How to complete the BDSP Pokedex in Pokemon Home

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Ethan in Guides, Switch

Recently, Pokemon Home began two exclusive distributions: Shiny Manaphy and Shiny Enamorus, which can only be obtained by completing the Pokedex categories for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokemon Legends Arceus, respectively. Normally, you’d have to Google locations for every single Pokemon and look at all sorts of resources in order to finish the Pokedex – but we’ve done all that for you and organized all the information you’ll need in one place. If you’re looking to finish your BDSP Pokedex to redeem a Shiny Manaphy, look no further.

How to complete the Pokemon Home Pokedex

To be clear, here’s what you have to do in order to get Shiny Manaphy. Pokemon Home’s BDSP Pokedex must be completed, not the in-game one. This means you’ll have to catch every Pokemon in BDSP, and transfer them to Pokemon Home for at least one session. When they’re uploaded to the cloud servers, each of those Pokemon will be registered to the Pokemon Home Pokedex on the mobile app. Once that’s done, you’re free to take those Pokemon back into BDSP or just release them if you’re all finished with them. For this challenge, you’ll have to finish Pokemon Home’s BDSP Pokedex, which consists of 151 entries (if you include Manaphy at the end, who does not count for completion). Since it’s a BDSP Pokedex, all of the Pokemon must be caught in BDSP. If you transfer a Garchomp up from another game (even the original Diamond and Pearl), it will not count towards this goal. Everything must be caught in BDSP, even if it wasn’t caught on your save file.

One good idea to make some progress towards this goal is to utilize the Wonder Box feature. Premium plan-players can Wonder Trade up to 10 Pokemon at once in the background, and you can do this multiple times per day. There’s a chance that you’ll receive Pokemon who count towards your BDSP Pokedex (or towards your Pokemon Legends Arceus or Scarlet and Violet Pokedexes, which have their own rewards as well). Of course, you’ll probably still need to catch a bunch of Pokemon from BDSP regardless, but this could be a good way to knock some of them off your list in the background.

Before we get into every single Pokemon’s location in BDSP, keep in mind that you will need to level up some of these Pokemon in order to evolve them. And to do that, you aren’t necessarily confined to BDSP. You can transfer Pokemon who evolve via trading to Pokemon Legends Arceus and then give them a Linking Cable to evolve them without trading. Likewise, you can also transfer them to Sword and Shield or Scarlet and Violet in order to level them up easier via EXP Candies. As long as that Pokemon was originally caught in BDSP, it will count for the Pokedex. So if you have other Pokemon games, make sure to use every tool available at your disposal. That’ll save you a lot of time.

BDSP Regional Pokedex

The BDSP Pokedex consists of 151 Pokemon. Like we mentioned before, Manaphy is technically at the end of it, but does not count for completion purposes. Here’s one last tip before we get into all the locations: if you really have to, you can cheat. For example, instead of running around Underground and talking to 32 players to get Spiritomb, you can simply bring a Spiritomb in from another game, breed it, and then transfer the hatchling to Pokemon Home. If you’re smart about this, you can save so much time. Considering there are two other Pokedex rewards in Pokemon Home, time is of the essence because they’re all time-consuming tasks!

Please note that for the sake of the Pokedex, we’re assuming you have already completed the game. These are the most optimal ways to get every single Pokemon as quickly and efficiently as possible, and we’ve made a note of the ones that are made significantly easier by importing them from another game and then breeding them.

