How to Evolve Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Evolution is often a goal in itself in Pokémon games. It makes your Pokémon bigger and stronger, gives them access to new move pools, and helps to further fill out the PokéDex. Unlike Ash, who still hasn’t evolved that Pikachu after all these years, you should never hesitate to evolve your Pokémon when the time comes. Here’s how to evolve Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Evolution, broadly speaking, works the same in Pokémon Legends: Arceus as it does in any of the mainline Pokémon games. When you use your Pokémon in battle, they’ll earn experience points, and when they earn enough experience, they level up. Upon reaching certain level thresholds, which can vary between particular Pokémon, evolution becomes possible. However, there is one change-up to the formula: as opposed to the mainline games where evolution just happens automatically after finishing a battle at the right level, you have to instigate evolution manually in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

How to Evolve Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus

To evolve Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus

1. Open your in-game menu
2. Check your bag and Pokémon list. If a Pokémon’s PokéBall icon is glowing, they can evolve
3. Select the Pokémon and press the X button to start an evolution

The process isn’t complicated, thankfully; if you open your in-game menu and switch to the far left tab, which shows your bag and your Pokémon roster, you may notice the little PokéBall icons next to your Pokémon’s portraits are glowing. This is the sign that your Pokémon are ready to evolve, so just scroll over to the Pokémon in question and press the X button to start up the evolution.

While most Pokémon only need to cross a level threshold to be eligible for evolution, some have different requirements, including particular items, known moves, gender, location and friendship stats. 

For items specifically, you can select an item from your pack like a Fire Stone and hold it over a Pokémon portrait to see if they’re compatible with it. For all other evolution methods, once the condition is fulfilled, evolution will be available regardless of the Pokémon’s level.