Is Taillow Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
Route 104, one of the first catches available. AbilityGuts boosts Attack when statused, which is excellent. Swellow evolves at 22 and becomes one of the best Normal/Flying attackers in RS. Status conditions power up Swellow instead of crippling it. The local bird that puts imports to shame.
Roxanne's Pokemon outpace and outclass Taillow here.
Taillow resists most of Brawly's coverage and hits back hard.
Wattson's Pokemon outpace and outclass Taillow here.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Flannery's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Winona's team.
Tate & Liza's typing presses Swellow's defenses.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Sidney's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Phoebe's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Steven's team hits Swellow's weaknesses hard.
Catchable
Catch Taillow on Route 104 (walking, Lv 4-5, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- LV 8NormalQuick AttackPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 30
- LV 13FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Roxanne
- TM47SteelSteel WingPower 70Accuracy 90%PP 25Granite Cave
- After Wattson
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15Fortree City
- After Norman
- TM42NormalFacadePower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 105Accuracy 95%PP 15Route 119
- LV 34FlyingAerial AcePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
Evolve Taillow to Swellow
Taillow evolves into Swellow at Level 22. Your Taillow should hit Level 22 before you reach Flannery, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Roxanne
- TM47SteelSteel WingPower 70Accuracy 90%PP 25Granite Cave
- After Wattson
- TM43NormalSecret PowerPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Route 111
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15Fortree City
- After Norman
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 225Accuracy 90%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 105Accuracy 95%PP 15Route 119
- LV 38FlyingAerial AcePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
How to Get Taillow in Ruby & Sapphire
Eight grass encounters over four routes, mostly common but rare in spots, with a wide level band from 4 to 25. Taillow is an easy early bird that keeps appearing well into the mid-game.
4 locations to catch Taillow
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1
Badge 2
Badge 3Where To Catch Taillow in RS
Taillow is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 4-25. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
Not landing the catch? Calculate Taillow catch rates for Ruby & Sapphire by ball, status, and HP.
How to Get Shiny Taillow in Ruby & Sapphire
Taillow flies through the tall grass on Route 104 and Route 116, so run its wild encounters there and watch each for a shiny. Compare Shiny Taillow odds across every game
Ruby & Sapphire Shiny Taillow Calculator
2 MethodsBoth methods here share the same odds, about 1 in 8,192 on each try. Pick whichever fits how you play.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breeding: Hatch eggs of this line; each egg rolls at the base shiny rate (no Masuda before Gen IV).
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 864-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 2,357-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 5,678-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 18,862-- | -- |
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.
Want exact numbers for your session? Calculate your shiny odds in Ruby & Sapphire with Taillow preloaded.
Taillow Weakness
Taillow is weak to Electric, Ice, and Rock. On the flip side, it's immune to Ground and Ghost-type moves entirely.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Ice, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Bug |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground, Ghost |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Taillow Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Taillow
Taillow Evolutions
Taillow evolves into Swellow. It's a two-stage chain with the method shown below. A decent partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs are quick to hatch. Evolving adds up to 185 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Taillow easily with 25 breeding partners from the Flying egg group. Pass egg moves like Mirror Move, Pursuit, Rage and 3 more to offspring.
RS Taillow Best Moveset
Normal/Flying pre-evolution heading toward Swellow. AbilityGuts boosts Attack by 50% when statused, turning burn and paralysis into power-ups. Stats too low to exploit the boost. Evolve for the Speed.
Best Build
Taillow best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Sweeper Moveset
- Facade
- Aerial Ace
- Double Edge
- Quick Attack
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Taillow gets Mirror Move and Pursuit exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Steel and Dark coverage rounds out the picture alongside Sky Attack and Fly.
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 16 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
TAILLOW courageously stands its ground against foes, however strong they may be. This gutsy POKéMON will remain defiant even after a loss. On the other hand, it cries loudly if it becomes hungry.
TAILLOW is young - it has only just left its nest. As a result, it sometimes becomes lonesome and cries at night. This POKéMON feeds on WURMPLE that live in forests.
Taillow Ruby & Sapphire Guide
Taillow can be caught in the wild at Hoenn Route 104, Hoenn Petalburg Woods, Hoenn Route 116, and Hoenn Route 115 in Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire.
Game Availability
Taillow first appeared in Ruby & Sapphire and has been available in 13 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 Taillow.
Keep playing · Ruby & SapphireRuby & Sapphire Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Ruby & Sapphire Tier List