Does Anyone Actually Like Needing 400 Candy To Evolve A Pokemon?

There are a few Pokemon in the Pokemon universe that start off as small and weak, then evolve into something amazing. Magikarp is probably the most famous for this*. It’s a weak fish that only knows Tackle and Splash, and if you have the patience, you can evolve it into a massive sea not-a-dragon. Normally, in the main Pokemon games, you need to level the Pokemon despite it having awful moves. But the grind is worth it because you get a cool new badass Pokemon.

In Pokemon GO however, you can evolve these Pokemon without having them in battle. It just costs a LOT of candy. The original 400-candy Pokemon is Magikarp, but there are more: Swablu, Wailmer, Meltan, Noibat, Stufful and the new Wimpod all also require 400 candy.

*Not all Magikarps are weak. This one managed to defeat the Elite 4 by abusing drugs.

More 400-candy evolutions lately

We’ve actually had two new 400-candy evolutions added lately. Stufful had a Community Day back in April, which is where most Stuffuls have come from.  Wimpod is the second new 400 candy evolution, and it’s another water type. However, unlike Stufful, it won’t be having a Community Day to boost its existence. Sure, Wimpod will spawn in the wild and in raids, but unless you have a ton of rare candy, we won’t be evolving these Wimpods any time soon.

Walking only works for some

At least Magikarp and Swablu can get a candy every one kilometer. Stufful can as well. While one candy per kilometer does sound pretty bad, it can at least cover for a Pokemon not currently available due to events.

Noibat on the other hand, the one I DO like, requires you to walk 5 kilometers for one candy.

There are other Pokemon too that require a lot of candy. The main ones are those that evolve after being traded. While trading them makes an evolution free, if you don’t want to trade, it can cost a lot more candy to evolve. I had to get 200 candy for Timbur, because I had a 100% one that I didn’t want to trade away.

You can also easily make the argument for Feebas – while you ‘only’ need 100 candy to evolve a Feebas, you also have to walk it 5 kilometers, and it has the same walking candy rate as Noibat.

Meltan not included

The fact that a Mythical Pokemon needs 400 candies too is also discerning. Especially with it requiring 20 kilometers to get one single candy. But you know what the weirdest thing is? Melmetal, the Mythical Pokemon, is actually the easiest 400 candy Pokemon to evolve. Mystery Boxes will spawn a ton of Meltans, and you can get a new Mystery Box every 3-7 days (this changes during events). To make life easier, once a month, there’s always a spotlight hour that has double candy. That’s the PERFECT chance to open your Meltan box and grab a ton of candy.

None of the other 400-candy Pokemon are as lucky.

Is it worth the grind though? Are these Pokemon worth it? Well, it depends on what you want. For people filling the Pokedex, it’s worth it, just slow and tedious. On the other hand, Gyarados, Alteria and Melmetal are some of the best Pokemon when it comes to the GBL, with Stufful and Golisopod having some potential in PvP as well. So yes, it is worth the grind, especially if you play PvP.

It’s all so tedious though. I suppose, at least, outside of PvP, there are easier options to obtain…