Is Swablu Good in Diamond & Pearl Playthrough?
Transfer-only Normal/Flying from Hoenn. Altaria at 35 becomes Dragon/Flying. AbilityNatural Cure heals status on switch. The Dragon typing is the draw, but Garchomp exists natively and outclasses everything.
Swablu trades roughly evenly with Roark's team.
Swablu resists most of Gardenia's coverage and hits back hard.
Swablu has the type edge here and should clean up Maylene's team.
Swablu has the type edge here and should clean up Crasher Wake's team.
Swablu trades roughly evenly with Fantina's team.
Byron's team hits Swablu's weaknesses hard.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Candice's team.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Volkner's team.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Altaria resists most of Bertha's coverage and hits back hard.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Mars's team.
Altaria resists most of Jupiter's coverage and hits back hard.
Altaria resists most of Saturn's coverage and hits back hard.
Altaria has the type edge here and should clean up Cynthia's team.
Catchable
Catch Swablu on Route 211 (Poké Radar, Lv 27-28, common).
Recommended Moves
- LV 28NormalTake DownPower 135Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Maylene
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 135Accuracy 95%PP 15Inside the Galactic Warehouse in Veilstone City
- After Candice
- TM85PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Valor Lakefront
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
Evolve Swablu to Altaria
Swablu evolves into Altaria at Level 35. Your Swablu should hit Level 35 before you reach Candice, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Gardenia
- TM68NormalGiga ImpactPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Game Corner
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Veilstone Department Store
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Lake Verity
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Veilstone Department Store
- After Maylene
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 135Accuracy 95%PP 15Inside the Galactic Warehouse in Veilstone City
- After Candice
- TUTORDragonDraco MeteorPower 210Accuracy 90%PP 5Route 210
- LV 54DragonDragon PulsePower 135Accuracy 100%PP 10
- LV 70FlyingSky AttackPower 210Accuracy 90%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Survival Area
How to Get Swablu in Diamond & Pearl
Swablu drifts out of a Poke Radar chain on one mid-game route, common at level 27 to 28. The cotton bird never shows on an ordinary walk, so the Radar is the whole key to finding one.
1 location to catch Swablu
Badge 6Where To Catch Swablu in DP
- Step 1Swablu ✓
- Step 2Evolve into AltariaBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Swablu egg.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Diamond & Pearl for Swablu.
How to Get Shiny Swablu in Diamond & Pearl
Swablu floats through the Route 211 grass, where a PokeRadar chain brings its cottony shiny in reach. Compare Shiny Swablu odds across every game
Diamond & Pearl Shiny Swablu Calculator
3 MethodsThe best route is PokeRadar Chain at full boosts, about 1 in 200 on each try. Tune it below.
PokeRadar Chain: Chain shaking-grass patches without breaking the combo. The rate peaks at a chain of 40.
Masuda Method: Breed with a parent from a different-language game. Works on any breedable line.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 22-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 58-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 139-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 460-- | -- |
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 Diamond & Pearl shiny odds for Swablu.
Swablu Weakness
Electric, Ice, and Rock moves hit Swablu for super-effective damage. The upside? Ground and Ghost-type moves can't touch it at all.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Ice, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Bug |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground, Ghost |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Swablu Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Swablu
 Magnezone ElectricSteel | A | |
 Glaceon Ice | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Hearthome City Gift) | ||
 Kabutops RockWater | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Kabuto (Oreburgh City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swablu View Kabutops builds →Rock Slide 2x117-138%KO Ice Beam 2x53-63% | ||
 Abomasnow GrassIce | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swablu View Abomasnow builds →Ice Beam 2x105-124%KO Rock Slide 2x65-76% | ||
 Armaldo RockBug | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Anorith (Oreburgh City Gift) | ||
 Weavile DarkIce | B | |
 Manectric Electric | C | |
 Rotom ElectricGhost | C | |
Obtain MethodOld Chateau Interact Encounter | ||
 Probopass RockSteel | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swablu View Probopass builds →Thunderbolt 2x60-71% Rock Slide 2x67-79% | ||
 Luxray Electric | C | |
 Omastar RockWater | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Omanyte (Oreburgh City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swablu View Omastar builds →Ice Beam 2x83-98% Ancient Power 2x79-94% | ||
 Pikachu Electric | C | |
 Electabuzz Electric | C | |
 Mamoswine IceGround | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swablu View Mamoswine builds →Ice Fang 2x112-132%KO Rock Slide 2x86-102%KO | ||
Swablu Evolutions
Swablu evolves into Altaria. It's a two-stage chain with the method shown below. A decent partner pool for breeding via two egg groups. Eggs take an average time to hatch. The evolved forms gain up to 180 total stats over Swablu. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Swablu easily with 30 breeding partners from the Dragon and Flying egg groups. Pass egg moves like Agility, Dragon Rush, Feather Dance and 3 more to offspring.
DP Swablu Best Moveset
Normal/Flying at baby-level stats with AbilityNatural Cure clearing status on the switch. The moveset has nothing competitive. Evolve to Altaria.
Best Build
Swablu best EVs are Sp. Def and Defense
Bulky Support Moveset
- Outrage
- Heat Wave
- Sky Attack
- Ice Beam
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Without breeding, Swablu misses out on Agility and Dragon Rush. That's 6 egg moves adding depth that the base kit lacks. STAB comes from Double-Edge and Take Down, with coverage across 7 types rounding things out.
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
29 of 30 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Transfer Moves
Base Stats
Its wings are like cotton tufts. If it perches on someone’s head, it looks like a cotton hat.
Swablu Diamond & Pearl Guide
In Diamond & Pearl, Swablu does the job early-game if you need a Normal/Flying type on your team. Evolve it into Altaria before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
Game Availability
Swablu first appeared in Ruby & Sapphire and has been available in 16 games across 7 generations. Obtainable through catching or hatching as a base form in most titles where it appears.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RSDebut
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 Swablu.
Keep playing · Diamond & PearlDiamond & Pearl Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Diamond & Pearl Tier List