
Is Shellder Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
Not native to Hoenn. Trade from FireRed or LeafGreen. Cloyster gains AbilityShell Armor in Gen 3, blocking critical hits. The massive Defense and Ice attacks are still there. Trade-only but Cloyster is one of the stronger Ice options if imported for Drake.
Roxanne's typing presses Shellder's defenses.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Brawly's team.
Wattson's Pokemon outpace and outclass Shellder here.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Flannery's team.
Norman's typing presses Shellder's defenses.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Winona's team.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Tate & Liza's team.
Wallace's typing presses Shellder's defenses.
Sidney's team hits Shellder's weaknesses hard.
Phoebe's typing presses Shellder's defenses.
Glacia's typing presses Shellder's defenses.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Shellder trades roughly evenly with Steven's team.
Trade
Shellder 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.
Recommended Moves
- LV 17IceAurora BeamPower 65Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Wattson
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- After Norman
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Petalburg City
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Winona
- HM08WaterDivePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Mossdeep City
- After Wallace
- TM03WaterWater PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Wallace
- LV 49IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10
How to Get Shellder in Ruby & Sapphire
Clamperl and others take the shelled-water niche in Hoenn, leaving Shellder off the map. You will need to trade one in for the Cloyster line.
How to Obtain Shellder in RS
Step 1Shellder ✓LATER APPEARANCEfrom Red & BlueNot TradeableAppears in Red & Blue via Super rod · Route 11. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom YellowNot TradeableAppears in Yellow via Super rod · Route 18. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Gold & SilverNot TradeableAppears in Gold & Silver via Super rod · Route 26. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.
Step 2Evolve into Cloyster
How to Get Shiny Shellder in Ruby & Sapphire
Shellder never washes up in Hoenn, so fish a shiny off Pallet Town's shore in FireRed and trade it home. See every game where Shiny Shellder can be hunted
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
What is Shellder Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Shellder
Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Route 101 Gift) | ||
Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
Roselia GrassPoison | C | |
Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
Magneton ElectricSteel | A | |
Tropius Grass | C | |
Breloom GrassFighting | B | |
Cradily RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Lileep (Rustboro City Gift) | ||
Manectric Electric | C | |
Pikachu Electric | C | |
Plusle Electric | C | |
Electrode Electric | B | |
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 19 breeding partners from the Water 3 egg group. Pass egg moves like Barrier, Bubble Beam, Icicle Spear and 3 more to offspring.
RS Shellder Best Moveset
Pre-evolution heading toward Cloyster's MoveSpikes and MoveExplosion role. AbilityShell Armor prevents critical hits, a modest defensive perk. No competitive value at this stage.
Best Build
Shellder best EVs are HP and Defense
Bulky Support Moveset
- Explosion
- Surf
- Rapid Spin
- Icy Wind
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 Dive 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. 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 17 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
At night, this POKéMON uses its broad tongue to burrow a hole in the seafloor sand and then sleep in it. While it is sleeping, SHELLDER closes its shell, but leaves its tongue hanging out.
Shellder Ruby & Sapphire Guide
No. Shellder isn't catchable in Ruby & Sapphire. Catch one in FireRed, then trade it over.
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.
