Is Piplup Good in Platinum Playthrough?
Water starter. Roark falls to Water, Gardenia resists it, Fantina's Ghost gym is neutral at the third badge. Empoleon's Water/Steel at 36 resists an absurd number of types. Handles Flint's full Fire E4 and contributes against Bertha. The safest starter through the late game.
Piplup resists most of Roark's coverage and hits back hard.
Gardenia's team hits Prinplup's weaknesses hard.
Prinplup trades roughly evenly with Fantina's team.
Prinplup has the type edge here and should clean up Maylene's team.
Prinplup trades roughly evenly with Crasher Wake's team.
Empoleon has the type edge here and should clean up Byron's team.
Empoleon resists most of Candice's coverage and hits back hard.
Empoleon trades roughly evenly with Volkner's team.
Empoleon has the type edge here and should clean up Aaron's team.
Empoleon resists most of Bertha's coverage and hits back hard.
Empoleon has the type edge here and should clean up Flint's team.
Empoleon has the type edge here and should clean up Lucian's team.
Empoleon trades roughly evenly with Cynthia's team.
Piplup is available as a starter at Lv 5.
- After Roark
- TM03WaterWater Pulse90100%20
- LV 18WaterBubble Beam98100%20
- LV 29WaterBrine98100%10
- After Maylene
- TUTORWaterDive120100%10
- After Crasher Wake
- HM03WaterSurf135100%15
- After Byron
- TM13IceIce Beam90100%10
- LV 43WaterHydro Pump16580%5
- After Volkner
- HM07WaterWaterfall120100%15
Your Piplup should hit Level 16 before you reach Gardenia, at typical leveling pace.
- After Roark
- TM03WaterWater Pulse90100%20
- LV 19WaterBubble Beam98100%20
- After Maylene
- TUTORWaterDive120100%10
- LV 33WaterBrine98100%10
- After Crasher Wake
- HM03WaterSurf135100%15
- After Byron
- TM13IceIce Beam90100%10
- After Volkner
- HM07WaterWaterfall120100%15
- LV 51WaterHydro Pump16580%5
Your Prinplup should hit Level 36 before you reach Byron, at typical leveling pace.
- After Gardenia
- TM26GroundEarthquake100100%10
- After Fantina
- TM15NormalHyper Beam15090%5
- After Maylene
- TUTORWaterDive120100%10
- TM68NormalGiga Impact15090%5
- After Crasher Wake
- HM03WaterSurf135100%15
- After Byron
- TM91SteelFlash Cannon120100%10
- After Volkner
- HM07WaterWaterfall120100%15
- LV 59WaterHydro Pump16580%5
How to Get Piplup in Platinum
Piplup is a gift in this game. Pick it up at Route 201 — no wild encounters or spawn rates to deal with. The details below cover exactly when it becomes available.
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.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Grass |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Fire, Water, Ice, Steel |
- Fairy type does not exist — Dragon has fewer checks
- Physical / Special split now per-move (introduced Gen IV)
What is Piplup Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Piplup
In Platinum, Raikou threatens a KO with Thunderbolt (176-207%).
 Breloom GrassFighting | A | |
Recommended Build AbilityPoisonheal ItemToxic Orb NatureAdamant Moves View Breloom builds →
| ||
 Raikou Electric | B | |
Recommended Build AbilityPressure ItemLeftovers NatureRash Moves
Damage vs Piplup View Raikou builds →Thunderbolt 2x176-207%KO Aura Sphere52-61% | ||
Piplup Evolutions
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
Breeding
Breed Piplup easily with 131 breeding partners from the Ground and Water1 egg groups. Pass egg moves like Agility, Aqua Ring, Double Hit and 7 more to offspring.
Pt Piplup Best Moveset
Water at 61 Sp. Atk and 40 Speed. The moveset has basic special Water attacks and AbilityTorrent for emergency power. Evolve to Empoleon for the Steel typing.
Best Build
Piplup best EVs are Speed and Sp. Atk
Utility Moveset
- Stealth Rock
- Surf
- Hidden Power Grass
- Icy Wind
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
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.
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
A poor walker, it often falls down. However, its strong pride makes it puff up its chest without a care.
Piplup Platinum Guide
In Platinum, 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.
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
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DPDebut
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