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How to get special items in Pokémon Go

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Heading outside to collect your favorite items in Pokémon Go used to be a great way to get some exercise and fresh air while playing a great Pokémon game, but continued social distancing guidelines make it more difficult for a lot of people to play their favorite augmented reality game.

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Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

15 minutes

What You Need

  • PokeStops

  • Friends to exchange gifts with

While you might not be able to play Pokémon Go 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 Gen 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.

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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 Porygon2

Stones

  • Sinnoh Stone: Evolves Gen 1 and 2 Pokémon into their Gen 4 evolutions with 100 candy.

  • 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 PokeStop lure. Allows Pokemon like Magneton and Nosepass to evolve into Magnezone and Probopass when within range

  • Mossy Lure: Used in place of a regular PokeStop lure. Allows Eevee to evolve into Leafeon when within range

  • Glacial Lure: Used in place of a regular PokeStop lure. Allows Eevee to evolve into Glaceon when within range

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.

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.

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 PokeStops. Gifts are like a free PokeStop, 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.

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 PokeStop 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.

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) you should be looking out for.

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 Pokémon that requires a special item to evolve, expect a way to get a few freebies during the allotted hours.

Research Breakthroughs

The only full-proof way to get an Unova Stone without paying money is to access the Research Breakthrough tab, which has seven empty slots. Each day you log in, you will receive a stamp that fills one of the open slots. Continue logging in for the next seven days, and the Research Breakthrough box will allow you to choose a reward: Unova Stone, Sinnoh Stone, or other non-evolution items such as Rare Candy and Pokeballs.

Microtransactions

If you happen to open your wallet in the game at the right time, you’ll get a unique reward like a Sinnoh Stone or Unova Stone. As usual, you also have the opportunity to purchase available items in the app store.

We want to point out that problems can come up during events that require tickets. However, you can always buy items like Magnetic, Glacial, and Mossy lures with real money. Remember that these kinds of stones are difficult to find, but if you’re lucky enough to find one (or more), your Pokémon character will earn a Generation 4 transformation, propelling their evolution.

You can also find rare items like the Unova and Sinnoh Stones through microtransactions within the game store in different circumstances. This store gives users access to the Mossy, Glacial, and Magnetic Lures. When you obtain these objects, you can advance your Pokémon with a Generation 4 form upgrade.

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Cody Perez
Cody Perez
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Cody is that stereotypical nerdy otaku guy. He loves everything Japanese from niche visual novels like 999 and Kara no Shoujo…
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