Best HM Slaves in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen (All HMs Covered)

Unlike newer Pokemon games where HMs are removed or replaced with ride mechanics, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen still rely heavily on Hidden Machines to progress through the world. 

You’ll be needing moves like Cut, Surf, and Strength to pass obstacles, traverse various terrain, and access new areas across Kanto. 

The problem is that many of these moves are not very useful in battle, which is why players often dedicate a separate Pokemon as an HM slave. These Pokemon carry multiple HMs so your main team can keep strong battle moves instead. 

In this guide, we’ll look at some of the best HM slave options in FireRed and LeafGreen for both emulator and Nintendo Switch players.

Key Highlights:

• Nidoking learns most HM moves and can be an awesome HM slave. However, filling its moveset with HMs is a waste of a really powerful Pokemon.
• The best early-game HM slave is Farfetch’d because it can be obtained easily before the third badge. It can learn Cut and Fly, which are two essential HMs for progression.
• Later in the game, the best HM users are Psyduck (FireRed), Lapras, and Gyarados.

Best HM Slaves in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Comparison Table

Best Overall HM Slave in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

Unfortunately, FireRed and LeafGreen don’t really have a single perfect HM slave that covers most of the game. Well, besides Nidoking. But we’ll get into why he isn’t fit for the role.

In games like Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, players often used Marill or Linoone because they could learn many HMs early. In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Bibarel became the famous all-around HM slave.

FireRed and LeafGreen are a bit more difficult to deal with. Most Pokemon that learn a large number of HMs are either unobtainable before beating the Elite Four or need an evolution to learn the HMs.

Because of this, we’ll need to use at least two HM slaves throughout the game instead of relying on a single Pokemon.

Nidoking: The Top HM Slave in FR/LG

Technically, Nidoking is one of the few Pokemon that can learn almost every HM in the game, which makes it surprisingly versatile for exploration.

Nidoking can learn all HMs except Fly and Flash, so it should be the best HM slave for FireRed and LeafGreen, right? 

Well, it’s complicated.

Why Nidoking Is a Great HM Slave

If we take it as is, Nidoking is actually an excellent HM carrier.

You can catch a Nidoran in Pewter City, obtain a Moon Stone in Mt. Moon, and evolve Nidorino as early as Level 16, meaning Nidoking can be available long before many other strong Pokemon.

Since it can learn several important HMs, it can take care of most of your utility exploration moves and take up only one slot on your team.

Nidoking can learn the following HMs in FireRed and LeafGreen:

• Cut
• Surf
• Strength
• Rock Smash

Why Most Players Don’t Use Nidoking as an HM Slave

Despite this, most players avoid using Nidoking as an HM slave.

The main reason is that Nidoking is simply too strong to waste on utility moves. It has excellent Attack, a massive movepool, and access to powerful moves like Earthquake, Rock Slide, and Sludge Bomb.

If you waste his moveset on moves like Cut and Strength, then you’re essentially throwing away an S-tier Pokemon. The same goes for the starter trio.

Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise would be awesome HM slaves, but their potential would be completely wasted.

So the big question is: Can you use Nidoking as a good HM slave? Most definitely! 

As long as you’re willing to let go of its offensive prowess or not use it in your core team at all. Or, you could also try training two Nidoking: one is a pure battler and the other a dedicated HM slave.

You just need two Moon Stones.

Keep reading:

• 5 Best HM Slaves in Pokemon X and Y
• How to Speed Up Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch

Best Early-Game HM Slave

Of course, there are more convenient and practical options besides Nidoking. This Pokemon works best as an HM slave in the early-game part of FireRed and LeafGreen.

Farfetch’d

Farfetch’d is often considered the best early game HM slave in FireRed and LeafGreen.

You can obtain Farfetch’d by trading a Spearow to a girl in a house located in Vermilion City, just east of the Pokemon Fan Club.

Spearow is extremely easy to catch on early routes such as Route 3, making this trade very accessible.

Farfetch’d is especially useful as an HM slave early on because it can learn both Cut and Fly, two HMs that you will use frequently throughout the game. 

Best Mid-Game and Late-Game HM Slaves in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

Psyduck/Poliwhirl

The best overall HM slave in FireRed is probably Psyduck. Psyduck can learn almost every important HM in the game, including Surf, Strength, Flash, Waterfall, and Rock Smash. 

Too bad this duck can’t fly. But pair Psyduck with Farfetch’d, and you have all the HMs in the game. 

Unfortunately, Psyduck is exclusive to FireRed, which means LeafGreen players will need to look for alternatives.

That’s where Poliwhirl comes in. Poliwhirl is LeafGreen exclusive and can learn several water-based HMs and is fairly easy to obtain through Poliwag encounters. 

It is a solid choice for handling Surf, Strength, and later, Waterfall. The best part is you don’t even have to fully evolve it. 

Lapras

Lapras is another excellent option later in the game. You receive Lapras in Silph Co., and it can learn several exploration HMs while still being a strong battler.

Not to mention that Lapras is given as a gift at a decent Level 25. The downside is that Lapras arrives fairly late in the story. Lapras can learn these HMs: 

• Surf
• Strength
• Rock Smash
• Waterfall

Gyarados

Gyarados is another strong HM slave. Magikarp can be purchased early in the game at Mt. Moon, and once it evolves into Gyarados later, it becomes capable of learning the same HMs as Lapras. 

The fast-forward feature of emulators make the gfrind much quicker. But if you’re on the Nintendo Switch, you might need a bit more patience.

However, it can’t learn Fly even though it’s a Flying type. The reason why it isn’t often seen as an HM slave is the same as Nidoking.

Conclusion

Those are the best HM slaves for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. With these Pokemon in your party, you can explore every inch of Kanto with confidence. 

At the end of the day, the best HM slave is simply the one that lets your core team keep their strongest battle moves while still allowing you to explore the entire Kanto region without limitations.

So if you’re planning to beat FireRed and LeafGreen, on your GBA emulator or Nintendo Switch, our guides here at Pokecoders will definitely help you in your journey. 

If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to comment down below, and we’ll be sure to get back to you.