Metapod arrives at run level 8 from Caterpie. The family passive adds +30 armor in this form, and Fortress provides a defensive Ultimate. It is a progression stage rather than a separate League starting choice.
Game data v0.8.62Checked 2026-10-28Build advice: our recommendations
Metapod uses the run started with Caterpie. The levels below describe that partner’s attack offers, not a new loadout unlocked by evolution. Kit-offer levels and the level of an individual attack are separate.
FAMILY PASSIVE
Metamorphosis
+15% experience and +20 shield. Evolves soon (Metapod at Lv. 8, Butterfree at Lv. 36). As Metapod, the cocoon gives you +30 armor.
Throws silk webs that stick to the ground and trap; then a buzz makes them vibrate and each web releases a sound wave that punishes the trapped more.
Both component attacks must reach attack level 8. The later kit offer still needs to appear and be upgraded; reaching a run level alone does not complete the fusion.
These are PokeBonk run levels. They differ from evolution levels in the main Pokémon games. Evolved forms stay attached to the partner you started with.
Keep gathering levels toward Butterfree at run level 36. String Shot and Bug Buzz form Resonant Web, but you still need attacks to clear the path while that plan develops.
Species stats and your run baseline
The six bars describe Metapod’s species stats. Your current in-run values also depend on your starting partner, passive, evolution bonuses, Lab purchases and collected upgrades.
HP50
Attack20
Defense55
Sp. Attack25
Sp. Defense25
Speed30
Caterpie’s starting baseline
Before the passive, Lab, vitamins, items or evolution bonuses. These values are for Caterpie at the start, not Metapod after evolving.
Max HP
132
Armor
8.31
HP regen / s
0.6
Movement multiplier
×1.086
Physical multiplier
×1.005
Special multiplier
×0.943
Ultimate progression
Each stage has its own Ultimate in a run started with Caterpie. The highlighted card is Metapod’s form. The listed time describes the ability’s duration, not its recharge time.
Caterpie · 1.2 s
Silk Net
You throw eight silk nets around you: they trap and damage anyone who steps on them for 4 s.
Metapod · 4 s · THIS FORM
Fortress
The cocoon hardens: 4 s of invulnerability, a 40% shield and repelling waves, with a burst at the end.
Butterfree · 3.2 s
Scale Storm
A cloud of butterflies and colorful scales puts to sleep, paralyzes and poisons over a huge area and ends in a gale.
Build around the attacks you kept
These are starting points for a Caterpie family run, not a promise of one best loadout. Keep damage, survival and movement balanced around what is ending your attempts. The planner uses the three base vitamin slots and saves locally on this device.
Caterpie family vitamin plan
0 / 3 base slots
Your saved selections are shared with the Vitamins page and every form in this family. This does not change your game account.
Special damage when the signature or special attacks carry the build.
Starting item pool
Before spending Stardust
Buy for the problem you actually have. A fourth move slot gives a future attack room, while health, armor, recovery or movement can help you reach the later offers in the first place.
To get Metapod, unlock Caterpie as a League partner, start a run with it and follow its evolution path: Caterpie (Lv. 1) → Metapod (Lv. 8). Metapod is an evolved form of that run’s partner, not a separate League starting choice.
Complete three evolutions across your runs
Caterpie’s League challenge is to evolve 3 times during your runs. This is an evolution count, not a request to catch three Caterpie or finish three runs. Work on it with a partner you already own, then check Caterpie’s challenge in the League.
Start another run after the challenge is complete
The game’s challenge-complete message says the partner will appear in your next run for you to catch. Caterpie is not automatically a starting choice as soon as the counter reaches three. Keep the same account or session so the challenge progress belongs to the League you are trying to expand.
Weaken the normal Caterpie encounter and capture it
If Caterpie was not your initial partner, find its challenge encounter in the following run. Defeat or weaken it until the game marks it ready for capture, then move close and use the capture input shown on screen to throw your Poké Ball. Do not leave the encounter or take the exit while it is still waiting to be caught. Completing the challenge and defeating the encounter are separate from actually capturing it.
Confirm Caterpie has joined your League
Check the League after the capture and select Caterpie when you start the run you want to play. A Pokédex sighting only records that you have seen a species. A shiny catch unlocks a look but does not substitute for the normal challenge-and-capture requirement; a captured Alpha fights beside you for that run and does not join your League.
Evolve Caterpie into Metapod at run level 8
Start this run as Caterpie and keep collecting experience until your run reaches level 8. This is the PokeBonk evolution checkpoint for Metapod, not the evolution level from the main Pokémon games. Raising an individual attack to that level does not count: attack levels and your run level are different. You now have Metapod as your active form in this run.
What stays unlocked after the run?
After the run ends, choose Caterpie again for another attempt and reach the same evolution checkpoint to play as Metapod. Seeing or reaching Metapod does not turn it into an independent level-1 League partner. The family’s passive, kit offers and Ultimate progression follow the run you started with Caterpie.
OUR CLASSIC OPENING RECOMMENDATION
Tier C: why we place Caterpie here
Experience and a starting shield help reach later stages, with cocoon armor during evolution. It ranks low for the immediate opening because survival still needs a useful attack before the payoff arrives.
Protect the early shield and concentrate upgrades enough to make the experience lead meaningful.
39/100 is an editorial opening score, with comfort weighted at 50%, offensive potential at 30% and utility at 20%. It is not a measured win rate. Metapod is grouped with Caterpie; this score does not rank the evolved form’s late-run ceiling.
Unlock Caterpie, start a run with it, and follow Caterpie at run Lv. 1 → Metapod at run Lv. 8. Metapod is reached through that run’s evolution path rather than selected as a separate level-1 League member.
What level does Metapod evolve in PokeBonk?
Metapod evolves into Butterfree at run level 36 in the reviewed v0.8.62 data. Use the displayed run level, not an individual attack’s level or the evolution threshold from another Pokémon game.
What does Metapod’s Fortress Ultimate do?
Fortress gives 4 seconds of invulnerability, a 40% shield and repelling waves, ending in a burst. The family passive also gives +30 armor in the Metapod form. Choose an exit before the timed protection ends rather than waiting inside a closed pack.
What is Metapod’s signature fusion recipe?
The Caterpie family uses Resonant Web: combine String Shot and Bug Buzz. Both ingredient attacks need attack level 8 before using Bill’s Machine. These are attack levels, not run levels. Evolution into Metapod does not automatically equip the ingredients or complete the fusion.
Which vitamins should I use for Metapod?
For a build centered on Resonant Web, Calcium supports its special damage. Iron is worth comparing for contact damage; Exp. Candy is a progression choice only when your current attacks already keep a lane clear. These are build directions, not a requirement to fill all three base slots with one fixed combination.
Does catching a shiny Metapod unlock it as a starting partner?
A shiny catch unlocks the family’s shiny look but does not replace the normal League challenge and capture for Caterpie. You must still start as Caterpie and evolve during the run to use Metapod; the shiny look does not make the evolved form a separate starting partner.
Take the build into your next mode
First Classic clear
Choose a partner, keep the opening attack productive and spend upgrades where the run is struggling.