Is Unown Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Ruins of Alph, available early-mid Johto. Unown knows only MoveHidden Power and has terrible stats. It exists as a collectible puzzle, not a battler. 26 forms, none of them useful in combat.
Unown trades roughly evenly with Falkner's team.
Unown trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Unown trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Morty's team hits Unown's weaknesses hard.
Chuck's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Jasmine's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Unown trades roughly evenly with Pryce's team.
Clair's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Lt. Surge's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Sabrina's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Erika's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Janine's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Misty's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Brock's team hits Unown's weaknesses hard.
Blaine's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Blue's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Unown trades roughly evenly with Will's team.
Koga's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Bruno's team hits Unown's weaknesses hard.
Karen's team hits Unown's weaknesses hard.
Lance's typing presses Unown's defenses.
Catchable
Catch Unown in the Ruins of Alph (walking, Lv 5, common). After you solve a Ruins of Alph puzzle: Kabuto unlocks Unown A to K, Omanyte L to R, Aerodactyl S to W, Ho-Oh X to Z.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 5)
- LV 5NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15
Gold & Silver Unown Locations
Every Unown lives in the Ruins of Alph, all at level 5, common once you solve the puzzles that open the chambers. Which letters appear depends on the walls, so collecting the full alphabet is the long game.
1 location to catch Unown
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1Best Locations to Catch Unown in Gold & Silver
How to Get Shiny Unown in Gold & Silver
Unown turns up only inside the Ruins of Alph, and since the No Eggs group shuts off any hatch route, that ruin is the single place to hunt one. Compare Shiny Unown odds across every game
Shiny Unown Evolution
Does Not EvolveGold & Silver Shiny Unown Calculator
1 MethodThe only route here is Full Odds, about 1 in 8,192 on each try.
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 | 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 Gold & Silver with Unown preloaded.
Unown Weakness
Bug, Ghost, and Dark moves hit Unown for super-effective damage. 3 weaknesses is about average, nothing too hard to play around.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Bug, Ghost, Dark |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fighting, Psychic |
- 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 Unown Weak Against
Vulnerable
Unown Evolutions
For whatever reason, Unown sits in the Undiscovered egg group. A Psychic type at 336 stats with no chain and no eggs. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
GS Unown Best Moveset
MoveHidden Power is the only move. One move, 48 base stats everywhere, and no way to cover any weakness or adapt to any matchup. The definition of a gimmick without competitive application.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Hidden Power Psychic
- Hidden Power Fire
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Unown's options are limited here. You've got Psychic STAB for STAB damage, but there isn't much beyond Psychic hitting power. TMs help fill gaps, though the kit stays tight.
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
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Their shapes look like hieroglyphs on ancient tablets. It is said that the two are somehow related.
Its flat, thin body is always stuck on walls. Its shape appears to have some meaning.
Unown Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, Unown has niche appeal at best. The F-Tier rating means you're fighting uphill by mid-game. There are better Psychic Pokemon available.
In Gold & Silver, use Unown as a balanced. Special attacks are the main output. Not the fastest,
Game Availability
Unown first appeared in Gold & Silver and has been available in 16 games across 8 generations. Obtainable through wild encounters in most titles where it appears.
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 Unown.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List