
Is Slugma Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Kanto Route 16 and 17, postgame only. Fire/Rock typing creates a brutal 4x Water weakness. Magcargo's stats don't compensate. Crystal needed Fire coverage during Johto, and Slugma shows up two regions too late.
Slugma has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Slugma resists most of Bugsy's coverage and hits back hard.
Slugma trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Slugma trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Slugma's weaknesses hard.
Slugma trades roughly evenly with Jasmine's team.
Slugma trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Clair's Pokemon outpace and outclass Slugma here.
Slugma trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Sabrina's typing presses Slugma's defenses.
Slugma has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Slugma trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Misty's team hits Magcargo's weaknesses hard.
Brock's team hits Magcargo's weaknesses hard.
Magcargo has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Magcargo trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Magcargo has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Magcargo resists most of Koga's coverage and hits back hard.
Bruno's team hits Magcargo's weaknesses hard.
Magcargo has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Magcargo trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Slugma on Route 16 (walking, Lv 29, rare).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 29)
- LV 29FireEmberPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- LV 29RockRock ThrowPower 50Accuracy 90%PP 15
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Whitney
- TM13NormalSnorePower 40Accuracy 100%PP 15Moomoo Farm
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- LV 36FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 43RockRock SlidePower 75Accuracy 90%PP 10
- LV 50NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15
Evolve Slugma to Magcargo
Slugma evolves into Magcargo at Level 38. Your Slugma should hit Level 38 before you reach Misty, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 38)
- LV 38FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 38RockRock ThrowPower 75Accuracy 90%PP 15
- After Bugsy
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- LV 48RockRock SlidePower 113Accuracy 90%PP 10
- LV 60NormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15
How to Get Slugma in Crystal
Slugma sticks to the Kanto Cycling Road routes, common on Route 17 by day and rare on the two beside it. Daylight is the only time it crawls out.
3 locations to catch Slugma
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Where To Catch Slugma in C
Slugma is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking encounters from Lv. 29-32 across 3 total spots in the chain.
Step 2Evolve into MagcargoBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Slugma egg.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Crystal for Slugma.
How to Get Shiny Slugma in Crystal
Slugma oozes along Kanto's Route 17 by day as a common find at levels 29 to 32, while Route 16 and Route 18 hold it only as a rare crawl. Compare Shiny Slugma odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Slugma 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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Crystal shiny odds for Slugma.
Slugma Weakness
Type-wise, Slugma takes extra damage from Water, Ground, and Rock. The Fire typing picks up 5 resistances to work with. Not too many gaps in the chart, 3 weaknesses to account for.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Ground, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Grass, Ice, Bug, 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 Slugma Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Slugma
Marowak Ground | B | |
Vaporeon Water | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Vaporeon builds →Hydro Pump 2x258-304%KO Mud-Slap 2x20-24% | ||
Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Rhydon builds →Earthquake 2x249-293%KO Rollout 2x76-90% Surf 2x68-81% | ||
Suicune Water | B | |
Obtain MethodTin Tower Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Suicune builds →Surf 2x174-205%KO Dig 2x63-75% | ||
Tyranitar RockDark | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Tyranitar builds →Rock Slide 2x193-227%KO Earthquake 2x170-200%KO Surf 2x121-143%KO | ||
Donphan Ground | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Donphan builds →Earthquake 2x232-274%KO Rollout 2x47-56% | ||
Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Slowbro builds →Surf 2x189-223%KO Earthquake 2x104-124%KO | ||
Azumarill Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Azurill (Mt Mortar Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Azumarill builds →Surf 2x127-150%KO Rollout 2x25-29% Mud-Slap 2x17-21% | ||
Golduck Water | C | |
Obtain MethodIlex Forest Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Golduck builds →Hydro Pump 2x229-269%KO Dig 2x68-81% | ||
Quagsire WaterGround | B | |
Obtain MethodRoute 32 Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Quagsire builds →Earthquake 2x174-205%KO Surf 2x135-159%KO Rollout 2x36-43% | ||
Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter | ||
Feraligatr Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Feraligatr builds →Hydro Pump 2x196-232%KO Earthquake 2x138-163%KO | ||
Sandslash Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Slugma View Sandslash builds →Earthquake 2x199-234%KO Rollout 2x41-49% | ||
Dewgong WaterIce | C | |
Slugma Evolutions
Slugma is the base form in a two-stage line leading to Magcargo. Check the evolution method below. A small partner pool for breeding via one egg group. 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 Slugma easily with 11 breeding partners from the Amorphous egg group. Pass egg moves like Acid Armor to offspring.
C Slugma Best Moveset
Fire pre-evolution. Stats too low for any format. Magcargo adds Rock typing and modest improvement, though the 4x Water and Ground weaknesses make both stages hostile to compete.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Fire Blast
- Fire Blast
- Curse
- Frustration
Moves List
Most of Slugma's flexibility comes from TMs. Same-type output runs through Fire Blast and Flamethrower, but Poison and Rock and the rest of the TM pool push it from predictable to genuinely threatening.
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
These group together in areas that are hotter than normal. If it cools off, its skin hardens.
Slugma Crystal Guide
In Crystal, Slugma has 250 BST and evolves into Magcargo. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Yes. Slugma is not available during the main story. It can only be obtained after entering the Hall of Fame. Slugma becomes available after the main story is complete in Crystal.
Game Availability
Debuting in Gold & Silver, Slugma appears in 16 games across 8 generations. A reliable presence in most mainline games, typically found through catching or hatching as a base form.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB

Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GSDebut

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 Slugma.
