Crystal's move tutor doesn't add much since Cloyster already learns what it needs. The Water Stone is the main gate.
Shellder resists most of Falkner's coverage and hits back hard.
Shellder has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Sabrina's typing presses Cloyster's defenses.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Cloyster resists most of Brock's coverage and hits back hard.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Shellder in New Bark Town (Good Rod fishing, Lv 20, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 20)
- LV 20IceAurora BeamPower 65Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- TM13NormalSnorePower 40Accuracy 100%PP 15Moomoo Farm
- After Pryce
- TM16IceIcy WindPower 55Accuracy 95%PP 15Prize for defeating Pryce
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- LV 49IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10
Evolve Shellder to Cloyster
Shellder evolves into Cloyster with a Water Stone. You can receive the Water Stone from an NPC in Route 42.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 25)
- LV 25IceAurora BeamPower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Bugsy
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Ecruteak City
- After Pryce
- TM16IceIcy WindPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 15Prize for defeating Pryce
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Lt. Surge
- TUTORIceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod City
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Prize for defeating Janine
How to Get Shellder in Crystal
Shellder is a Good Rod and Super Rod catch, 22 encounters across ten coastal towns and routes. You need a rod for every one of them, since it never surfaces by surfing or in grass.
Wild Shellder may be holding when caught:
Pearl (23% chance) A beautiful pearl. Sell low.
Big Pearl (2% chance) A big, beautiful pearl. Sell high.10 locations to catch Shellder
Encountered via fishing with a Rod
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Badge 8Where To Catch Shellder in C
Shellder is where the line starts, caught through fishing encounters at Lv. 20-40. The chain covers 1 catchable stage before reaching the final form.
- Step 1Shellder ✓New Bark TownLv.20Good RodRate 10%Olivine City - HarborLv.20Good RodRate 10%Route 41Lv.20Good RodRate 10%Cinnabar IslandLv.20Good RodRate 10%Pallet TownLv.20Good RodRate 10%Route 20Lv.20Good RodRate 10%Route 21Lv.20Good RodRate 10%Route 26Lv.20Good RodRate 10%Route 27Lv.20Good RodRate 10%Vermilion City - CityLv.20Good RodRate 10%Vermilion City - HarborLv.20Good RodRate 10%New Bark TownLv.40Super RodRate 30%Olivine City - HarborLv.40Super RodRate 30%Route 41Lv.40Super RodRate 30%Cinnabar IslandLv.40Super RodRate 30%Pallet TownLv.40Super RodRate 30%Route 20Lv.40Super RodRate 30%Route 21Lv.40Super RodRate 30%Route 26Lv.40Super RodRate 30%Route 27Lv.40Super RodRate 30%Vermilion City - CityLv.40Super RodRate 30%Vermilion City - HarborLv.40Super RodRate 30%
- Step 2Evolve into CloysterBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Shellder egg.
Bring the right balls: check Shellder catch odds in the Crystal Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
How to Get Shiny Shellder in Crystal
Shellder is fishing-only in Crystal: cast the Good or Super Rod at New Bark Town, Olivine, Route 41 or Cinnabar Island, with Super Rod pulls at level 40. Compare Shiny Shellder odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Shellder 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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Shellder in the Crystal Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Shellder Weakness
Type-wise, Shellder takes extra damage from Electric and Grass. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage. Shellder's physical bulk (base 100 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| 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
- Special stat split into Sp.Atk and Sp.Def
What is Shellder Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Shellder
 Magneton ElectricSteel | C | |
 Raikou Electric | S | |
 Jolteon Electric | A | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) | ||
 Electabuzz Electric | C | |
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Shellder View Vileplume builds →Petal Dance 2x216-255%KO | ||
 Electrode Electric | B | |
Obtain MethodTeam Rocket Hq Interact Encounter | ||
 Sunflora Grass | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Shellder View Sunflora builds →Petal Dance 2x207-244%KO | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
 Parasect BugGrass | C | |
 Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) | ||
 Tangela Grass | C | |
 Pichu Electric | D | |
Obtain MethodRoute 34 Gift | ||
 Skiploom Grass | C | |
Shellder Evolutions
Evolving Shellder into Cloyster takes an evolution item. It's not a simple level-up, so check the chain details below. Evolving adds up to 220 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Shellder easily with 13 breeding partners from the Water 3 egg group. Pass egg moves like Barrier, Bubble Beam, Rapid Spin and 2 more to offspring.
C Shellder Best Moveset
Pre-evolution of Cloyster, whose MoveSpikes and MoveExplosion define a top-tier competitive role. 65 Defense at this stage can't support any function. The value is entirely in the evolution.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Surf
- Icy Wind
- Explosion
- Clamp
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The egg pool carries weight here. Barrier and Bubble Beam aren't available any other way for Shellder, and they meaningfully change what it threatens. Stack those on top of Surf and Bubble Beam for solid options.
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
15 of 19 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Clamping on to an opponent reveals its vulnerable parts, so it uses this move only as a last resort.
Shellder Crystal Guide
Yes. Wild Shellder in Crystal can hold Pearl (23%) or Big Pearl (2%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Pearl.
In Crystal, Shellder does the job early-game if you need a Water type on your team. Evolve it into Cloyster before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
Game Availability
Shellder 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 Shellder.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List