#1024 · Paldea · Generation 9 · legendary

Terapagos

Tera Pokémon · Normal-type

Terapagos is a Normal-type Pokémon, the Tera Pokémon, number 1024 (#1024) in the National Pokédex. It was introduced in Generation 9 and comes from the Paldea region. It is 0.2 m tall and weighs 6.5 kg.

Terapagos is the Tera Pokémon, a small turtle that the Pokédex names as the source of the Terastal phenomenon. It was thought to have died out in ancient Paldea, but one survived by crystallising itself and sleeping underground.

How to pronounce Terapagos

Terapagos is pronounced tair-uh-PAH-gohs. The capital letters show the stressed syllable.

Listen to Terapagos said out loud:

In Japanese it is テラパゴス.

Hear every other name on the Pokémon pronunciation guide.

Lore

Biology

Terapagos is a turtle-like Normal type with an indigo body, a cyan hexagonal shell and star-shaped pupils. In its Normal Form it is 0.2 m tall and 6.5 kg, and when in danger it pulls its head and limbs into its shell and passes for an ordinary jewel. The Terastal Form (0.3 m, 16 kg) grows a flowing mane and a shell of eighteen pentagons, one for each type; Bulbapedia, citing the official site, says the shell is crystallised Terastal energy that absorbs the energy of moves that strike it. The Stellar Form (1.7 m, 77 kg) floats above a huge crystal dome with its energy abnormally amplified.

Behaviour

Bulbapedia describes Normal Form Terapagos as small and particularly weak, so it survives by hiding and by growing a protective crystal barrier, not by fighting. The Pokédex says it protects itself by turning energy into hard crystals. In the anime it can share its Terastal energy with other Pokémon so that they can Terastallize.

Habitat

It sleeps in the Area Zero Underdepths beneath Paldea, where the crystals it grows gave the place its look. In Scarlet and Violet there is only one, met in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, and it is unobtainable in Legends: Z-A.

Powers

Its three Abilities are all unique to it: Tera Shift turns it into its Terastal Form when it enters battle, Tera Shell makes moves not very effective against it, and Teraform Zero, in the Stellar Form, cancels the effects of weather and terrain. It is the only Pokémon that can learn Tera Starstorm, at level 60. Base stats total 450 in the Normal Form, 600 in the Terastal Form (Defense and Special Defense 110) and 700 in the Stellar Form (HP 160, Special Attack 130).

Name origin

Terapagos may combine 'Terastal', 'terrapin' and 'galápagos', a Spanish word for turtles best known from the Galápagos Islands. The Japanese name is Terapagos (テラパゴス).

Design inspiration

Bulbapedia suggests a Galápagos green sea turtle or tortoise, possibly Lonesome George, the last of his subspecies, since Terapagos is said to survive as a lone male. It may also draw on the Japanese tale of Urashima Taro and the World Turtle of myth. These are fan readings.

In the games

Terapagos fronts The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, the Indigo Disk expansion of Scarlet and Violet, as its mascot and a major character in its story. You can catch a single male one in the Underdepths. A sketch of its Stellar Form appears in the in-game Scarlet Book and Violet Book before its reveal.

In the anime

As 'Pagogo' it debuts in Pokémon Horizons as a pendant in 'The Pendant That Starts It All (Part One)' and later travels with the Rising Volt Tacklers.

Fun facts

• No other Pokémon changes its base stat total when it Terastallizes, according to Bulbapedia.
• Although the species is half male and half female, the one Terapagos you can get in Scarlet and Violet is always male.
• It cannot learn Tera Blast, or any Ghost or Flying move, despite being the source of Tera power.
• Its cry is almost the same sound a Pokémon makes when it Terastallizes.
• On one early Japanese broadcast, captions called it Kodaikame ('ancient turtle'), which is also its internal name in Scarlet and Violet.

Sources: Bulbapedia: Terapagos (Pokémon) · Serebii: Terapagos (Scarlet/Violet Pokédex)

Base stats

• HP: 90
• Attack: 65
• Defense: 85
• Sp. Atk: 65
• Sp. Def: 85
• Speed: 60

Terapagos’s base stat total is 450. Its highest stat is HP.

