Complete guide to capturing Charmander and evolving it to Charizard in BDSP with advanced strategies
Unlocking the Path to Charmander: Post-Game Requirements
While the beloved Fire-type starter from Kanto isn’t available during your initial Sinnoh adventure, dedicated trainers can add Charmander to their team after conquering the region’s greatest challenges.
Accessing Charmander requires completing specific post-game milestones that unlock additional content areas and Pokemon availability.
For veterans of the original Diamond and Pearl games, this process mirrors the method used to obtain other non-native Pokemon in the Sinnoh region. The 2021 remakes maintain this tradition, reserving certain fan-favorite creatures for dedicated players who complete the main narrative.
Your journey begins after the credits roll. To make Charmander spawn in your game world, you must first achieve Sinnoh Champion status by defeating the Elite Four and the formidable Cynthia. This victory alone, however, won’t immediately grant access to the Kanto starter.
Even as the newly crowned champion, trainers face additional prerequisites. The most crucial step involves completing the Sinnoh Pokedex by encountering all 150 native Pokemon species. You don’t need to catch them all—merely seeing each species during battles or in the wild suffices.
Pro Tip: Before hunting for Charmander, ensure you have plenty of Ultra Balls and status-inflicting moves like Sleep Powder or Paralysis attacks. Charmander’s capture rate at these levels requires strategic preparation.
Strategic Charmander Hunting in the Grand Underground
Once you’ve accessed the Grand Underground from the Battle Zone, your search for Charmander becomes focused on specific environmental zones. The Fire-type starter exclusively inhabits lava Hideaways, which appear as distinct orange squares on your underground map.
Advanced Hunting Strategy: Experienced players recommend entering Hideaways with a Pokemon that has the Static or Magnet Pull ability in the lead slot. While these abilities don’t directly increase Charmander’s appearance rate, they influence encounter tables in your favor by making Electric or Steel-types more common, potentially reducing unwanted encounters.
When you finally encounter Charmander, be prepared for its elevated level range of 58-63. At these levels, it will know powerful moves like Flamethrower, Dragon Pulse, or Fire Blast depending on its exact level. Consider bringing a Water-type Pokemon to weaken it safely without risking a knockout.
Common Mistake to Avoid: Many players waste time hunting in non-lava Hideaways. Charmander ONLY spawns in lava-type environments. If you’re searching in grassy, rocky, or water Hideaways, you’ll never encounter it regardless of reset attempts.
Once captured, your Charmander will retain any moves it knew in the wild. Since it’s caught at such high levels, it may already have evolved beyond its basic movepool, potentially missing out on earlier moves like Dragon Dance or Metal Claw that require breeding or move tutors.
Efficient Evolution: From Charmander to Charizard
After successfully adding Charmander to your team, evolution becomes your next objective. The progression follows traditional level-based evolution mechanics with some advantageous shortcuts due to Charmander’s capture level.
Charmander undergoes its first evolution into Charmeleon upon reaching level 16. Since captured Charmanders are already between levels 58-63, this evolution occurs immediately upon capture or after your first battle with it.
This high starting level presents a unique efficiency advantage. In most Pokemon games, evolving a starter from its basic form to its final evolution requires significant leveling investment. In BDSP, you essentially skip 95% of that grind, obtaining a fully-evolved Charizard within minutes of capture.
Evolution Strategy Optimization: If you plan to use Charizard competitively, consider delaying its final evolution briefly. Charmeleon learns certain moves at different levels than Charizard. Check your specific Charmander’s current moves and compare them against learnsets to ensure you don’t miss valuable moves that might be easier to obtain before evolving.
Rare Candies provide the fastest evolution path, but you might consider using your Charizard in a few battles first. Each battle yields EVs (Effort Values) that permanently boost stats. Since Rare Candies don’t provide EVs, battling wild Pokemon briefly before evolving can give your Charizard slightly better base stats.
Important Note: Charizard’s typing changes from pure Fire-type (Charmander/Charmeleon) to Fire/Flying-type upon final evolution. This gives it additional weaknesses to Rock and Electric moves but provides immunity to Ground-type attacks. Consider this typing shift when planning your team composition.
Advanced Training and Competitive Considerations
Once you possess Charizard, maximizing its battle potential requires understanding its unique position as a post-game acquisition. Unlike starter Pokemon obtained at level 5, your Charizard enters your team nearly at maximum level with predetermined stats and moves.
Nature and IV Assessment: Before investing valuable resources like Bottle Caps or vitamins, check your Charizard’s Nature and individual values (IVs). Since you can’t soft-reset for ideal stats with Grand Underground Pokemon (they’re determined when you enter the Hideaway), you may need to catch multiple Charmander to find one with competitive potential.
Movepool Optimization: Charizard caught at high levels may have missed important level-up moves. Visit the Move Reminder (located in Pastoria City) to teach it valuable moves like Flare Blitz, Dragon Claw, or Air Slash that it might have skipped. TM compatibility includes powerful options like Solar Beam, Focus Blast, and Overheat.
Common Post-Capture Mistakes:
Team Synergy Suggestions: Charizard’s quadruple weakness to Rock-type moves makes it vulnerable to Stealth Rock hazards. Pair it with Pokemon that know Rapid Spin or Defog to clear entry hazards. Good partners include Starmie (Rapid Spin) or Staraptor (Defog) who cover Charizard’s weaknesses while benefiting from its Fire-type attacks against Steel-types.
With proper training and team support, your post-game Charizard can become a formidable member of your battle team, offering powerful special attacks, respectable speed, and iconic presence that honors its status as one of Pokemon’s most beloved creatures.
Now that you’ve mastered obtaining and evolving the Kanto Fire starter, explore additional post-game content and rare Pokemon available through similar methods in the Sinnoh remakes.
Expand your collection further with our comprehensive guides covering other rare creatures and post-game challenges in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl:
How to get Jirachi | How to get Mew | Version exclusives | All Legendary Pokemon | How to get the Poketch | Best starter to pick | All Styles | How to beat all Gym Leaders | How to walk with your Pokemon
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