Is Snivy Good in Black & White Playthrough?
The Grass starter. AbilityOvergrow boosts Grass at low HP. Snivy has the hardest time of the three starters. Bad matchups against Burgh, Elesa, Skyla, Brycen, and Drayden leave only Clay as a comfortable win. Serperior is fast but offensively weak. The defensive Grass starter for players who like a challenge.
Snivy trades roughly evenly with Cilan's team.
Chili's team hits Snivy's weaknesses hard.
Snivy has the type edge here and should clean up Cress's team.
Servine trades roughly evenly with Lenora's team.
Servine trades roughly evenly with Burgh's team.
Elesa's team hits Servine's weaknesses hard.
Servine has the type edge here and should clean up Clay's team.
Skyla's team hits Servine's weaknesses hard.
Serperior trades roughly evenly with Brycen's team.
Drayden's typing presses Serperior's defenses.
Serperior trades roughly evenly with Shauntal's team.
Serperior trades roughly evenly with Grimsley's team.
Serperior trades roughly evenly with Caitlin's team.
Serperior trades roughly evenly with Marshal's team.
Alder's team hits Serperior's weaknesses hard.
Starter
Snivy is available as a starter at Lv 5.
Evolve Snivy to Servine
Snivy evolves into Servine at Level 17. Your Snivy should hit Level 17 before you reach Lenora, at typical leveling pace.
Evolve Servine to Serperior
Servine evolves into Serperior at Level 36. Your Servine should hit Level 36 before you reach Brycen, at typical leveling pace.
How to Get Snivy in Black & White
Snivy starts journeys rather than wandering any route. Professor Juniper holds one at level 5 in Nuvema Town for either version, and picking a different starter locks it away for the whole run.
How to Obtain Snivy in BW
- Step 3Evolve into Serperior
How to Get Shiny Snivy in Black & White
Snivy hands you one starter in Nuvema Town, but the shiny route is the Day Care: breed it with a foreign-language Ditto for shiny eggs. Compare Shiny Snivy odds across every game
Black & White Shiny Snivy Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Masuda Method, about 1 in 1,366 on each try.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
Soft Reset: Save in front of a static, gift, or legendary encounter, then reset until it sparkles.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters |
|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 144 |
| 25%one in four | 393 |
| 50%coin flip | 947 |
| 90%very likely | 3,145 |
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.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in Black & White with Snivy preloaded.
Snivy Weakness
Snivy's Grass typing leaves it vulnerable to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Water, Electric, Grass, Ground |
Snivy Evolutions
Snivy is the start of a three-stage chain. It evolves into Servine first, then eventually reaches Serperior. For breeding, average hatch time with a massive partner pool via two egg groups. The evolved forms gain up to 220 total stats over Snivy. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Snivy easily with 181 breeding partners from the Field and Grass egg groups. Pass egg moves like Captivate, Glare, Iron Tail and 7 more to offspring.
BW Snivy Best Moveset
Grass pre-evolution with AbilityContrary as a hidden ability reversing all stat changes. MoveLeaf Storm at 130 base power boosts Sp. Atk instead of dropping it through Contrary. The moveset previews Serperior's escalating power. 63 Speed and 45 Sp. Atk can't use it yet.
Best Build
Snivy best EVs are HP and Sp. Def
Wall Moveset
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis
- Return
- Protect
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The natural movepool does the job, but Captivate and Glare from the egg pool give Snivy something extra.
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
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It is very intelligent and calm. Being exposed to lots of sunlight makes its movements swifter.
They photosynthesize by bathing their tails in sunlight. When they are not feeling well, their tails droop.
Snivy Event Distributions
In Black & White, Snivy has been offered just once as a Mystery Gift event Pokemon.
Pokemon Center Tohoku GiftDec 2011BlackWhiteBlack 2White 2Not shiny
Snivy Black & White Guide
In Black & White, Snivy does the job early-game if you need a Grass type on your team. Evolve it into Servine before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
Game Availability
Introduced in Black & White, Snivy has appeared in 7 games across 5 generations. Later debuts mean fewer total appearances, but it's been a consistent presence since its introduction.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
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 5BWDebut
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 Snivy.
Keep playing · Black & WhiteBlack & White Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Black & White Tier List