Pickup Ability Guide + Full Items List (Pokémon HGSS)

There are several Pokémon in HeartGold and SoulSilver that can have the Pickup Ability.

While Pickup has no effect during battle, a Pokémon with the Pickup ability has a 10% chance of randomly picking up an item after a battle (even if they fainted or did not participate in the battle).

It’s important to note that your Pickup Pokémon cannot be holding an item for this effect to take place. And the quality of the item you get is determined by the level of the Pokémon with the Pickup Ability.

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Pickup Ability Pokémon in HG/SS
Phanpy (HG)	Teddiursa (SS)	Meowth (SS)	Munchlax	Pachirisu
Zigzagoon	Linoone	Aipom	Ambipom

Full Pickup Items List

The items you can obtain through the Pickup Ability depend slightly on random chance, as well as the level of the Pokémon with the Ability.

Remember that for a Pokémon to stand a chance of picking up an item, that Pokémon cannot be holding an item already. This means that if you’re trying to farm a specific item, then you’ll want to check after each battle to see if they’re holding an item so you can remove it.

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Level	Common (30%)	Uncommon (10%)						Rare (4%)		Very Rare (1%)
1-10	Potion	Antidote	Super Potion	Great Ball	Repel	Escape Rope	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Max Repel	Nugget
11-20	Antidote	Super Potion	Great Ball	Repel	Escape Rope	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Nugget	King’s Rock
21-30	Super Potion	Great Ball	Repel	Escape Rope	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	King’s Rock	Full Restore
31-40	Great Ball	Repel	Escape Rope	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Full Restore	Ether
41-50	Repel	Escape Rope	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Moon Stone	Ether	Iron Ball
51-60	Escape Rope	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Moon Stone	Heart Scale	Iron Ball	TM56 (Fling)
61-70	Full Heal	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Moon Stone	Heart Scale	Full Restore	TM56 (Fling)	Elixir
71-80	Hyper Potion	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Moon Stone	Heart Scale	Full Restore	Max Revive	Elixir	TM86 (Grass Knot)
81-90	Ultra Ball	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Moon Stone	Heart Scale	Full Restore	Max Revive	PP Up	TM86 (Grass Knot)	Leftovers
91-100	Revive	Rare Candy	Sun Stone	Moon Stone	Heart Scale	Full Restore	Max Revive	PP Up	Max Elixir	Leftovers	TM26 (Earthquake)

Which Pokémon Have Pickup?

There are nine Pokémon in HeartGold and SoulSilver that can have the Pickup Ability, with some being version exclusives.

The best Pickup Team is any 5-6 Pokémon with the Pickup ability, and simply grinding them all to whatever level ranges match whatever items you want from the table above. After that, you can fly to any Route full of low-level Pokémon and grind through OHKO battles quickly for fast pickups.

Pickup Ability Pokémon	Best Location
Phanpy (HG)	Route 45 or Mt. Silver (10% appearance rate) (HeartGold exclusive)
Teddiursa (SS)	Route 45 or Mt. Silver (10% appearance rate) (SoulSilver exclusive)
Meowth (SS)	Route 38 or Route 39 (Up to 40% appearance rate) (SoulSilver exclusive)
Munchlax	Breed Snorlax (Have it hold a Full Incense)
Pachirisu	Safari Zone (Wetland and Swamp)
Zigzagoon	Bell Tower (20% appearance rate) (Playing Hoenn Sound on the Radio)
Linoone	Route 30 or Route 31 (20% appearance rate) (Playing Hoenn Sound on the Radio)
Aipom	Azalea Town (20% appearance rate) (Using Headbutt on a tree)
Ambipom	Evolve Aipom (Level up while knowing the move Double Hit)

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Shaun van Rensburg

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Shaun van Rensburg lives in South Africa and holds a BA in creative writing. He primarily writes fiction, but when he was a child, he wanted to be a cryptozoologist--hence his fondness for the monster-taming genre. Equine-inspired Pokémon are his favourite.

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Pickup Ability Guide + Full Items List (Pokémon HGSS)

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Which Pokémon Have Pickup?

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