Trading Pokémon to make them stronger is a feature that was introduced in the first Pokémon games, Red and Blue, and has been around ever since. We will learn more information about it in the Trade Evolution Guide furthermore. As their first trade evolutions, Machoke, Kadabra, and the water-types Poilwhirl and Seadra were some of the most well-known Pokémon in Kanto.
It’s a picnic with family. Your parents are wearing embarrassing Hawaiian shirts in the middle of fall, and your dad’s estranged brother can’t stop talking about the coming “Y2K” disaster. You and your best friend hook up your Game Boys so you can get away from everything. At last, you both have Gengar and Alakazam.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus – The Ultimate Trade Evolution Guide
Now you’re an adult. You might have kids of your own. Maybe you don’t. Either way, you’re playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus and kind of dread having to connect to the internet just to get another Alakazam. Also, your friend from elementary school is busy “adulting,” whatever that means.
God bless Game Freak for finally getting the message. In Legends: Arceus, a cool little item with a throwback name called the Linking Cord lets you do trade evolutions without the help of another player. This is a change that is very welcome.
Every Pokémon that can trade and every Key Item
In Pokémon Legends Arceus, the player character stands in front of Galaxy Hall in Jubilife Village. In older Pokémon games, there were even extra steps that had to be taken for some species to evolve besides just trading them. In these situations, you have to have certain trade evolution items. These items are still in the game, but you don’t have to trade them anymore, just like with the Linking Cord.
To use a trade evolution item on a Pokémon, just pick the item and put it on the friend you want to evolve. In this way, all trade items now work like Evolutionary Stones (Fire, Water, Thunder, etc.) have always done.
Let’s take a look at every Pokémon that can evolve trade and what you need to do it.
| Evolution | Required Item |
|---|---|
| Machoke to Machamp | Linking Cord |
| Graveler to Golem | Linking Cord |
| Kadabra to Alakazam | Linking Cord |
| Haunter to Gengar | Linking Cord |
| Dusclops to Dusknoir | Reaper Cloth |
| (Johto) Sneasel to Weavile | Razor Claw (at night) |
| (Hisuian) Sneasel to Sneasler | Razor Claw (during the day) |
| Gligar to Gliscor | Razor Fang (during the day) |
| Onix to Steelix | Metal Coat |
| Scyther to Scizor | Metal Coat |
| Rhydon to Rhyperior | Protector |
| Electabuzz to Electivire | Electirizer |
| Magmar to Magmortar | Magmarizer |
| Porygon to Porygon2 | Upgrade |
| Porygon2 to Porygon-Z | Dubious Disc |
Where to Get Items for Trade Evolution
Of course, knowing the name of a trade evolution item isn’t enough. To find them, you’ll need to know where to look.
Every trade evolution item can be gotten from an NPC in Jubilife Town named Simona. She sells her goods near the edge of town, so it’s hard to miss her. Simona will only take one kind of money, which you won’t get from your job with the Survey Corps.
Merit Points
Merit Points only exist for one reason: to force Simona to give up her most treasured things. Helping other players (or made-up characters, if you prefer) find their Lost Satchels earns you Merit Points.
Without any context, which sounds like a lot of gibberish, but the main point is that Pokémon Legends: Arceus has a mode called “Lost and Found” that lets you play the game. You find out about this early on in your adventure. It pings the maps every so often and adds Lost Satchels with items that other players lost when they died in a certain area.
If you don’t want to play online, or if you’re playing this game in 2077 and you’re the only person on Earth who is, the game can also add computer-generated instances to the maps.
You will get a certain number of Merit Points for sending those Lost Satchels back to steadfast trainers. Most of these are between 40 and 100, so you’ll have to keep doing this for a while before you can buy trade evolution items from Simona’s shop.