Golduck is the water-type Pokemon which evolves into Psyduck from level 33 onwards. It was introduced in the first Pokemon game, though it still remains far less recognizable than its pre-evolution. That is mainly due to Psyduck’s frequent appearance in the Pokemon anime as a member of Misty’s team. Golduck is often discussed in regards to the common confusion over its typing due to the frequent references to Golduck’s psychic abilities.
About Golducks
| First appearance in anime | Pokemon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back |
| First appearance in game | Red, Blue, and Yellowz |
| Region | Kanto |
| Evolution | N/A |
| 1st Evo level | N/A |
| 2nd Evo level | N/A |
| Pokedex Entry | Often seen swimming elegantly by lake shores. It is often mistaken for the Japanese monster, Kappa. Its slim and long limbs end in broad flippers. They are used for swimming gracefully in lakes. |
Golduck Base stats
| HP | 80 |
| ATTACK | 82 |
| DEFENCE | 78 |
| SP. ATTACK | 95 |
| SP. DEFENCE | 80 |
| SPEED | 85 |
| TOTAL | 500 |
Appearance
Golduck is a blue, bipedal Pokemon that most closely resembles a duck with platypus features. It has a notable round, red gem on its forehead which matches the color of its triangular eyes. There are four spikes on the top/back of its head and a long tail that ends in a pointed tip with a cream colored beak. Both Golduck’s hands and feet have three clawed digits with cream-colored webbing in-between each digit.
Behavior
Golduck is a fast swimmer, faster even the most athletic of humans due to its webbed appendages, hydrodynamic shape and its tail, which can be used as a rudder in order to propel itself. The gem on its forehead glows when Golduck is exerting itself, notably when it is using its psychic powers or when it swims at full speed, though the latter is not as common. This gem used to cause it to be over hunted due to superstitious beliefs about the gem's abilities. Yet despite that, Golduck is known to occasionally rescue people from shipwrecks, since it can swim regardless of weather conditions. It is telepathically capable of communicating with both people and Pokemon alike and can be seen swimming in lakes. It hunts fish by disabling, capturing, and then bringing it to shore to eat it. Old tales state that Golduck used to punish those guilty of defiling their rivers by dragging them into the water and taking them away. Despite being known for its psychic abilities, Golduck is not actually a psychic-type.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Golduck has relatively high and balanced stats, with an especially high special attack. Not only that, as a water-type Golduck is weak to only grass and electric-types and is resistant to steel, fire, water, and ice-types. Its effective traits and movesets can allow it to serve as an effective rain sweeper, though it is less effective at this than other popular Pokemon.
Shiny Golduck
Shiny Golduck is a version of Golduck, which has a pink beak instead of a cream one and its colour palette is a more saturated shade of blue. The main way to get a Shiny Golduck is to continuously breed either Golduck or Psyduck until you get a Shiny Psyduck in order to evolve it into Golduck, since finding Shiny Pokemon in the wild is very rare. Like all shiny Pokemon, Shiny Golduck gains a starry animation upon entering battle.
Best Moveset
First of all, in order to make Golduck an effective Pokemon it needs to have the ability Swift Swim, as it allows Golduck to have its speed doubled when rain is present. That is an effective ability for Rain Sweepers, since this strategy is built around the benefits of the rain weather effects. Hydro Pump serves as Golduck’s main STAB (same-type attack bonus) move with the bonus of Rain Dance boosting water-type moves. The other two moves: Ice Beam and Hidden Power (Grass) serve as type coverage.
| Rain Dance | Hydro Pump |
| Ice Beam | Hidden Power (Grass) |
How to catch Golduck in Pokemon Go?
As a water-type Pokemon, Golduck is able to be found near canals, lakes, beaches, rivers, wetlands, and basins, with rain increasing this likelihood as well. While it can be found in the wild, you’ve got a better chance of catching a Psyduck and then evolving it into a Golduck by feeding it 50 candies.
Trivia
- Golduck's appearance has aspects of a duck, a platypus, and a kappa, with Golduck’s connection to a kappa being mentioned within game, since it is stated that Golduck are often confused as a kappa
- Golduck may be a combination of gold and duck, likely since gold is often used to represent psychic-types (notable examples are: the Gold Gummi is the Gummi variety loved by Psychic-type Pokemon, and the Marsh Badge's Japanese name is "Gold Badge")
- Gol is also Kurdish for "lake" or "sea"
- Despite multiple references to Golduck having psychic abilities, Golduck is only a water-type and has no psychic-typing
FAQs
How do you evolve Golduck?
Golduck is the final evolution of its evolution chain and it evolves from Psyduck starting at level 33.
Is Golduck a good Pokemon?
Golduck has relatively high and balanced stats, with an especially high special attack stat. Its effective abilities (Swift Swimmer in particular) allows it to serve as an effective rain sweeper, though it is less effective at this than other popular Pokemon.
How do you evolve Psyduck into Golduck?
Golduck evolves from Psyduck starting at level 33.
Is Golduck a platypus?
Golduck's appearance has aspects of a duck, a platypus, and a kappa in its design.
What color is Shiny Golduck?
Shiny Golduck has a pink beak instead of a cream beak and a more saturated shade of blue.
Conclusion
As one of the older Pokemon of the series, Golduck has had time to become a recognizable and iconic Pokemon, especially in regards to its ability to use weather conditions as a battle strategy. While it has been overshadowed by its pre evolution, Golduck is still well known despite the common confusion over its type due to the frequent references to its psychic abilities. This confusion has made Golduck well remembered, though often remembered incorrectly.
