Is Swellow Good in HeartGold & SoulSilver Playthrough?
Taillow evolves at level 22. Normal/Flying with AbilityGuts. Fast with decent Attack that gets boosted by status conditions. Arrives too late in HGSS to compete with Pidgeot, Fearow, and Crobat.
Taillow has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Taillow has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Taillow trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Chuck's team.
Jasmine's team hits Swellow's weaknesses hard.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Brock's team hits Swellow's weaknesses hard.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Swellow resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Sabrina's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catch Taillow
Catch Taillow in Cherrygrove City (Headbutt (rare), Lv 18-25, limited). Post-National Dex.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 18)
- LV 18FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Bugsy
- TM89BugU-turnPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Bugsy
- After Morty
- TM88FlyingPluckPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 40
- After Chuck
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 135Accuracy 95%PP 15From Chuck's wife outside Cianwood Gym
- LV 34FlyingAerial AcePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Jasmine
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Lake of Rage
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15Lake of Rage
- LV 53FlyingAir SlashPower 113Accuracy 95%PP 20
Evolve Taillow to Swellow
Taillow evolves into Swellow at Level 22. Your Taillow should hit Level 22 before you reach Morty, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22FlyingPluckPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- LV 22FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Bugsy
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 225Accuracy 90%PP 5Goldenrod Department Store
- After Chuck
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 135Accuracy 95%PP 15From Chuck's wife outside Cianwood Gym
- After Jasmine
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Lake of Rage
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15Lake of Rage
- LV 38FlyingAerial AcePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- LV 61FlyingAir SlashPower 113Accuracy 95%PP 20
How to Get Swellow in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Pull a Taillow from those post-National-Dex Headbutt trees and raise it to level 22 for Swellow. That tree spawn is the single starting point, with no wild bird to fall back on.
Wild Swellow may be holding when caught:
Charti Berry (5% chance) If held by a Pokemon, it weakens a foe's supereffective Rock-type attack.Catch Taillow at any of these 1 spot to eventually evolve into Swellow.
- 1Catch Taillow
- 2Evolve Swellowat Lv.22
How to Obtain Swellow in HGSS
- Step 2Swellow ✓
How to Get Shiny Swellow in HeartGold & SoulSilver
Swellow evolves from Taillow, so breed that Cherrygrove base form Masuda-style at 1 in 1,638 and raise it up. Compare Shiny Swellow odds across every game
HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Swellow 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.
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 | 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 Swellow in the HeartGold & SoulSilver Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Swellow Weakness
Electric, Ice, and Rock moves hit Swellow for super-effective damage. The upside? Ground and Ghost-type moves can't touch it at all. At base 125 Speed, Swellow outspeeds most threats and doesn't need to tank what it can outrun.
| 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 Swellow Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Swellow
 Rampardos Rock | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Cranidos (Pewter City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Rampardos builds →Head Smash 2x292-344%KO Avalanche 2x79-93% Thunderbolt 2x65-77% | ||
 Aggron SteelRock | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Aggron builds →Stone Edge 2x138-162%KO Avalanche 2x55-65% Thunderbolt 2x61-72% | ||
 Rhydon GroundRock | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Rhydon builds →Stone Edge 2x158-186%KO Avalanche 2x64-76% Thunderbolt 2x49-58% | ||
 Raikou Electric | B | |
 Tyranitar RockDark | S | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Tyranitar builds →Stone Edge 2x162-191%KO Thunderbolt 2x88-104%KO Ice Beam 2x88-104%KO | ||
 Magnezone ElectricSteel | A | |
 Kabutops RockWater | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Kabuto (Pewter City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Kabutops builds →Stone Edge 2x143-169%KO Ice Beam 2x65-77% | ||
 Jynx IcePsychic | C | |
 Glaceon Ice | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Eevee (Goldenrod City Gift) | ||
 Armaldo RockBug | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Anorith (Pewter City Gift) | ||
 Sudowoodo Rock | C | |
Obtain MethodRoute 36 Interact Encounter | ||
 Zapdos Electric | A | |
Obtain MethodRoute 10 Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Zapdos builds →Thunderbolt 2x166-196%KO Ancient Power 2x70-83% | ||
 Bastiodon RockSteel | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Shieldon (Pewter City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Bastiodon builds →Stone Edge 2x77-91% Ice Beam 2x51-61% Thunderbolt 2x51-61% | ||
 Probopass RockSteel | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Probopass builds →Power Gem 2x81-96% Thunderbolt 2x72-85% | ||
Swellow Evolutions
Evolved from Taillow. Swellow is the final form in this two-stage line. A decent partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs are quick to hatch. Speed grew the most through evolution (+40 over Taillow), and Swellow peaks at 430 total stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Swellow to get Taillow eggs easily using 31 partners from the Flying egg group. Notable egg moves include Brave Bird, Mirror Move, Pursuit and 5 more.
HGSS Swellow Best Moveset
Normal/Flying at 125 Speed with AbilityGuts turning status conditions into a 50% Attack boost. The moveset wants to be burned: boosted MoveFacade at double power from Guts fires devastating physical damage. 85 Attack plus Guts plus burn Facade hits harder than most fully evolved attackers.
Best Build
Swellow best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Sweeper Moveset
- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U Turn
- Quick Attack
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Without breeding, Swellow misses out on Brave Bird and Mirror Move. That's 8 egg moves adding depth that the base kit lacks. STAB comes from Hyper Beam and Sky Attack, 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
20 of 21 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It dives at a steep angle as soon as it spots its prey. It catches its prey with sharp claws.
Swellow HeartGold & SoulSilver Guide
For HeartGold & SoulSilver, go for it. Swellow rates A-Tier, and its Normal/Flying typing handles most of what the story throws at you.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, use Swellow as a pivot. Physical side carries the damage. It outspeeds most threats, Facade is the primary attack.
For HeartGold & SoulSilver, run Jolly on Swellow. +Speed is what matters, and the -Sp. Atk cut doesn't hurt this set. Fits the pivot role.
Game Availability
Available in 13 titles since its debut in Ruby & Sapphire, Swellow spans 7 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through wild encounters in a solid number of games.
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
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