In past Pokemon games, it was possible to get a Pokemon into a position where they couldn’t evolve. It was a somewhat complicated process, as players would have to prevent their Pokemon from evolving early on and then level them until they hit the cap. Since Pokemon evolutions could only be triggered upon leveling, and Pokemon couldn’t level beyond the cap, those Pokemon were stuck in their unevolved form forever.
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With Pokemon Sword and Shield, Game Freak recognized that while this situation may affect only a minority of a minority of players, it was still an issue. As such, Game Freak took the opportunity to add a solution in Pokemon Sword and Shield. While Pokemon still won’t be able to level at the cap, which is level 100, there’s a way to fake a level which will now trigger an opportunity to evolve. To do this, players just need to feed their Pokemon a Rare Candy.
This way, Pokemon Sword and Shield players can experiment with not evolving their Pokemon while still having the opportunity to evolve them later - even if they’re leveled all the way to 100. It’s a small change that virtually all Pokemon players will never actually take advantage of, but it’s nice to know it’s there just in case the circumstance ever comes up. Encouraging players to experiment by removing unnecessary punishments is always optimal.
Pokemon Sword and Shield players may, now being aware of the way Rare Candies can help give a final chance at evolution, be pointing out how rare Rare Candies can be. Luckily Game Freak thought of that as well and put in a way for players to earn Rare Candies in a decently reliable way. To earn Rare Candies in Pokemon Sword and Shield’s endgame, players just need to do Max Raid Battles. Rare Candies are a rare reward from the raids, which makes them acquirable but not easy to find.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
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