Key Takeaway
You need to collect 999 Gimmighoul Coins and then level up your Gimmighoul once. When you do, it will evolve into Gholdengo.
Arguably the most gimmick-heavy of all evolution methods, you need a treasure trove to evolve Gimmighoul in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. However, doing so is worth the effort, as Gholdengo can be a powerful ally in battle.
Table Of Contents
What You Need to Do to Evolve Gimmighoul
Get ready for a treasure hunt, as you need to collect 999 Gimmighoul Coins before your Gimmighoul can evolve. Once you obtain the needed loot, you must level Gimmighoul up once. Afterward, it will evolve into Gholdengo. Keep in mind that you cannot cancel this evolution by pressing the B button.
Where to Find Gimmighoul Coins
The actual method of evolving Gimmighoul is straightforward, however, collecting hundreds of Gimmighoul Coins will be tedious. There are two main ways in which you can do so.
Firstly, you can get a few coins here and there by interacting with roaming Gimmighouls. These small, gray Pokémon cannot be battled or caught. Every time you interact with one, they will drop a few Gimmighoul Coins before disappearing. The amount varies between 1 to 200 coins—although the average is usually 2 or 3.
You can find roaming Gimmighouls all over the region—particularly near or on rocks and signs. Also, they can be found in the ruins and towers scattered throughout Paldea.
The better method of finding Gimmighoul Coins is to seek out chest-form Gimmighouls. This variant is the type that you can battle and catch. Every time you do so, you can get anywhere between 30 to 777 coins. With that said, the average yield is between 40 to 50.
Chest-form Gimmighouls can be found almost exclusively in ruins and towers. You can see such structures on the map, so be sure to plan your treasure hunts by scouting ahead. This will save you a lot of time.
Is Gholdengo Any Good?
Yes, and frankly, Gholdengo is overpowered. It has a very strong ability, a great signature move, usable typing, and solid stats. As such, don’t let this Pokémon’s goofy appearance fool you! If you come up against one, be prepared for a tough fight.
The only things that can take down a Gholdengo quickly are heavy-hitting Ground, Fire, Ghost, or Dark-type attacks. With that said, even against such threats, Gholdengo can outspeed and debuff special attackers to decrease their power. If you need to defeat a Gholdengo, try using physical attacks of the aforementioned types.
Gholdengo’s Typing
This money-loving specter is Steel and Ghost-type. Right away, this gives them great defensive viability. Such a type combination results in three immunities (Normal, Fighting, and Poison). Also, it means Gholdengo has nine resistances (Flying, Rock, Bug, Steel, Grass, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, and Fairy).
All of those immunities and resistances more than make up for its four weaknesses. What’s more, Gholdengo has no double weaknesses of which opponents can take advantage.
Gholdengo’s Ability
Arguably the most broken ability since Wonder Guard, Gholdengo gets a unique ability called Good as Gold. Put simply, this makes Gholdengo immune to status moves that target it. For example, Thunder Wave won’t paralyze Gholdengo.
However, field effects, like Spikes, and multi-target moves, like Mist, can still affect Gholdengo. With that said, being immune to all single-target status moves means that foes will have a much harder time dealing with Gholdengo.
Gholdengo’s Stats
Here are Gholdengo’s base stats:
- HP – 87
- Attack – 60
- Defense – 95
- Special Attack – 133
- Special Defense – 91
- Speed – 84
This Pokémon’s stats are well-rounded. The most important feature is its high Special Attack stat, which lets Gholdengo hit hard with special moves. Comparatively, its Attack stat is fairly low, though, you won’t need it.
With a decent HP stat backed up by solid defensive ones, Gholdengo has enough bulk to withstand a few incoming assaults. It’s not enough to make it a wall, but certainly enough to make it hard to take down due to great defensive typing.
Gholdengo’s Speed stat is middling yet still usable. If you plan to use Gholdengo, be sure to increase their Speed to reach this Steel and Ghost-type’s true potential. You want to move first during a turn, as you can debuff the foe’s offense, which, in turn, increases Gholdengo’s longevity in battle.
Gholdengo’s Moveset
First, it should be mentioned that Gholdengo’s signature move, Make It Rain, is very good. It is a Steel-type move with 120 base power, 100 accuracy, and is guaranteed to lower the target’s Special Attack by one stage. The only downside is that this move has only five PP to begin with, though, this can be alleviated with some PP Ups.
However, this is far from Gholdengo’s only good move. It can learn other great special attacks like Shadow Ball and Power Gem by leveling up. On top of that, Gholdengo gets nice status moves like Substitute, Recover, and Nasty Plot.
In addition to a wonderful level-up moveset, you can further increase Gholdengo’s potency by teaching it TMs.
Here are some of the best moves for Gholdengo:
- Substitute (learned at level 21)
- Shadow Ball (learned a level 35)
- Recover (learned at level 42)
- Power Gem (learned at level 49)
- Make It Rain (learned at level 56)
- Nasty Plot (learned at level 63)
- Psyshock (learned from TM054)
- Dazzling Gleam (learned from TM079)
- Thunder Wave (learned from TM082)
- Flash Cannon (learned from TM093)
- Psychic (learned from TM120)
- Thunderbolt (learned from TM126)
- Focus Blast (learned from TM158)
- Thunder (learned from TM166)
- Steel Beam (learned from TM170)
