Is Swinub Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Ice Path, right before Blackthorn City. Piloswine evolves at 33 and is one of the best answers to Clair's Dragon gym and Lance's Champion team. Ice/Ground hits both like a truck. The timing is perfect for where you need it most.
Swinub resists most of Falkner's coverage and hits back hard.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Bugsy's team.
Swinub trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Chuck's team hits Swinub's weaknesses hard.
Swinub has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Swinub trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Piloswine resists most of Lt. Surge's coverage and hits back hard.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Piloswine has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Piloswine trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Swinub in Ice Path (walking, Lv 21-23, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 21)
- LV 21IcePowder SnowPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- LV 28NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- After Pryce
- TM16IceIcy WindPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 15Prize for defeating Pryce
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- LV 46IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
Evolve Swinub to Piloswine
Swinub evolves into Piloswine at Level 33. Your Swinub should hit Level 33 before you reach Clair, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 33)
- LV 33NormalTake DownPower 90Accuracy 85%PP 20
- LV 33NormalHorn AttackPower 65Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Pryce
- TM16IceIcy WindPower 83Accuracy 95%PP 15Prize for defeating Pryce
- After Clair
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Victory Road
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- LV 56IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5
How to Get Swinub in Gold & Silver
Eight encounters at a single icy location, common, in the low twenties. Swinub keeps to that one frozen spot, so reaching it is a direct trip rather than something you stumble across on the road.
1 location to catch Swinub
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 7Where To Catch Swinub in GS
The line opens with Swinub at Lv. 21-25 via walking encounters. 1 catchable stage total, with locations listed for each one below.
- Step 2Evolve into PiloswineBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Goldenrod Pokemon Day Care to receive a Swinub egg.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Gold & Silver for Swinub.
How to Get Shiny Swinub in Gold & Silver
Swinub is your target in the Ice Path, so lean on Repels to thin out the competing encounters and keep the Swinub battles coming until one shines. Compare Shiny Swinub odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Swinub 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 Gold & Silver shiny odds for Swinub.
Swinub Weakness
Swinub is weak to Fire, Water, Grass, Fighting, and Steel. On the flip side, it's immune to Electric-type moves entirely.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Water, Grass, Fighting, Steel |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- 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 Swinub Weak Against
FragileBest Pokemon Against Swinub
 Ho-Oh Fire | S | |
Obtain MethodTin Tower Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Ho-Oh builds →Fire Blast 2x279-329%KO Rock Smash 2x31-37% | ||
 Typhlosion Fire | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Cyndaquil (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Typhlosion builds →Fire Blast 2x277-326%KO Iron Tail 2x105-124%KO Dynamic Punch 2x105-124%KO | ||
 Suicune Water | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Suicune builds →Surf 2x189-224%KO Iron Tail 2x96-114%KO Rock Smash 2x22-25% | ||
 Magmar Fire | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Magmar builds →Fire Blast 2x260-306%KO Iron Tail 2x117-137%KO Dynamic Punch 2x117-137%KO | ||
 Slowbro WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Slowbro builds →Surf 2x205-241%KO Fire Blast 2x173-204%KO Iron Tail 2x96-114%KO Dynamic Punch 2x96-114%KO | ||
 Entei Fire | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Entei builds →Fire Blast 2x237-279%KO Iron Tail 2x136-161%KO Rock Smash 2x29-35% | ||
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Lapras builds →Surf 2x179-212%KO Iron Tail 2x106-125%KO Rock Smash 2x23-27% | ||
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) Available Move Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Hitmonlee builds →High Jump Kick 2x179-212%KO | ||
 Feraligatr Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (New Bark Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Feraligatr builds →Surf 2x170-200%KO Iron Tail 2x126-149%KO Dynamic Punch 2x126-149%KO | ||
 Gyarados Water | B | |
Obtain MethodLake Of Rage Good Rod Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Gyarados builds →Hydro Pump 2x175-206%KO Fire Blast 2x117-137%KO Rock Smash 2x31-37% | ||
 Dewgong WaterIce | C | |
 Bellossom Grass | C | |
 Sunflora Grass | C | |
 Machoke Fighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Swinub View Machoke builds →Vital Throw 2x127-150%KO Fire Blast 2x103-122%KO | ||
Swinub Evolutions
One evolution ahead. Swinub grows into Piloswine through a straightforward two-stage chain. Plenty of partners for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Evolving adds up to 200 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Swinub easily with 66 breeding partners from the Field egg group. Pass egg moves like Ancient Power, Bite, Body Slam and 2 more to offspring.
GS Swinub Best Moveset
Ice/Ground pre-evolution with no competitive stats. Piloswine is the destination where the typing and movepool combine into something functional.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Rest
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Swinub gets Ancient Power and Bite exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Normal and Fighting coverage and more rounds out the picture alongside Blizzard and Earthquake.
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
20 of 24 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It rubs its snout on the ground to find and dig up food. It sometimes discovers hot springs.
If it smells something enticing, it dashes headlong off to find the source of the aroma.
Swinub Gold & Silver Guide
For Gold & Silver, you can run Swinub through the first few routes without issues. 250 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Piloswine as fast as you can.
Game Availability
Available in 18 titles since its debut in Gold & Silver, Swinub spans 8 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through catching or hatching as a base form in most mainline games.
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 Swinub.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List