What does Piplup evolve into?

Prinplup at level 16 is the mid-stage. Push through to Empoleon at level 36 for the final form. 314 BST right now won't cut it long-term.

At what level does Piplup evolve?

Level 16 gets you Prinplup . Quick enough that Piplup barely slows you down.

In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Piplup does the job early-game if you need a Water type on your team. Evolve it into Prinplup before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.

Where can you catch Piplup?

You can find Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver. The Locations section has the full breakdown of routes and encounter details. It also appears in 11 other games across the series.

Piplup - Weakness, Evolution, Moveset, EVs & Stats

Utility

Balanced

DTier

40Speed · Very Slow

Stats & Training

Piplup's stats barely vary. None sit in respectable range with no real gaps. It's a blank slate for EV investment. Worth 1 Sp. Atk EV, 1.06M XP medium-slow curve to max.

Base Stats

Avg

HP53

Attack51

Defense53

Sp. Atk61

Sp. Def56

Speed40

Total314

Details

Catch Rate

Challenging45 / 255

Growth Rate

Medium Slow1.06M XP

Height0.4 m

Weight5.2 kg

Base XP63

Abilities

Torrent

Strengthens water moves to inflict 1.5× damage at 1/3 max HP or less.

CompetitiveHANot in game

Raises Special Attack by two stages upon having any stat lowered.

EV Yield

HPAtkDefSpA+1SpDSpe

Special Attack training source

Pokedex Entries

It doesn’t like to be taken care of. It’s difficult to bond with since it won’t listen to its Trainer.

Piplup Weakness

Electric and Grass moves hit Piplup for super-effective damage. It resists 4 types, giving it decent defensive coverage. Only 2 weaknesses makes it relatively easy to build around defensively.

Piplup Weakness and Resistance Chart
Damage	Types
2x (Weak)	Electric, Grass
0.5x (Resist)	Fire, Water, Ice, Steel

Type ChartGood

2Weak

4Resist

0Immune

Score0

Gen IV Type Chart

Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)

4xCritical

None

2xWeak

Electric Grass

½xResist

Fire Water Ice Steel

¼xResist

None

0xImmune

None

STAB (3)

Fire Ground Rock

How to Beat Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver (Best Counters)

In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Magnezone threatens a KO with Thunderbolt (191-225%).

Breloom GrassFighting	A
Recommended Build AbilityPoisonheal ItemToxic Orb NatureAdamant Moves SporeUtility Seed Bomb Focus Punch SubstituteUtility View Breloom builds →
Magnezone ElectricSteel	B
Recommended Build AbilityMagnetpull ItemLeftovers NatureTimid Moves ThunderboltSTAB Hidden Power Fire Thunder Wave Explosion Damage vs Piplup Thunderbolt 2x 191-225%KO Explosion 81-95% View Magnezone builds →
Roserade GrassPoison	B
Recommended Build AbilityNatural Cure ItemBlack Sludge NatureTimid Moves Toxic Spikes Hidden Power Fire SpikesHazard Sleep Powder View Roserade builds →
Raikou Electric	B
Recommended Build AbilityPressure ItemLeftovers NatureRash Moves ThunderboltSTAB Hidden Power Ice Aura Sphere Calm Mind Damage vs Piplup Thunderbolt 2x 192-226%KO Aura Sphere 57-67% View Raikou builds →

HeartGold & SoulSilver Evolution

Piplup is the start of a three-stage chain. It evolves into Prinplup first, then eventually reaches Empoleon. For breeding, average hatch time with a massive partner pool via two egg groups. The evolved forms gain up to 216 total stats over Piplup. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.

How to Evolve

3 Forms

#393Piplup

Level 16

#394Prinplup

Level 36

#395Empoleon

Stat Comparison 3 Stages

Piplup

Water

Prinplup

Water

Empoleon

WaterSteel

64+11

84+20

ATK

66+15

86+20

DEF

68+15

88+20

SP.ATK

81+20

111+30

SP.DEF

76+20

101+25

SPE

50+10

60+10

BST

314D-Tier

405D-Tier+91

530B-Tier+125

ROLE

Balanced

Attacker

TYPE

Utility

Special

Breeding

Easy

Breed Piplup easily with 131 breeding partners from the Ground and Water1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Agility, Aqua Ring, Double Hit and 8 more to offspring.

Egg Groups

GroundWater1

Gender

♂87.5%♀12.5%

Hatch Time

20 cycles·5,140 steps

Quick~5 min with Flame Body

Egg Moves

11moves

Breed With (best first)

HeartGold & SoulSilver Piplup Best Moveset

Best Build

No build content available for this Pokemon in Gen 4.

