Is Zubat Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Every cave in Johto is crawling with Zubat, same as Kanto. The difference in Gen 2 is Crobat: friendship evolution turns the line's most annoying member into one of the fastest Pokemon available. If you tolerate the early grind, the payoff is real.
Falkner's typing presses Zubat's defenses.
Zubat trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Whitney's team hits Zubat's weaknesses hard.
Golbat has the type edge here and should clean up Morty's team.
Golbat has the type edge here and should clean up Chuck's team.
Jasmine's team hits Golbat's weaknesses hard.
Golbat has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Crobat trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Lt. Surge's team hits Crobat's weaknesses hard.
Crobat trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Crobat resists most of Erika's coverage and hits back hard.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Crobat trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Crobat has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Crobat trades roughly evenly with Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Zubat on Route 32 (walking, Lv 4, rare).
Recommended Moves
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- LV 12DarkBitePower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Whitney
- TM13NormalSnorePower 40Accuracy 100%PP 15Moomoo Farm
- LV 27FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- TM46DarkThiefPower 40Accuracy 100%PP 10Team Rocket HQ (Mahogany Town)
- After Lt. Surge
- TM47SteelSteel WingPower 70Accuracy 90%PP 25Route 28
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
Evolve Zubat to Golbat
Zubat evolves into Golbat at Level 22. Your Zubat should hit Level 22 before you reach Morty, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22DarkBitePower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- LV 30FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Lt. Surge
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Prize for defeating Janine
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- TM47SteelSteel WingPower 70Accuracy 90%PP 25Route 28
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
Evolve Golbat to Crobat
Golbat evolves into Crobat with high friendship. Friendship is usually high enough before you reach Clair.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 31)
- LV 31FlyingWing AttackPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 35
- LV 31DarkBitePower 60Accuracy 100%PP 25
- LV 31GhostConfuse RayPower —Accuracy 100%PP 10
- After Chuck
- HM02FlyingFlyPower 105Accuracy 95%PP 15Cianwood City
- After Lt. Surge
- TM06PoisonToxicPower —Accuracy 85%PP 10Prize for defeating Janine
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- TM47SteelSteel WingPower 70Accuracy 90%PP 25Route 28
- TM19GrassGiga DrainPower 60Accuracy 100%PP 5Prize for defeating Erika
How to Get Zubat in Gold & Silver
Zubat floods 16 cave locations across both regions, 70 encounters deep. Common in most of them, rarer in a few, and present at nearly every level band from the first cave to the last.
16 locations to catch Zubat
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 1
Badge 2
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Where To Catch Zubat in GS
Zubat is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 2-25. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
- Step 1Zubat ✓Slowpoke Well - B1FLv.5-8CaveRate 85%Mt. Mortar - 1F EntranceLv.13-15CaveRate 60%Mt. Mortar - B1FLv.15-17CaveRate 60%Mt. Moon - 1FLv.6-8CaveSilverRate 50%Route 33Lv.6-8GrassRate 40%NightRoute 42Lv.14-16GrassSilverRate 40%NightDark Cave - WestLv.2-4CaveRate 39%Route 3Lv.5GrassRate 30%NightRoute 4Lv.5GrassRate 30%NightMt. Moon - 1FLv.6CaveGoldRate 30%Route 42Lv.14-16GrassGoldRate 30%NightMt. Mortar - 1F EntranceLv.15CaveRate 30%the Marill swarm on Mt. Mortar that Hiker ParryIlex ForestLv.5-6GrassRate 25%NightUnion Cave - 1FLv.5-7CaveRate 25%Union Cave - B1FLv.7-9CaveRate 25%Dark Cave - WestLv.2CaveRate 20%the Dunsparce swarm on Dark Cave that HikerRock Tunnel - 1FLv.8CaveRate 10%Rock Tunnel - B1FLv.10CaveRate 10%Burned Tower - 1FLv.14FloorRate 10%Route 33Lv.4GrassRate 5%MorningIlex ForestLv.5GrassRate 5%Morning/dayRoute 32Lv.8GrassRate 5%NightMt. Mortar - 1F BackLv.14CaveRate 5%Burned Tower - B1FLv.15FloorRate 5%Route 32Lv.4GrassRate 1%MorningSlowpoke Well - B2FLv.19-23CaveRate 80%Union Cave - B2FLv.22CaveRate 30%Tohjo FallsLv.22GrassRate 30%Dark Cave - EastLv.23CaveRate 30%Whirl Islands - CaveLv.23GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - NELv.23GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - NWLv.23GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - SELv.23GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - SWLv.23GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - B1FLv.24GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - B2FLv.24GrassRate 30%Whirl Islands - B2F Inner CaveLv.25GrassRate 30%Ice Path - 1FLv.22CaveGoldRate 25%Morning/nightIce Path - B1FLv.22CaveGoldRate 25%Morning/nightIce Path - B2FLv.23CaveGoldRate 25%Morning/nightIce Path - B3FLv.24CaveGoldRate 25%Morning/nightIce Path - 1FLv.22CaveGoldRate 20%DayIce Path - B1FLv.22CaveGoldRate 20%DayIce Path - B2FLv.23CaveGoldRate 20%DayIce Path - B3FLv.24CaveGoldRate 20%DayIce Path - 1FLv.22CaveSilverRate 5%Morning/nightIce Path - B1FLv.22CaveSilverRate 5%Morning/nightIce Path - B2FLv.23CaveSilverRate 5%Morning/nightIce Path - B3FLv.24CaveSilverRate 5%Morning/night
