How to Evolve Trubbish

Disclaimer: Pokedex.me is an unofficial fan-site. Trubbish evolves into Garbodor strictly upon reaching level 36. This is a standard level-up evolution with no friendship, item, or time-of-day requirements.

Players looking to expedite this process in Generation 8 can feed Trubbish Exp. Candies M or L obtained from Max Raid Battles. In older titles like Black and White, attaching a Lucky Egg and defeating wild Audino on Route 5 or 16 yields the highest experience.

Keep Trubbish in the lead slot and switch out to a stronger attacker to share the experience if it cannot secure knockouts. Preventing evolution before level 36 is unnecessary unless you specifically want Trubbish to learn Explosion at level 40, a move Garbodor learns at level 46.

Garbodor earns a 4.5/10 in standard competitive play. It operates primarily as a hazard-setting pivot or physically defensive wall in lower tiers like NU (NeverUsed) or PU. Its pure Poison typing offers crucial resistances to Fighting, Fairy, and Bug, but leaves it highly vulnerable to ubiquitous Earthquake users.

As a dedicated wall, Garbodor relies heavily on residual damage rather than direct offensive pressure. The combination of its Aftermath ability and a held Rocky Helmet makes it a suicide punisher against physical sweepers.

When an opponent knocks out Garbodor with a contact move, they immediately lose 25% of their HP to Aftermath and an additional 16% to the Rocky Helmet. Despite these utility options, Garbodor is severely outclassed in higher tiers by Toxapex and Galarian Weezing.

Upon reaching level 36, evolving into Garbodor grants access to a base 95 Attack and 82 Defense. To maximize its utility as a physical wall, allocate 252 EVs to HP, 252 to Defense, and 4 to Special Defense with an Impish nature.

The standard moveset mandates Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Setting up multiple layers of hazards breaks Focus Sashes and cripples grounded opponents over a long match. Gunk Shot serves as the primary STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) option, dealing massive damage with a 30% chance to poison, despite its risky 80% accuracy.

For the final move slot, Drain Punch provides minimal recovery and hits Steel-types that are immune to Poison. Alternatively, Pain Split averages the HP of Garbodor and the target, acting as its only viable recovery tool when its health drops low.

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, Garbodor gained a Gigantamax form. You unlock this by feeding a standard Garbodor Max Soup in the Isle of Armor DLC, or by catching a Trubbish with the G-Max factor in specific Max Raid dens and evolving it.

Gigantamax Garbodor replaces its Poison-type Max Moves with G-Max Malodor. This signature move deals damage and guarantees the poisoned status condition on all opponents on the field. This disrupts VGC doubles formats by breaking Focus Sashes and applying consistent chip damage.

Dedicating your single Dynamax slot to a defensive Poison-type is rarely optimal. Sweepers benefit far more from the HP boost and stat-boosting Max Moves like Max Airstream. G-Max Garbodor remains a gimmick best reserved for niche stall teams.

Use Garbodor if your team requires a reliable Spikes setter that can actively punish U-turn users and physical attackers. It fits well on balance and stall archetypes that win through attrition and hazard stacking.

Do not use Garbodor if you are building a hyper-offense team. Its base 75 Speed means it will almost always take a hit before acting, draining your team's offensive tempo.

• Pros: Access to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, immunity to poison status, and Aftermath severely damages contact attackers.
• Cons: Base 75 Speed, zero reliable recovery moves, and severe weaknesses to common Ground and Psychic attacks.