Author: Trafficblast

Path of Exile is coming to mobile devices. This morning at ExileCon, Grinding Gear CEO Chris Wilson announced that the popular free-to-play title is coming to smartphones featuring what is described as a fair monetization strategy. Wilson also pointed out that Grinding Gear is developing the title in-house as opposed to shipping it off to a different studio to handle it.

Before you get too excited, however, Wilson cautioned that Path of Exile mobile is only an “experimental” title. Development will continue–or not–based on fan feedback.

Wilson used his keynote address to make a little jab at Blizzard over its own mobile game reveal. He said he’s happy that Grinding Gear announced Path of Exile 2 before revealing Path of Exile Mobile in what was surely a reference to how Blizzard angered fans by announcing Diablo Immortal before Diablo IV.

Disclosure: Grinding Gear Games is paying for GameSpot’s flight and accommodation in Auckland, New Zealand to attend ExileCon.

Pokemon Sword and Shield have finally arrived on Switch. While the games may not include every Pokemon in the series, they do feature a good mix of old favorites and new Gen 8 monsters, so you still have plenty of options to choose from when assembling your Pokemon team.

Where To Catch Certain Pokemon

Most monsters in Sword and Shield can be found roaming about the Wild Area, a sprawling open-world expanse that stretches across the Galar region. The Wild Area isn’t the only place you can encounter Pokemon, but it is home to the largest variety of them (some of which will actually be too strong for you to catch at first), making it the best place to look for new monsters.

As you explore the Wild Area, the weather will change dynamically, which will influence what Pokemon appear in the wild. You also need to keep in mind that you can only catch Pokemon of a certain level depending on how many badges you’ve collected, so you can’t capture every wild Pokemon you encounter.

Fortunately, this isn’t as restrictive as it sounds; you’ll still encounter plenty of monsters, including a bunch of old favorites very early on in your journey. Many can be found in various portions of the Wild Area, but your first chance to catch some will actually be in certain routes and other places. If you’re just getting started, here are some Pokemon you’ll likely want to add to your collection and where you can find them:

Pokemon	Habitat
Eevee	Route 4 (Outside Turffield)
Pikachu	Route 4 (Outside Turffield)
Milcery	Route 4 (Outside Turffield)
Sizzlipede	Route 3
Gastly	Watchtower Ruins (Wild Area)
Impidimp	Glimwood Tangle
Galarian Ponyta	Glimwood Tangle (Shield only)
Galarian Farfetch’d	Bridge Field (Wild Area) (Sword only)

Rare And Fully Evolved Pokemon

As you progress through the adventure, you’ll also encounter rare and even fully evolved Pokemon in the wild. You’re guaranteed to run into some in certain parts of the Wild Area, but there may be only one of them at a time, so if you miss your chance to catch it, you’ll need to wait a while for it to spawn again–something to keep in mind before you challenge any fully evolved Pokemon you spot.

Fortunately, you can save right before you battle the monster and restart if you inadvertently knock it out (although to ensure a clean reset, you should disable autosaving in the options menu). These Pokemon’s habitats also won’t be listed in the Pokedex, so we’ve rounded up some rare Pokemon we’ve encountered and where they can be found:

Pokemon	Habitat
Machamp	Giant’s Mirror
Tyranitar	Dusty Bowl (Shield only)
Gengar	Dusty Bowl
Gyarados	East Lake Axewell
Lucario	North Lake Miloch
Vileplume	Dappled Grove
Ludicolo	Dappled Grove (Shield only)
Gallade	Bridge Field
Dusknoir	Stony Wilderness
Snorlax	Motostoke River Bank
Conkeldurr	Motostoke River Bank
Haxorus	Axew’s Eye
Pangoro	Rolling Fields
Ditto	Lake of Outrage
Lapras	North Lake Miloch, Lake of Outrage
Eevee evolutions	Lake of Outrage (depends on weather)
Rotom	Lake of Outrage

Pokemon Sword and Shield are available now on Nintendo Switch. You can read our thoughts on the games in our Pokemon Sword and Shield review. If you’re just getting started on your Galar journey, then be sure to check out our other Sword and Shield guides below for more helpful tips.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Guides

Pokemon Sword and Shield are out now on Nintendo Switch, marking the start of the series’ eighth generation. While the games very much follow in the footsteps of previous Pokemon titles, they also shake the formula up in some notable ways, introducing a slew of new features and items to the mix.

Among the new additions are Watts. As you explore the Wild Area, you’ll notice Max Raid dens scattered about the environment, and interacting with these will net you a number of Watts. So what exactly are Watts, and what are they used for?

What Are Watts?

