First introduced in the mainline games with Pokémon X and Y, Mega Evolutions took place by using specific stones in battle. Introduced into Pokémon Go in August 2020, Mega Evolutions remain a temporary transformation, and requiring the use of a new item type - Mega Energy. The game underwent a significant Mega Evolution update in April 2022, which allowed you to evolve without Mega Energy after the first use - and more Mega Evolution bonuses by increasing your Mega Evolution levels. This page explains how to Mega Evolve a Pokémon in Pokémon Go, how to get Mega Energy and all available Mega Evolution Pokémon. On this page:
Pokémon Go Mega Evolutions update explained
In April 2022, Mega Evolutions underwent a significant update. Though the core concepts remained the same - that certain Pokémon could Mega Evolve once you have collected enough Mega Energy - you can now Mega Evolve for free after the first use and level up Mega Evolutions for additional bonuses. At the time of writing, the Mega Evolution update is only available in Australia and New Zealand, and will be rolled out globally in the coming days. The new changes include:
Once you have Mega Evolved a Pokémon once, it is free to evolve again in future, once a cooldown has ended. Mega Energy can be spent to Mega Evolve that Pokémon before the cooldown ends. The shorter the rest period, the less Mega Energy is required.
Each time you Mega Evolve a Pokémon, it will increase in Mega Level. This will introduce additional bonuses across several tiers - including increased Candy XL drop rate, an XP catch bonus and a reduced rest rate. (These are all detailed in the next section.) Mega Raids “will be easier”, according to Niantic. You can now Mega Evolve from the raid and battle prep screens.
In summary - the existing bonuses still remain, and though you still need to find Mega Energy to evolve a Pokémon in the first place, beyond that, the ability to evolve without needing more is a welcome one. The bonuses from higher levels are well worth working towards too - which we’ll discuss in the next section. You can read more about the changes, and Niantic’s thinking about them, in the April 2022 Dev Diary:
Mega Levels list and new Mega Evolution bonuses in Pokémon Go
Introduced in the April 2022 update, Mega Evolutions now have levels. To increase your Mega Level, you must Mega Evolve that Pokémon, and after a certain number of evolutions, you will reach the next level. Each level has a number of bonuses. The evolution requirement and bonuses are as follows: Note on the above - the Catch XP, Catch Candy and Candy XL bonuses only apply to Pokémon of the same type as the Mega Evolution. Though this initially seems restrictive, it is particularly useful for Community Day and Spotlight Hour events where you might want to maximise the amount of Candy or XP you’d like to earn from catching one particular Pokémon.
Which Mega Evolutions can be currently battled in Pokémon Go?
During the Season of Mythical Wishes, there will be one Mega Evolution appearing in Mega Raids at a time. Currently, the Mega Evolution available in Raids is Mega Steelix, appearing until Tuesday, 10th January. Once this evolution leaves Mega Raids, you’ll see the following Pokémon take its place:
A mystery Mega Evolution - Tuesday, 10th January to Wednesday, 18th January Mega Lopunny - Wednesday, 18th January to Wednesday, 25th January Mega Aerodactyl - Wednesday, 25th January to Wednesday, 1st February
Why is this important to know? While you can get Mega Energy for a number of Pokémon at any given time through quests, field research or walking as your buddy, raids continue to be the easiest and fastest source.
How to Mega Evolve in Pokémon Go
Mega Evolutions are an additional, more powerful evolution that certain Pokémon - such as the original Kanto starters - can undertake. To Mega Evolve a Pokémon in Pokémon Go, you need a resource named Mega Energy. Once a Pokémon has been Mega Evolved, it will stay in that form for a limited amount of time (which was increased to eight hours in October 2020) and can be used in a variety of battles. You will be able to see how much time your Mega Evolution has remaining on its CP screen. Once it has returned to its normal form, the Mega Energy you need to Mega Evolve it again later will be decreased. This amount was further decreased on Thursday, 3rd September as Niantic performed a number of adjustments to the Mega Evolution system. Other things you should know about Mega Evolutions:
You can only Mega Evolve one Pokémon at a time. If you Mega Evolve a second Pokémon, the other one will return back to normal. Shadow Pokémon cannot undergo a Mega Evolution. Clone Pokémon cannot undergo a Mega Evolution. Mega Evolutions will be listed in your Pokédex under the ‘Mega Pokédex’. So that’s another thing to collect! There will be two new Medals added to the game - one for collecting Unique Mega Evolutions, the other for total Mega Evolutions. (Thanks to martycochrane on reddit for revealing this.)
How to get Mega Energy in Pokémon Go
Mega Energy is specific to each individual Pokémon - similar to how Candy works in the game. So if you want to Mega Evolve a Bulbasaur into Mega Bulbasaur, you need Bulbasaur Mega Energy. Mega Energy is primarily found from completing Mega Raids, a type of Raid encounter featuring Mega Pokémon. The faster you win a Mega Raid, the more Mega Energy you receive. You can also earn Mega Energy through a number of other ways, including:
Where can you use Mega Evolutions in Pokémon Go?
While a Pokémon is in its temporary Mega Evolved form, you can use it in the following areas of the game:
Battling in Raids All other Pokémon in the Raid will receive an attack boost. A further boost is added that Pokémon shares the same type of attack. (These boosts don’t stack, so you can only benefit from one Mega Evolution at a time.)
Battling in Gyms Battle in Team Go Rocket encounters Battling against Friends Used as a Buddy
Meanwhile, Mega Evolutions cannot be used to:
Defend Gyms In the Go Battle League (though Niantic has teased this might change in future, perhaps for specific Leagues or Cups)
The Season of Mythical Wishes continues with the Winter Holiday event, which has brought Mega Glalie to Pokémon Go. Don’t forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season. Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres.
Mega Evolutions list: Which Mega Evolutions are available in Pokémon Go?
As with regular Pokémon, you can track how many Mega Evolutions you’ve encountered in your Mega Pokédex. Though the main games span 48 Mega Evolutions (including the two Charizard and Mewtwo each have access to each) on the feature’s debut in Pokémon Go, there are only four Mega Evolutions available. Pokémon Go Mega Evolution list All Mega Evolution in Pokémon explained Meanwhile, here are all the Mega Pokémon ever released in the mainline games in a single image, courtesy of a tier list (thanks to gerbetta33 on reddit for this). To clarify - these are not currently in Pokémon Go, and there’s no guarantee they will appear in the game. However, this list might be useful to learn what could be coming to the game one day: Good luck on your hunt for Mega Evolutions!
