Evolve Pokémon

A practical reference for how Pokémon evolve on Pokéfind. There’s no single “evolve” command — the game watches for the right condition and triggers the evolution automatically. Most often, that condition is level up, but several Pokémon need something more specific.

For the items themselves (which stone evolves who, which item is held during which trade, where to get them), see Evolution Items.

1. Level up

The default. The Pokémon evolves the next time it gains a level past its evolution threshold.

• Examples: Charmander (16) → Charmeleon (36) → Charizard, Magikarp (20) → Gyarados, Patrat (20) → Watchog.

If a Pokémon should have evolved by now and hasn’t, check whether it’s holding an Everstone — that blocks every evolution path.

2. Level up at a specific time of day

Some Pokémon only evolve when they level up during the day or night in-game. The clock is the world’s daylight cycle, not real time.

• Day: Eevee (high friendship + day) → Espeon. Happiny + Oval Stone + day → Chansey.
• Night: Eevee (high friendship + night) → Umbreon. Sneasel + Razor Claw + night → Weavile. Gligar + Razor Fang + night → Gliscor.

3. Friendship / happiness

Several Pokémon evolve when they level up while their friendship is high. Friendship goes up from being in your party, gaining levels, using vitamins, and not fainting often.

• Pure friendship: Pichu → Pikachu. Cleffa → Clefairy. Igglybuff → Jigglypuff. Golbat → Crobat. Chansey → Blissey. Munchlax → Snorlax. Riolu → Lucario.
• Friendship + day: Eevee → Espeon.
• Friendship + night: Eevee → Umbreon.

4. Use an evolution stone

Apply the stone directly to a compatible Pokémon. See Evolution Items for the full Pokémon-per-stone table.

• Examples: Vulpix + Fire Stone → Ninetales. Pikachu + Thunder Stone → Raichu. Eevee + Water Stone → Vaporeon. Snorunt (female) + Dawn Stone → Froslass. Kirlia (male) + Dawn Stone → Gallade.

5. Trade

Hand the Pokémon off to another player. The evolution fires on the receive side. Pokéfind handles trade evolutions the standard way — they do require an actual trade.

• Trade alone: Kadabra → Alakazam. Machoke → Machamp. Graveler → Golem. Haunter → Gengar. Boldore → Gigalith. Gurdurr → Conkeldurr.

No trade partner? Use the Mystery Man. If you can’t find another player to trade with — or your save is on a challenge other than Evolution Outlaw, where /trade is disabled — the Mystery Man acts as a stand-in trade partner specifically for evolution. Bring the Pokémon (holding the right item if needed) and he’ll perform the trade-evolution. Works on every challenge except Evolution Outlaw, which blocks evolutions outright.

6. Trade while holding an item

Same as #5, except the Pokémon needs to be holding a specific item during the trade. See Evolution Items → Trade evolutions for the full list.

• Examples: Onix + Metal Coat → Steelix. Slowpoke + King’s Rock → Slowking. Porygon + Up-Grade → Porygon2. Porygon2 + Dubious Disc → Porygon-Z. Clamperl + Deep Sea Tooth → Huntail. Clamperl + Deep Sea Scale → Gorebyss. Feebas + Prism Scale → Milotic.

7. Hold an item + level up (no trade)

Equip the item to the Pokémon’s held-item slot, then level up. Often paired with a time-of-day check.

• Examples: Sneasel + Razor Claw + level up at night → Weavile. Gligar + Razor Fang + level up at night → Gliscor. Happiny + Oval Stone + level up during the day → Chansey.

8. Knowing a specific move

The Pokémon evolves the next time it levels up if it knows a particular move. Re-learn the move via the Move Tutor if needed (move tutors are in every region; see each region’s PokéWorld page).

• Examples: Bonsly knowing Mimic → Sudowoodo. Mime Jr. knowing Mimic → Mr. Mime. Aipom knowing Double Hit → Ambipom. Lickitung knowing Rollout → Lickilicky. Tangela knowing Ancient Power → Tangrowth. Yanma knowing Ancient Power → Yanmega. Piloswine knowing Ancient Power → Mamoswine.

9. Stat-based

A handful of Pokémon evolve into one of several forms based on which of their stats is higher when they level up.

• Tyrogue at Lv 20:
  • Attack > Defense → Hitmonlee
  • Defense > Attack → Hitmonchan
  • Attack = Defense → Hitmontop

10. Gender-based

Some species split into different evolutions by gender, sometimes paired with a stone.

• Combee (female only) → Vespiquen at Lv 21. Male Combee never evolves.
• Burmy → Wormadam (female) / Mothim (male) at Lv 20 (Wormadam form depends on cloak).
• Snorunt (female) + Dawn Stone → Froslass.
• Kirlia (male) + Dawn Stone → Gallade.

11. Location-based

A few Pokémon evolve when leveled up at a specific location. On Pokéfind these locations correspond to fixed in-world regions.

• Magneton at a magnetic / electric site → Magnezone.
• Nosepass at the same magnetic site → Probopass.
• Eevee near a Moss Rock → Leafeon. (Pokéfind only accepts the location method — Leaf Stone does not work on Eevee.)
• Eevee near an Ice Rock → Glaceon. (Pokéfind only accepts the location method — Ice Stone does not work on Eevee.)

If a region’s special evolution location isn’t obvious, ask in chat — most regions have a single signature spot per evolution type.

Things that block evolution

• Holding an Everstone. This is the most common reason a Pokémon “won’t evolve.” Pop the Everstone out of the held-item slot and try again.
• Cancel-evolution. When a Pokémon is about to evolve on level-up, the prompt usually accepts B / sneak to cancel — that single attempt is skipped. The next level-up will retry.
• Save Slot Challenge Mode: Evolution Outlaw. If your active save slot picked the Evolution Outlaw challenge, every evolution path is permanently disabled on that save. Stones, trades, level-ups — none of them will trigger. Challenges are permanent: they can’t be abandoned or completed away. The only way to remove an Evolution Outlaw save is to delete the save slot entirely and start fresh on a new one. Note that every challenge (not just Evolution Outlaw) disables trading for the save, which closes off trade-evolutions specifically — see Save Slot Challenges.

Quick reference