Evolution methods

Most Pokémon evolve the way they do in the main games: by level, by friendship or with an evolution stone. PBO changes a few things to fit an online game, most importantly how time of day works and how trade evolutions are done.

Pokédex evolution section for Dunsparce showing the Hyper Drill condition for Dudunsparce — The Pokédex spells out PBO-specific methods, such as Hyper Drill for Dunsparce.

Checking how a Pokémon evolves

Pokédex: open the in-game Pokédex on the Pokémon before it evolves. Its evolution section lists every evolution and its condition, including the PBO-specific ones below.
Chat command: type /evolutions Pokémon in chat (for example /evolutions Eevee) to get each method with its exact level, time of day and weather conditions.

When a Pokémon can evolve, the game asks you first, and you can cancel. A Pokémon holding an Everstone never evolves. The crafted Everstone Exp Share only stops evolution by levelling up.

Day and night

PBO has two day and two night periods every 24 hours, on server time (UTC):

Time (UTC)	Period
00:00–05:59	Night
06:00–11:59	Day
12:00–17:59	Night
18:00–23:59	Day

The same periods decide which wild Pokémon appear by day or night. These evolutions depend on the period when you level up or use the item:

Pokémon	Evolves into	How	When
Amaura	Aurorus	Level 39+	Night
Budew	Roselia	Level up with high friendship	Day
Chingling	Chimecho	Level up with high friendship	Night
Cosmoem	Solgaleo	Level 53+	Day
Cosmoem	Lunala	Level 53+	Night
Cubone	Marowak	Level 28+	Day
Cubone	Alolan Marowak	Level 28+	Night
Eevee	Espeon	Level up with high friendship	Day
Eevee	Umbreon	Level up with high friendship	Night
Exeggcute	Alolan Exeggutor	Use Leaf Stone	Day
Exeggcute	Exeggutor	Use Leaf Stone	Night
Fomantis	Lurantis	Level 34+	Day
Goomy	Sliggoo	Level 40+	Day
Goomy	Hisuian Sliggoo	Level 40+	Night
Greavard	Houndstone	Level 30+	Night
Happiny	Chansey	Use Oval Stone	Day
Hoopa	Hoopa-Unbound	Use Prison Bottle	Night (Halloween event only)
Koffing	Weezing	Level 35+	Day
Koffing	Galarian Weezing	Level 35+	Night
Galarian Linoone	Obstagoon	Level 20+	Night
Pancham	Pangoro	Level 32+	Night
Pikachu	Raichu	Use Thunder Stone	Day
Pikachu	Alolan Raichu	Use Thunder Stone	Night
Alolan Rattata	Alolan Raticate	Level 20+	Night
Riolu	Lucario	Level up with high friendship	Day
Hisuian Sneasel	Sneasler	Use Razor Claw	Day
Snom	Frosmoth	Level up with high friendship	Night
Tyrunt	Tyrantrum	Level 39+	Day
Ursaring	Ursaluna	Use Peat Block	Night
Wurmple	Silcoon	Level 7+	Day
Wurmple	Cascoon	Level 7+	Night

Rockruff

Rockruff evolves at level 25, and its form depends on the hour (UTC):

Form	Hours (UTC)
Lycanroc-Dusk (Dusk Form)	12:00–12:59 and 00:00–00:59
Lycanroc-Midnight (Midnight Form)	13:00–17:59 and 01:00–05:59
Lycanroc-Midday (Midday Form)	18:00–23:59 and 06:00–11:59

Friendship

Some Pokémon evolve by friendship, such as Golbat, Chansey, Riolu and Eevee (into Espeon, Umbreon or Sylveon). In PBO they need maximum friendship, 255. They then evolve the next time they level up, as long as any time of day or move condition is met too.

The game calls friendship “happiness”: the Pokédex lists the condition as “at max happiness levels”. The Pokémon’s card shows it as the heart bar under its picture, out of 255. A Pokémon you catch starts at 70.

What happens	Effect on friendship
Walking	Every 128 steps, the first Pokémon in your party gains some.
Levelling up in battle	The Pokémon gains some each time battle experience levels it up. Levels from a Rare Candy don’t count.
Holding a Soothe Bell	The holder gains twice as much from walking and levelling up.
Holding a Soothe Share	The holder gains some after every wild battle, even if it didn’t take part.
Fainting in a wild battle	The Pokémon loses some, and more if the wild Pokémon was 30 or more levels higher.

Items you use don’t change friendship in PBO. Those whose descriptions promise it, such as the Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa and Tamato Berries, their Super versions and the Luxury Ball, have no effect on it. The Super berries still move EVs; see changing EVs.

