The classic bait and switch pokémon that’s been with us since the very start, Magikarp is a useless fish that holds the potential to turn into one of the most popular and powerful creatures in the franchise. If you’d like to love and cherish your goldfish until it turns into a dragon that’ll obliterate your enemies, here’s how to find and evolve Magikarp into Gyarados in Pokémon Sword & Shield.
Finding Magikarp
This isn’t exactly rocket science: Magikarp can be found almost anywhere there is a body of water. Its highest encounter rate is at 80% on Route 2, but these Magikarp spawn at lvl 3-5, marking a very long road until it becomes Gyarados. Routes 4 and 5 have a slightly lower encounter rate at 70%, but spawn Magikarp ranging from lvl 13-18, making them a little closer to achieving magical flight.
Evolving Magikarp into Gyarados
Turning a useless fish into a roaring dragon sounds like it should have a complicated evolution mechanism, but this one doesn’t. With patience, Makigarp will evolve into a Gyarados at level 20.
Gyarados Movesets
Gyarados has a pretty impressive Attack stat and a pretty disappointing Special Attack stat, so it’s best to focus on physical moves over some of the special-based water moves. It learns a plethora of powerful moves in its higher levels that players can choose freely from to suit their team makeup. The only thing to note is that despite being learned at a lower level, Waterfall takes advantage of Gyarados’s high attack stat where Hydro Pump does not, and therefore might warrant keeping around.
Source: Serebii.net