Pokemon Sword & Shield: Evolve Linoone Into Obstagoon

Like Sun and Moon, Pokemon Sword and Shield introduce new forms of old Pokemon to fit the games' region. These Galarian forms are loosely British-inspired--there's a Charlie Chaplin-like evolution for Mr. Mime called Mr. Rime, for instance. On the more Brit punk side of things, there's Galarian Zigzagoon and Galarian Linoone, black-and-white versions of the more run-of-the-mill ones first introduced in Ruby and Sapphire. And with their Galar forms, they also get a third evolution: the Gene Simmons-looking Obstagoon.

Galarian Zigzagoon evolves into Linoone by leveling up as normal. To get Obstagoon, though, Linoone has to be level 35 or over, and it has to level up at night. This can be tricky to do if you haven't finished the story, because the day/night cycle is dependent on story events everywhere except the Wild Area. After you've finished the story, however, "night" will begin at 8 PM your time. [Update: An earlier version of this guide stated that Linoone wouldn't evolve until it had participated in tons of battles, based on its Shield Pokedex entry (seen below), but it turns out this is just flavor text. Our Linoone didn't evolve until level 55 or so simply because we got unlucky and didn't level it up at night until then. We regret the error.]

You can also catch Obstagoon in the wild once you've collected enough badges. Depending on weather conditions, it'll show up in the Bridge Field region of the Wild Area, sort of near the daycare. You can also find one past the lake next to Professor Magnolia's house if you ride your bike all the way west (it's technically Route 2). You'll want at least one Obstagoon you're willing to part with, because you can trade one to a Team Yell Grunt in Spikemuth for a Kantonian Mr. Mime.

Obstagoon learns an interesting version of Protect called Obstruct. Direct contact from an opponent will harshly lower that opponent's Defense stat, which helps make Obstagoon's attacks hit harder while also protecting it for a turn.

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For more on Sword and Shield, be sure to read our review. There are other Gen 8 Pokemon that are tricky to evolve, but we have guides on them, too! See how to evolve Milcery into Alremie, Sinistea into Polteageist, and Applin into either Flapple or Appletun.