Where To Get Dragon Fangs in Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen

Fishing for Dragonair in the Safari Zone (Pokémon FireRed)
Dragon Fang
# Location Repeatable?
1 Safari Zone—Held item on wild Dragonair (5% chance). No

In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Dragon Fangs can only be obtained as held items from wild Dragonair. Every wild Dragonair has a 5% to be holding a Dragon Fang. But you can only find wild Dragonair by fishing with a Super Rod in the Safari Zone in Area 1, Area 2, Area 3, or the Center Area.

And since you can’t use battle moves inside the Safari Zone, there’s no way to use Thief here to steal any held items.

So you basically have to capture a bunch of Dragonairs until one of them is holding a Dragon Fang.

Note: There are no other ways to get Dragon Fangs in the game, and there are no other locations to find wild Dragonair other than in the Safari Zone.

Prerequisites

There are only a couple of prerequisites for getting Dragon Fangs:

  • Be able to reach Fuchsia City
  • Have the Super Rod
  • Have at least 500 Pokédollars (preferably more)

Since we need to catch a wild Dragonair to get the Dragon Fang, we’ll need the Super Rod. We’ll also need 500 Pokédollars to enter the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City.

If you have those two things then you’re good to go!

Farming Dragon Fangs

Before we start, you should know that getting even one Dragon Fang takes a lot of luck, and quite a bit of time.

To summarize, you’ll have to:

  1. Deposit most of your party Pokémon to make room for Dragonair
  2. Fish in any area in the Safari Zone until you find a Dragonair
  3. Catch the Dragonair to check whether it’s holding a Dragon Fang or not

Finding a Dragonair is hard, catching a Dragonair is hard, and encountering a wild Dragonair that’s holding a Dragon Fang is hard.

So there’s no easy way to say it: this will be a time-consuming task.

Task 1: Deposit All But One Pokémon (Optional)

You don’t have to deposit any Pokémon, but getting a Dragon Fang is way easier if the Dragonairs you catch go straight to your party.

I like to clear my entire Party except for one Pokémon before I head to the Safari Zone.

Depositing all of my Pokémon so I have room for Dragonair / Pokémon FRLG
Depositing all of my Pokémon so I have room for Dragonair

Task 2: Head To The Safari Zone

Once you’re ready, make your way to the Safari Zone. The Safari Zone is in Fuchsia City, on the north side. It’s the big building sitting by the treeline so it’s hard to miss.

Standing outside of the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City / Pokémon FRLG
Standing outside of the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City

This is also where you’ll need that 500 Pokédollars.

When you walk into the Safari Zone, just walk through to the door in the back. The employee will stop you and ask you to pay, just say yes and then walk through the door in the back.

Paying the entry fee to enter the Safari Zone / Pokémon FRLG
Paying the entry fee to enter the Safari Zone

Task 3: Find Some Water in the Safari Zone

Dragonair can be found in every Area of the Safari Zone, and it honestly doesn’t matter which area you choose because the encounter numbers stay the same throughout the Safari Zone:

Area Encounter Rate Level
Center Area 1% 25 – 30
Area 1 (East) 1% 25 – 30
Area 2 (North) 1% 25 – 30
Area 3 (West) 1% 25 – 30

With that being said, I recommend staying in the Center Area (the area you walk into when you enter the Safari Zone) because this will save you footsteps.

You only get a limited number of footsteps inside of the Safari Zone, so I recommend saving them and just heading to the fishing spot right by the entrance.

Fishing in the Safari Zone’s Center Area / Pokémon FRLG
Fishing in the Safari Zone’s Center Area

Task 4: Fishing For Dragonair

Just walk up to the water, open up the Key Items in your Bag, and use the Super Rod on the water.

Tip: You can register the Super Rod if you want to skip opening your Bag (recommended).

When you fish, you’ll see a few dots and then you’ll either be alerted that you didn’t get a nibble or that a Pokémon is on the hook.

Being prompted that a Pokémon is on the hook / Pokémon FRLG
Being prompted that a Pokémon is on the hook

Press “A” when a Pokémon is on the hook, and you’ll be sent into a Pokémon battle.

As you can see from the chart above that Dragonair has a super low encounter rate. A 1% encounter rate means that you’re going to run into about 100 random Pokémon (Dratinis, Seakings, and Goldeens mostly) before you actually find a Dragonair.

I wouldn’t use any Safari Balls on these other Pokémon either – because when you run out, you’ll have to repay the entry fee to re-enter the Safari Zone.

Running out of Safari Balls and being kicked out of the Safari Zone / Pokémon FRLG
Running out of Safari Balls and being kicked out of the Safari Zone

Task 5: Catching Dragonair

Eventually you will run into a Dragonair (it took me about 30 minutes, but your mileage may vary).

Encountering Dragonair in the Safari Zone after fishing with the Super Rod / Pokémon FRLG
Encountering Dragonair in the Safari Zone after fishing with the Super Rod

Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed trick to catching Pokémon in the Safari Zone. So you’re going to have to rely on luck once again.

Dragonair has a pretty low catch rate as well. So you may catch it with your first Safari Ball, or you may have to throw 3 or 4 at it before it finally stops being stubborn.

Catching a Dragonair in the Safari Zone / Pokémon FRLG
Catching a Dragonair in the Safari Zone

Task 6: Check For The Dragon Fang

Just because you caught a Dragonair doesn’t mean you’re done relying on luck.

Now you have to hope that the Dragonair you caught is holding a Dragon Fang.

If you left room open in your Party, then you can press Start and check your Pokémon right there in the Safari Zone. If the Dragonair you caught is holding a Dragon Fang, it will have an item icon on top of its picture.

Taking the Dragon Fang from a Dragonair after catching it in the Safari Zone / Pokémon FRLG
Taking the Dragon Fang from a Dragonair after catching it in the Safari Zone

If the Dragonair is holding an item, then select the Dragonair > Item > Take to receive your brand new Dragon Fang!

Dragon Fang Effects + Uses

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen’s description of the Dragon Fang / Pokémon FRLG
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen’s description of the Dragon Fang

The Dragon Fang is a very hard held item to get in FireRed/LeafGreen, but it’s well worth the effort if you plan on using Dragonite.

When you give a Dragon Fang to a Pokémon as a held item, then all of its Dragon-type moves will do an extra 10% damage.

If you have a Dragonite that knows Outrage, for example, then you’ll pretty much be unstoppable if you equip a Dragon Fang to it. You can also equip a Dragon Fang to Pokémon like Charizard and Gyarados that learn a couple of Dragon-type moves to get a similar effect.

ReOcelot

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A jack of all trades when it comes to gaming. I can sit down for hours in a casual playthrough of Pokémon, or I can spend months trying to hit Diamond in League of Legends. I love and appreciate everything about games, and love sharing that passion with my readers.

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