Soothe Bell: one lies on the ground in Pokémon Tower 4F (Kanto items on the ground), and Giddy on Route 130 (Hoenn) sells it on the 12th of each month (monthly traders). In Sinnoh, Cheryl gives you one after you escort her through Eterna Forest (Sinnoh walkthrough).
Soothe Share: crafted at Crafting level 12 from its blueprint, a Soothe Bell and 10 Heart Scales. The blueprint costs 500 Daycare Tokens at the Daycare Token Shop.

Evolution items and trade evolutions

Every evolution item is used from your Bag, like a stone. That includes items the main games make you hold, such as Razor Claw and Razor Fang.

Trade evolutions do not need a trade partner.

Trade evolutions without an item

Use a Link Stone from your Bag. Every Poké Mart sells them for 1,000 F. They evolve Kadabra, Machoke, Graveler and Alolan Graveler, Haunter, Boldore, Gurdurr, Pumpkaboo and Phantump.

Trade evolutions with a held item

Use that item from your Bag. For example:

Pokémon	Item
Onix, Scyther	Metal Coat
Seadra	Dragon Scale
Porygon	Up-Grade
Electabuzz	Electirizer
Feebas	Prism Scale

Trading with another player also works, but trades have a level cap; see Things to know.

Where to get evolution items

Item	Where to get it
Fire Stone, Water Stone, Thunder Stone, Leaf Stone, Moon Stone, Sun Stone, Shiny Stone, Dusk Stone, Dawn Stone, Ice Stone	15 Blaze Coins each at the Blaze Coin Shop, or 75 Battle Tokens each at the Battle Tokens Shop. Every stone except the Ice Stone also drops from wild Pokémon.
Link Stone	Every Poké Mart, 1,000 F
Up-Grade, Dubious Disc	100 Battle Tokens each at the Battle Tokens Shop
Metal Coat, King's Rock, Dragon Scale, Protector, Electirizer, Magmarizer, Reaper Cloth, Prism Scale, DeepSeaTooth, DeepSeaScale, Oval Stone, Razor Claw, Razor Fang	Dropped by wild Pokémon
Evolution Stone Chest	Opens into one of these at random: Moon, Shiny, Dawn or Dusk Stone, Metal Coat, Razor Claw or Razor Fang. It can be a reward from Dynamax Invasions, some Game Pass levels and the ranked ladder.

Wild drops shows which Pokémon drop each item and where they live. A few more sources:

On the ground in Kanto: several stones, an Electirizer and a Link Stone; see Kanto items on the ground.
Monthly item traders: a Dragon Scale, a Leaf Stone and a Dusk Stone, each on its trader’s day; see monthly traders.
Fishing: fishing level 20 rewards a Prism Scale; see fishing level rewards.
Dynamax Invasions: the two lowest reward tiers can give a Magmarizer or an Electirizer; see Dynamax Invasions.

Items for the PBO-specific evolutions are listed under PBO-specific methods, and event items under event-only evolutions.

Weather

A few Pokémon only evolve while their map has the right weather. Move-made weather in battle (Rain Dance, Drizzle and so on) does not count; the map itself must have it.

Pokémon	Evolves into	How	When
Sliggoo	Goodra	Level 50+	Rain
Nosepass	Probopass	Level up	Magnetism
Galarian Yamask	Runerigus	Level up	Sandstorm
Crabrawler	Crabominable	Level up	Snow
Hisuian Sliggoo	Hisuian Goodra	Level 50+	Rain

These maps always have weather:

Weather	Maps
Magnetism	Sinnoh: Mt. Coronet 1F 2, Mt. Coronet 1F1, Mt. Coronet 2F, Mt. Coronet 2F: North, Mt. Coronet 2F: West, Mt. Coronet 3F, Mt. Coronet 4F1, Mt. Coronet 4F3, Mt. Coronet 5F, Mt. Coronet 6F, Mt. Coronet Upper 1F 2, Mt. Coronet Upper 1F1, Mt. Coronet Upper B1F. Jvaloh: Old Power Plant, Old Power Plant - Generator Room, Old Power Plant - Restricted Area, Old Power Plant - Room 1, Old Power Plant - Room 2, Old Power Plant - Room 3, Old Power Plant - Stairs 1F, Old Power Plant - Stairs B1F
Rain	Sinnoh: Route 212 (North), Route 212 (South). Jvaloh: Drenched Forest, Oozy Forest, Oozy Forest (Faunas), Oozy Forest Northern Pass, Route 7-B, Route 7-C, Route 8-A, Route 8-B, Sprinkle Town. Hoenn: Route 120, Tidal Sanctum
Snow	Sinnoh: Acuity Lakefront, Route 216, Route 217, Snowpoint City. Jvaloh: Barfi Pass, Barfi Town
Sandstorm	Sinnoh: Route 227. Jvaloh: Lansoil City, Regis Town, Route 6, Route 6 Highway Pass, Scorched Desert. Hoenn: Route 111 (Desert), Route 111 (Desert) Mining Site, Route 111 (Desert) Mining Site Pass

**Mt. Coronet 1F1**This map always has magnetism.Wild Pokémon here

**Route 120**It always rains here.Wild Pokémon here

**Route 216**It always snows here.Wild Pokémon here

**Route 111 (Desert)**A sandstorm always blows here.Wild Pokémon here

On any other map, a rain evolution works whenever it is raining on the map you are on.

PBO-specific methods

Pokémon	Evolves into	How
Primeape	Annihilape	Use Rage Fist 3 times in one battle and defeat a Pokémon with Primeape.
Stantler	Wyrdeer	Use Psyshield Bash 3 times in one battle and defeat a Pokémon with Stantler.
Galarian Farfetch'd	Sirfetch'd	Land 3 critical hits in a single battle.
Dunsparce	Dudunsparce	Learn Hyper Drill, then level up. Usually the Two-Segment Form; the Three-Segment Form is rare.
Dipplin	Hydrapple	Learn Dragon Cheer, then level up.
Hisuian Qwilfish	Overqwil	Learn Barb Barrage, then level up.
Clobbopus	Grapploct	Learn Taunt, then level up.
Poipole	Naganadel	Learn Dragon Pulse, then level up.
Tyrogue	Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan or Hitmontop	Level up at level 20 or higher: Hitmonlee if Attack is higher than Defense, Hitmonchan if Defense is higher, Hitmontop if they are equal. You can also choose by using a Power Bracer (Hitmonlee), Power Belt (Hitmonchan) or Power Weight (Hitmontop) from the Bag.
Toxel	Toxtricity	Level up at level 30 or higher. Its nature decides Amped or Low Key Form.
Mime Jr.	Mr. Mime or Galarian Mr. Mime	Level up at level 32 or higher. In Jvaloh it becomes Galarian Mr. Mime, anywhere else Mr. Mime.
Bisharp	Kingambit	Use a Leader's Crest. You earn it by winning the battle in the Leader’s Den (Hoenn), at the end of a Hoenn side quest.
Gimmighoul (both forms)	Gholdengo	Use a Gold Amulet: 300 Daycare Tokens at the Daycare Token Shop.
Kubfu	Urshifu	Use a Scroll of Darkness (Single Strike Style) or Scroll of Waters (Rapid Strike Style): 600 Daycare Tokens each at the Daycare Token Shop.
Charcadet	Armarouge or Ceruledge	Use an Auspicious Armor or a Malicious Armor. Both drop from wild Pokémon on Mt. Pyre (Summit) in Hoenn and in the Pokémon Tower in Kanto, and come from mining. You can also take the Poke Doll from Father Link in Verdanturf House #3 to Xueying on Mt. Pyre 2F (Hoenn): she gives you one of the two armors at random. See Hoenn small quests.
Duraludon	Archaludon	Use a Metal Alloy. One lies on the ground in Fennel Valley (Kanto); others come from the daily Registeel battle and wild Pokémon in Cerulean Cave B1F.
Galarian Slowpoke	Galarian Slowbro or Galarian Slowking	Use a Galarica Cuff or Galarica Wreath. Treasure Hunter Finn sells both for Abyssal Pearls in the Treasure Hunter House (Hoenn); they also drop in Hoenn Victory Road (2F) and come from mining.

For Annihilape, battle a Pokémon that survives a few hits: use Rage Fist 3 times, then finish it with Primeape.

Places to collect the evolution items:

**Leader's Den**Win here for the Leader's Crest.

**Mt. Pyre (Summit)**Wild Pokémon drop both armors.Wild Pokémon here

**Fennel Valley**A Metal Alloy lies on the ground.

**Treasure Hunter House**Treasure Hunter Finn sells the Galarica items.

Event-only evolutions

Some evolutions only work while a seasonal event is running, usually on the event’s own maps. Watch the in-game event announcements for these:

Petilil to Hisuian Lilligant, Dewott to Hisuian Samurott and Dartrix to Hisuian Decidueye: level 36 or higher on the Summer event maps during the Summer event.
Shaymin to Sky Forme: level up while holding a Gracidea on Floaroma Meadow during the Easter event.
Hoopa to Hoopa Unbound: with a Prison Bottle, during the Halloween event.
The evolution items for Applin (Tart, Sweet and Syrupy Apple), Sinistea and Poltchageist (pots and teacups) and Ursaring (Peat Block) are sold in the event shops.

MiningArmors, Galarica items and other evolution items.

DaycareThe Daycare Token Shop sells the Gold Amulet and both Scrolls.

Hoenn side questsIncluding the quest that ends in the Leader's Den.

Things to knowThe level cap on trades between players.