Pokémon Hideaways: Eighteen Lairs Beneath Sinnoh and Statues That Steer Your Encounters

Beneath the Sinnoh region lie eighteen lairs of wild Pokémon. Exclusive to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the Pokémon Hideaways are found in the Grand Underground, accessible as soon as you receive the Explorer Kit, and they're home to species you won't find on the region's surface.

Contents

• The Grand Underground, beneath all of Sinnoh
• Caves and caverns: the two sizes of Pokémon Hideaways
• What level are Hideaway Pokémon?
• Digging into the Underground's walls
• Steering Hideaway encounters with statues
• Diglett, Hikers and Spheres
• The Pokémon Hideaways at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Grand Underground, beneath all of Sinnoh

You don't visit the Hideaways on their own: they're part of the Grand Underground, a network that runs beneath the whole of Sinnoh. Exclusive to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it takes over from the old Sinnoh Underground, the one in Diamond and Pearl and then Platinum, and you can only head down there once the Explorer Kit is in your pocket.

The network is nothing like a continuous corridor. It's split into walled-off sectors: the northwest, which you enter from Snowpoint City, the northeast from the Battle Zone, the southwest from Oreburgh City or Ramanas Park, the southeast from Sunyshore City, the center, reachable from places such as Veilstone City and Eterna City, and finally an inner core reached via Celestic Town. To switch sectors, you have to go back up to the surface and then head down somewhere else.

Down there, a few rules change: you can walk or run, but your bicycle stays on the surface, and no Pokémon can be let out of its Poké Ball. You can explore alone or with up to eight players, locally or online, with friends or strangers.

Caves and caverns: the two sizes of Pokémon Hideaways

The Underground combines two kinds of spaces. Tunnels are for digging; biomes, on the other hand, are home to wild Pokémon, and they're what are called Pokémon Hideaways. Some species can only be found there, which makes them valuable for completing the Pokédex.

The most common format is the cave, and there are elevenof them, including Grassland Cave, Whiteout Cave, Volcanic Cave and Dazzling Cave. Each one shows only five to seven Pokémon at a time.

The seven caverns think bigger: roomier, they gather seven to ten Pokémon at a time. Stargleam Cavern, Glacial Cavern and Bogsunk Cavern are among them. In the Hideaways, you can surf, but you can't fish.

What level are Hideaway Pokémon?

Hideaway Pokémon level up as your adventure progresses, step by step, based on the last badge you earned. With the Coal Badge from Roark, you'll run into Pokémon at levels 16 to 20; the Cobble Badge from Maylene raises the range to 29–33, and the Icicle Badge from Candice to 42–46.

The Beacon Badge from Volkner marks a turning point: encounters jump to 50–55. Once the Sinnoh League is beaten and Cynthia dethroned, they climb to 58–63, levels to match a post-League team.

Digging into the Underground's walls

Outside the Hideaways, the tunnels are made for digging. A yellow dot on the map marks a promising wall: walk up to it, fire up the radar with the R button, and the wall lights up; by examining it, you find out how many treasures it holds, two, three or four.

Then you choose your tool: the pickax, which is lighter, or the heavier hammer. Each strike weakens the wall, and a crack at the top of the screen tracks the damage: if it reaches the left edge, the wall collapses and only the items fully dug out are kept.

The loot is varied: Spheres in five colors (Red, Blue, Green, Prism and Pale) and two sizes, S and L, stones that trigger evolution, the four Rocks that extend weather effects, sixteen Plates that change the type of Arceus, and fossils, including the Skull Fossil for Cranidos in Brilliant Diamond and the Armor Fossil for Shieldon in Shining Pearl. Once you have the National Pokédex, you'll also find Mysterious Shards, which unlock legendaries from past generations in Ramanas Park.

Steering Hideaway encounters with statues

Some digs turn up boxes. The Pretty Stone Box holds an ordinary Pokémon statue, the Gorgeous Stone Box a shiny statue, recognizable by its jade tint. These figurines aren't just decorative: they influence encounters.

To display them, you need a Secret Base, dug into any wall using a Digger Drill. The first one is given to you by the Underground Man, in the house next to the Eterna City Pokémon Center; the traders sell more for ten size-S Spheres, in a color that changes daily. The base can be expanded twice, first for size-S Spheres, then for size-L Spheres.

The base holds up to eighteen statues, placed on the floor or on pedestals sold by the traders. That's the whole point: gathering statues of the same type makes that type more common in the Hideaways, and a shiny statue counts twice as much as a regular statue.

🗿 Want to display statues of your own? Our collection of Pokémon figures is just waiting for your shelf.

Diglett, Hikers and Spheres

A gauge out of 40, placed below the map, encourages you to roam the tunnels: it fills up as you flush out the Diglett and Dugtrio hiding in the maze. Once full, it grants four minutes of boosted luck: rare items more common in the walls and Shiny Pokémon more likely to appear.

The Underground traders, who look like Hikers, take payment in Spheres. Each day they sell a random selection of TMs, which can include Earthquake or Surf, at prices that are also random but always in a single color; many of these TMs require a minimum number of badges.

They also offer pedestals to show off your statues, buy back the treasures stored in your Bag at a fixed price and, each day, convert S Spheres into L Spheres, or the reverse, for a given color.

The Pokémon Hideaways at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you access the Pokémon Hideaways?
  You need to have received the Explorer Kit, which opens up the Grand Underground. The Hideaways are the areas of the Underground where wild Pokémon live.
• How many Pokémon Hideaways are there?
  Eighteen: eleven caves, where five to seven Pokémon appear at the same time, and seven larger caverns, which hold seven to ten.
• What level are the Pokémon in the Hideaways?
  It follows your progress: 16 to 20 after the first badge, 50 to 55 after the eighth, then 58 to 63 once the Sinnoh League is beaten.
• What are the Grand Underground statues for?
  Displayed in the Secret Base, up to eighteen of them, they make Pokémon of their type more common in the Hideaways. A jade-colored shiny statue counts double.
• What do you get from hunting Diglett?
  Finding Diglett and Dugtrio fills a gauge out of 40. Once full, it boosts the odds of rare items and Shiny Pokémon for four minutes.

In short

The Pokémon Hideaways give the Grand Underground a real reason to head back down: species missing from the surface, levels that keep pace with your progress and statues that let you target a type. Digging, the Secret Base and Diglett hunting fit together to fuel these encounters, from the first badge to the post-game.