How to collect special items in Pokémon Go Gen 2: Evolving Onix into Steelix

Pokémon Go Gen 2 special items: Introduction

As part of the Gen 2 Pokémon Go update, special items have been brought in as a new way of evolving Pokémon, to be used in conjunction with berries. Handily, there are new kinds of berries available to help players catch Pokémon. The evolution items are valid for one use, after which they cease to have effect.

Pokémon Go Gen 2 special items: At a glance

The new evolution items include Dragon Scale (which evolves Seadra into Kingdra), King’s Rock (which evolves Slowpoke into Slowking and Poliwhirl into Politoed) and Metal Coat (which evolves Scyther into Scizor and Onix into Steelix).

The Gen 2 upgrade also introduced Sun Stone (which evolves Gloom into Bellossom and Sunkern into Sunflora) and the aptly named Up-Grade (which evolves Porygon into Porygon 2)

Pokémon Go Gen 2 special items: How to catch them

It won’t be particularly taxing to collect the special items – they are simply received from spinning PokeStops, just like a host of other items. That being said, drop rates for special items are low, particularly when you compare them to the drop rate for the new berries. Indeed, redditor CosmicPrankster, cited on Heavy, laments the fact that he trawled roughly 50 PokeStops (a “conservative estimate”) and, while he picked up several new berries, he incurred absolutely no special items. A chorus of fellow players agreed on Reddit that they too had met this fate.

Don’t despair yet, though, as you’re likely to boost your chances of procuring an elusive item if you finish a seven-day PokeStop streak, reports on Reddit suggest. Redditor Adeel_07 said: “Myself and several people from my city have reported getting these items on their first stop as part of the 7-day streak.” This tip was also espoused by Alphr’s very own Christopher Minasians, whose sole special item (thus far) was caught as part of the seven-day streak.

While the special items are new, the process remains reassuringly simple: just select the Pokémon you want to evolve from the menu, watch as the requisite special item is consumed, and your Pokémon will regenerate as a newly evolved creature.

We will update this page as and when we learn more about Pokémon Go Gen 2’s special items and how to catch them.