How to Get Bagon, Shelgon, and Salamence in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Bagon is a Dragon-type Pokemon that evolves into the mighty Salamence, and you can obtain one in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. However, if you have Pokemon Scarlet, you may notice that Bagon and its evolutions are nowhere to be found. This is because the Bagon-line is a Pokemon Violet exclusive. If your goal is to fill out every page in the Paldea Pokedex, you’ll need to catch Bagon, Shelgon, and Salamence.

Updated on January 13, 2025 by Renri Seong: Dragon-type Bagon evolves into the mighty Salamence, and you can have one on your team in Pokemon Violet. There are various ways you can catch Bagon and even its evolved form, Shelgon. However, if you want to complete the Pokedex in Pokemon Scarlet, you’re going to need to transfer one from Violet. Like Dragonite, Salamence is a Dragon/Flying-type pseudo-legendary, meaning its base stat total is 600. However, does Salamence hold up against the first pseudo-legendary of the Pokemon world? Or is it not worth catching? The following guide has been updated to include detailed information on Salamence’s stats, type effectiveness, and recommended moves.

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Where to Find Bagon

Bagon Location in Pokemon Violet

You can obtain Bagon in various places in Pokemon Violet, but you may want to start with East Province (Area Three). This area is recommended due to its large size and abundance of caves that can be explored.

Another recommended location is Dalizapa Passage, located north of The Great Crater of Paldea and south of Glaseado Mountain. Once you’ve arrived, there’s a deep hole in the ground with a Pokemon Center. You can ride Koraidon or Miraidon and jump down the hole or walk down it from one of the many Cavern entrances that lead to it. This location is not as open as the East Province but has the benefit of being a cave where several rare Pokemon can be found, such as Bagon and Frigibax.

If you like taking part in raids, then you can catch Bagon from 3-star Tera Raids. These unlock when you have three gym badges. Note that Bagon’s Tera Type may be different from its regular type if you catch one from a raid, However, Pokemon from 3-star Raids may have their Hidden Ability, which is something you may consider when looking for Bagon.

How to Get Bagon in Pokemon Scarlet

How to Trade and Transfer Pokemon

You can’t catch Bagon or its evolutions in Pokemon Scarlet, so you’ll need to trade with a Pokemon Violet player or transfer Bagon using Pokemon HOME. To trade with someone, you’ll need to either create or join a Group via the Union Circle. To use online features, you’ll need a Nintendo Switch Online Membership. Thus, it may be easier to just transfer Bagon from another game.

If Pokemon HOME is on your Switch, you can use it to move Bagon from other games such as Pokemon Sword/Shield (Expansion Pass), Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, or Pokemon HOME.

1. Open HOME, then choose the game that you’ll be transferring Bagon from.
2. Move Bagon to your Basic Box (the box on the left side of the screen), and save and exit.
3. Now, open your Pokemon Scarlet file and move Bagon from the Basic Box to one of your Scarlet PC Boxes.
4. Save and exit.

When you open Pokemon Scarlet, the Bagon should be in whichever PC Box you placed it in, and you should have its Dex Entry completed.

How to Evolve Bagon into Shelgon and Salamence

What Level Does Bagon Evolve

In order to evolve Bagon, you’re going to need to raise its level to 30, where it will evolve into Shelgon. From there, get Shelgon to level 50. The quickest way to do this is have your Bagon/Shelgon auto-battle Pokemon that are around its level.

If you’re not EV training, then you should have your Bagon auto-battle Pokemon like Chansey, which give more experience than most Pokemon. Chanseys can be found in East Province (Area Two), North Province (Area One-Three), Casseroya Lake, and West Province (Area Two-Three).

Alternatively, you can just give your Bagon or Shelgon Exp. Candy. One piece of Exp. Candy L or Exp. Candy XL will elevate their level more than once. Exp. Candy M works, too, but you may need to use more of them if you’re evolving Shelgon into Salamence.

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Is Salamence Good?

Salamence Strengths & Weaknesses

Salamence, along with Metagross, were the pseudo-legendary Pokemon from Gen 3. Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon are non-legendary Pokemon that have a base stat total of 600. This makes them sought out by a variety of trainers and ideal for PVP when raised properly.

A recommended Nature for Salamence is Adamant (+Attk, -Sp.Attk) or Lonely (+Attk, -Def).

Salamence is a Dragon/Flying-type Pokemon. This means it learns both Dragon and Flying-type moves, making it super effective against more Pokemon. Unfortunately, the Dragon/Flying dual-typing gives it one glaring type weakness.

Recommended Moves

You’ll notice that Salamence’s learnset is mostly physical moves, which is fitting since its Attack stat is higher than its Special Attack. You can have moves like Dragon Claw, a physical move, over something like Dragon Breath, which is a special move. To cover its Fairy and Rock weakness, you can teach it Iron Head via TM099.

Despite having higher Attack, Salamence’s base Special Attack isn’t bad, and you can use it as a special attacker if you want. If you do this, then you may want a Timid (+Spd, -Attk) Nature rather than Adamant or Lonely. A Salamence that’s trained as a special attacker will make better use of moves like Draco Meteor and Flamethrower.

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November 18, 2022