Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX: Evolution and Mega Evolution Guide for Rescue Team DX
A key trait of Pokemon is their ability to evolve after enough battles, changing their strength, size and characteristics. It’s mentioned early on in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX that evolving isn’t working like it usually does. So can you even evolve in this adventure?
As you’ll eventually find out, yes you can evolve. Following the events of the main story, you’ll be told about a cave appearing near the lake. The game will make sure to draw your attention to this event so you don’t miss it, but it’s important to remember you’ll have to beat the main story first - what you see early on is only a hint at the fact this cave holds power - and is the key to learning how to evolve in Rescue Team DX.
Evolution will of course make Pokemon more powerful, and between this and feeding them Gummis, you'll be powerful enough to take down Mystery Dungeon DX's Strong Foes in no time.
If you want a leg up early on in the game, check out our full list of Wonder Mail Codes - which will give you a bunch of super-useful free items and even help you to unlock new Pokemon. If you need an Invitation to get into the locked room in dungeons, we can help with that too.
How to Evolve in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX at the Luminous Cave
Once you’ve beaten Sky Tower, you can get to work evolving your Pokemon. Enter the luminous cave and you’ll be asked which Pokemon you want to evolve. Pokemon only evolve inside the Luminous Cave; other than that, no Pokemon evolves anywhere else in this game or under any other circumstances.
Each Pokemon has a different and unique requirement for evolving. These methods can include the following:
- Almost all of the starter choices just need to reach a certain level. For example I was able to fully evolve my Squirtle into a Blastoise at level 36, which only took one or two Dojo runs to get to.
- In past games there were methods like the IQ or specific items, often based on how Pokemon evolved in the original games they come from - but in Mystery Dungeon DX, these requirements have been streamlined, making Evolution an overall simpler affair. The main mechanic now is Evolution Crystals - any Pokemon that previously evolved in a more complicated way requires these Crystals instead.
SoThe main additional evolution criteria that you might have to fulfill in order to evolve your Pokemon is to have Evolution Crystals. Rather than the type stones that were found in the original games, you'll simply need to collect the one item for certain Pokemon to evolve. These pink crystals appear as rare items that can be found in the post-game of Mystery Dungeon DX and are typically found in the longer dungeons. They can also drop as a reward for completing certain rescues. They’re quite rare though, so make sure to use them sparingly, and carefully pick which Pokemon you'll prefer to evolve.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you choose to evolve you’ll end up losing your rescue team scarf. It doesn’t change anything in the story, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re particularly nostalgic for the look.
Unique Pokemon Evolution Methods: Eevee Evolution and Wurmple Branching
Just as a quick note, there are two Pokemon in the game that have slightly differ in terms of their evolution methodology: Eevee and Wurmple. Here's how both work:
- Eevee of course is the poster child Pokemon for evolution and in this game can evolve into all of its various forms: Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolteon, Umbreon, Espeon, Leafeon and Sylveon. Each type represents a particular Pokemon type. Unlike most other games, Eevee Evolution is simple here: when you send an Eevee into the Luminous Cave to evolve, you get to straight-up choose which eeveelution you want. It'll cost you two Evolution Crystals.
- For Wurmple, the bug-type Pokemon follows the same evolution path as in the main games: so Wurmple can evolve into either Silcoon or Cascoon, and which you get is entirely random. Silcoon then evolves into Beautifly while Cascoon evolves into Dustox.
Mega Evolution in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX
One of the brand new features of Rescue Team DX, the Nintendo Switch remake, is the ability to Mega Evolve. Certain Pokemon can go into their ultimate form, although finding out how isn’t so simple. So, here's how to mega evolve in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX.
As it turns out, the answer to Mega Evolving is Empowerment Seeds. These items are rare drops in dungeons, and once eaten they change your Pokemon into their Mega Evolved form, provided they have one. If they don’t have one, then they’ll simply become ‘empowered’ which powers them up in several ways. Linked attacks become guaranteed critical hits, and almost all of your stats will temporarily increase.
There are a few things to note about Mega Evolution. For one, you’ll need to complete the story to see them. The second thing to remember is that the transformation is temporary and only lasts a few floors, so make sure you’re using it at the right moment.
Here are all of the Pokemon with Mega Evolutions in the game:
- Venusaur
- Blastoise
- Charizard
- Swampert
- Blaziken
- Gardevoir
- Alakazam
- Gengar
- Kangaskhan
- Beedrill
- Pidgeot
- Slowbro
- Mewtwo
- Ampharos
- Scizor
- Pinsir
- Mawile
- Aggron
- Medicham
- Magnetric
- Gyarados
- Aerodactyl
- Heracross
- Houndoom
- Tyranitar
- Steelix
- Sceptile
- Banette
- Absol
- Sableye
- Sharpedo
- Camerupt
- Altaria
- Glalie
- Salamence
- Metagross
- Latias
- Latios
- Rayquaza
- Primal Groudon
- Primal Kyogre
- Gallade
- Lucario