Butterfree
Butterfly Pokémon
It collects honey every day. It rubs honey onto the hairs on its legs to carry it back to its nest.
Details
Base stats
Competitive movesets
Smogon UniversityBattle-ready sets by tier, straight from Smogon. Pick a generation and format — a “/” means either option works in that slot.
Source: Smogon (via pkmn) · Data snapshot: Jul 31, 2026 · 18,880 rows
Where to find Butterfree
Wild encounter locations across the games. Availability may also include trades, evolution, gifts, and events not listed here.
Evolution
Notable moves
The strongest damaging moves Butterfree can learn — same-type (STAB) moves get a 1.5× power bonus in battle.
Moves
| Lv. | Move & effect | Type | Class | Power | Acc. | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Gust Inflicts regular damage and can hit Pokémon in the air. | Flying | Special | 40 | 100 | 35 |
| 1 | Bug Bite If target has a berry, inflicts double damage and uses the berry. | Bug | Physical | 60 | 100 | 20 |
| 1 | Confusion Has a chance to confuse the target. | Psychic | Special | 50 | 100 | 25 |
| 1 | Harden Raises the user’s Defense by one stage. | Normal | Status | — | — | 30 |
| 1 | String Shot Lowers the target’s Speed by two stages. | Bug | Status | — | 95 | 40 |
| 1 | Tackle Inflicts regular damage with no additional effect. | Normal | Physical | 40 | 100 | 35 |
| 15 | Poison Powder Poisons the target. | Poison | Status | — | 75 | 35 |
| 16 | Stun Spore Paralyzes the target. | Grass | Status | — | 75 | 30 |
| 17 | Sleep Powder Puts the target to sleep. | Grass | Status | — | 75 | 15 |
| 19 | Silver Wind Has a chance to raise all of the user’s stats by one stage. | Bug | Special | 60 | 100 | 5 |
| 21 | Supersonic Confuses the target. | Normal | Status | — | 55 | 20 |
| 24 | Air Slash Has a chance to make the target flinch. | Flying | Special | 75 | 95 | 15 |
| 26 | Whirlwind Immediately ends wild battles. Forces trainers to switch Pokémon. | Normal | Status | — | — | 20 |
| 28 | Safeguard Protects the user’s field from major status ailments and confusion for five turns. | Normal | Status | — | — | 25 |
| 32 | Bug Buzz Has a chance to lower the target’s Special Defense by one stage. | Bug | Special | 90 | 100 | 10 |
| 32 | Psybeam Has a chance to confuse the target. | Psychic | Special | 65 | 100 | 20 |
| 36 | Tailwind For three turns, friendly Pokémon have doubled Speed. | Flying | Status | — | — | 15 |
| 37 | Captivate Lowers the target’s Special Attack by two stages if it’s the opposite gender. | Normal | Status | — | 100 | 20 |
| 40 | Rage Powder Redirects the target’s single-target effects to the user for this turn. | Bug | Status | — | — | 20 |
| 44 | Quiver Dance Raises the user’s Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by one stage each. | Bug | Status | — | — | 20 |
Sprites & renders
24 sprites & renders for Butterfree.






Across the games


















More Bug-type Pokémon
Others that share this Pokémon's primary type.
Community notes
No reader notes on Butterfree yet.
Cite this page
“Butterfree”. Pokémonism. Retrieved [date] from pokemonism.com/pokedex/butterfree.
Species data from PokéAPI.