Pokémon Go Mega Evolution Update And New Bonuses, How To ...

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Mega Evolutions allow you to power-up existing creatures into a much more powerful form in Pokémon Go.

First introduced in the mainline games with Pokémon X and Y, Mega Evolutions took place by using specific stones in battle.

Introduced into Pokémon Go in August 2020, Mega Evolutions remain a temporary transformation, and require the use of Mega Energy.

The game underwent a significant Mega Evolution update in April 2022, which allowed you to evolve without Mega Energy after the first use - and more Mega Evolution bonuses by increasing your Mega Evolution levels.

This page explains how to Mega Evolve a Pokémon in Pokémon Go, how to get Mega Energy and all available Mega Evolution Pokémon.

On this page:

Pokémon Go Mega Evolutions explained
Pokémon Go Mega Levels list explained
Which Mega Evolutions can be currently battled?
How to Mega Evolve in Pokémon Go
How to get Mega Energy in Pokémon Go
Where can you use Mega Evolutions?
Mega Evolutions list

Pokémon Go Mega Evolutions explained

In April 2022, Mega Evolutions underwent a significant update. Though the core concepts remained the same - that certain Pokémon could Mega Evolve once you have collected enough Mega Energy - you can now Mega Evolve for free after the first use and level up Mega Evolutions for additional bonuses.

The new changes included:

Once you have Mega Evolved a Pokémon once, it is free to evolve again in future, once a cooldown has ended.
Mega Energy can be spent to Mega Evolve that Pokémon before the cooldown ends. The shorter the rest period, the less Mega Energy is required.

Each time you Mega Evolve a Pokémon, it will increase in Mega Level. This will introduce additional bonuses across several tiers - including increased Candy XL drop rate, an XP catch bonus and a reduced rest rate. (These are all detailed in the next section.)
Mega Raids "will be easier", according to Niantic.
You can now Mega Evolve from the raid and battle prep screens.

In summary - the existing bonuses still remain, and though you still need to find Mega Energy to evolve a Pokémon in the first place, beyond that, the ability to evolve without needing more is a welcome one. The bonuses from higher levels are well worth working towards too - which we'll discuss in the next section.

You can read more about the changes, and Niantic's thinking about them, in the April 2022 Dev Diary:

Pokémon Go Mega Levels list explained

Introduced in the April 2022 update, Mega Evolutions now have levels. To increase your Mega Level, you must Mega Evolve that Pokémon, and after a certain number of evolutions, you will reach the next level.

Each level has a number of bonuses. The evolution requirement and bonuses are as follows:

Level	Evolves required	Rest period	Bonuses
Base Level	1	7 days	Catch Candy bonusBoosted Ally bonusReduced Mega Energy to evolve
High Level	7	5 days	Candy Candy bonusBoosted Ally bonusGreat Candy XL chance increaseCatch XP bonusGreatly reduced Mega Energy cost
Max Level	30	3 days	Enhanced Catch Candy bonusBoosted Ally bonusExcellent Candy XL chanceEnhanced Catch XP bonusMassively reduced Mega Energy cost

Note on the above - the Catch XP, Catch Candy and Candy XL bonuses only apply to Pokémon of the same type as the Mega Evolution. Though this initially seems restrictive, it is particularly useful for Community Day and Spotlight Hour events where you might want to maximise the amount of Candy or XP you'd like to earn from catching one particular Pokémon.

Which Mega Evolutions can be currently battled?

During the Precious Paths Season, there only one Mega Evolution is appearing in Mega Raids at a time.

Currently Mega Pidgeot is appearing in Mega Raids until Monday 16th February.

Below you'll find the other Mega Evolutions appearing in Mega Raids throughout February. Just remember - we'll be getting new Mega Evolutions as part of Go Tour: Kalos.

Mega Sableye - Monday 16th February to Saturday 21st February
Mega Absol - Saturday 21st February to Wednesday 4th March

Why is this important to know? While you can get Mega Energy for a number of Pokémon at any given time through quests, field research or walking as your buddy, raids continue to be the easiest and fastest source.