Turtwig line: You can get it as a Starter Pokemon, by trades, or from Riverbank, Grassland, Sunlit, or Still Water Caves in the Grand Underground after you obtain the National Pokedex.
Chimchar line: You can get it as a Starter Pokemon, by trades, or from the Sandsear, Volcanic, and Typhlo Caves in the Grand Underground after you obtain the National Pokedex.
Piplup line: You can get it as a Starter Pokemon, by trades, or from the Riverbank, Still Water, or Fountainspring Caves in the Grand Underground after you obtain the National Pokedex.
Starly line: You can obtain Starly effortlessly on Route 201, and Staravia from Route 209 or the Trophy Garden. You will need to evolve Staraptor yourself.
Bidoof line: Easily caught on Route 201. Bibarel can also be found just about everywhere, but Route 209 and Valor Lakefront are just a few prominent areas.
Kricketot line: Found at night on Route 202. You can find Kricketune at any time on Route 206, but in other areas it’s more commonly found at night.
Shinx line: Easily caught on Route 202. You can catch Luxio at Fuego Ironworks, but otherwise you’ll need to evolve Shinx the rest of the way (into Luxray in particular) on your own.
Abra line: Found on Route 203. You can find Kadabra on Route 215, but you will need to transfer Kadabra to Pokemon Legends: Arceus to evolve it with a Linking Cord or trade it to someone in BDSP to get Alakazam.
Magikarp line: Fish with the Old Rod on Route 203 and you will always get Magikarp. Fish with the Super Rod on Route 230 and you’ll also always get Gyarados.
Budew line: Easily found on Route 204, and then you can find Roselia in the Trophy Garden. You will need a Shiny Stone to evolve it into Roserade.
Zubat line: These guys are everywhere, but if you’re looking for a surefire place to catch one, try surfing in Mt. Coronet. The easiest way to find Golbat is probably Iron Island. You will have to evolve Crobat via friendship manually, though.
Geodude line: Everywhere. Graveler is everywhere too, but you can most easily find it in Mt. Coronet. For Golem, you will have to trade Graveler or transfer it to Pokemon Legends Arceus and evolve it with a Linking Cord.
Onix line: You can find Onix in the Oreburgh Mine, and you can find Steelix on Iron Island. Two simple catches!
Cranidos line: Exclusive to Brilliant Diamond, and can only be found via Skull Fossils. Alternatively, you can import one into BDSP from Scarlet, Violet, or Pokemon Legends Arceus and then hatch a Cranidos Egg.
Shieldon line: Exclusive to Shining Pearl, and only found via Armor Fossils. Same as above – if you don’t have Shining Pearl, import one from another game and then hatch a Shieldon Egg. Remember to get Bastiodon, too! It evolves at Level 30, which isn’t too bad.
Machop line: Easily found on Route 207. You can find Machoke on Route 216 and Route 217, but you’ll have to trade Machoke to evolve it into Machamp. Or transfer it to Pokemon Legends Arceus instead!
Psyduck line: Surf on Route 203 to easily find Psyduck. For the highest chance to find Golduck, Surf on Route 225.
Burmy line: You can only find these guys on honey trees, and they’re fairly common. You’ll need to slather honey on a tree, and then come back in around six hours to check the encounter. You cannot change the species of the Pokemon by saving in front of the tree and resetting, but you can change its gender. You will need one male Burmy to evolve into Mothim, one female to evolve into Wormadam, and one of either gender to keep as a Burmy. We’d recommend catching one Burmy and hatching some eggs so you don’t have to deal with too many honey trees.
Wurmple line: You can track down Wurmple in Eterna Forest. It has a random chance to evolve into either Cascoon or Silcoon, so just catch a bunch of Wurmple and evolve them until you have one Wurmple, one Silcoon, one Cascoon, one Beautifly, and one Dustox. Wurmple reaches its final stage at Level 12, which isn’t bad at all.
Combee line: Also only found on honey trees. Like we mentioned earlier, you can save in front of a honey tree and reset until you get a female to evolve into Vespiquen. Worst-case scenario, just import a Combee from Scarlet and Violet and hatch a bunch of eggs.