Type matchups

What is Terapagos weak to?

Terapagos takes extra damage from Fighting (2×) moves.

It is immune to Ghost moves.

Evolution

Terapagos does not evolve, and it does not evolve from any other Pokémon.

Forms

• Terastal Form Terapagos (Battle form): Normal-type, base stat total 600 (HP 95, Attack 95, Defense 110, Sp. Atk 105, Sp. Def 110, Speed 85). Ability: Tera Shell.
• Stellar Form Terapagos (Battle form): Normal-type, base stat total 700 (HP 160, Attack 105, Defense 110, Sp. Atk 130, Sp. Def 110, Speed 85). Ability: Teraform Zero.

Abilities

• Tera Shift: When Terapagos enters the battle, it turns into its Terastal Form until the end of the battle.

Moves

Moves Terapagos learns by level up in Scarlet / Violet

TM moves (52)

Terapagos can learn 52 moves from TMs in Scarlet / Violet: Take Down, Protect, Water Pulse, Facade, Stored Power, Endure, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Zen Headbutt, Body Slam, Sleep Talk, Dazzling Gleam, Rest, Rock Slide, Body Press, Flash Cannon, Dark Pulse, Iron Head, Power Gem, Substitute, Crunch, Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Stealth Rock, Energy Ball, Heavy Slam, Surf, Ice Spinner, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Calm Mind, Earth Power, Ice Beam, Wild Charge, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Giga Impact, Bug Buzz, Hyper Beam, Flare Blitz, Thunder, Solar Beam, Roar, Toxic, Gravity, Gyro Ball, Heat Crash, Weather Ball, Double-Edge, Supercell Slam, Scorching Sands, Meteor Beam.

Breeding & training

• Gender: 50% male, 50% female.
• Egg groups: Undiscovered.
• Egg cycles: 5 (steps to hatch, Scarlet/Violet: 640).
• Catch rate: 255 out of 255.
• Base friendship (Gen 8 onward): 50.
• Growth rate: Slow (1,250,000 experience points to reach level 100).
• Defeating it gives 1 Defense effort value.
• Base experience yield: 90.

Pokédex entries

It's thought that this Pokémon lived in ancient Paldea until it got caught in seismic shifts and went extinct. (Violet)

Terapagos protects itself using its power to transform energy into hard crystals. This Pokémon is the source of the Terastal phenomenon. (Scarlet)

Names around the world

Trivia

• Shortest Normal type: 0.2 m, shared with 2 others.
• Shortest Normal type in Gen 9: 0.2 m, shared with 1 other.
• Taller than 1% of all Pokémon (0.2 m).
• Heavier than 19% of all Pokémon (6.5 kg).
• Base stat total 450, ranked #512 of 1,025.
• One of 131 Normal-type Pokémon (counting dual types).
• One of 170 blue Pokémon.
• Number 119 of 120 Pokémon introduced in Generation 9 (Paldea).
• Can learn 59 different moves in Scarlet / Violet.
• Catch rate 255: about 33.3% per Poké Ball at full health.
• Has 2 alternate forms.
• Appears in 2 distinct Pokédex entries.

Sources and fact-checking

• Stats, types, abilities, moves, evolutions, forms and Pokédex entries: PokéAPI open game data.
• Lore: written by pokee.si in our own words, researched from Bulbapedia: Terapagos (Pokémon), Serebii: Terapagos (Scarlet/Violet Pokédex).
• Pronunciation (tair-uh-PAH-gohs): no English source says it out loud, so it is our best guess from the parts of the name.

Last checked: 20 October 2026. Every sentence of the lore was checked against Bulbapedia, Serebii and the game data.

Explore

Normal-type Pokémon · Paldea region guide · Tera Shift ability · Compare Terapagos · Full Pokédex · Type chart · All moves

Browse similar Pokémon

Gen 9 Normal-type Pokémon · Gen 9 Pokémon list · Blue Pokémon list · No Eggs Discovered egg group · Pokémon that start with T · Turtle Pokémon

← Iron Crown | Pecharunt →