Ekans (Pokémon)
From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
| Ekans アーボ Arbo | |
![]() Artwork from FR/LG | |
| National Dex | #023 |
|---|---|
| Johto Dex | #050 |
| Hoenn Dex | #225 |
| Sinnoh Dex | #— |
| Fiore Browser | R-151 |
| Almia Browser | R— |
| Type | Poison |
| Species | Snake Pokémon |
| Height | 6′07″ (2.0m) |
| Weight | 15.2 lbs. (6.9kg) |
| Abilities | Intimidate |
| Shed Skin | |
| Egg groups | Ground |
| Dragon | |
| Time to hatch | 5,120 steps |
| Effort yield | 1 Atk |
| Exp. yield | 62 base exp. |
| Lv100 at | 1,000,000 exp. |
| Gender | 50% ♀ / 50% ♂ |
| Pokédex color | Purple |
| Catch rate | 255 |
| |
Ekans (Japanese: アーボ Arbo) is a Poison-type Pokémon.
Contents |
Biology
Physiology
This reptilian Pokémon resembles a snake (its English name even being an anagram of the word "snake" spelled backward while other languages use an anagram of the word "boa"). It has a rattle at the tip of its tail, and is mostly purple while its underbelly, eyes, rattle, and the "bands" on it are yellow.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Behavior
Like actual snakes, Ekans will lash out with a bite when frightened by anything it sees as a threat. If one happens to be bitten by a young Ekans, they are lucky. As an Ekans doesn't possess the ability to add poison to its bite until after it evolves into an Arbok, though this last bit of information clashes with Ekans's dungeon phrase.
Habitat
Ekans live in grassy savannas and plains.
Diet
Main article: Pokémon food
Ekans favorite food is eggs from Pidgey and Spearow nests.
In the anime
Jessie had an Ekans that eventually evolved into an Arbok.
A poacher had captured a bunch of Ekans in AG006.
Ekans was part of "Team Meanies" in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate! Special. Gengar commanded the Poisonous Snake Pokémon to eat all the berries Team Go-Getters collected. At one point, Ekans was incorrectly referred to as Arbok by Gengar. While this was an intentional error that Ekans rebuked in the original version (due to the similarities in the Japanese names), this came across as a general mistake in the dub and was corrected in reairings of the episode.
In the manga
Koga has an Ekans in Pokémon Special.
A twin pair of Ekans are antagonists in Pokémon PiPiPi Adventure.
In the TCG
- Main article: Ekans (TCG)
In the TFG
One Ekans figure has been released.
Game data
NPC appearances
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ekans is a member of Team Meanies. It attempted to climb Wish Cave with Medicham but collapsed on the first floor.
Pokédex entries
| Gen | Game | Pokédex entry |
|---|---|---|
| I | Red | Moves silently and stealthily. Eats the eggs of birds, such as Pidgey and Spearow, whole. |
| Blue | ||
| Yellow | The older it gets, the longer it grows. At night, it wraps its long body around tree branches to rest. | |
| Stadium | Slithers silently through grass, searching for its favorite food--Pidgey and Spearow eggs. | |
| II | Gold | It can freely detach its jaw to swallow large prey whole. It can become too heavy to move, however. |
| Silver | It always hides in grass. When first born, it has no poison, so its bite is painful, but harmless. | |
| Crystal | It flutters the tip of its tongue to seek out the scent of prey, then swallows the prey whole. | |
| Stadium 2 | It can freely detach its jaw to swallow large prey whole. It can become too heavy to move, however. | |
| III | Ruby | Ekans curls itself up in a spiral while it rests. Assuming this position allows it to quickly respond to a threat from any direction with a glare from its upraised head. |
| Sapphire | Ekans curls itself up in a spiral while it rests. Assuming this position allows it to quickly respond to a threat from any direction with a glare from its upraised head. | |
| Emerald | An Ekans curls itself up in a spiral while it rests. This position allows it to quickly respond to an enemy from any direction with a threat from its upraised head. | |
| FireRed | A very common sight in grassland, etc. It flicks its tongue in and out to sense danger in its surroundings. | |
| LeafGreen | Moving silently and stealthily, it eats the eggs of birds, such as Pidgey and Spearow, whole. | |
| IV | Diamond | It sneaks through grass without making a sound and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind. |
| Pearl | It sneaks through grass without making a sound and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind. |
Game locations
| Gen | Game | Rarity | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Pokémon Red and Blue | Few | Routes 4, 11, and 23 (Red only) |
| Pokémon Yellow | None | Trade | |
| II | Pokémon Gold and Silver | Few | Routes 3, 4, 32, and 33 (Silver only) |
| Pokémon Crystal | Few | Routes 3, 4, 32, 33, and 42 | |
| III | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire | None | Trade |
| Pokémon Emerald | None | Trade | |
| Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen | Common | Routes 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, and 23 (FireRed only) | |
| Pokémon Colosseum | None | Trade | |
| Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness | None | Trade | |
| IV | Pokémon Diamond and Pearl | Uncommon | Route 212 (dongle method: FireRed) |
| Pal Park | Forest |
In side games
| Game | Location |
|---|---|
| Pokémon Trozei | Huge Storage 4 Endless Level 51 Pair Trozei Mr. Who's Den |
| Pokémon Mystery Dungeon | Western Cave (3F-5F) |
| Pokémon Ranger | Olive Jungle |
Base stats
| HP: | 35 | |
|---|---|---|
| Attack: | 60 | |
| Defense: | 44 | |
| Special: | 40 | |
| SpAtk: | 40 | |
| SpDef: | 54 | |
| Speed: | 55 |
The Special stat was used only in Generation I; it was later split into Special Attack and Special Defense.