Pachirisu: Found in the grass at Valley Windworks. Super easy!
Buizel line: It’s easy to find at the Valley Windworks as well. Your best chance to find a wild Floatzel is at Route 218.
Cherubi line: Also found on honey trees, but it’s a bit rarer than Burmy. It’s a bit easier to find in Sword and Shield, where you can interact with berry trees for a chance to encounter a Cherubi. From there, you can simply transfer it to BDSP and hatch two baby Cherubi – one to keep as-is, and the other to evolve into Cherrim.
Shellos line: You can find Shellos on Route 213. Gastrodon is decently common on Route 222, and is even more common at night.
Heracross: Don’t even bother with this one. It’s an extremely rare honey tree spawn that will require crazy luck or a ton of time. Import a Heracross from Shield (it’s exclusive there), Pokemon Legends Arceus, or Scarlet and Violet and breed a Heracross in BDSP. It’s much faster.
Aipom line: This one is tricky. It’s another rare honey tree spawn, but not as rare as Heracross. Still, if you have trouble, your other options are limited. It’s specifically only in Pokemon Violet’s Teal Mask DLC, and then in Pokemon Legends Arceus too. If either of those are feasible for you, you can transfer an Aipom over and hatch an egg. Aipom evolves into Ambipom after learning Double Hit and then leveling up.
Drifloon line: Head to the Valley Windworks on a Friday and you will find a single Drifloon. You can only get one per week, so breed it once and evolve the other into Drifblim.
Buneary line: Easily found in Eterna Forest, but it evolves into Lopunny via friendship. It will take a while, so give it a Soothe Bell to hold and then walk around and catch other Pokemon on this list in the meantime. It will evolve eventually.
Gastly line: It’s easiest to find this in the Old Chateau, and Haunter is only found in certain rooms of Turnback Cave. Trade Haunter or transfer it to Legends Arceus to use a Linking Cord, and it will evolve.
Misdreavus line: Exclusive to Shining Pearl, and appears in Eterna Forest at night only. It can also appear in some Grand Underground rooms, if you’re looking to catch many Pokemon at once. It evolves via a Dusk Stone, which you get from Veilstone City’s Galactic Warehouse as part of the story. If you don’t have a Dusk Stone, they’re easy to get in Scarlet and Violet by searching bright spots in Area Zero. As long as the Mismagius comes from BDSP, it should still count for this challenge.
Murkrow line: Same deal as above, Dusk Stone and all, but it is exclusive to Brilliant Diamond instead. It’s found in Eterna Forest too.
Glameow line: Only in Pokemon Shining Pearl, so if you don’t have that game you can get it in Pokemon Legends Arceus and transfer it over to hatch an egg. You can find Glameow on Route 222. Purugly is on Route 222 too, but you’ll see it slightly less often.
Goldeen line: Fish with the Good Rod on Route 203 and you have a good chance to find Goldeen. Fish with the Super Rod there and you’ll be able to find Seaking.
Barboach line: Fish with the Good Rod on Route 205 for a chance to find Barboach. Fish with the Super Rod there to eventually find Whiscash.
Chingling line: You can find this with a 10% chance in Mt. Coronet, or on either side of Route 211. It evolves via friendship, though. Luckily, you can find Chimecho at a 10% encounter rate at Sendoff Spring to save yourself the effort.
Stunky line: Exclusive to Brilliant Diamond, where it’s easily found on Route 206. You then have a small chance to find Skuntank on Route 221.
Meditite line: Easiest to find on either side of Route 211. From there, you can find Medicham on Route 217.
Bronzor line: For the fastest encounter possible, head to Wayward Cave to find Bronzor. For Bronzong, try Mt. Coronet 2F and above.
Ponyta line: You can find it on Route 206, but you have to evolve it into Rapidash manually at Level 40.
