In Crystal, Moltres is a Legendary Pokemon rated B-Tier. At 580 BST, it hits hard. It excels as a wallbreaker. Rest with Charcoal is the standard set.

What is Moltres weak to?

In Crystal, Moltres's biggest threats include Golem (Rock), Gyarados (Water), and Raikou (Electric), all carrying super-effective STAB moves. Golem is the most dangerous since Rock moves deal 4x damage.

What role does Moltres play in battle?

Moltres is a mixed attacker with base 100 Attack and 125 Sp. Atk. Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. Base 90 Speed is workable. Faster than some, slower than many. Fits the wallbreaker role.

What are the best moves for Moltres?

For Crystal, the core moveset is Rest, Sleep Talk, Fire Blast, and Sunnyday. Rest leads at 22% usage. This set covers the wallbreaker role with a mix of damage and utility.

What counters Moltres?

In Crystal, the best way to handle Moltres: Status moves (Toxic, Will-O-Wisp) wear it down. Setup sweepers can use it as a boost opportunity. Physical attackers can break through.

Moltres - Weakness, Evolution, Moveset, EVs & Stats

Mixed

Wallbreaker

BTier

90Speed · Above Avg

Stats & Training

Everything pushes toward special damage here. Moltres's Sp. Atk does the work, Sp. Def pays the price. But you're still getting 3 Sp. Atk stat exp per KO. Near-impossible to catch, on a slow 1.25M XP grind.

Base Stats

Pseudo

HP90

Attack100

Defense90

Sp. Atk125

Sp. Def85

Speed90

Total580

Details

Catch Rate

Legendary3 / 255

Growth Rate

Slow1.25M XP

Height2.0 m

Weight60.0 kg

Base XP290

Abilities

Abilities were introduced in Generation III. Shown below for reference.

Pressure

Increases the PP cost of moves targetting the Pokémon by one.

Flame BodyHA

Has a 30% chance of burning attacking Pokémon on contact.

EV Yield

HPAtkDefSpA+3SpDSpe

Strong Special Attack training target

Pokedex Entries

Legendary bird POKéMON. It is said to migrate from the south along with the spring.

Crystal

Moltres Weakness

Type-wise, Moltres takes extra damage from Rock, Water, and Electric. Watch out for Rock attacks, those deal 4x damage. Ground moves do nothing thanks to a full immunity. The Fire/Flying typing picks up 5 resistances to work with. With 90 HP and balanced defenses, Moltres can afford to eat a neutral hit or two.

Moltres Weakness and Resistance Chart
Damage	Types
4x (Critical)	Rock
2x (Weak)	Water, Electric
0.5x (Resist)	Fire, Fighting, Steel
0.25x (Resist)	Grass, Bug
0x (Immune)	Ground

Type ChartGood

3Weak

5Resist

1Immune

Score+2

Gen II Type Chart

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

4xCritical

2xWeak

½xResist

¼xResist

0xImmune

STAB (5)

Grass Ice Bug Steel Fighting

How to Beat Moltres in Crystal (Best Counters)

In Crystal, Cloyster's Surf hits Moltres for 61-72%. Snorlax's Double-Edge hits Moltres for 48-56%. Zapdos's Thunder also KOs at 103-121%.

CloysterWears down with Toxic, threatens with Surf, walls physical sets WaterIce	S
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves SpikesHazard SurfSTAB Explosion ToxicUtility Damage vs Moltres Surf 2x 61-72% Explosion 58-69% View Cloyster builds →
SnorlaxResists Fire via Thick Fat, walls special sets Normal	S
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves RestRecovery Double Edge Earthquake CurseSetup Damage vs Moltres Double Edge 48-56% View Snorlax builds →
Zapdos ElectricFlying	S
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves Hidden Power Ice ThunderSTAB RestRecovery Sleep Talk Damage vs Moltres Thunder 2x 103-121%KO View Zapdos builds →
SkarmoryResists Flying, wears down with Toxic, sturdy guarantees survival SteelFlying	A
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves Drill Peck RestRecovery CurseSetup WhirlwindUtility Damage vs Moltres Drill Peck 25-29% View Skarmory builds →
Exeggutor GrassPsychic	A
Recommended Build ItemLeftovers Moves PsychicSTAB Explosion Giga Drain Hidden Power Fire Damage vs Moltres Psychic 42-50% Explosion 58-69% Giga Drain 9-10% View Exeggutor builds →

Crystal Evolution

No breeding, no evolution. Moltres is a Fire/Flying legendary with 580 base stat total that you obtain once and build around. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.

