Is Vulpix Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
Mt. Pyre in Hoenn, available mid-to-late game. Ninetales needs a Fire Stone and gains AbilityFlash Fire in Gen 3, which is excellent: Fire immunity that boosts your own Fire attacks. A strong ability on a Pokemon that arrives after Flannery's gym is already behind you.
Roxanne's team hits Vulpix's weaknesses hard.
Vulpix trades roughly evenly with Brawly's team.
Vulpix has the type edge here and should clean up Wattson's team.
Vulpix trades roughly evenly with Flannery's team.
Norman's typing presses Vulpix's defenses.
Winona's team hits Vulpix's weaknesses hard.
Tate & Liza's typing presses Ninetales's defenses.
Ninetales trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Sidney's team.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Phoebe's team.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Glacia's team.
Drake's team hits Ninetales's weaknesses hard.
Ninetales has the type edge here and should clean up Steven's team.
Catchable
Catch Vulpix in Mt. Pyre (walking, Lv 25-29, uncommon).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 25)
- LV 25FireEmberPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Flannery
- TM50FireOverheatPower 210Accuracy 90%PP 5Prize for defeating Flannery
- LV 29FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Norman
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Wallace
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Meteor Falls
Evolve Vulpix to Ninetales
Vulpix evolves into Ninetales with a Fire Stone. You can pick up the Fire Stone in Fiery Path.
Recommended Moves
- After Brawly
- TM35FireFlamethrowerPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Mauville Game Corner
- After Flannery
- TM50FireOverheatPower 210Accuracy 90%PP 5Prize for defeating Flannery
- After Norman
- TM38FireFire BlastPower 180Accuracy 85%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Wallace
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Meteor Falls
How to Get Vulpix in Ruby & Sapphire
Vulpix turns up on Mt. Pyre as an uncommon walking encounter in the mid-to-high 20s. That one mountain is the whole story, and both versions catch it the same way.
Wild Vulpix may be holding when caught:
Rawst Berry (always) A hold item that heals a burn in battle.1 location to catch Vulpix
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 6Where To Catch Vulpix in RS
- Step 1Vulpix ✓
- Step 2Evolve into NinetalesBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Vulpix egg.
Want the exact numbers? Work out your catch odds in Ruby & Sapphire for Vulpix.
How to Get Shiny Vulpix in Ruby & Sapphire
Vulpix lurks in the grass on Mt. Pyre, so work through the wild encounters there and stay alert for a shiny. Compare Shiny Vulpix odds across every game
Ruby & Sapphire Shiny Vulpix 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.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Ruby & Sapphire shiny odds for Vulpix.
Vulpix Weakness
Water, Ground, and Rock moves hit Vulpix for super-effective damage. 5 resistances help offset the weaknesses. Flash Fire grants an additional Fire immunity, reshaping the matchup chart. Vulpix's special bulk (base 65 Sp.Def) helps absorb special-type weaknesses, though physical moves exploit the lower Defense.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Water, Ground, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Vulpix Weak Against
AvgBest Pokemon Against Vulpix
 Camerupt FireGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Camerupt builds →Earthquake 2x202-238%KO Rock Slide 2x101-120%KO | ||
 Swampert WaterGround | S | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Mudkip (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Swampert builds →Surf 2x122-143%KO Dig 2x133-157%KO Rock Tomb 2x74-87% | ||
 Azumarill Water | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Azurill (Petalburg City Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Azumarill builds →Surf 2x93-111%KO Dig 2x49-59% Rollout 2x25-30% | ||
 Pelipper Water | C | |
Obtain MethodDewford Town Surfing | ||
 Sealeo IceWater | A | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Spheal (Shoal Cave Surfing) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Sealeo builds →Surf 2x111-130%KO Rock Tomb 2x46-54% | ||
 Regirock Rock | B | |
Obtain MethodRoute 111 Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Regirock builds →Ancient Power 2x122-143%KO Dig 2x80-96% | ||
 Armaldo RockBug | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Anorith (Rustboro City Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Armaldo builds →Ancient Power 2x147-173%KO Dig 2x98-115%KO Water Gun 2x30-37% | ||
 Geodude RockGround | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Geodude builds →Earthquake 2x168-199%KO Rock Tomb 2x86-101%KO | ||
 Sandslash Ground | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Sandslash builds →Dig 2x122-143%KO Rock Tomb 2x67-80% | ||
 Lombre WaterGrass | C | |
 Claydol GroundPsychic | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Claydol builds →Dig 2x93-111%KO Ancient Power 2x62-74% | ||
 Trapinch Ground | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Trapinch builds →Dig 2x122-143%KO Rock Tomb 2x67-80% | ||
 Rhyhorn GroundRock | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Vulpix View Rhyhorn builds →Dig 2x108-127%KO Rock Tomb 2x91-108%KO | ||
 Cradily RockGrass | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Lileep (Rustboro City Gift) | ||
Vulpix Evolutions
Vulpix doesn't evolve by leveling. You'll need an evolution item to push it forward to Ninetales. The evolved forms gain up to 206 total stats over Vulpix. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Vulpix easily with 102 breeding partners from the Field egg group. Pass egg moves like Disable, Feint Attack, Flail and 5 more to offspring.
RS Vulpix Best Moveset
Fire pre-evolution with AbilityFlash Fire granting Fire immunity and boosting Fire moves when hit by one. Stats too low to exploit the boost. Ninetales improves the numbers.
Best Build
Vulpix best EVs are HP and Attack
Utility Moveset
- Iron Tail
- Body Slam
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Ice
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Without breeding, Vulpix misses out on Disable and Feint Attack. That's 8 egg moves adding depth that the base kit lacks. STAB comes from Overheat and Fire Blast, with Normal and Ground coverage and more 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
All 18 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
At the time of its birth, VULPIX has one white tail. The tail separates into six if this POKéMON receives plenty of love from its TRAINER. The six tails become magnificently curled.
Inside VULPIX’s body burns a flame that never goes out. During the daytime, when the temperatures rise, this POKéMON releases flames from its mouth to prevent its body from growing too hot.
Vulpix Ruby & Sapphire Guide
Yes. Wild Vulpix in Ruby & Sapphire can hold Rawst Berry (always). Use Thief (TM46) or Covet to swipe the held item without affecting your catch chance. Quickest way to farm rare items like Rawst Berry.
Game Availability
Since debuting in Red & Blue, Vulpix has appeared in 21 titles over 9 generations. Along the way, it received an Alolan form in Generation 7, keeping it relevant across different competitive metas.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RBDebut
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
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 7SMAlolan
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 Vulpix.
Keep playing · Ruby & SapphireRuby & Sapphire Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Ruby & Sapphire Tier List