Mega Evolution (GO)

Promotional artwork of Mega Evolution from Pokémon GO

Mega Evolution (Japanese: メガシンカ Mega Evolution) is a temporary transformations that certain Pokémon can undergo. Mega Evolution was introduced to Pokémon GO on August 27, 2020. Like in the core series, Mega Evolution significantly increase a Pokémon's stats and potentially change its type, but its moves will remain the same. However, rather than using a Mega Stone, an eligible Pokémon instead consumes Mega Energy to activate this temporary transformation. In addition, several type-based bonuses take effect while Mega Evolution is active, and become more powerful for Pokémon that have undergone Mega Evolution many times.

In-game artwork of Primal Reversion from Pokémon GO

Primal Reversion (Japanese: ゲンシカイキ Primal Regression) was introduced on February 18, 2023. Rather than using the Blue Orb or Red Orb, eligible Pokémon consume Primal Energy to activate Primal Reversion. In Pokémon GO, Primal Reversion is treated as a special type of Mega Evolution. The two operate nearly identically, but Primal Reversion is more powerful: it grants bonus effects to more types than Mega Evolution, and its damage bonuses in Gym and Raid Battles remain active the entire time a Primal form is in the party, not just when it is the active party member.

Activation

Activating Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion for a Pokémon the first time costs a large amount of species-specific Mega Energy or Primal Energy. Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion last eight hours, after which that Pokémon will enter a rest period for several days. As the rest period counts down, the Energy cost to reactivate Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion decreases proportionally until it reaches 0 at the rest period's end. Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion can be activated anytime during the rest period, so long as the player has enough Energy.

Repeatedly activating Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion on the same Pokémon will increase its Mega Level or Primal Level. A higher Mega or Primal Level reduces both the initial Mega or Primal Energy activation cost and the length of the rest period, making frequent activation far cheaper and easier.

A player can only have one active Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion at a time. Activating Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion on a second Pokémon will revert the first to its base form and start its rest period.

On top of the Mega Energy cost, activating Rayquaza's Mega Evolution also requires that it know the move Dragon Ascent. Rayquaza can learn Dragon Ascent by consuming a Meteorite.

Shadow Pokémon and Clone Pokémon cannot Mega Evolve, but Purified Pokémon and other event forms can. Active Mega-Evolved Pokémon cannot be deployed to defend Gyms, stationed at Power Spots, traded, powered up, or Dynamaxed. Trading a Pokémon resets all progress towards Mega Levels or Primal Levels, and its recipient must pay the full initial amount to activate Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion.

Costs

The following shows the possible costs to activate Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion. The subsequent activation costs decreases with the Pokémon's Mega Level or Primal Level.

Initial cost Base Level
 High Level
 Max Level
100 20 10 5
200 40 20 10
300 60 30 15
400 80 40 20

Effects

Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion grant a variety of type-specific bonuses for an eight-hour period of time, with some having different types from their base forms. Activating Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion will restore a fainted or damaged Pokémon to full HP.

  • For Mega Evolution, type bonuses match the Mega-Evolved Pokémon's types
  • For Primal Reversion and Mega Rayquaza, type bonuses match their associated weather conditions:
    • For Primal Kyogre, these bonuses are applied are to Bug, Water, and Electric types, the same types boosted by Rainy weather.
    • For Primal Groudon, these bonuses are applied are to Ground, Fire, and Grass types, the same types boosted by Sunny weather.
    • For Mega Rayquaza, these bonuses are applied to Flying, Dragon, and Psychic types, the same types boosted by Windy weather.

Costumes are not visible on Pokémon that are Mega Evolved.

In battle

Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion temporarily boost the base stats of a Pokémon. They can be used in all types of battles, except in the GO Battle League outside of special events.

When used in Gym and Raid Battles, Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion provides special damage bonuses to all allies:

  • ×1.3 damage for all moves whose types are boosted by Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion
  • ×1.1 damage increase for all other ally Pokémon's moves

Mega Evolution typically requires the Mega-Evolved Pokémon to be present on the battlefield for the damage bonuses to be active. For Primal Reversion and Mega Rayquaza, they only need to be present within the party that has any member on the battlefield; the damage bonuses are active even if the transformed Pokémon is never sent out or has fainted.[1]

Multiple players can use Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion in the same battle, but the damage bonuses will not stack. Each attack only will receive the highest applicable damage bonus.

