Pokemon Legends ZA has all the usual forms of evolution for various Pokemon. Sometimes you’re going to need Evolution Stones, other times simply leveling up will work. But in some instances, you need to manage your friendship score with that Pokemon. The interesting part is there is no obvious way to determine what that level is. So, here’s a closer look at the friendship mechanic in Pokemon Legends ZA.

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Here’s a look at how the friendship system works in Pokemon Legends ZA. Image via Gamer Guides / Nintendo.

How Friendship Works in Legends ZA¶

Essentially, the Friendship score is a hidden rating for certain Pokemon. When you reach an unknown threshold for that Pokemon, you will unlock special interactions with it. For example, Riolu cannot evolve into Lucario without getting the friendship meter condition met.
To increase the friendship level of these Pokemon, you can do several different things:

• Feed your Pokemon items like Vitamins or Protein, which you find from item pickups on the world map or from stores
• Go to cafes and buy gifts with your Pokemon
• Let your Pokemon consume “friendly berries”. These are berries with friendly in the description name, which include Kelpsy Berry, Hondew Berry, Qualot berries, etc.
• Unlock the Soothe Bell from Side Mission 36, which you unlock by completing Main Mission 14. Give this to a Pokemon to hold, and it will help speed the process of friendship level up with that Pokemon. You’ll need fewer gifts and other items for it to reach its evolution requirement

It doesn’t really matter what you do. As long as you give your Pokemon various gifts and treats like that, they tend to evolve with friendship. Lucario’s requirement is often 5 of the cafe meals, for example, given as a gift. The others are likely similar, though we have not tested specific requirements for each one just yet.

Friendship Level Evolution Pokemon¶

Here are all the Pokemon we are aware of that require Friendship levels to evolve, along with any other special conditions too:

Pokemon	Evolution	Requirement
Pichu	Pikachu	Standard friendship level
Cleffa	Clefairy	Standard friendship level
Budew	Roselia	Standard friendship level
Buneary	Lopunny	Standard friendship level
Riolu	Lucario	Requires high friendship and evolve during the daytime
Eevee	Espeon	high friendship and evolve during the daytime
Eevee	Umbreon	High friendship and evolve during the nighttime
Eevee	Sylveon	high friendship and Eevee must know a Fairy-type move

Now you should be able to find the Pokemon that we have found along our way that require friendship to evolve. If you need help finding these Pokemon, we have guides on finding Eevee locations, alongside a Pokemon Legends ZA Interactive Map to help work out where some of these spawn.