
Is Kingdra Good in Emerald Playthrough?
Seadra trade evolution with a Dragon Scale. Kingdra is Water/Dragon with only one weakness: Dragon. AbilitySwift Swim doubles Speed in rain. Drake uses a Kingdra in the E4. Getting your own turns the Dragon fight from hard to manageable. The best trade evolution payoff in Emerald.
Horsea resists most of Roxanne's coverage and hits back hard.
Horsea has the type edge here and should clean up Brawly's team.
Wattson's team hits Horsea's weaknesses hard.
Horsea resists most of Flannery's coverage and hits back hard.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Winona's team.
Horsea trades roughly evenly with Tate & Liza's team.
Kingdra has the type edge here and should clean up Juan's team.
Kingdra has the type edge here and should clean up Sidney's team.
Kingdra has the type edge here and should clean up Phoebe's team.
Kingdra trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Kingdra has the type edge here and should clean up Drake's team.
Kingdra trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Horsea can be received through an in-game trade on Pacifidlog Town. Trade Bagon. Trade a Bagon to a Deep Sea Diver in Pacifidlog Town
- After Wattson
- TM13IceIce Beam90100%10
- After Norman
- HM03WaterSurf135100%15
- After Winona
- TM14IceBlizzard11070%5
- After Tate & Liza
- HM08WaterDive120100%10
- HM07WaterWaterfall120100%15
- LV 43WaterHydro Pump16580%5
- After Juan
- TM03WaterWater Pulse90100%20
- TUTORNormalDouble-Edge120100%15
Most players are ready to trade before reaching Juan.
- After Wattson
- TM13IceIce Beam90100%10
- After Norman
- HM03WaterSurf135100%15
- After Winona
- TM15NormalHyper Beam15090%5
- After Tate & Liza
- HM08WaterDive120100%10
- HM07WaterWaterfall120100%15
- After Juan
- TM03WaterWater Pulse90100%20
- TUTORNormalDouble-Edge120100%15
- LV 51WaterHydro Pump16580%5
How to Get Kingdra in Emerald
Kingdra's 3-stage chain starts with Horsea, which appears at decent rates in the locations below. Level through 3 stages while you find a trade partner. Everything except the trade step is solo.
Catch Horsea at any of these 4 spots to eventually evolve into Kingdra.
Encountered via fishing with a Rod
How to Obtain Kingdra in E
Horsea is your first catch on the way to Kingdra. You'll find fishing and trade encounters from Lv. 25-30 across 4 total spots in the chain.
Step 1Catch HorseaRoute 132Lv.25-30Super RodRate 15%Route 133Lv.25-30Super RodRate 15%Route 134Lv.25-30Super RodRate 15%Pacifidlog TownIn-game tradeLimitedTrade for (give Bagon)
Step 2Evolve into SeadraBREEDINGAvailableLeave Kingdra with a compatible partner at the Pokemon Day Care to receive a Seadra egg.
Step 3Kingdra ✓
Kingdra Weakness
Type-wise, Kingdra takes extra damage from Dragon. Not many exploitable gaps in the Water/Dragon typing defensive chart. With 75 HP and balanced defenses, Kingdra can afford to eat a neutral hit or two.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Dragon |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Steel |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Fire, Water |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Kingdra Weak Against
ExcellentBest Pokemon Against Kingdra
Bagon Dragon | C | |
Shelgon Dragon | C | |
Shelgon Dragon | C | |
In Emerald, Steelix's Explosion hits Kingdra for 54-63%. Regirock deals 82-97% with Explosion.
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityRockhead ItemLeftovers NatureImpish Moves
Damage vs Kingdra View Steelix builds →Earthquake21-26% Explosion54-63% | ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityIntimidate ItemLeftovers NatureLonely Moves
Damage vs Kingdra View Arcanine builds →Extreme Speed28-33% Overheat9-10% | ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityClearbody ItemLeftovers NatureAdamant Moves
Damage vs Kingdra View Regirock builds →Explosion82-97% Rock Slide25-29% Superpower39-47% | ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilitySturdy ItemLeftovers NatureCareful Moves
Damage vs Kingdra View Forretress builds →Rapid Spin11-13% Explosion54-64% Earthquake22-26% | ||
C | ||
Recommended Build AbilityMagmaarmor ItemLeftovers NatureBrave Moves
Damage vs Kingdra View Camerupt builds →Earthquake31-37% Explosion78-91% Fire Blast8-9% | ||
Kingdra Evolutions
Kingdra evolved from Horsea's chain using a trade. It's a non-standard trigger, so check the details below. Breed this form to get Horsea eggs (average hatch time). The evolution from Horsea pushed Kingdra to 540 total stats. Sp.Def saw the largest single gain at +70. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Kingdra to get Horsea eggs easily using 27 partners from the Dragon and Water1 egg groups. Notable egg moves include Aurora Beam, Disable, Dragon Breath and 4 more.
E Kingdra Best Moveset
Water/Dragon typing leaves only Dragon as a weakness, and AbilitySwift Swim in rain doubles Kingdra's Speed to outrun everything on the field. The moveset becomes devastating on rain teams where special Water TermStab hits everything that Dragon misses.
Best Build
Kingdra best EVs are Sp. Atk and Speed
Special Attacker Moveset
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Hidden Power Grass
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Breeding's the move. Aurora Beam and Disable give Kingdra options it can't learn any other way, and Ice and Normal coverage already covers a decent range on top of Hydro Pump and Surf. The egg moves push it further.
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
It sleeps quietly, deep on the seafloor. When it comes up to the surface, it creates a huge whirlpool that can swallow even ships.
Kingdra Emerald Guide
In Emerald, Kingdra looks average on paper at 540 BST. But Swift Swim is why it sees play. Build around that and it pulls its weight. B-Tier on our tier list. Raindance with Lum Berry is the standard set.
In Emerald, Kingdra's biggest threats include Dragonite (Dragon), all carrying super-effective STAB moves. Only 1 weakness means fewer dedicated counters to worry about.
Kingdra is obtained by trade-evolving Seadra. Catch or evolve a Seadra first, then trade. Trade needs a Game Boy Advance link cable and a second GBA running another Gen 3 game (FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald). Trade Seadra to a friend, then have them trade it back. The 2026 Switch re-release supports the same trade through local wireless on the Pokemon Center 2F Wireless Club, with no cables required. The Dragon Scale must be held during the trade. Bring one over from a sibling Gen 3 game if needed.
Kingdra gets Swift Swim and Sniper. But Swift Swim is the one that matters. It's the centerpiece of every viable set. Build around that.
Kingdra is a special attacker with base 95 Sp. Atk. Enough bulk to take a hit or two, too. Speed tells the real story. Base 85 Speed is workable. Faster than some, slower than many.
Game Availability
Since Gold & Silver, Kingdra has been in 17 games. Requiring a trade evolution to obtain means it's consistently available but requires more effort than simply catching it in the wild.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB

Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GSDebut

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