Note that the damage bonus is not applied to the user or, for Primal Reversion and Mega Rayquaza, its own party. However, if multiple players use Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion, they can boost each other.

Catching Pokémon

Outside of battle, special bonuses are applied for catching Pokémon that have at least one of the Mega Evolution's or Primal Reversion's boosted types:

  • Bonus Candy
    • This bonus also applies to any Pokémon caught from a raid, regardless of type
  • Increased chance of Candy XL (unlocked at High level)
    • This is a flat rate, depending on Mega Level, added to the success rate for each possible Candy XL.
  • Bonus XP (unlocked at High level)

Walking a Buddy Pokémon

Once a Pokémon's Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion is registered to the Pokédex, walking any Buddy Pokémon from its evolutionary line will also yield its respective Mega Energy or Primal Energy whenever it finds Candy (at 5 Energy per km). Energy can be found this way regardless of whether there is a Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion active.

Level

Mega Levels were introduced on April 28, 2022, as part of an update to Mega Evolutions. As a Pokémon's Mega Level or Primal Level increases, the additional perks for Mega Evolving it improve. Each Pokémon can increase its progress towards the next Mega or Primal Level by undergoing Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion, up to once per day. Mega and Primal Levels are completely reset if a Pokémon is traded.

It takes at least 30 days for a Pokémon to reach Max Level, Mega Evolving it once each day. For a Pokémon that costs Mega Energy100/200/300 to initially Mega Evolve, it would take at least Mega Energy406/783/1160 total to reach Max Level within the minimum 30 days required, and waiting exactly 24 hours in between. If the player chooses to only perform subsequent Mega Evolutions without using Mega Energy, it will take at least 157 days (about 5 months) after the initial Mega Evolution to reach Max Level. In both ideal cases, the player cancels the Mega Evolution immediately to initiate the rest period timer.

Bonus Base Level
 High Level
 Max Level
Mega Evolutions required 1 7 30
Rest period 7 days 5 days 3 days
Mega Energy cost reduction 80% 90% 95%
Catch Candy Bonus Candy1 Candy1 Candy2
Increased Candy XL Chance — +10% +25%
Catch XP Bonus — +50 XP +100 XP

Mega and Primal Raids

Main article: Raid Battle (GO)

Mega-Evolved Pokémon and Primal Reversions may appear as Raid Bosses for Mega Raids and Primal Raids, respectively. Upon completion, the raid rewards a large amount of Energy that correspond to the Raid Boss, and the amount depends on how quickly the raid was completed. Each Mega Raid yields between 150 to 250 Mega Energy, and each Primal Raid yields between 60 to 100 Primal Energy. Upon defeat, the Raid Boss will revert to its normal form and can be caught as such during the bonus challenge.

As Pokémon GO has not featured Mega Diancie in raids, Mega Diancie Energy was instead made available during GO Fest 2023 through Carbink raids and catching wild Carbink, with the 2024 Glitz and Glam Special Research allowing Mega Diancie Energy through the Special Research and quests.