Bonsly line: It’s easiest to find this on Route 209 in the morning, but only if you’re playing Shining Pearl. If you’re playing Brilliant Diamond instead, you can only get it as one of the daily Pokemon in the Trophy Garden. In that case it’s probably easier to just import Sudowoodo from another game, and breed it holding the Rock Incense to get Bonsly. You can find Sudowoodo in Shining Pearl on Route 214, but in Brilliant Diamond you will have to evolve a Trophy Garden Bonsly by leveling it up while it knows Mimic.
Mime Jr. line: Basically the reverse of Bonsly – it’s on Route 209 if you’re playing Brilliant Diamond, but only in the Trophy Garden if you’re playing Shining Pearl. Likewise, Mr. Mime is on Route 218 in Brilliant Diamond. It’s also available in both games in the Grand Underground, in which case you’d breed it holding an Odd Incense to get Mime Jr..
Happiny line: You can only find Happiny in the Trophy Garden, and it evolves when leveled up holding an Oval Stone during the day. For Chansey, you can find it with a 5% chance at any time on Route 209. It evolves into Blissey via friendship, and you will unfortunately have to do that manually.
Cleffa line: Cleffa is a somewhat rare spawn at the entrance of Mt. Coronet, but it can appear in the Trophy Garden as the daily Pokemon. You can find Clefairy on Mt. Coronet too, from 2F and above. It evolves into Clefable with a Moon Stone, which actually are sometimes held by wild Clefairy and are otherwise obtainable in the Grand Underground.
Chatot: Only found on Route 222 and 224, but otherwise this is an easy one.
Pichu line: Without breeding, you can only find Pichu as a standard spawn in the Trophy Garden. Pikachu is found there too, and then you can evolve it into Raichu with a Thunder Stone, which you can dig up in the Grand Underground.
Hoothoot line: Generally, you can only find Hoothoot at night. You can get it in the Great Marsh with a 20% chance at night or Route 210’s north end with a 10% chance. For Noctowl, you can also find it on Route 210 or you could go to Route 216 or Route 217 instead (all at night).
Spiritomb: Don’t even bother with this one, if at all possible. It’s much easier to obtain in Sword, Shield, Scarlet, and Violet. In BDSP, you are supposed to talk to 32 unique NPCs in the Grand Underground before returning to the Odd Keystone to encounter a single Spiritomb. However, that takes an incredibly long time, so if you can, just import one (use Pokemon Home’s GTS if necessary) and breed an egg.
Gible line: You can find Gible on the basement floor of Wayward Cave or in some rooms of the Grand Underground. Gabite is exclusive to the Grand Underground in the wild, so if you can’t find it you’ll have to catch three Gible. Evolve two into Gabite, and then evolve one of those into Garchomp at Level 48.
Munchlax line: Again, don’t bother with this one. Munchlax is the rarest Pokemon in BDSP bar none; you’ll be slathering honey trees for days if you’re lucky and weeks if you’re not. Import a Snorlax, have it hold a Full Incense, and then hatch a Munchlax egg. Munchlax itself evolves via friendship, so this evolutionary line is tough and time-consuming.
Unown: Found in the Solaceon Ruins, where it is the only Pokemon that can spawn.
Riolu line: You can only get Riolu in this game from the Iron Island egg that Riley gives you, and then it evolves via friendship. You’ll probably need to hatch eggs, but remember that Riolu cannot breed until it evolves.
Wooper line: Easy to catch in the wild. You can find Wooper on the south end of Route 212, and Quagsire is there too – you’re just a bit less likely to encounter it.
Wingull line: Surf on Route 219 or 220 for an easy Wingull. Pelipper is on those routes too, but with a 5% chance of encounter. It’s more common on Route 226 while surfing.
Girafarig: Found on Valor Lakefront with a 30% chance.
Hippopotas line: You can find this in the Ruins Maniac’s Cave, which is on Route 214, with a 5% chance. For Hippowdon, you can find it on Route 228 at any time of day.
Azurill line: Azurill itself is surprisingly tough to track down in the wild. It’s a 1% spawn in the Great Marsh, and it has a chance of being the daily Pokemon from the Trophy Garden. Marill is much easier to find in the Great Marsh, so catch one, have it hold a Sea Incense, and hatch an egg to get Azurill. Azumarill must be evolved manually, but it evolves at Level 18 which is not bad at all.
