So you picked up Pokémon Sword and/or Shield and have been enjoying your time seeing Pokémon in their new Galarian forms, and you're wondering why Galarian Darumaka and Galarian Yamask don't evolve like they used to in their previous games. Well, you're in luck, because by the end of this article, you'll know how to evolve these two Pokémon- the Galarian way!
How To Evolve Galarian Darumaka Into Galarian Darmanitan
First up is Galarian Darumaka. Fair warning, you can only catch Galarian Darumaka in Pokémon Sword on Route 8 and 10. If you only have Pokémon Shield, you can either trade with a friend locally or via online Link Trade, or you can set up a Surprise Trade online and see what you get (it's like roulette but it takes longer and you have to give something up too, but there's still a chance!).
Once you have Galarian Darumaka, it needs an Ice Stone to evolve. Don't worry about its level, no other requirements besides the Ice Stone are needed to evolve this Pokémon. The Ice Stone can be found at the Lake of Outrage in the Wild Area, where you'll encounter a set of slanted stones, all pointed in a circle. Behind these stones are little sparkles, and when interacting with these sparkles, you can pick up various types of stones needed to evolve specific Pokémon. One of the sparkles will be the Ice Stone. These sparkles can respawn 24 hours after each interaction, but they might not all respawn at the same time.
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You can also find Ice Stones on Route 9 (which can be accessed after obtaining the Rotom Bike's surfing ability) or Giant's Cap in the Wild Area.
After you evolve your Galarian Darumaka, you'll have the lovely Galarian Darmanitan! Note: If you want your Darmanitan to have snowman-like qualities when it reaches 50% HP or below in battle, you need to make sure your Pokémon has the Zen Mode ability. Darmanitan can also have the ability Gorilla Tactics, which is cool and all, but if you want snowman Darmanitan, aim for the Zen Mode ability. Luckily Ice Stones aren't terribly hard to come by, so if you wanted a Galarian Darmanitan with Zen Mode, you can try to evolve another Galarian Darumaka.
How To Evolve Galarian Yamask Into Galarian Runerigus
Next up is Galarian Yamask. This one is a bit more tricky and is extremely specific. You can catch Galarian Yamask on Route 6 in either Sword or Shield. To evolve Galarian Yamask into Runerigus, your Yamask needs to take 49 points (or more) of damage inflicted by a single move without it fainting (I'm not making this up, trust me). After your Yamask takes this oddly specific amount of damage, make your way over to this stone structure located in the Dusty Bowl section of the Wild Area.
While still carrying your injured Yamask, run underneath the stone structure and your Yamask will miraculously evolve. We're not quite sure why this specific chain of events needs to occur, but either way, you got yourself a Runerigus! Good for you, that Pokémon looks pretty cool.
If you haven't bought the games yet, Pokémon Sword and Shield are available on the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Screen Rant, GamesRadar+, Dot Esports