Pokémon Quest Evolution Tips: How To Evolve Your Pokémon

It has been less than a day since the free-to-start RPG was released as a surprise on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch, but many are now wondering how evolution works in Pokémon Quest and how to evolve specific Pokémon.

That becomes a far more pressing concern when the game recommends an ever greater team strength number for the expeditions that your pocket monsters can set out on. It’s a challenge and, while in the mainline games we would be running around in tall grass defeating the Pokémon we bump into or having a rematch against the Elite Four for more experience points, in Pokémon Quest it’s not quite as straightforward.

On a basic level, evolving your Pokémon in Pokémon Quest still works in the same way. From what we have found so far, the Pokémon will evolve at the same levels as they would in the mainline games – it’s just reaching those levels that soon becomes the greatest challenge that you must constantly grind for.

For example, levelling up Squirtle will see the Tiny Turtle Pokémon evolve into Wartortle at Level 16 and then into Blastoise at Level 36. No surprises there. But, even after spending a few hours with Pokémon Quest you will soon realise how much time it will actually take to reach those levels…

We have now detailed how to evolve Eevee in Pokémon Quest, but for any Pokémon that normally evolve after trading you simply need to level them up – which means more grinding.

While catching new Pokémon relies on using ingredients cooking recipes and fancier cooking pots will reward you with the chance to catch Pokémon at a higher level, you will need to repeatedly send them out on expeditions to level them up. This is important to steadily increase their Attack and Hit Points, which is something that evolution similarly helps to boost.

You can choose to train your Pokémon if you want to save some time, but in the Level Up option in Training (accessed on the Edit Team menu), you will need to say goodbye to a supporting Pokémon that you choose once it is over. That’s a problem early on when you only have a handful of pocket monsters and aren’t likely to have duplicates that you are willing to sacrifice.

The amount of experience that the Pokémon will gain will depend on the supporting Pokémon, too. You can choose as many as four to wave goodbye to at once, but the game isn’t generous with the levels that your Pokémon will gain. If we chose a Level 25, 22 and 19 Pokémon, a Level 10 Pokémon would only be boosted up to Level 15. That’s not great. But, know that you at least get more experience if you use higher level Pokémon, evolved Pokémon and those of the same species – something that we haven’t been able to test yet.

Pokémon Quest clearly wants you to rely on Power Stones and Move Stones to strengthen your team, with your Pokémon’s evolutions coming naturally in time. That doesn’t help particularly, but know that there are no easy shortcuts to take at this point and good luck with the grinding.