All trade evolutions in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet has a few species that only evolve when traded with another player, so you’ll need to find a friend to send them to if you want to complete your Pokedex.

Although most Pokemon evolve naturally as you level them up in Scarlet & Violet, some creatures have special requirements that must be met first, like achieving a high friendship level or giving them an Evolution Stone.

One of the most complicated methods is trade evolution, a long-running feature that requires you to send a Pokemon to another trainer (and vice versa) before it evolves. Some Pokemon even need to be holding a specific item when traded!

There’s often no explanation for these evolutions in the game, so to help you out, we’ve compiled a list of all the Pokemon in Scarlet & Violet and their Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC that need to be traded to evolve and instructions on how to do that.

The Pokemon Company

All trade evolutions in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Here are all of the Pokemon in Scarlet & Violet and their DLC that can only evolve when traded, as well as any items they need to be holding:

Scyther needs to hold a Metal Coat, and Slowpoke and Poliwhirl need to hold a King’s Rock when traded in order for them to evolve. Additionally, Feebas must hold a Prism Scale, and Dusclops should be given a Reaper Cloth.

However, Pokemon like Haunter, Graveler, Gurdurr, and Phantump do not need to hold an item.

It’s worth mentioning that you can actually get a Gengar by trading a Pinchurchin with an NPC in Levincia, which saves you doing an online trade – we’ve got more information on that here.

How to trade Pokemon in Scarlet & Violet

The Pokemon Company

If you want to trade with friends, you must choose Poke Portal from the pause menu. Scroll down to Link Trade and set up a Link Code to share with the person you’ll be trading with.

You can do this locally in Offline Mode or with friends anywhere in the world in Online Mode. Simply press the L button to connect or disconnect from the internet when you’re on the Poke Portal menu.

You can also take part in Surprise Trades with random trainers online, but we wouldn’t recommend using that for trade evolutions as there’s no guarantee you’ll ever get your now-evolved Pokemon back!

Now you know how to trade evolve in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, don’t forget to check out our guides for the best starter to choose, egg breeding, how to get rare candy, trade codes, and the ideal gym order.