Eight generations give to invent many ways to evolve a Pokémon. These are the most cryptic and special ones up to Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield for Nintendo Switch.
Pokémon has already been eight generations, and apart from increasing the number of collectible monsters, it increased the ways to evolve a Pokémon. At first, there were the typical three. Level up, trade and use an evolutionary stone. But with the passage of time, more forms have been added. And it is that in each generation they have to invent a new way, either to take advantage of console functions or to encourage exploration. And they are not missing in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield for Nintendo Switch.
Here we list the ten most ridiculously complicated and rare ways to evolve a Pokémon. We will take into account how unintuitive the way to get these Pokémon is and we will only count them in order to complete all the entries in the Pokédex, not to have all the aspects or forms. Did you think that exchanging carrying an item, increasing your friendship, knowing an attack or fighting a certain time was cryptic? That is that you have not seen this Top 10.
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Having concrete statistics when reaching a certain level
This is a somewhat classic case, and one we already included in our list of the most difficult Pokémon to catch in Pokémon Go . But it remains cryptic if we want to have control over our Pokémon. Tyrogue can evolve into Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Hitmontop, and its attack stat can be higher than its defense, higher than its attack, or equal to its defense.
On paper it is not complicated but it gets complicated if we want to complete the Pokédex. We will have to get out the calculator, know about EVs and IVs and nature to be able to predict what stats Tyrogue will have at level 20.
Sounds easy but if we don't know about it or miscalculate we'll be in a long cycle of going to get a Tyrogue, checking its nature, buying augments and buffs and watching what it's up against to get a Hitmontop if we don't want to ask a friend for help. It would be less complicated and understandable if you evolve Hitmontop with a lot of speed. Pro no, you have to balance two statistics as much as possible.
Fighting in very specific places
We can evolve some Pokémon when they level up in certain places. There are four different types of location that can trigger evolutions: Mossy Rock, Icy Rock, and Mount Lanakila. If an Eevee fights on one of those two rocks, it can evolve into Leafeon and Glaceon. The magnetic field evolves Nosepass into Probopass and Mount Lanakila evolves Crabrawler into Crabominable when fighting in an icy place.
The intention is clearly that we explore and listen to the stories of the inhabitants and experts of the regions to learn... But this plays with the fact that if a specific place is needed, in each game it will change. Luckily for Leafeon and Glaceon it is only a rock and Crabrawler in future games is worth putting a snowy place like the second DLC of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.
But it does not mean that specifying exact places, however much they may be to give depth to the game, are a bit cryptic. Here we already begin to have ways to evolve Pokémon that you probably will not know if you do not buy game guides or consult on the internet. And we are only in position 9 ...
Being of a specific gender
These Pokémon require that you look at their gender before capturing them if you want to evolve them, like looking at newborn chicks in a hatchery. Combee and Salandit only evolve into Vespiqueen and Salazzel if they are female. To top it off, the spawn rate for that genus in these species is 12,5%, so you can spend hours looking for a Combee or a Salandit.
A similar case is the way to evolve Burmy. If it is male it evolves to Mothim, and if it is female to Wormadam. And this one has different coats that change type depending on which area she arrives in. She evolves at level 20. It's quite complicated at the metagame level but it doesn't ask to have all four to complete the Pokédex.
Lastly, curling the curl. A male Kirlia and a female Snorunt evolve into Gallade and Froslass respectively if an Alba Stone is used. At least there is no difference in the rate of appearance between genders and it is simply one more small step in order to give variety to the fauna of the games.
Having specific Pokémon in the team or the lack of them
If we want to evolve a Pokémon we will have to have another specific one. As we said with the Pokémon that we can evolve if they are of a certain gender or fight in a certain place: they give it depth and justify its fauna and world through mechanics but they also add a lot of steps or have to look for another specific Pokémon.
Mantyke evolves into Mantine if a Remoraid is on the team upon leveling up. Pancham evolves into Pangoro if, by leveling up from 32, one of his companions is a dark type. Nothing especially complicated until we get to how to get Shedinja.
This special Pokémon for having a lot of evasion but only one HP is achieved by wrapping a Nincada. Yes, just as it sounds. If when evolving a Nincada to Ninjask and we have both a free space in the team and a Pokéball of any type, Ninjask leaves its shell and it obtains its own consciousness in the form of Shedinja. Here, ways of evolving Pokémon begin to appear more typical of schoolyard hoaxes than those that follow traditional forms of evolution.