How to Mega Evolve in Pokémon Go

Mega Evolutions are an additional, more powerful evolution that certain Pokémon - such as the original Kanto starters - can undertake.

To Mega Evolve a Pokémon in Pokémon Go, you need a resource named Mega Energy. Once a Pokémon has been Mega Evolved, it will stay in that form for a limited amount of time (which was increased to eight hours in October 2020) and can be used in a variety of battles.

Mega Evolutions require Mega Candy, and you can see on their CP screen how long they will remain in a Mega Evolved form.

You will be able to see how much time your Mega Evolution has remaining on its CP screen.

Once it has returned to its normal form, the Mega Energy you need to Mega Evolve it again later will be decreased.

This amount was further decreased on Thursday, 3rd September as Niantic performed a number of adjustments to the Mega Evolution system.

Other things you should know about Mega Evolutions:

You can only Mega Evolve one Pokémon at a time. If you Mega Evolve a second Pokémon, the other one will return back to normal.
Shadow Pokémon cannot undergo a Mega Evolution.
Clone Pokémon cannot undergo a Mega Evolution.
Mega Evolutions will be listed in your Pokédex under the 'Mega Pokédex'. So that's another thing to collect!
There will be two new Medals added to the game - one for collecting Unique Mega Evolutions, the other for total Mega Evolutions. (Thanks to martycochrane on reddit for revealing this.)

How to get Mega Energy in Pokémon Go

Mega Energy is specific to each individual Pokémon - similar to how Candy works in the game. So if you want to Mega Evolve a Bulbasaur into Mega Bulbasaur, you need Bulbasaur Mega Energy.

Mega Energy in Pokémon Go is primarily found from completing Mega Raids, a type of Raid encounter featuring Mega Pokémon. The faster you win a Mega Raid, the more Mega Energy you receive.

You can also earn Mega Energy through a number of other ways, including:

Certain Special Research rewards, such as Mega Energy for Beedrill from completing A Mega Discovery
Research tasks from PokéStops, which update monthly or are event-specific
Walking with your buddy

Where can you use Mega Evolutions in Pokémon Go?

While a Pokémon is in its temporary Mega Evolved form, you can use it in the following areas of the game:

Battling in Gyms
Battle in Team Go Rocket encounters
Battling against Friends
Used as a Buddy
Battling in Raids*

* All other Pokémon in the Raid will receive an attack boost. A further boost is added that Pokémon shares the same type of attack. (These boosts don't stack, so you can only benefit from one Mega Evolution at a time.)

Meanwhile, Mega Evolutions cannot be used to:

Defend Gyms
In the Go Battle League (though Niantic has teased this might change in future, perhaps for specific Leagues or Cups)

The Valentine's Day 2026 event is currently live and its brought an update to the Precious Paths quest. Why not try out the 'What's Your Favourite?' photo feature? There's a lot to do in Pokémon Go outside of the current event! From the Go Battle League, Remote Trading, PokéStop Showcase, Routes and Max Battles. Don't forget to catch rare Pokémon while you're at it.

Pokémon Go Mega Evolutions list

As with regular Pokémon, you can track how many Mega Evolutions you've encountered in your Mega Pokédex.

Though the main games span 48 Mega Evolutions (including the two Charizard and Mewtwo each have access to each) on the feature's debut in Pokémon Go, not all have been released into Pokémon Go.

