Is Squirtle Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Third Kanto starter option from Oak after defeating Red. Blastoise at 36 brings reliable Water to the Battle Frontier. The physical/special split gives it both Surf and Waterfall. Post-Red timing limits it to postgame content.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Squirtle has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Morty's team.
Chuck's Pokemon outpace and outclass Squirtle here.
Squirtle has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Clair's typing presses Squirtle's defenses.
Squirtle has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Misty's typing presses Squirtle's defenses.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Erika's team hits Squirtle's weaknesses hard.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Janine's team.
Squirtle trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Blastoise resists most of Blaine's coverage and hits back hard.
Blastoise has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Blastoise has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Blastoise has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Blastoise has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Blastoise has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Blastoise has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Gift
Squirtle is given to you as a gift in Pallet Town at Lv 5. From Professor Oak after defeating Red. Receive from Professor Oak in Pallet Town after obtaining the National Pokedex.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner
- After Whitney
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a Kimono Girl in the Ecruteak Dance Theater
- LV 25WaterWater PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- LV 28WaterAqua TailPower 135Accuracy 90%PP 10
- LV 31NormalSkull BashPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Chuck
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Chuck
- After Pryce
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
- LV 40WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
Evolve Squirtle to Blastoise
Wartortle evolves into Blastoise at Level 36. Your Squirtle should hit Level 36 before you reach Blaine, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 36)
- LV 36WaterAqua TailPower 135Accuracy 90%PP 10
- 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 Chuck
- TM01FightingFocus PunchPower 150Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Chuck
- After Pryce
- TUTORWaterHydro CannonPower 225Accuracy 90%PP 5Blackthorn City
- HM07WaterWaterfallPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Item ball on Ice Path 1F
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 60WaterHydro PumpPower 180Accuracy 80%PP 5
How to Get Squirtle in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Squirtle rounds out Oak's three Kanto starters, given in Pallet Town once Red is beaten. The turtle has no wild encounters, so picking it sends Bulbasaur and Charmander away for that file.
1 location to catch Squirtle
Badge 8How to Obtain Squirtle in HGSS
How to Get Shiny Squirtle in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Squirtle rounds out Oak's Pallet Town starters, so breed it Masuda-style with a foreign-language parent for a shiny. Compare Shiny Squirtle odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Squirtle 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.
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 | 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 Squirtle in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Squirtle Weakness
Squirtle's Water typing leaves it vulnerable to Electric and Grass. 4 resistances help offset the weaknesses. Just 2 weak spots to worry about, which keeps teambuilding straightforward.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Grass |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Water, Ice, Steel |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Squirtle Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Squirtle
 Roserade GrassPoison | B | |
 Parasect BugGrass | C | |
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Silph Co Gift) | ||
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
 Tangrowth Grass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Squirtle View Tangrowth builds →Solar Beam 2x177-208%KO Shock Wave 2x59-70% | ||
 Victreebel GrassPoison | C | |
Available Move Moves
Damage vs Squirtle View Victreebel builds →Leaf Storm 2x191-225%KO | ||
 Venusaur GrassPoison | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Bulbasaur (Pallet Town Gift) | ||
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Shiftry GrassDark | C | |
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
 Raikou Electric | B | |
 Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
 Meganium Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (New Bark Town Gift) | ||
 Carnivine Grass | C | |
Squirtle Evolutions
Three stages ahead. Squirtle grows into Wartortle, then pushes on to Blastoise. Check the evolution methods below. For breeding, average hatch time with plenty of partners via two egg groups. The evolved forms gain up to 216 total stats over Squirtle. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Squirtle easily with 63 breeding partners from the Monster and Water 1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Aqua Jet, Aqua Ring, Fake Out and 10 more to offspring.
HGSS Squirtle Best Moveset
Defensive Water type with 65 Defense and 64 Sp. Def providing early-stage bulk. The moveset absorbs hits and responds with AbilityTorrent-boosted Water attacks when pressured. 43 Speed and 50 Sp. Atk limit what it accomplishes. Wartortle improves these numbers, but Blastoise is the real goal.
Best Build
Squirtle best EVs are Sp. Def and Sp. Atk
Bulky Support Moveset
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Aqua Jet
- Hydro Pump
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
The natural movepool does the job, but Aqua Jet and Aqua Ring from the egg pool give Squirtle 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
All 24 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
The shell is soft when it is born. It soon becomes so resilient, prodding fingers will bounce off it.
The shell, which hardens soon after it is born, is resilient. If you poke it, it will bounce back out.
Squirtle HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Squirtle has 314 BST and evolves into Wartortle. Compare the two forms before you give either one a team slot.
Yes. Squirtle is a post-game Pokemon. You need to defeat the Elite Four and enter the Hall of Fame first. Squirtle becomes available after the main story is complete in HeartGold & SoulSilver.
Game Availability
One of the original 151, Squirtle has appeared in 21 games: nearly every mainline game. From Red & Blue through the latest titles, it's rarely been left out of a regional Pokedex.
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
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