Skorupi line: It’s found in multiple Grand Underground caves, so you’ll want to track it down that way. Skorupi and Drapion are only available otherwise as a random daily Pokemon in the Great Marsh, and it may take you several real-life days to eventually roll one. Catch Skorupi in the Grand Underground instead and evolve one into Drapion to save time.
Croagunk line: Same deal as above – Croagunk and Toxicroak are daily random Pokemon in the Great Marsh, which is unreliable. You can find them in watery Grand Underground caves instead, which is much easier.
Carnivine: It’s another random daily Pokemon in the Great Marsh, but there’s nowhere else to catch it in this game. You might be better off importing one from Pokemon Legends: Arceus and breeding it. Fun fact: that’s also the only way to have a Switch-origin Carnivine in a standard Poke Ball!
Remoraid line: Now we’re back to easier Pokemon to catch. Using a Good Rod on Route 213, 222, 223, or 224 will net you a Remoraid eventually. Using a Super Rod on Route 224 gives you the highest chance of fishing up an Octillery.
Finneon line: Use a Good Rod on Route 218 or 219 to get Finneon. Use a Super Rod there to get Lumineon, too.
Tentacool line: Surf on Route 218, 219, or 220 and you will almost certainly find Tentacool within two encounters. For the highest chance of finding Tentacruel, surf on Route 223.
Feebas line: This is another case where you shouldn’t bother. In this game, Feebas spawns on two random tiles in a big lake in Mt. Coronet. And then you can only evolve it by raising its beauty stats via poffins. We’d recommend catching Feebas in Sword, Shield, Scarlet, or Violet and then hatching an egg in BDSP. Then transfer it back to those games, give it a Prism Scale to hold, and trade it. It’s still very complicated, but it’s much easier than BDSP’s Milotic evolution method.
Mantyke line: You can find it by surfing on Route 223, with a 10% chance. Mantine is never available in the wild in this game, and Mantyke only evolves by leveling up with a Remoraid in the party.
Snover line: Snover itself is easiest to find on Route 216, with a 25% chance. Wild Abomasnow can only be found on the snowy top half of Mt. Coronet in the wild grass.
Sneasel line: It’s the same deal here – Sneasel is easiest to find on Route 216, also with a 25% chance. However, no Weavile are available in the wild. You’ll have to give Sneasel a Razor Claw and level it up at night in order to evolve it into Weavile.
Uxie: Just a few left! You can get Uxie in both games where it is available at its respective lakefront.
Mesprit: This is the only roaming Pokemon on the list. We’d highly recommend saving your Master Ball for it.
Azelf: This Pokemon is in the lake near Snowpoint City.
Dialga: A version exclusive Legendary Pokemon, you can only find it in Brilliant Diamond. You either need both games, or a friend who is willing to let you borrow their BDSP-origin Dialga and transfer it to Pokemon Home for a moment.
Palkia: Exclusive to Pokemon Shining Pearl. If you have both games, that’s great – this shouldn’t be a problem! You might need to facilitate a trade otherwise, though.
Manaphy: This Mythical Pokemon is technically part of the BDSP regional Pokedex, but is not required for completion of the Pokemon Home Pokedex.

That’s everything, then – locations for all 151 Pokemon you’ll need to transfer to Pokemon Home in order to qualify for Shiny Manaphy. Generally, this task is much easier if you have other Pokemon games to swap between. Some Pokemon are incredibly difficult to catch in BDSP, and considering Pokemon Home offers rewards for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Pokedex completion (as well as Pokemon Legends: Arceus), it’s best to get this task done as quickly as possible. If you have any questions about completing the Pokemon Home Pokedex, feel free to leave them down below. And let us know if you’d like to see similar guides for Scarlet and Violet and Pokemon Legends Arceus’ Pokedex categories in Pokemon Home.

And if you want to check out more information about Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, you can do so via the official website.