Heading outside to collect your favorite items in Pokémon Go used to be a great way to get some exercise and fresh air, but new social distancing guidelines make it more difficult for a lot of people to play their favorite augmented reality game.
While you might not be able to play and explore in the same ways as before, the process for obtaining and collecting special items in Pokémon Go remains relatively unchanged.
So, what are special items in Pokémon Go? They are items that trainers can use to evolve their Pokémon. Special items are much rarer and harder to find than your typical Potion or Ultra Ball.
While the first-generation games have Pokémon that can evolve from stones like Eevee, that initially wasn’t the case in Pokémon Go as special items weren’t introduced until the release of generation 2. Since then, Niantic has continued to add even more special items for players to hunt down, with the newest being added as recently as September 2019.
List of all special items in Pokémon Go
Here is the full list of all currently available special items:
- Items
- Dragon Scale: Evolves Seadra into Kingdra
- King’s Rock: Evolves Poliwhirl into Politoed and Slowpoke into Slowking
- Metal Coat: Evolves Onix into Steelix and Scyther into Scizor
- Sun Stone: Evolves Gloom into Bellossom and Sunkern into Sunflora
- Up Grade: Evolves Porygon into Porygon 2
- Stones
- Sinnoh Stone: Evolves Gen 1 and 2 Pokémon into their Gen 4 evolutions with 100 candy. See the table below for all the Pokémon that presently evolve with the Sinnoh Stone
- Unova Stone: Evolves Gen 5 Pokémon that would otherwise evolve through a stone unavailable in Pokémon GO (like a Thunder Stone)
- Lures
- Magnetic Lure: Used in place of a regular Poke Stop lure. Allows Pokemon like Magneton and Nosepass to evolve into Magnezone and Probopass when within range
- Mossy Lure: Used in place of a regular Poke Stop lure. Allows Eevee to evolve into Leafeon when within range
- Glacial Lure: Used in place of a regular Poke Stop lure. Allows Eevee to evolve into Glaceon when within range
| Pokémon | Candy |
Item | Evolution | ||
| Aipom |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Ambipom |  |
| Dusclops |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Dusknoir |  |
| Electabuzz |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Electivire |  |
| Gligar |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Gliscor |  |
| Kirlia (m) |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Gallade |  |
| Lickitung |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Lickilicky |  |
| Magmar |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Magmortar |  |
| Misdreavus |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Mismagius |  |
| Murkrow |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Honchkrow |  |
| Piloswine |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Mamoswine |  |
| Porygon2 |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Porygon-Z |  |
| Rhydon |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Rhyperior |  |
| Roselia |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Roserade |  |
| Sneasel |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Weavile |  |
| Snorunt (f) |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Froslass |  |
| Tangela |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Tangrowth |  |
| Togetic |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Togekiss |  |
| Yanma |  |
100 | Sinnoh Stone | Yanmega |  |
| Lampent |  |
100 | Unova Stone | Chandelure |  |
| Eelektrik |  |
100 | Unova Stone | Eelektross |  |
| Minccino |  |
50 | Unova Stone | Cinccino |  |
| Munna |  |
50 | Unova Stone | Musharna |  |
| Pansear |  |
50 | Unova Stone | Simisear |  |
| Pansage |  |
50 | Unova Stone | Simisage |  |
| Panpour |  |
50 | Unova Stone | Simipour |  |
| Eevee |  |
50 | Mossy Lure | Leafeon |  |
| Eevee | |
50 | Glacial Lure | Glaceon |  |
| Magneton |  |
100 | Magnetic Lure | Magnezone |  |
| Nosepass |  |
50 | Magnetic Lure | Probopass |  |
How to get special items in Pokémon Go
There are a few different ways that you can get special items like King’s Rock, Metal Coat, Dragon Scale, Up-Grade, Sun Stone, Unova Stone, and Sinnoh Stone in Pokémon Go. It’s important to note that they are all obtained the same way, so until Niantic changes this, there are no special methods for acquiring specific evolutionary items. Here are the best options for getting these super rare items.
1. PokeStops
The original method of gaining special items like Metal Coat and Dragon Scales. Any PokeStop has a chance of dropping a Gen 2 evolution item when spun, but chances are incredibly slim. Extra methods added over time have made this a little less of a headache, but if you absolutely need Gen 2 evolution items, heading into a dense PokeStop area like a town or city will help speed things up.
2. Gifts
Another way to get special items in Pokémon Go is through gifts. Gifts are items that players can send to and receive from friends, as well as through Poke Stops. Gifts are like a free Poke Stop, offering rewards like special items. If you have one of these, be sure to send them to your friends and maybe you’ll get one in return.
3. 7-Day PokeStop Spin rewards
Another way that you can get special items is through weekly rewards. For example, if you spin at least one Poke Stop a day for seven days straight, you will receive a weekly reward. What’s the reward? Well, it’s a guaranteed special evolution item. This is by far one of the easiest methods but it does require patience and you can only get one per week.
4. Field Research
Every once in a while a new Field Research task might contain a special item. These could be ‘Battle X number of Gyms’ or ‘Walk 10 kilometers.’ Field Research rewards are always the same for each individual mission objective, so it’s worth checking out a compendium online to see which (if any) yo should be looking out for.
5. Trainer battles
Trainer battles are one of the best ways to get special items in Pokémon Go. Recently introduced, you can now battle against your friends and NPC team leaders. You can receive rewards from these battles up to three times per day for real players and one time per day for NPCs.
On Community Day, you can usually earn a good amount of Sinnoh Stones through battling with other trainers, so be sure to check the events page to see when the next one takes place. If a community day features a Pokemon that requires a special item to evolve, expect a way to get a few freebies during the allotted hours.
6. Research Breakthroughs
Currently, the only way to get the new Unova Stone item is through what is known as a Research Breakthrough. These are the seven stamp slots at the top of the research tab.
You earn one of these per day when turning in a Field Research task. Once you turn in your seventh (not necessarily in a row), the Research Breakthrough box can be opened, giving you a chance at a Unova Stone, Sinnoh Stone, or some non-evolution items like Rare Candy and Pokeballs.
7. Microtransactions
While largely unheard of before the reveal of the Regiggigas ticketed event, it’s now possible to get a few rare evolution items like Unova and Sinnoh Stones by opening your wallet at the right time.
Unlike during a ticketed event, the in-game shop is always ready and able to provide the Mossy, Glacial, and Magnetic Lures needed to evolve certain Pokemon into their Gen 4 forms.
Editors' Recommendations
- The best Pokémon Go tips and tricks
- Rumored Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remake titles may have already been leaked
- Pokémon Sword and Shield’s The Isle of Armor DLC review: Summer vacation
- How to unlock every new feature in Pokemon’s Isle of Armor DLC
- The best Pokémon games, ranked from best to worst
