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Honey tree Pokémon spawn list and wait time in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl explained

Sweet catch.

Honey trees are an alternative way to find and catch Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

The honey trees have their own Pokémon spawn list, including Heracross and the only appearance of Munchlax outside of the Pokémon Hideaways, so, if you want to truly complete your Pokédex, you'll need to use them.

First, however, you need to understand how to get honey and the honey tree wait time.

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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl - Overview Trailer - Nintendo SwitchWatch on YouTube

Honey trees and wait time in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl explained

Honey trees are the golden trees you'll see dotted across the Sinnoh region in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. You'll automatically unlock this catching method when looking for the Works Key for the Valley Windworks in Floaroma Meadow.

To attract Pokémon, you need to slather the tree in honey and wait for the Pokémon to arrive. Don't, however, stand around waiting for them to arrive - they like to take their time!

It takes six hours for a Pokémon to appear on a honey tree. Once these six hours are up, you have 24 hours to battle the Pokémon or else it, along with the honey, will vanish.

It's important to note that the Nintendo Switch's internal clock has no effect on honey trees, which means you can not time travel ahead for your Pokémon encounters.

What you can do is use the Town Map to keep track of where the honey trees are, whether you've placed any honey on them and if there are any Pokémon encounters awaiting you. Simply open the Town Map and access the Location Info by pressing + before scrolling through the relevant information.

Use the Town Map to keep check of your honey trees.

There are 21 honey trees growing in the Sinnoh region and below you'll find their locations in the order you'll gain access to during the main campaign:

  • Floaroma Meadow
  • Route 205 - two honey trees
  • Valley Windworks
  • Eterna Forest
  • Roue 206
  • Route 207
  • Route 208
  • Route 209
  • Route 210 - two honey trees
  • Route 215
  • Route 214
  • Route 213
  • Route 212 - two honey trees
  • Route 218
  • Fuego Ironworks
  • Route 211
  • Route 222
  • Route 221

How to get honey in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Honey in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl can be purchased from the man you save from Team Galactic in Floaroma Meadow.

One pot of honey costs $100 and a batch of 10 costs $1,000.

It's also one of the many items you can pick up from the ground during your travels and, if you catch either a Surskit or Combee, there's a chance these Pokémon could be carrying honey.

If you have a Pokémon which knows the dark-type move Thief, then you can also attempt to steal these Pokémon's honey. It's important to note, however, that not every Surskit or Combee will be carrying honey, so it might take you a couple of encounters to find these Pokémon.

The TM for Thief can be found in Eterna City after you've defeated the second Gym Leader to unlock the use of Cut outside of battle.

You can find the TM for Thief here.

Finally, if you have a Combee which has the Honey Gather ability, you can also use them to collect honey. This ability means that Combee may pick up honey after a battle, with the chance of this occurring rising along Combee's level.

Honey can also be used to attract Pokémon in the wild - be it in long grass or in a cave. All you have to do is open your Bag, find your supply of honey in the Other Items Pocket and choose the 'Use this item' option.


It’s time to revisit Sinnoh! Our now complete Diamond and Pearl walkthrough to the main story is where to start. Your journey begins with selecting your starter Pokémon near Twinleaf Town, before visiting Sandgem Town and Jubilife City. To become a Pokémon Master, you need to defeat the Gym Leaders in Oreburgh City, Eterna City, Veilstone City, Pastoria City and Hearthome City, along with three others.

Aside from badges, you’ll want to grab Mystery Gift codes, complete the Sinnoh Pokédex by using Honey Trees, visiting the Great Marsh and the Pokémon Hideaways in the Grand Underground. Take the time to catch Gible, Spiritomb andDrifloon! Finally, you can now catch Arceus.


Honey tree spawns list in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

The majority of the honey trees across the Sinnoh region in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl share the same Pokémon spawn list and chance rate for encounters - from no encounter to standard to rare - except for four trees.

These four special honey trees have a higher chance of giving you rare Pokémon encounters and are the only ones which can attract a Munchlax. The downside, however, is that these honey trees are different for every player - being based upon your Trainer ID and Secret ID - which means you'll have to use trial and error to discover which ones are your special honey trees.

Thankfully, depending on your progress in the game, you can find Munchlax in the Pokémon Hideaways of the Grand Underground.

Honey trees are also the only way to find Burmy in both games, since Combee can - again depending on your progress - be found in certain Pokémon Hideaways.

Unlike the original games, some of the honey tree Pokémon can now be found in the Grand Underground.

Below you can find the encounter chance rate for both honey and special honey trees:

Thank you to Kaphotics from Twitter for the help with this information!

Type of EncounterHoney Tree Chance RateSpecial Tree Chance Rate
No encounter10%9%
Standard Encounter70%20%
Rare Encounter20%70%
Munchlax Encounter0%1%

Here is the honey tree Pokémon spawn list, including the type of encounter for each Pokémon, arranged in National Pokédex order:

National Dex Num.PokémonType of EncounterType
190AipomStandard and RareNormal
214HeracrossRareBug / Fighting
265WurmpleStandard and RareBug
266SilcoonStandard
BD Exclusive
Bug
268CascoonStandard
SP Exclusive
Bug
412BurmyStandard and RareBug
415CombeeStandard and RareBug / Flying
420CherubiStandard and RareGrass
446MunchlaxOnly Special Honey Trees - very rare encounterNormal

Good luck with the honey trees in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl!