Pokemon Go Evolution Items and how to evolve with them

Pokemon Go evolution items let you access exsolutions you can't otherwise get. That means you need them if you want to complete your Pokedex or get some of the strongest Pokemon in the game. There are technically 10 evolution items in Pokemon Go, including lures that can access special Pokemon Go Eevee evolutions, meaning there's a range of things to find and work out how to use in Pokemon Go 

So this guide will come in handy, covering all the Pokemon Go evolution items and exactly what they do, so you know what to hunt for.

All Pokemon Go evolution items and evolutions

• Dragon Scale - Evolve Seadra into Kingdra 
• King’s Rock - Evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed, and Slowpoke into Slow King 
• Metal Coat - Evolve Scyther into Scizor and Onix into Steelix
• Sun Stone - Evolve Gloom into Bellossom, Sunkern into Sunflora, Cottonee into Whimsicott, Petilil into Lilligant, and Helioptile into Heliolisk.
• Up-Grade - Evolve Porygon into Porygon2 
• Sinnoh Stone - Access certain Sinnoh region evolutions
• Unova Stone - Access Unova region evolutions
• Magnetic Lure - Evolve Magneton into Magnezone and Nosepass into Probopass
• Glacial Lure - Evolve Eevee into Glaceon
• Mossy Lure - Evolve to Eevee into Leafeon

How to get evolution items in Pokemon Go

The easiest way to get evolution items in Pokemon Go is just to play. This will guarantee you an evolution item every seven days from your seven day Pokestop streak and increase your odds of finding Sinnoh Stones. Regular special items such as Up-Grades and King’s Rocks sometimes even drop from regular Poke Stops but making sure to spin a Poke Stop every day and working towards your streak will ensure you get at least one every week. It is impossible to predict what you’ll get though, so you might have to see a few Metal Coats before you find the Sun Stone you want. 

The Sinnoh Stone is trickier to find but not impossible. There are two main ways to find one: the first is to complete seven day research breakthrough tasks. This means earning one stamp each day until you earn a legendary Pokemon encounter. If you’re lucky, you’ll earn a Sinnoh Stone at the same time but it's not guaranteed. The second way is to take part in trainer battles via PvP. Sinnoh Stones have been known to drop for both winners and losers.

What do evolution items do in Pokemon Go? 

Evolution items were introduced with the Gen 2 update all the way back in 2017 and mean a whole stack of new ‘mon via evolution if you hoard your candy just right. Each one can be used to evolve one of your existing Pokemon into a new evolution. These can be restricted to one or two specific Pokemon, or even region based. Coming up below are each of the ways you can use the various evolution items available. 

How to use the Dragon Scale in Pokemon Go 

The good news is that you can only use your Dragon Scale on one specific Pokemon but you’re going to want to take a trip to the seaside or your nearest river. Combo up the Dragon Scale with 100 Horsea candies to evolve Seadra into Kingdra.

• Seadra evolves into Kingdra with Dragon Scale and 100 Horsea candy

How to use the King’s Rock in Pokemon Go

Kings’ Rock can not only evolve Poliwhirl into the froglike Politoed, it also turns Slowpoke into Slow King. As ever you’re going to need candies for both Pokemon.

• Poliwhirl evolves into Politoed with King’s Rock and 100 Poliwag candy
• Slowpoke evolves into Slow King with King’s Rock and 50 Slowpoke candy

How to use the Metal Coat in Pokemon Go

The Metal Coat can be used on two different Pokemon too, and as you'd expect, they both turn into Steel types. If you evolve Scyther, you can obtain the snappy Scizor, while Onix the rock snake will turn into Steelix.

• Scyther evolves into Scizor with a Metal Coat and 50 Scyther candy
• Onix evolves into Steelix with a Metal Coat and 50 Onix candy

How to use the Sun Stone in Pokemon Go  

The Sun Stone let you evolve a range of plant like Pokemon into higher forms as long as you have the Stone itself and the candy. 

• Gloom evolves into Bellossom with a Sun Stone and 100 Oddish candy 
• Sunkern evolves into Sunflora with a Sun Stone and 50 Sunkern candy
• Cottonee evolve into Whimsicott with a Sun Stone and 50 Cottonee candy 
• Petilil into Lilligant with a Sun Stone and 50 Petilil candy 
• Helioptile into Heliolisk with a Sun Stone and 50 Helioptilecandy  

How to use the Up-Grade in Pokemon Go  

Another one shot special item. Pokemon Go’s Up-Grade is only used to evolve the oddly cute Porygon into Porygon2, provided you’ve got enough candy. 

• Porygon evolves into Porygon2 with Up-Grade and 50 Porygon candy 

How to use the Sinnoh Stone in Pokemon Go

Sinnoh Stones are much more convoluted than the other special items, so we've got a dedicated Pokemon Go Sinnoh Stones guide that goes into detail on the ways to obtain Sinnoh Stones, and all of the Sinnoh Stone evolutions. However, the basica list is this: 

• Sneasel evolves into Weavile with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Sneasel candy 
• Electabuzz evolves into Electivire with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Electabuzz candy 
• Roselia evolves into Roserade with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Roselia candy 
• Rhydon evolves into Rhyperior with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Rhydon candy 
• Murkrow evolves into Honchkrow with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Murkrow candy 
• Porygon2 evolves into Porygon-Z with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Porygon2 candy 
• Togetic evolves into Togekiss with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Togetic candy 
• Magmar evolves into Magmortar with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Magmar candy 
• Misdreavus evolves into Mismagius with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Misdreavus candy 
• Gligar evolves into Gliscor with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Gligar candy 
• Dusclops evolves into Dusknoir with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Dusclops candy 
• Swinub evolves into Mamoswine with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Swinub candy 
• Aipom evolves into Ambipom with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Aipom candy 
• Yanma evolves into Yanmega with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Yanma candy 
• Tangela evoles into Tangrowth with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Tangela candy 
• Lickitung evolves into Lickilicky with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Lickitung candy 
• Kirlia evolves into Gallade with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Kirlia candy 
• Snorunt evolves into Froslass with a Sinnoh Stone and 100 Snorunt candy 

How to use the Unova Stone in Pokemon Go

Much like the Sinnoh Stone in Gen 4, the Unova Stone is an evolution item exclusive to Gen 5 Pokemon. We've got a dedicated Pokemon Go Unova Stones guide for them that you should check out, which includes all the details. but for here's all the Pokemon you can evolve with Unova Stones:

• Pansage evolves into Simisage with an Unova Stone and 100 candy
• Panpour evolves into Simipour with an Unova Stone and 100 candy
• Pansear evolves into Simisear with an Unova Stone and 100 candy
• Lampent evolves into Chandelure with an Unova Stone and 100 candy
• Minccino evolves into Cinccino with an Unova Stone and 100 candy
• Eelektrik evolves into Eelektross with an Unova Stone and 100 candy
• Munna evolves into Musharna with an Unova Stone and 50 candy

How to use the Magnetic, galcial and Mossy Lures in Pokemon Go

The Magnetic Lure is one of three new types of lure in the game (check out our guide on how to get Leafeon & Glaceon in Pokemon Go for the other two) and it works much like a normal lure, with some slight modifications. For 30 minutes, extra Pokemon will be attracted to the lure, but while a normal lure can attract any type of Pokemon, a Magnetic Lure will only attract electric, steel, and rock type pocket monsters.

It's also an evolution item! If you're within the vicinity of a Poke Stop with a Magnetic Lure applied, you can evolve Magneton and Nosepass into Magnezone and Probopass respectively - provided you have enough candy, of course. If you don't want to fork out 200 coins for one yourself, you could also wait until the next Pokemon Go Community Day and find someone else who's used one!

• Magneton evolves into Magnezone with a Magnetic Lure and 100 candy
• Nosepass evolves into Probopass with a Magnetic Lure and 50 candy
• Eevee evolves into Glaceon with a Glacial Lure and 25 candy
• Eevee evolves into Leafeon with a Mossy Lure and 25 candy