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into GolbatIce Path - 1FLv.22CaveRate 30%Ice Path - B1FLv.22CaveRate 30%Ice Path - B2FLv.23CaveRate 30%Ice Path - B3FLv.24CaveRate 30%Union Cave - B2FLv.22CaveRate 20%Tohjo FallsLv.22GrassRate 20%Dark Cave - EastLv.23CaveRate 5%Slowpoke Well - B2FLv.23CaveRate 5%Whirl Islands - CaveLv.23GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - NELv.23GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - NWLv.23GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - SELv.23GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - SWLv.23GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - B1FLv.24GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - B2FLv.24GrassRate 5%Whirl Islands - B2F Inner CaveLv.25GrassRate 5%Mt. Mortar - 2FLv.30CaveRate 5%Victory Road - 1FLv.32CaveRate 30%Mt. Silver - 1FLv.45CaveRate 5%Mt. Silver - SummitLv.48-51CaveRate 50%Mt. Silver - 2FLv.48CaveRate 5%Mt. Silver - Side chambersLv.48CaveRate 5%or evolve from Zubat (Step 1)
- Step 3Evolve into CrobatBREEDINGAvailableLeave a compatible parent at the Goldenrod Pokemon Day Care to receive a Zubat egg.
Bring the right balls: check Zubat catch odds in the Gold & Silver Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
How to Get Shiny Zubat in Gold & Silver
Zubat swarms caves like the Burned Tower, Dark Cave, and Ice Path, and that sheer abundance is exactly what you want to exploit, so keep the encounters flowing until one shines. Compare Shiny Zubat odds across every game
Gold & Silver Shiny Zubat 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.
Planning a longer hunt? Set up Zubat in the Gold & Silver Shiny Odds Calculator to compare every method side by side.
Zubat Weakness
Electric, Ice, Psychic, and Rock moves hit Zubat for super-effective damage. The upside? Ground-type moves can't touch it at all. The Poison/Flying typing picks up 4 resistances to work with.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Ice, Psychic, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Poison |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Bug |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground |
- 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 Zubat Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Zubat
 Lapras WaterIce | C | |
Obtain MethodUnion Cave Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Zubat View Lapras builds →Blizzard 2x210-247%KO Thunder 2x139-165%KO | ||
 Magnemite ElectricSteel | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Zubat View Magnemite builds →Thunder 2x229-271%KO Rollout 2x24-29% | ||
 Kadabra Psychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Zubat View Kadabra builds →Psybeam 2x152-179%KO Ice Punch 2x115-135%KO Thunder Punch 2x115-135%KO | ||
 Sudowoodo Rock | C | |
Obtain MethodRoute 36 Interact Encounter Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Zubat View Sudowoodo builds →Rock Throw 2x106-126%KO Ice Punch 2x45-55% Thunder Punch 2x45-55% | ||
 Flaaffy Electric | C | |
 Geodude RockGround | C | |
 Onix RockGround | C | |
 Natu Psychic | C | |
 Slowpoke WaterPsychic | C | |
Obtain MethodSlowpoke Well Surfing Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Zubat View Slowpoke builds →Blizzard 2x82-97% Confusion 2x56-68% | ||
 Drowzee Psychic | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Zubat View Drowzee builds →Confusion 2x56-68% Ice Punch 2x56-68% Thunder Punch 2x56-68% | ||
Zubat Evolutions
Zubat kicks off a three-stage evolution line through Golbat all the way to Crobat. For breeding, quick to hatch with a decent partner pool via one egg group. The evolved forms gain up to 290 total stats over Zubat. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Zubat easily with 19 breeding partners from the Flying egg group. Pass egg moves like Feint Attack, Gust, Pursuit and 2 more to offspring.
GS Zubat Best Moveset
Poison/Flying pre-evolution with nothing competitive. Crobat, the new final evolution added this generation, is the eventual destination two stages away.
Best Build
Support Moveset
- Wing Attack
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
Moves List
Don't skip the egg moves. Zubat picks up Feint Attack and Gust only through breeding, and both fill gaps the natural movepool can't. STAB runs through Wing Attack and Gust while Bug and Dark coverage and more adds range.
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
13 of 19 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
While flying, it constantly emits ultrasonic waves from its mouth to check its surroundings.
Capable of flying safely in dark places, it emits ultrasonic cries to check for any obstacles.
Zubat Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, for a casual playthrough, Zubat works as a placeholder. Poison/Flying coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Golbat. That's where the stats start mattering.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Zubat appears in 21 games spanning 9 generations. Gen 1 originals like Zubat have the longest track record of availability in the series.
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 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 Zubat.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List