Want to keep your precious Pikachu forever? Don’t want your Psyduck to turn into Golduck just yet? There are ways to prevent automatic evolutions in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet — two ways. These methods have worked for many, many years in the Pokémon main series, and they continue into Scarlet & Violet unchanged. Even veteran players don’t know this simple little trick for keeping your Pokémon the same.
Evolutions occur automatically in Scarlet & Violet. Once your Pokémon meets the conditions — either through level, happiness, or many other factors — they will automatically begin to evolve. During this process, you can stall the evolution with a simple button press. Otherwise, you can give your Pokémon an item that will stop evolutions entirely. We’ll explain how both methods work in the full guide.
More Pokemon Scarlet & Violet guides:
Beginner’s Guide | Combat Tips | All Version Exclusive Pokemon | All New Pokemon | Which Starter To Pick First | Best Gym Leader Order | How To Breed Pokemon | How To Unlock Evolution Stones | Pre-Order Bonuses | How To Catch Shiny Pokemon | How To Get A Starter Pikachu | Where To Catch Eevee & All Evolution Methods | Where To Catch Ditto | Better Performance
How To Stop Pokémon Evolutions | Two Methods
There are dozens of ways to trigger a Pokémon evolution. The most common method is by leveling a Pokémon up — once they reach a certain level, they’ll evolve. This is how you’ll evolve your Starters and many other Pokémon. Some require unique Evolution Items like Fire Stones, Thunder Stones, and so on. As long as you don’t use these items, your Pokémon won’t evolve.
But most Pokémon will evolve automatically eventually. If you don’t want your Pokémon to evolve, or if you want to build a Living Pokedex with one of literally every Pokémon, including all their evolutions, you’ll need to halt evolutions in their tracks. There are two major methods for stopping evolutions in Pokémon.
- Stopping Evolutions With Hold Items | Everstones
- By giving a Pokémon an Everstone, the Evolution will never trigger so long as the Pokémon is carrying this hold item.
- Everstones can be purchased from any Delibird Presents store. You can find one of these stores very early in the game — in Mesagoza, from the entrance path check the right side before reaching the central square. There’s a store on the corner. Everstones can be purchased for $3,000 under the General Goods tab.
To equip a Pokémon with an Everstone, open your Bag [Press X] and select the Hold Item. After selecting the item, choose to Give to Pokémon.
Giving Pokemon Hold Items requires planning. You’ll need to buy the item, equip it, and know that a Pokemon is about to evolve ahead of time. If you’re surprised by an evolution, there’s a way to cancel it as it is happening.
- Stopping Evolutions Mid-Evolution
- Hold [B] during the Evolution animation.
This will only halt the evolution for each instance — the Pokemon will still attempt to evolve later. If you gain another level or complete the requirements again, the evolution scene will trigger. You’ll have to remember to cancel it each time, but this method is very good for stopping evolutions on-the-fly without planning ahead.
