Since the very first generation of the series, a handful of Pokémon have required Trainers to trade them between one another in order to reach their fully-evolved states. This still holds true with Pokémon games today, and that includes Pokémon Legends: Arceus. However, while Pokémon Legends: Arceus does feature a normal online trading system, it’s a bit more of a solo adventure by design. In following that theme, the devs have added a way to bypass the trading requirements for some evolutions. In this guide, we’ll explain how to evolve trade Pokémon without trading in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Whether you don’t have any Switch friends who own the game or just don’t feel like bothering them when you’re playing at 3:00 AM, it’s not always possible to wrangle up someone to do a trade with you in a Pokémon game. For those times, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has introduced a new item known as the Linking Cord. Get it? It’s like the old Game Boy Link Cable? Well, anyway, the Linking Cord functions kind of like an evolutionary stone. If you use it on a Pokémon that would normally evolve via a trade, it’ll evolve on its own, easy peasy. It’s reusable too, so you only need to get one.
How to Evolve Trade Pokémon Without Trading in Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Here’s how to evolve trade Pokémon without trading them in Pokémon Legends: Arceus:
- Earn 1,000 Merit Points by returning lost items to NPCs
- Purchase the Linking Cord from the Merit Shop in Jubilife Village
- Use the Linking Cord from your inventory on any compatible Pokémon to evolve them
The Linking Cord can be purchased from the Merit Shop in Jubilife Village for 1,000 Merit Points. It’s the little stand with the yellow flag next to it. You can earn more Merit Points by locating Lost Satchels in the wild and returning them to the NPCs that lost them. Each recovered Satchel will earn you anywhere from 50-100 Merit Points. Once you’ve got the points, you can buy the Linking Cord from the shop, then simply use it from your inventory on any compatible Pokémon.
As a reminder, the following Pokémon in the Hisui Dex can be evolved either through trading or with the Linking Cord:
- Graveler into Golem
- Kadabra into Alakazam
- Haunter into Gengar
- Machoke into Machamp
- Magmar into Magmortar (while holding a Magmarizer)
- Electabuzz into Electivire (while holding an Electrizer)