Mega Evolution	Type	Source
Mega Venusaur	Grass / Poison	Mega Raids
Mega Charizard X	Fire / Dragon	Mega Raids
Mega Charizard Y	Fire / Flying	Mega Raids
Mega Blastoise	Water	Mega Raids
Mega Pidgeot	Normal / Flying	Mega Raids Unlocked September 2020 following a community event
Mega Beedrill	Bug / Poison	Field Research and Special Research Unlocked September 2020 following A Mega Discovery Special Research
Mega Houndoom	Dark / Fire	Mega Raids Unlocked September 2020 following the Mega Event
Mega Gengar	Ghost / Poison	Mega Raids Unlocked in October 2020 as part of the Halloween event
Mega Abomasnow	Grass / Ice	Mega Raids Unlocked in December 2020
Mega Ampharos	Electric / Dragon	Mega Raids Unlocked in January 2021 as part of the Hoenn Celebration event
Mega Gyarados	Water / Dark	Mega Raids Unlocked in February 2021 as part of the Lunar New Year event
Mega Manectric	Electric	Mega Raids Unlocked in March 2021 as part of the Charge Up! event event
Mega Lopunny	Normal / Fighting	Mega Raids Unlocked in April 2021 as part of the Spring event
Mega Altaria	Dragon / Fairy	Mega Raids Unlocked in May 2021 as part of the Swablu Community Day
Mega Slowbro	Water / Psychic	Mega Raids Unlocked in June 2021 as part of the A Very Slow Discovery
Mega Absol	Dark	Mega Raids Unlocked in October 2021 as part of the Halloween event
Mega Steelix	Steel / Ground	Mega Raids Unlocked on Wednesday, 1st December 2021
Mega Aerodactyl	Rock / Flying	Mega Raids Unlocked on Friday, 7th January 2022 as part of the Mountains of Power event
Mega Kangaskhan	Normal	Mega Raids Unlocked on Friday, 29th April 2022 as part of the Mega Evolution rework
Mega Latias	Dragon / Psychic	Mega Raids Unlocked on Tuesday, 3rd May 2022 as part of the Air Adventures event
Mega Latios	Dragon / Psychic	Mega Raids Unlocked on Tuesday, 3rd May 2022 as part of the Air Adventures event
Mega Scizor	Bug / Steel	Mega Raids Unlocked on Wednesday, 10th August 2022 as part of the Bug Out! event
Mega Alakazam	Psychic	Mega Raids Unlocked on Tuesday, 6th September as part of the 2022 Psychic Spectacular event
Mega Aggron	Steel	Mega Raids Unlocked on Friday, 16th September as part of the 2022 Test Your Mettle event
Mega Banette	Ghost	Mega Raids Unlocked on Thursday, 20th October as part of the Halloween 2022 event
Mega Sceptile	Grass / Dragon	Mega Raids Released on Saturday, 3rd December 2022 as part of the Hoenn Mega Raid Day
Mega Blaziken	Fire / Fighting	Mega Raids Released on Saturday, 3rd December 2022 as part of the Hoenn Mega Raid Day
Mega Swampert	Water / Ground	Mega Raids Released on Saturday, 3rd December 2022 as part of the Hoenn Mega Raid Day
Mega Glalie	Ice	Mega Raids Released on Thursday, 15th December 2022
Mega Salamence	Dragon / Flying	Mega Raids Released on Tuesday, 10th January 2023
Mega Gardevoir	Psychic / Fairy	Mega Raids Released on Wednesday, 8th February 2023
Mega Medicham	Fighting / Psychic	Mega Raids Released on Wednesday, 8th March 2023
Mega Pinsir	Bug / Flying	Mega Raids Released on Thursday, 11th May 2023
Mega Sableye	Dark / Ghost	Mega Raids Released on Thursday, 29th June 2023
Mega Tyranitar	Rock / Dark	Mega Raids Released on Tuesday 25th July
Mega Rayquaza	Dragon / Flying	Mega Raids Initial release on Friday 4th August as part of the in-person Go Fest 2023 events Global release on Sunday, 27th August 2023
Mega Diancie	Rock / Fairy	Initial release as part of the ticketed Go Fest London, Osaka, New York and pay-to-play Go Fest Global experience in August 2023
Mega Garchomp	Dragon / Ground	Released Saturday 11th November 2023
Mega Heracross	Bug / Fighting	Released Saturday 13th April 2024
Mega Lucario	Fighting / Steel	Released Saturday 27th July 2024
Mega Mawile	Steel / Fairy	Released Saturday 12th October 2024
Mega Gallade	Psychic / Fighting	Released Saturday 11th January 2025
Mega Audino	Normal / Fairy	Released Saturday 5th April 2025
Mega Sharpedo	Water / Dark	Released Sunday 7th September 2025
Mega Camerupt	Fire / Ground	Released Sunday 28th September 2025
Mega Metagross	Steel / Psychic	Released Saturday 4th October 2025