Type effectiveness
| Weakness | Resistance | |
|---|---|---|
In Generation I, the effectiveness of bug-type moves is 200.
Learnset
Ekans is capable of learning the following moves.
Moves in bold are damage moves to which STAB apply.
By leveling up
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By TM/HM
By breeding
| Move | Type | Cat. | Father |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beat Up | | | Sneasel, Weavile |
| Disable | | | Psyduck, Golduck |
| Poison Fang | | | Seviper |
| Poison Tail | | | Seviper |
| Pursuit | | | Rattata, Raticate Tauros Dunsparce Treecko, Grovyle, Sceptile Zangoose |
| Scary Face | | | Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard Raticate Rhyhorn, Rhydon Tauros Flareon Snubbull, Granbull Ursaring Donphan Poochyena, Mightyena Bagon, Shelgon, Salamence Shinx, Luxio, Luxray Rhyperior Mamoswine |
| Slam | | | Pikachu Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite Sentret, Furret Wooper, Quagsire Phanpy Treecko, Grovyle, Sceptile |
| Spite | | | Dunsparce |
By tutoring
TCG-only Moves
Side game data
| Pokémon Pinball | ||
|---|---|---|
| | Acquisition: Catch |
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| Pokémon Trozei! | ||
| | Rarity: Common | |
| Pokémon Mystery Dungeon | ||
| Body size: 1 | Recruit Rate: 12.4% | Friend Area: Wild Plains |
| Phrases | ||
| 51%-100% HP | The poison in my fangs is wicked! | |
| 26%-50% HP | My HP's gone down to half. | |
| 1%-25% HP | Help... I'm running out of poison... | |
| Level Up | Yesss! I leveled up! I'll do my best! | |
| Pokémon Ranger | ||
| Group: | Loops: 5 | Minimum Experience: - |
| Poké Assist: | Field Move: None | Maximum Experience: - |
| If it spots a Capture Disc, Ekans will slither straight toward it. | ||
Evolution
Sprites
| Gen | Game | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Red | Blue | Yellow | Red (Ja) | Green | Back |
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| II | Gold | Silver | Crystal | Back | ||
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| Image:Spr 2c 023.gif |
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| Image:Spr 2c 023 s.gif |
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| III | Ruby | Sapphire | Emerald | FireRed | LeafGreen | Back |
| Image:Spr 3r 023.png | | Image:Spr 3f 023.png |
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| Image:Spr 3r 023 s.png | Image:Spr 3e 023 s.gif | Image:Spr 3f 023 s.png | Image:Spr b g3 023 s.png | |||
| IV | Diamond | Pearl | Back | |||
| Image:Spr 4d 023.png |
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| Image:Spr b g4 023 s.png | |||||
Trivia
- Ekans was originally going to use its Japanese name,"Arbo", as its English name.
- In the second movie, The Power of One, it is shown that Ekans can swim.
- An Ekans was originally going to be featured in Pokémon Snap, shown in an early test shot of an environment that was never featured in the final product, the same with Arbok.
- Ekans is the only Pokémon that can learn Poison Tail through breeding.
- According to Silver's Pokédex entry an Ekans bite (at least a young one's) is not poisonous, to the same point it is still able to use poison moves probably due to its matching type it could also be attributed to the fact that some snakes can spit poison instead of injecting into to their enemy through use of a bite. In addition, the bite has been called painful and that (according to Mystery Dungeon) fangs are also poisonous despite these claims its fangs have never actually been visible.
- It is interesting to note that in more recent pictures of Ekans only one band has been visible that being the one on its neck. However, in older pictures, Ekans is seen with the band around its neck in addition to two other ones located on one of its coil and close to its rattle. It is unknown why the other bands were removed. It could be assumed that the band located lower on its body could just be covered up but the one on its tail should still be visible.
- Ekans is one of fourteen Pokémon that one could collect foreign Pokédex entries for.
Origin
It appears to be based upon a boa and rattlesnake.
Name origin
Ekans's name is snake spelled backwards. Arbo is either cobra spelled backwards with the c removed, or a corruption of boa spelled backwards.
In other languages
- German: Rettan
- French: Abo - Most likely an anagram of boa.
- Korean: 아보 Abo
- Chinese (Taiwan and Hong Kong)): 阿柏蛇 Á Bó Shí - Transliteration of Ekans's Japanese name, Arbo. The last character, 蛇, means snake.
Related articles
External links
| This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon as a species. |

















