Everything you need to know about the new Mega Evolution system in Pokemon Go.
A major update for Mega Evolutions in Pokémon GO structures the feature in a much more user-friendly way and even makes repeated evolutions free, doing away with the frustration of having to farm Mega Energy.
This update, which was leaked back in March by data miners, is intended to make the unpopular feature a lot more attractive for users to engage with. Niantic wants to achieve this by introducing a new leveling system for Mega Evolutions, which offers various bonuses, and by decoupling it from Mega Energy as much as possible. For everything you need to know about the new Mega Evolution system, take a look at our guide below.
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How do mega levels work in Pokémon GO?
If you perform Mega Evolutions in the future, this action will increase that particular species’ mega level. The higher you push this, the greater bonuses future evolutions will offer you. These include already existing benefits, such as receiving bonus candies when catching monsters of the same type while a Mega Evo is active, as well as providing bonus damage in raids. The brand-new bonuses include:
- Increased chance of XL candies when catching Pokémon of the same type.
- Increased experience points when catching Pokémon of the same type.
- Cooldown reduction for future Mega Evolutions.
A Pokémon’s mega level can only be increased once per day, according to experiences from users in Australia and New Zealand, where the update has already gone live in a field test. Users there estimate that it will take a minimum of 30 days of constant Mega Evolutions to upgrade the mega level of one species to the maximum.
You’ll note the above benefit of a cooldown reduction. This is related to the second major change of the update: Mega Energy, which you currently still need for every Mega Evolution, will now only be required for the very first Mega Evolution of a Pokémon. After that, any repeated evolution is free, but there is a cooldown period before it will be available again. You may reduce this time by raising the mega level or the use of Mega Energy.
It costs 40 energy to immediately prepare a Pokémon for another Mega Evolution. This energy cost steadily decreases over time – after about three days, only half the original investment is needed.
In addition to these changes, the difficulty of Mega Raids is reduced, making it easier to get Mega Energy, and you’ll be able to perform Mega Evolutions directly on the preparation screen for Raid battles – a nifty QoL change. Overall, the community seems to be excited to try the new Mega Evolution system in Pokémon GO now that grinding for Mega Energy will no longer be required.
Mega Kangaskhan may be coming soon
The announcement videos for the update also offered some teasers of Mega Evolutions that may be coming to the game soon: the cries of Mega Latias and Mega Latios can be heard in the background, while Mega Kangaskhan’s silhouette can be seen. The next arrival of a brand new Mega Pokémon is scheduled for next Friday, April 29, 2022. It’s possible that this coincides with the global rollout of this mega update.
Written by Marco Wutz on behalf of GLHF.
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