Try selecting a different game/generation filter, or check back later.

Moves

Don't skip the egg moves. Piplup picks up Agility and Aqua Ring only through breeding, and both fill gaps the natural movepool can't. STAB runs through Hydro Pump and Surf while coverage across 9 types adds range.

Level-Up Moves

Lv 1

Pound

—4010035Normal

Lv 4

Growl

——10040Normal

Lv 8

Bubble

—2010030Water

Lv 11

Water Sport

———15Water

Lv 15

Peck

—3510035Flying

Lv 18

Bubble Beam

—6510020Water

Lv 22

Bide+1

———10Normal

Lv 25

Fury Attack

D158520Normal

Lv 29

Brine

D6510010Water

Lv 32

Whirlpool

D358515Water

Lv 36

Mist

———30Ice

Lv 39

Drill Peck

D8010020Flying

Lv 43

Hydro Pump

C120805Water

TM Moves

TM40

Aerial Ace

D60—20Flying

TM45

Attract

——10015Normal

TM14

Blizzard

D120705Ice

TM31

Brick Break

D7510015Fighting

TM55

Brine

D6510010Water

TM78

Captivate

——10020Normal

HM01

Cut

—509530Normal

TM28

Dig

D8010010Ground

TM32

Double Team

———15Normal

TM58

Endure+4

———10Normal

TM42

Facade

D7010020Normal

TM56

Fling

——10010Dark

TM21

Frustration

D—10020Normal

TM86

Grass Knot

D—10020Grass

TM07

Hail

D——10Ice

TM10

Hidden Power

—6010015Normal

TM13

Ice Beam

D9510010Ice

TM83

Natural Gift

D—10015Normal

TM88

Pluck

—6010020Flying

TM17

Protect+4

C——10Normal

TM18

Rain Dance

C——5Water

TM44

Rest

C——10Psychic

TM27

Return

D—10020Normal

TM39

Rock Tomb

D609510Rock

TM43

Secret Power

—7010020Normal

TM82

Sleep Talk

C——10Normal

TM76

Stealth Rock

C——20Rock

TM90

Substitute

C——10Normal

HM03

Surf

C9510015Water

TM87

Swagger

——9015Normal

TM06

Toxic

C—8510Poison

TM03

Water Pulse

D6010020Water

HM07

Waterfall

C8010015Water

HM05

Whirlpool

D358515Water

Egg Moves

Egg

Agility

C——30Psychic

Egg

Aqua Ring

———20Water

Egg

Double Hit

D359010Normal

Egg

Feather Dance

——10015Flying

Egg

Flail

——10015Normal

Egg

Hydro Pump

C120805Water

Egg

Mud Sport

———15Ground

Egg

Mud-Slap

D2010010Ground

Egg

Snore

D4010015Normal

Egg

Supersonic

——5520Normal

Egg

Yawn

D——10Normal

Tutor Moves

Tut

Tutor

Dive

C8010010Water

Tutor

Headbutt

D7010015Normal

Tutor

Icy Wind

D559515Ice

Tutor

Mud-Slap

D2010010Ground

Tutor

Signal Beam

D7510015Bug

Tutor

Snore

D4010015Normal

How to Get Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver

No wild encounters for Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver. It's available in Diamond, Platinum, or Legends: Arceus and can be transferred over. The details below show where to find it.

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

Receive as a gift in:

DiamondGift · Lake Verity · Starter Pokémon PlatinumGift · Route 201 · Starter Pokémon

Then trade to HeartGold & SoulSilver.

Also found in:

Omega Ruby Brilliant Diamond Legends: Arceus

Piplup Guide

Prinplup at level 16 is the mid-stage. Push through to Empoleon at level 36 for the final form. 314 BST right now won't cut it long-term.
Level 16 gets you Prinplup. Quick enough that Piplup barely slows you down.
In HeartGold & SoulSilver, Piplup does the job early-game if you need a Water type on your team. Evolve it into Prinplup before the later gyms and it holds up fine through the story.
You can find Piplup in HeartGold & SoulSilver. The Locations section has the full breakdown of routes and encounter details. It also appears in 11 other games across the series.

Game Availability

Piplup first appeared in Diamond & Pearl and has been available in 12 games across 7 generations. Obtainable through catching or hatching as a base form in most titles where it appears.

Click a game to view version-specific details

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