Turning the console upside down
It does not matter if you fight in an exact place, make your Pokémon have certain statistics, gender, object, exchange it ... Inkay will not evolve for many stones that you throw at it. Even if you get him to win the entire High Command and the Champion of the Pokémon league. Nothing.
The solution? Flip the console when you level up from level 30. The reason? Inkay grows upside down and begins to walk on what used to be his head. It's not that he's cryptic anymore, it's that he breaks the fourth wall to evolve a single Pokémon and when they tell you it seems like they laugh at you.
And it is that this form is completely counterintuitive and it seems that it would only come out by accident. It sounds like they wanted to test the Nintendo 3DS gyroscope feature when Pokémon Sun and Moon came out, and luckily the Nintendo Switch has it if they deign to bring Inkay in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
Landing three critical hits in a single fight
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield introduced Farfetch'd's specific evolution, so it's no longer just known as " that duck with a leek you can only get by trading with an NPC ." Now it's a Pokémon you can catch and evolve.
But it won't be easy because his method is very circumstantial. We have to get our Fartfetch'd to get three critical attacks in the same fight. If we are fighting against a wild Pokémon it will be difficult but against a trainer with several creatures, and using Energy Focus it is easier. It's still a huge departure from the norm, but at least it's not an essentially complicated process.
turning on yourself
Again: a very easy process, but cryptic if you don't know why. In Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield for Nintendo Switch , our character can spin around for several seconds.
This move is the way to evolve a Milcery to Alcremie if it has a candy equipped. Because? Because Milcery is a lot of cream and Alcremie is a lot of cream. Anyone who has seen a baking program will know that if we whip cream a lot and very fast, a cream is formed to the point of snow.
That is the justification. Fast? Completely. Justified? Also. But it does not mean that it strays from the usual to evolve. We understand that Game Freak wants to get away from trading, using an item or leveling up, but this starts to get very complicated if we don't look for information in guides or on the internet. We begin to think that they do it on purpose so that the children buy guides.
Fighting in the rain or in the fog
In the second generation they introduced weather effects to bring certain combos into battle. If it rains the Thunder attack never misses, and if it's sunny the Solar Beam attack doesn't have to charge up and can be spammed. They even made Castform a Pokémon that changes its type depending on the weather, so it can resist or be weak to certain attacks if we set a trap for it.
You can tell they wanted to use it to expand and justify the fauna of the game. But it is only with the way to evolve the Pokémon Sligoo. If you level up from 50 when it's rainy or foggy, we'll have a Goodra. It's not particularly cryptic but we depend on the areas of the world having the ideal climate, and it gets complicated since the Black and White installments of Nintendo DS follow a calendar.
It's a terrible combination of having to fight in a specific location, mixed with the honorable mention of " fighting at a specific time, " and further complicated by the calendar. And no, we can't use Rain Dance to force evolution. Its high ranking is due to the strict limitations on evolution starting in Generation V, and because it only works with a single Pokémon to achieve its final form.
Exchanging two very specific Pokémon yes
Even in the first generation, we knew that some forms could only be obtained by trading with other players. It's not a strange way to evolve them because we already knew from the early games that some Pokémon could only be evolved by trading, forcing us to play with other players.
How to make this way more complicated? Make two Pokémon only evolve if they are swapped with each other. Shelmet evolves into Accelgor and Karrablast evolves into Escavalier, but only if two players exchange a Shelmet and a Karrablast and neither of the two equipped Pokémon carry the Eternal Stone.
The justification is that during the trade, Karrablast steals Accelgor's helmet and then the two evolve. A really ingenious way to introduce a new way to evolve Pokémon. But if it is here it is, of course, because it is cryptic and very specific. Worthy of the biggest playground buzz.
Taking a lot of damage in one hit and going somewhere
Yamask normally evolves into Cofagrigus at level 34… But not in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield for Nintendo Switch, thanks to Yamask's Galarian form. Now we want to get Runerigrus, and this one is quite a challenge.
Galarian Yamask evolves into Runerigus when the player passes through the stone door in the Dusty Basin area after losing at least 49 HP from a single enemy attack, and has not fainted since. It's arguably the pinnacle of complexity and " thinking outside the box ," and more people may do it by accident than intentionally.
For what it implies having to suffer a lot of damage, they already make us train our Yamask so that it has a lot of life, not a lot of defense and perhaps equip it with an object that makes it survive a mortal blow. Then he's careful that he doesn't fall in combat. Of all the complicated ways to evolve a Pokémon, this one from Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield is the most complicated to date.
