2nd Gen Heracross, why must you torment me?

[gehringgame]

I recently installed a new save battery in Silver so that I could relive my childhood (so worth it, btw). I got my team all planned out, but it requires me to catch a Heracross, and I simply cannot find one.

It is infuriating.

I have tried multiple different routes that contain "mountain trees" and am currently on routes 42 and 43. As I understand it, based off of the Headbutt Tree page at bulbapedia, headbutt trees come in three encounter rate flavors: 80%, 50%, and 10%. From there, the trees that have a 10% overall encounter rate should drop Heracross 30% of the time. The issue is that I've been headbutting these trees for ten or more encounters per tree (meaning 100+ headbutts per tree) and haven't seen a single Heracross.

I'm up to about 2 hours of game time purely devoted to headbutting! Am I missing something? Am I understanding something wrong?

 

[akaMike]

I had trouble finding one in Gold so i gave up. I think the most common area is the above the pokemon center outside the cave. It can take a long time though.

 

[Desert Stream~]

I think there's a verry small chance of finding one in azalea town? That might be only hg/ss though.

 

[gehringgame]

OK! Sorry for late reply here, I was on vacation. I finally caught a Heracross on Route 42! After multiple HOURS headbutting, I think I have finally figured out how encounters work.

Thought I would share what I learned in case anyone else is having trouble with this. Maybe this little guide will help you:

1) Start headbutting a tree. Do you get a Spearow or Aipom? Good. This means you're in a "mountain" area which may contain Heracross. These areas are divided differently between Gold/Silver and Crystal, which is why Azalea Town is a popular spot for Heracross in Crystal but not in Gold/Silver.

2) Headbutt the tree 10 times. Trees containing Heracross ("special" trees) have a high Pokémon encounter rate. It's something around 80%, so if you headbutt a tree 10 times and don't see more than a couple Pokémon, it's probably safe to move on.

3) If you are getting encounters, headbutt until you've had 10 encounters. If you haven't found a Heracross yet, move on to the next tree. Heracross appears 30% of the time in special trees, so if you are headbutting a special tree, you have better than a 97% chance of finding at least one Heracross after 10 encounters.

Not every "mountain" route will contain a special tree since they are generated using a pivot index based off of the player's ID number. This also means they'll be different in each game you play. However, follow the steps above and you'll hopefully find a Heracross before long. Hope that helps someone!

 

[RegalSin]

Azalia town I remember in the very beginning. At first I though this pokemon evolved from Pincer, so I trained a Pincer. Then I found out the reality. It is like that Shark Pokemon. It is suppose to be the final evolution but in reality it is a slap in the face.

 

[Limey-chan]

I never had any problems finding Heracross, as most have already pointed out, Azalea Town is the best place to find one early-game.

Just as an aside, if you can find one and train him up to around lv 20 by the time you face Whitney, you will destroy her Miltank with ease.