List of Mega Evolutions and Primal Reversions

Resource Pokémon Boosted Types Initial Cost Release date
Image Name Image Name
Venusaur Mega Energy Venusaur Mega Venusaur 200 August 27, 2020
Charizard Mega Energy Charizard Mega Charizard X 200 August 27, 2020
Charizard Mega Charizard Y
Blastoise Mega Energy Blastoise Mega Blastoise 200 August 27, 2020
Beedrill Mega Energy Beedrill Mega Beedrill 100 August 27, 2020
Pidgeot Mega Energy Pidgeot Mega Pidgeot 100 September 18, 2020
Alakazam Mega Energy Alakazam Mega Alakazam 200 September 12, 2022
Slowbro Mega Energy Slowbro Mega Slowbro 100[a] June 8, 2021
Gengar Mega Energy Gengar Mega Gengar 200 October 23, 2020
Kangaskhan Mega Energy Kangaskhan Mega Kangaskhan 200 April 29, 2022
Pinsir Mega Energy Pinsir Mega Pinsir 200 May 11, 2023
Gyarados Mega Energy Gyarados Mega Gyarados 300[a] February 9, 2021
Aerodactyl Mega Energy Aerodactyl Mega Aerodactyl 200 January 7, 2022
Ampharos Mega Energy Ampharos Mega Ampharos 200 January 19, 2021
Steelix Mega Energy Steelix Mega Steelix 200 December 1, 2021
Scizor Mega Energy Scizor Mega Scizor 200 August 10, 2022
Heracross Mega Energy Heracross Mega Heracross 200 April 13, 2024
Houndoom Mega Energy Houndoom Mega Houndoom 100[a] October 1, 2020
Tyranitar Mega Energy Tyranitar Mega Tyranitar 300 July 25, 2023
Sceptile Mega Energy Sceptile Mega Sceptile 200 December 3, 2022
Blaziken Mega Energy Blaziken Mega Blaziken 200 December 3, 2022
Swampert Mega Energy Swampert Mega Swampert 200 December 3, 2022
Gardevoir Mega Energy Gardevoir Mega Gardevoir 200 February 8, 2023
Sableye Mega Energy Sableye Mega Sableye 100 June 29, 2023
Mawile Mega Energy Mawile Mega Mawile 200 October 12, 2024
Aggron Mega Energy Aggron Mega Aggron 200 September 16, 2022
Medicham Mega Energy Medicham Mega Medicham 100 March 8, 2023
Manectric Mega Energy Manectric Mega Manectric 100[a] March 16, 2021
Sharpedo Mega Energy Sharpedo Mega Sharpedo 200 September 7, 2025
Camerupt Mega Energy Camerupt Mega Camerupt 200 September 28, 2025
Altaria Mega Energy Altaria Mega Altaria 300[a] May 15, 2021
Banette Mega Energy Banette Mega Banette 100 October 20, 2022
Absol Mega Energy Absol Mega Absol 200 October 22, 2021
Glalie Mega Energy Glalie Mega Glalie 200 December 15, 2022
Salamence Mega Energy Salamence Mega Salamence 300[b] January 10, 2023
Latias Mega Energy Latias Mega Latias 300 May 3, 2022
Latios Mega Energy Latias Mega Latios 300 May 3, 2022
Kyogre Primal Energy Kyogre Primal Kyogre 400 February 18, 2023
Groudon Primal Energy Kyogre Primal Groudon 400 February 18, 2023
Rayquaza Mega Energy Rayquaza Mega Rayquaza 400 August 4, 2023
Lopunny Mega Energy Lopunny Mega Lopunny 200 April 4, 2021
Garchomp Mega Energy Garchomp Mega Garchomp 300 November 11, 2023
Lucario Mega Energy Lucario Mega Lucario 200 July 27, 2024
Abomasnow Mega Energy Abomasnow Mega Abomasnow 200 December 1, 2020
Gallade Mega Energy Gallade Mega Gallade 200 January 11, 2025
Audino Mega Energy Audino Mega Audino 200 April 5, 2025
Diancie Mega Energy Diancie Mega Diancie 300 August 4, 2023

Updates

  • Prior to September 3, 2020, subsequent Mega Evolutions required 25% of the initial Mega Energy (instead of 20%)
  • Prior to October 15, 2020, Mega Evolution lasted four hours (instead of eight).
  • Prior to 0.189.0 update, there was a bug that caused Mega-Evolved Pokémon to be more powerful depending on the level the Pokémon was powered up from.
  • Mega Levels and its related perks were introduced on April 28, 2022.[2] Prior to this update:
    • For a Pokémon with multiple Mega Evolutions, the cost reduction only applies to forms it has previously Mega Evolved into. So if a Charizard has previously evolved into Mega Charizard X for the first time, then it would cost Charizard Mega Energy40 to evolve into Mega Charizard X again, but Charizard Mega Energy200 to evolve into Mega Charizard Y.
    • A Pokémon that has previously Mega Evolved and is then traded will still cost a reduced amount to Mega Evolve.

Trivia

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Prior to April 28, 2022, the amount of Slowbro, Gyarados, Houndoom, Manectric, and Altaria Mega Energy was 200 for each Pokémon.
  2. ↑ Prior to January 19, 2023, the amount of Salamence Mega Energy was 200.

References

  1. ↑ Primal Boost remains active even though The Primal Reversion Pokemon is NOT in battle
  2. ↑ Celebrate the Global launch of the Mega Evolution update with Mega Kangaskhan and a Mega Moment event!

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