
Is Swellow Good in Emerald Playthrough?
AbilityGuts Normal/Flying. Swellow turns burns and poison into raw power through MoveFacade. Handles Brawly through Flying, contributes against Sidney, and the Guts damage carries through every E4 fight. In Emerald, the Wallace Champion fight is neutral for Normal. Swellow's power earns its place from Route 104 to the credits.
Roxanne's team hits Taillow's weaknesses hard.
Taillow resists most of Brawly's coverage and hits back hard.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Wattson's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Flannery's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Norman's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Winona's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Tate & Liza's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Juan's team.
Swellow has the type edge here and should clean up Sidney's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Phoebe's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Swellow trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Catch Taillow on Route 104 (walking, Lv 4-5, uncommon).
- LV 13FlyingWing Attack90100%35
- After Roxanne
- TM47SteelSteel Wing7090%25
- After Brawly
- TM43NormalSecret Power105100%20
- TM10NormalHidden Power90100%15
- After Norman
- TM42NormalFacade105100%20
- After Winona
- HM02FlyingFly13595%15
- LV 34FlyingAerial Ace90100%20
- After Juan
- TUTORNormalDouble-Edge180100%15
Your Taillow should hit Level 22 before you reach Wattson, at typical leveling pace.
- STARTING (Lv 22)
- LV 22FlyingWing Attack90100%35
- After Brawly
- TM43NormalSecret Power105100%20
- TM10NormalHidden Power90100%15
- After Norman
- TM42NormalFacade105100%20
- After Winona
- TM15NormalHyper Beam22590%5
- HM02FlyingFly13595%15
- LV 38FlyingAerial Ace90100%20
- After Juan
- TUTORNormalDouble-Edge180100%15
How to Get Swellow in Emerald
Swellow starts showing up in mid-game routes at moderate rates across 1 encounter spots. The list below is sorted so you can pick what fits your current progress without scrolling through everything.
1 location to catch Swellow4 locations to catch Taillow
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Catch Taillow at any of the 4 locations below, then level it up to 22 — it evolves into Swellow.
Where To Catch Swellow in E
Taillow is your first catch on the way to Swellow. You'll find walking encounters from Lv. 4-25 across 5 total spots in the chain.
Step 1Catch TaillowRoute 116Lv.6-8GrassRate 20%Route 104Lv.4-5GrassRate 10%Petalburg WoodsLv.5-6GrassRate 5%Route 115Lv.23-25GrassRate 40%
Step 2Swellow ✓Route 115Lv.25GrassRate 10%or evolve from Taillow (Step 1)
Swellow Weakness
Electric, Ice, and Rock moves hit Swellow for super-effective damage. The upside? Ground and Ghost-type moves can't touch it at all. At base 125 Speed, Swellow outspeeds most threats and doesn't need to tank what it can outrun.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Ice, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Bug |
| 0x (Immune) | Ground, Ghost |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Swellow Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Swellow
In Emerald, Dugtrio can KO Swellow with Rock Slide (118-139%). Celebi's Psychic hits Swellow for 45-53%. Snorlax's Self-Destruct also KOs at 110-129%.
A | ||
Recommended Build AbilityArenatrap ItemChoice Band NatureJolly Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Dugtrio builds →Rock Slide 2x118-139%KO | ||
A | ||
Recommended Build AbilityNatural Cure ItemLeftovers NatureBold Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Celebi builds →Psychic45-53% Giga Drain18-22% | ||
A | ||
Recommended Build AbilityImmunity ItemLeftovers NatureAdamant Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Snorlax builds →Body Slam47-55% Self Destruct110-129%KO | ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityEffect Spore ItemLeftovers NatureJolly Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Breloom builds →Mach Punch26-30% | ||
C | ||
Recommended Build AbilityPure Power ItemSalacberry NatureJolly Moves
Damage vs Swellow View Medicham builds →Rock Slide 2x58-69% | ||
Swellow Evolutions
Evolved from Taillow. Swellow is the final form in this two-stage line. A decent partner pool for breeding via one egg group. Eggs are quick to hatch. Sp.Atk grew the most through evolution (+45 over Taillow), and Swellow peaks at 455 total stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Swellow to get Taillow eggs easily using 25 partners from the Flying egg group. Notable egg moves include Mirror Move, Pursuit, Rage and 3 more.
E Swellow Best Moveset
Burn or poison activates AbilityGuts for a 50%% Attack boost, and Swellow's 125 base Speed ensures it strikes first with a boosted MoveFacade before opponents can react. The moveset is built around getting statused deliberately, turning a Toxic Orb disadvantage into the strongest physical Normal hit in the tier.
Best Build
Swellow best EVs are Attack and Speed
Physical Sweeper Moveset
- Aerial Ace
- Facade
- Baton Pass
- Endeavor
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Without breeding, Swellow misses out on Mirror Move and Pursuit. That's 6 egg moves adding depth that the base kit lacks. STAB comes from Hyper Beam and Sky Attack, with Steel and Dark coverage and more rounding things out.
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 SWELLOW dives upon prey from far above. It never misses its targets. It takes to the skies in search of lands with a warm climate.
Swellow Emerald Guide
For Emerald, we rate Swellow C-Tier: a niche pick in Emerald's meta. At 455 BST, it fits the pivot role. Aerialace with Choice Band is the standard set.
Guts increases Attack to 1.5× with a major status ailment. That's the one you want on Swellow. It's the only ability Swellow has.
Base 125 Speed lets it outrun most of the field. On offense, Swellow is a physical attacker with base 85 Attack. Best used as a pivot.
In Emerald, run Aerialace, Facade, Baton Pass, and Endeavor on Swellow. Aerialace is the most common pick at 0% usage. Facade provides reliable STAB damage.
Game Availability
Available in 14 titles since its debut in Ruby & Sapphire, Swellow spans 8 generations of Pokemon games. It's accessible through wild encounters in a solid number of games.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB

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

Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RSDebut

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