Is Trapinch Good in Emerald Playthrough?
Route 111 desert. AbilityArena Trap prevents opponents from switching on the ground. Vibrava at 35, then Flygon at 45. The grind is long but the payoff is one of Emerald's best Pokemon. Ground/Dragon with AbilityLevitate handles Wattson, Drake, and almost everything between.
Trapinch trades roughly evenly with Roxanne's team.
Brawly's typing presses Trapinch's defenses.
Trapinch trades roughly evenly with Wattson's team.
Trapinch has the type edge here and should clean up Flannery's team.
Trapinch trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Winona's team hits Trapinch's weaknesses hard.
Tate & Liza's typing presses Vibrava's defenses.
Vibrava has the type edge here and should clean up Juan's team.
Flygon has the type edge here and should clean up Sidney's team.
Flygon has the type edge here and should clean up Phoebe's team.
Flygon trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Flygon has the type edge here and should clean up Drake's team.
Flygon has the type edge here and should clean up Wallace's team.
Catchable
Catch Trapinch on Route 111 (walking, Lv 19-21, common).
Recommended Moves
- After Wattson
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Given by the Tunnel Man in Rusturf Tunnel
- After Norman
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Safari Zone
- LV 33DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 41GroundDigPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Tate & Liza
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Seafloor Cavern
- TUTORNormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Sootopolis City
- LV 57NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TUTORNormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORRockRock SlidePower 75Accuracy 90%PP 10Battle Frontier
Evolve Trapinch to Vibrava
Trapinch evolves into Vibrava at Level 35. Your Trapinch should hit Level 35 before you reach Tate & Liza, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 35)
- LV 35DragonDragon BreathPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20
- LV 35DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Wattson
- TM28GroundDigPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Route 114
- After Norman
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Safari Zone
- After Tate & Liza
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Seafloor Cavern
- TUTORNormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Sootopolis City
- LV 57NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TUTORNormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORRockRock SlidePower 75Accuracy 90%PP 10Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Battle Frontier
Evolve Vibrava to Flygon
Vibrava evolves into Flygon at Level 45. Your Vibrava should hit Level 45 before you reach Sidney, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Brawly
- TM35FireFlamethrowerPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Mauville Game Corner
- After Flannery
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Fiery Path
- After Norman
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 120Accuracy 85%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM22GrassSolar BeamPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 10Safari Zone
- After Tate & Liza
- TM26GroundEarthquakePower 150Accuracy 100%PP 10Seafloor Cavern
- TUTORNormalDouble-EdgePower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Sootopolis City
- After Juan
- TM02DragonDragon ClawPower 120Accuracy 100%PP 15Meteor Falls
- LV 65NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5
- Post-Game
- TUTORNormalBody SlamPower 85Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORFireFire PunchPower 75Accuracy 100%PP 15Battle Frontier
- TUTORRockRock SlidePower 75Accuracy 90%PP 10Battle Frontier
- TUTORNormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Battle Frontier
How to Get Trapinch in Emerald
Trapinch digs into the desert sand, common on Route 111 and inside the Mirage Tower at levels 19 to 24. That sandy stretch is where the ant pit lurks, the first step of a long climb toward Flygon.
Wild Trapinch may be holding when caught:
Soft Sand (5% chance) A hold item that raises the power of GROUND-type moves.2 locations to catch Trapinch
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 3
Badge 4Where To Catch Trapinch in E
Trapinch is the chain's first catch. You'll find walking encounters from Lv. 19-24 across 5 total spots in the chain.
- Step 3Evolve into Flygon
Bring the right balls: check Trapinch catch odds in the Emerald Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
How to Get Shiny Trapinch in Emerald
Trapinch lurks in the desert sand of Route 111 and inside Mirage Tower, both common finds, so patrol the dunes whenever the tower is visible and grind encounter after encounter toward the shiny. Compare Shiny Trapinch odds across every game
Emerald Shiny Trapinch 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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Trapinch in the Emerald Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Trapinch Weakness
Trapinch is weak to Water, Grass, and Ice. On the flip side, it's immune to Electric-type moves entirely. Standard number of weaknesses for the Ground typing.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Grass, Ice |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison, Rock |
| 0x (Immune) | Electric |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Trapinch Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Trapinch
 Pelipper Water | C | |
Obtain MethodDewford Town Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Trapinch View Pelipper builds →Ice Beam 2x100-119%KO Water Gun 2x65-77% | ||
 Grovyle Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Route 101 Gift) | ||
 Lombre WaterGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Trapinch View Lombre builds →Ice Beam 2x70-84% Absorb 2x27-32% | ||
 Marshtomp WaterGround | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Mudkip (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Trapinch View Marshtomp builds →Ice Beam 2x70-84% Water Gun 2x47-57% | ||
 Croconaw Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Totodile (Littleroot Town Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Trapinch View Croconaw builds →Ice Beam 2x70-84% Water Gun 2x47-57% | ||
 Breloom GrassFighting | B | |
 Bayleef Grass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Chikorita (Littleroot Town Gift) | ||
 Azumarill Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Azurill (Petalburg City Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Trapinch View Azumarill builds →Bubble Beam 2x76-89% Ice Beam 2x70-84% | ||
 Gloom GrassPoison | C | |
 Cacnea Grass | C | |
 Lileep RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodRustboro City Gift | ||
 Nuzleaf GrassDark | C | |
Trapinch Evolutions
Three stages ahead. Trapinch grows into Vibrava, then pushes on to Flygon. Check the evolution methods below. For breeding, average hatch time with a decent partner pool via two egg groups. Evolving adds up to 230 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Trapinch easily with 37 breeding partners from the Bug and Dragon egg groups. Pass egg moves like Focus Energy, Gust, Quick Attack to offspring.
E Trapinch Best Moveset
AbilityArena Trap prevents grounded Pokemon from switching out, and 100 base Attack is surprisingly high for a first-stage Pokemon. The moveset runs physical Ground TermStab to trap and KO weakened targets, though 10 base Speed means it takes a hit before attacking.
Best Build
Trapinch best EVs are HP and Attack
Physical Wallbreaker Moveset
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power Bug
- Sunny Day
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding opens up real options for Trapinch. Focus Energy and Gust come exclusively from egg moves, and they're worth the effort. The rest of the kit covers basics through Earthquake and Dig and Dark and Normal coverage and more.
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 20 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Its big jaws crunch through boulders. Because its head is so big, it has a hard time getting back upright if it tips over onto its back.
Trapinch Emerald Guide
Yes. Wild Trapinch in Emerald can hold Soft Sand (5%). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Soft Sand.
For Emerald, you can run Trapinch through the first few routes without issues. 290 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Vibrava as fast as you can.
Game Availability
Available in 15 titles since its debut in Ruby & Sapphire, Trapinch spans 7 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 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 Trapinch.
Keep playing · EmeraldEmerald Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Emerald Tier List