How to Get Rockruff in Pokemon GO

Maybe it’s just because it’s too obvious, but I feel like there aren’t many Pokemon that are obviously inspired by domesticated dogs. There’s plenty of quadrupeds, of course, but as far as dogs go, the only ones that spring to mind are the Lilipup line, the Yamper line, and Furfrou. Though, with the recent beginning of the Season of Alola in Pokemon GO, we have at least one more puppy Pokemon to consider, Rockruff, though it might be more of a wolf based on its evolutions. Regardless, here’s how to get Rockruff in Pokemon GO.

Rockruff, along with its parallel evolved forms Midday Lycanroc and Midnight Lycanroc, were added to the Pokemon GO Pokedex at the beginning of this week with the simultaneous beginnings of the Season of Alola and Welcome to Alola event, both of which celebrate the arrival of Pokemon from the Alola region to Pokemon GO. The Welcome to Alola event is still running until Wednesday, March 9th, so there is still plenty of time to find all of the new Pokemon, Rockruff included, though getting Rockruff in particular may take a bit of extra doing.

How to Get Rockruff in Pokemon GO

Unlike most of the other Alola Pokemon that have been added to Pokemon GO, Rockruff is not spawning in the wild during the Welcome to Alola event. There are only two ways you can get a Rockruff at the moment: Raids and Eggs.

Rockruff is currently one of the Pokemon heading up One-Star Raids. However, it’s currently sharing that privilege with a handful of miscellaneous Pokemon, including Bellsprout, Snubbull, Phanpy, and Electrike, so you won’t actually know if you’re facing a Rockruff until the Raid begins and the Raid Egg hatches.

A more reliable method of obtaining a Rockruff is hatching 10km Eggs. Any Eggs you obtain through methods related to the Season of Alola are guaranteed to have an Alolan Pokemon in them. Again, though, this doesn’t guarantee you a Rockruff, since 10km eggs could also contain Yungoos, Pikipek, Rowlett, Litten, Popplio, or Jangmo-o, but hey, at least you’re getting something from Alola.

While we’re on the subject of Rockruff, you can evolve Rockruff into Lycanroc by giving it 50 Rockruff Candy. Lycanroc’s two forms, Midday and Midnight, are tied to your local time zone. If you give Rockruff the candy during the day, it will evolve into Midday Lycanroc, while if you give it the candy at night, it will evolve into Midnight Lycanroc. 

Finally, since I know some of you are wondering, yes, Rockruff does have the potential to be shiny, appearing in a pleasant blue coloration. For whatever reason, Niantic debuted its shiny variant alongside its regular variant, and since shiny spawns are boosted during events, now’s a good time to go looking for one. Evolving a shiny Rockruff will, naturally, also provide a shiny Lycanroc.