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Pokemonis known for having Pokemon with conflicting Typings, such as Ghost/Dark-type or Bug/Steel-type. Dual-type combinations such as these leave little Type-effectiveness for opponents to target. With the Fairy-type included inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandPokemon Shining Pearl, Pokemon like Spiritomb have a Type-weakness while Pokemon that originally had oneType-weaknesses, such as Kingdra, gained a new weakness.
Kingdra’s typing is similar toShining Pearl’s mascot, Palkia. Instead of being Dragon/Water, it’s Water/Dragon-type, making Water its “priority” type with Dragon as its “secondary” type. Despite this, it can be a frustrating Pokemon to defeat and a rude awakening for unprepared trainers. InBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, gamers can get their own Kingdra by evolving Horsea.
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Where to Find and Evolve Horsea
The good news is Horsea can be found in several locations in Sinnoh. The bad news is Horsea doesn’t start spawning in those locationsuntil after the National Dex. Not to mention that to get Kingdra, Horsea needs to evolve into Seadra and thentraded while holding a Dragon Scale item.
Horsea is found in theGrand Undergroundat theFountainspring Cave, Riverbank Cave,andStill-Water Cavernhideaways. Trainers can spot Horsea swimming in the water andwill need to use HM Surfto reach it. Since this is the post-game, Horsea will be at a higher level than the ones found in the wild.
The other way to get Horsea is by fishing onRoute 226. It has a 35% chance of appearing when using a Good Rod. Horsea will be around levels 10-25. Additionally, Seadra has a 45% chance of being hookedif using the Super Rod. Its level will be higher than Horsea’s at 30-55.
The next step to getting Kingdra is to get theDragon Scale. Don’t confuse this with theDragon Fang, which is a held item that boosts the damage of Dragon-type moves. Unfortunately, there’s no definite way of getting a Dragon Scale from NPCs or finding it as a Poke Ball item in the wild.
Seadra has a 5% chance of holding a Dragon Scale,but so does the Dragon-type Dratini, which can be fished with the Super Rod on the 4th floor of Mt. Coronet. Either catch the Seadra/Dratini or use the move Thief to swipe its stolen item.
Once the Dragon Scale is obtained,give it to Seadra to Holdand then go to the Local or Global Trade Rooms at any of Sinnoh’s Pokemon Centers.Join a group or use a Link Code to tradeSeadra and evolve it into Kingdra. If Seadra is not holding the Dragon Scale, it won’t evolve. Furthermore, the Dragon Scale willbe used up after it’s traded, so if trainers want another Dragon Scale, they’ll have to go back to hunting Seadras and Dratinis in the wild.
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More Information About Kingdra
Despite being called the Dragon Pokemon, Horsea and Seadra are Water-type Pokemon. Kingdra is a Water/Dragon-type with a base stat total of 540.
75
95
Speed
85
At first glance, Kingdra’s stats are all-around average. None of its base stats break 100, meaning the base stat cap atlevel 100for its Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense will be 317 at itshighest(Natures andEVs are not calculated here). All of Kingdra’s damage-dealing moves are Special moves, making Special Attack one of its better stats. The best Nature for Kingdra isModest (+Sp.Attk, -Attk)because it will give Kingdra a needed growth in Special Attack.
Thanks to its unique typing, Kingdra doesn’t have many Type-weaknesses and can normally shrug off Electric and Grass-type moves that other Water-type Pokemon would be weak against. Unfortunately, because of the Water-typing, it doesn’tresistElectric or Grass-type moves that it would normally resistif it were only a Dragon-type.
Immunities:
N/A
A good move to give Kingdra is Ice Beam, which will give it coverage against most Dragon-types and take care of Grass-types. While it can’t learn any Poison-type moves in generation 8, Kingdra can learn the Steel-type move Flash Cannon to counter Fairy-types. However, it’s better to fill Kingdra’s moveset with a mix of Water/Dragon/Ice-type moves.
Kingdra has Swift Swim and Sniper as regular abilities,and Damp as its Hidden Ability. Swift Swim will boost Kingdra’s speedwhen Rain Dance is active (or if it’s raining)while Snipermultiples Kingdra’s critical hit by 1.5 damage. The Ability Dampprevents moves such as Explosion and Self-Destruct from being used.Furthermore, Abilities that deal damage after the Pokemon has fainted (Aftermath) won’t inflict damage on Kingdra either.
Competitively, having a Kingdra with Swift Swim is good so that it can out-speed opponents. Unfortunately, Rain Dance needs to be set up for this Ability to trigger. Sniper is a good Ability, but relies on luck. There are certain items that boost the chance of critical hits, butKingdra’s better off holding other items. Damp isn’t bad either, but Damp relies solely on the opponent’s moves. If the opponent doesn’t have Self-Destruct or Explosion, then the Ability is useless in combat.
While Kingdra may not be as powerful as Palkia (Dragon/Water-type), it’s still a solid Water-type (or Dragon-type) Pokemon that can undoubtedly hold its own in battle against strong opponents.