How to Evolve

No Evolution

#146MoltresDoes not evolve

Breeding

Unavailable

Undiscovered egg group

Crystal Moltres Best Moveset

Best Build

Experimental

Utility

Ability

Not in Gen 2

Item

Charcoal

Nature

Not in Gen 2

Utility Moveset

RestRecovery
Sleep Talk
Fire BlastSTAB
Sunny DaySTAB

Recommended Teammates

SnorlaxGood

ExeggutorGood

CloysterDecent

Moves

Most of Moltres's flexibility comes from TMs. Same-type output runs through Sky Attack and Fire Blast, but Normal and Ground and the rest of the TM pool push it from predictable to genuinely threatening.

Level-Up Moves

Lv 1

Ember

—4010025Fire

Lv 1

Wing Attack

C6010035Flying

Lv 13

Fire Spin

—357015Fire

Lv 25

Agility

C——30Psychic

Lv 37

Endure+4

D——10Normal

Lv 49

Flamethrower

B9510015Fire

Lv 61

Safeguard

D——25Normal

Lv 73

Sky Attack

—140905Flying

TM Moves

TM03

Curse

C——10Ghost

TM43

Detect+4

D——5Fighting

TM32

Double Team

———15Normal

TM20

Endure+4

D——10Normal

TM38

Fire Blast

S120855Fire

HM02

Fly

B709515Flying

TM21

Frustration

D—10020Normal

TM10

Hidden Power

—6010015Normal

TM15

Hyper Beam

B150905Normal

TM31

Mud-Slap

D2010010Ground

TM17

Protect+4

C——10Normal

TM18

Rain Dance

C——5Water

TM44

Rest

S——10Psychic

TM27

Return

D—10020Normal

TM05

Roar-6

C——20Normal

TM08

Rock Smash

—2010015Fighting

TM37

Sandstorm

D——10Rock

TM35

Sleep Talk

S——10Normal

TM13

Snore

—4010015Normal

TM47

Steel Wing

C709025Steel

TM11

Sunny Day

S——5Fire

TM34

Swagger

C—8515Normal

TM39

Swift

C60—20Normal

TM06

Toxic

C—8510Poison

Egg Moves

Moltres doesn't have any Egg moves

Tutor Moves

Tut

Tutor

Flamethrower

B9510015Fire

How to Get Moltres in Crystal

Moltres doesn't appear in Crystal. Transfer it from Red, Yellow, or Let's Go Pikachu to add it to your collection. Check the source games below for encounter details.

Moltres is not available as a wild encounter in this game.

Also found in:

Red Yellow FireRed Platinum HeartGold X

Moltres Guide

In Crystal, Moltres is a Legendary Pokemon rated B-Tier. At 580 BST, it hits hard. It excels as a wallbreaker. Rest with Charcoal is the standard set.
In Crystal, Moltres's biggest threats include Golem (Rock), Gyarados (Water), and Raikou (Electric), all carrying super-effective STAB moves. Golem is the most dangerous since Rock moves deal 4x damage.
Moltres is a mixed attacker with base 100 Attack and 125 Sp. Atk. Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. Base 90 Speed is workable. Faster than some, slower than many. Fits the wallbreaker role.
For Crystal, the core moveset is Rest, Sleep Talk, Fire Blast, and Sunnyday. Rest leads at 22% usage. This set covers the wallbreaker role with a mix of damage and utility.
In Crystal, the best way to handle Moltres: Status moves (Toxic, Will-O-Wisp) wear it down. Setup sweepers can use it as a boost opportunity. Physical attackers can break through.

Game Availability

Since Red & Blue, Moltres has appeared in 20 games. Legendary Pokemon like Moltres are usually found through story events or special post-game areas rather than random encounters.

Click a game to view version-specific details

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