Is Horsea Good in Sword & Shield Playthrough?
Horsea appears in the Isle of Armor waters. The real draw is Kingdra through Dragon Scale trade evolution on Seadra. Water/Dragon with only Fairy and Dragon weaknesses is excellent defensive typing. If you can trade, Kingdra is one of the better DLC evolution chains.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Milo's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Nessa's team.
Horsea has the type edge here and should clean up Kabu's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Bea's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Opal's team.
Horsea has the type edge here and should clean up Gordie's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Piers's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Raihan's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Bede's team.
Kingdra has the type edge here and should clean up Leon's team.
Catch Horsea on Insular Sea (Surf, Lv 40-45). Snowstorm.
Most players are ready to trade before reaching Leon.
How to Get Horsea in Sword & Shield
The chain to Horsea requires a trade evolution through a trade. Catch Horsea in the wild and level through the stages, but line up the trade first. The rest of the chain runs on levels alone.
Where To Catch Horsea in SwSh
To get Horsea, start by catching Horsea through surfing encounters at Lv. 40-45. The chain covers 1 catchable stage before reaching the final form.
Step 1Horsea ✓Insular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%RainingInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%Intense SunInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%SnowstormInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%Heavy FogInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%SnowingInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%OvercastInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%SandstormInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 20%Normal WeatherInsular SeaLv.40-45Surfing on waterRate 16%Thunderstorm
Step 3Evolve into Kingdra
Horsea Weakness
Horsea is weak to Electric and Grass. The Water typing picks up 4 resistances to work with. Horsea's physical bulk (base 70 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Grass |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Water, Ice, Steel |
What is Horsea Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Horsea
In Sword & Shield, Jolteon can KO Horsea with Thunderbolt (535-630%). Venusaur threatens a KO with Giga Drain (399-469%).
 Jolteon Electric | B | |
Recommended Build AbilityVoltabsorb ItemChoice Specs NatureTimid Moves
Damage vs Horsea View Jolteon builds →Thunderbolt 2x535-630%KO Shadow Ball158-187%KO Volt Switch 2x416-490%KO | ||
 Venusaur GrassPoison | C | |
Recommended Build AbilityChlorophyll ItemLife Orb NatureModest Moves
Damage vs Horsea View Venusaur builds →Giga Drain 2x399-469%KO | ||
Horsea Evolutions
Horsea kicks off a three-stage evolution line through Seadra all the way to Kingdra. For breeding, average hatch time with plenty of partners via two egg groups. Evolving adds up to 245 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Horsea easily with 63 breeding partners from the Dragon and Water1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Aurora Beam, Clear Smog, Disable and 4 more to offspring.
SwSh Horsea Best Moveset
Rain doubles the Speed through AbilitySwift Swim but 70 Sp. Atk on a pre-evo can't do meaningful damage even fast. Water TermStab is the only offensive angle in the moveset. Seadra takes the same rain ability and adds actual offensive power.
Best Build
Horsea best EVs are Speed and Sp. Atk
Utility Moveset
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Focus Energy
- Flash Cannon
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Horsea gets Aurora Beam and Clear Smog exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Dragon and Ice coverage and more rounds out the picture alongside Hydro Pump and Muddy Water.
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
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Horsea makes its home in oceans with gentle currents. If this Pokémon is under attack, it spits out pitch-black ink and escapes.
They swim with dance-like motions and cause whirlpools to form. Horsea compete to see which of them can generate the biggest whirlpool.
Horsea Sword & Shield Guide
In Sword & Shield, For a casual playthrough, Horsea works as a placeholder. Water coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Seadra. That's where the stats start mattering.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Horsea appears in 20 games spanning 10 generations. Gen 1 originals like Horsea 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 7LGPE
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