Don’t be the victim of counterfeit Pokémon! In Pokémon Sword & Shield, you just might have a fake Pokémon and not even know it.
The counterfeit Pokemon comes in the form of Sinistea — a little cracked, ghostly tea cup you can catch in the Glimwood Tangle. It’s very difficult to tell the difference between a real Sinistea and a Forgery, but getting a real one actually changed the evolution method. Let’s figure this all out with the complete guide below.
While the fake Sinistea (and Polteageist) are more common, they’re functionally identical. The stats are no different. These forgery Pokémon might not be rare, but they’re extremely well-made. The only way to tell the difference is when the Pokémon are in dynamax form. There’s a clue you can find in the over-sized versions.
More Pokémon Sword & Shield guides:
How To Evolve All The New Galar Region Pokémon | Evolution Guide | What’s Exclusive To Each Version? | How To Catch Shiny Pokémon | Pick This Starter Pokémon For An Early Advantage | How To Easily Evolve Farfetch’d Into Sirfetch’d | Brilliant Aura System | How To Catch Improved Pokemon | Combo & Ultimate Moves | Move Tutor Locations | How To Catch Pokemon Easier | False Swipe & Hypnosis Guide | How To Level Up Fast | Exp. Candy Farming Tips
How To Get An Authentic Polteageist | Forgery Pokemon Guide
Image Source: [u/dondeecc]
Sinistea and Polteageist can be forgeries — and finding an authentic tea cup is tricky. The only way to tell the difference is by checking for an authenticity sticker on the underside of Polteageist when it changes to Dynamax Form — or by looking carefully in the summary page. Otherwise, there’s no difference between the forged version and the authentic version.
The ghostly teacup Sinistea appears in Glimwood Tangle — and rarely during Max Raid battles in the Wilds. Rarely, Pokémon you can catch will be authentic — like, really rarely. A ‘real’ Sinistea only appears 1% of the time. That’s a serious pain in the butt. If you catch one, you can check in the normal Pokémon summary page.
To evolve Sinistea into Polteageist. In Stow-on-Side, you can talk to an NPC that will give you Sinistea’s evolution item. To evolve Sinistea into Polteageist, you’ll need the Cracked Pot or the Chipped Pot. The Cracked Pot is used for evolving the forgery, while the rare Chipped Pot is for real Polteageists — the Cracked Pot is sold by the rare item vendor at Stow-on-Side, so you’ll have to check back every day for additional items.
You can also find a Cracked Pot up one of the ladders on Stow-on-Side for free. If you want to try evolving, grab the one on the rooftop in the northeast corner of town.
