The latest update to Pokémon GO is live, and with it comes 80 new Pokemon from the Gold and Silver generations of the game. With that comes five special evolution items that you need for certain evolutions – the Metal Coat, Dragon Scale, Sun Stone, King’s Rock and Up-Grade. Each is needed for a specific cross-generation evolution – namely, to get Scizor, Porygon2, Kingdra, Slowking, Politoed, Bellossom, Sunflora and Steelix. Read on for tips on where to get and how to use the new evolution items in Pokémon GO!
The method to earn all five of these items is exactly the same as it is to earn all of the other items that you can earn in this game. Spin Pokéstops and they will show up randomly. They have a much lower drop rate than most other items, although they drop far more frequently than some of the real rares do, such as the 10K eggs or lure modules. Start hitting the Pokéstops hard and heavy for these.
Metal Coats are used for evolving two of the slightly more common Pokemon in this game. Metal Coats are required for evolving Onix into Steelix, and for evolving Scyther into Scizor. You will also need 50 of each Pokemon’s candy apiece, since these are the only evolutions available for these Pokemon.
Dragon Scales are used for one purpose only in this game. These are used for evolving Seadra into Kingdra. This, of course, is the second evolution of Horsea, which means that in addition to the special item that you need, it will also cost you 100 Horsea Candy in order to do the evolution. Time to hit the beach/lake and bring along plenty of Pinap Berries for extra candy collection.
Sun Stones do double duty in this game just like in the Game Boy games. They’re used for evolving Gloom into Bellossom and for evolving Sunkern into Sunflora. The rule with Gloom, since this is its second evolution option, is to hit the pink evolution button and not the green one (they appear next to each other). The pink one will turn it into Bellossom, while the green one, which doesn’t require an item, will turn it into good old fashioned Vileplume.
King’s Rock is used to evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed instead of Poliwrath. The rule here is the same as with Gloom; hit the pink button and not the green one. 100 Candies and a King’s Rock are also required to evolve Slowbro into Slowking, which will be one of the strongest gym battlers in the entire game when you do this (almost to legendary Pokemon status).
Finally, Up-Grade is used to evolve Porygon into Porygon2. Unfortunately, there is currently no PorygonZ evolution; that should come later on as newer generations of Pokemon start getting added into the game.