Essentially, Watts are a secondary form of in-game currency in Sword and Shield. As previously mentioned, you’ll primarily earn them from Max Raid dens. If a den is glowing but isn’t currently hosting a Max Raid Battle, you’ll receive 50 Watts simply by interacting with it (this number will increase to 200 after you’ve cleared the main storyline). If a Max Raid Battle is occuring at the den, then you’ll receive 300 Watts (or 2,000 post-game) before participating in the battle. Watts can also be earned by battling or catching wild Pokemon that are glowing.

As you progress through the game, you can exchange Watts for items and services from certain NPCs around the Wild Area. For example, the Digging Duo near the Pokemon nursery in Bridge Field will excavate items for you for 500 Watts, and the items they can potentially dig up include evolutionary stones and other rare finds. You can also use Watts to upgrade your bike, extending how long you can dash with it, or purchase Technical Records–single-use teachable moves–from different Watt Traders around the Wild Area. These characters are dressed in League clothes, so they’ll be easy to spot while you’re out in the field.

Below, we’ve rounded up a list of the different characters in Sword and Shield who accept Watts and the services they provide, so you can easily keep track of where they’re located and what they sell. For more on the games, be sure to read our Pokemon Sword and Shield review.

Where To Spend Watts

• Fisherwoman – Roaming around lakes
  • Sells various Pearls she fished up for 100 W

• Watt Trader – Meetup Spot
  • Sells different Poke Balls, TRs, and Wishing Pieces

• Watt Trader – Dappled Grove
  • Sells different Poke Balls, TRs, and Wishing Pieces

• Watt Trader – East Lake Axewell
  • Sells different Poke Balls, TRs, and Wishing Pieces

• Digging Duo – Bridge Field
  • Dig up evolutionary stones, fossilized items, and more for 500 W

• Watt Trader – Hammerlock Hills
  • Sells different Poke Balls, TRs, and Wishing Pieces

• Watt Trader – Giant’s Cap
  • Sells different Poke Balls, TRs, and Wishing Pieces

• Watt Trader – Giant’s Seat
  • Sells different Poke Balls, TRs, and Wishing Pieces

Pokemon Sword & Shield Guides

Every Pokemon game has those few Pokemon you just can’t figure out how to evolve. In Pokemon Sword and Shield, there’s one Pokemon in particular that doesn’t evolve through any existing means: Milcery, which evolves into the adorable Alcremie. Trading, evolutionary stones, and other evolution-related items don’t work on Milcery. Instead, it requires one of the strangest methods to evolve of any Pokemon to date.

First, you have to catch yourself a Milcery. They can be found on Route 4 outside Turffield, and you can only encounter them through the exclamation points that pop up as you walk through the tall grass–you won’t see one roaming the overworld. Once you have one, your next stop is one of the three Battle Cafes found throughout Galar. The Motostoke cafe is the easiest to beat, followed by the one in Hammerlocke and finally the one in Wyndon, but any of them will work.

One of the many rewards you can get from winning the daily battle at a cafe is a Sweet of some sort. So far, we’ve found a Berry Sweet, Strawberry Sweet, Love Sweet, and Flower Sweet–we’ll update this article if we find more. Each of these Sweets will have a description indicating that Milcery loves holding them, so give one to your Milcery and get ready for the weird part.

Simply giving a Sweet to a Milcery isn’t enough to evolve it. Rather, you have to spin the left analog stick in circles until your character does a fancy twirl followed by a pose–then Milcery will evolve into Alcremie. It seems the thinking here is that you have to stir heavy cream a bunch in order to make whipped cream… but regardless, you’ll get a form of Alcremie corresponding to the kind of Sweet you had it hold. As far as we can tell, it’s purely aesthetic, but the Pokedex will track and display each different form for you.

Alcremie has the potential to be a great support Pokemon in doubles matches, so it’s definitely worth the hassle; its signature move, Decorate, increases the Attack and Special Attack of another Pokemon on the field, which can be a boon in a number of situations. For more on Gen 8, be sure to read our Pokemon Sword and Shield review. For other weird evolutions, check out our guides on evolving Applin, Galarian Linoone, and Sinistea.

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, you have to put your Linoone to work. Linoone only evolves if it’s participated in lots of battles–while I don’t have an exact number, mine was in my team from nearly the beginning of the game, and it didn’t evolve until around level 55 or so. The Pokedex indicates that the Galarian forms of these Pokemon came about because they have harsh street-urchin lives, so it makes sense that getting into lots of scrapes would turn one into a monster that looks like it’s in Kiss.

You can also catch Obstagoon in the wild once you’ve collected enough badges. Depending on the 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.

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.

Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s Galar region is inspired by the United Kingdom, and in that spirit, the games introduce a ghost-type Pokemon that’s themed after tea. Sinistea, a teacup, evolves into a whole pot of tea called Polteageist. As far as Pokemon names go, they’re some of the best. But they’re also cool Pokemon, and it’s not too hard to get them if you know where to look and what to do.

Sinistea can be found in Glimwood Tangle, the cool mushroom forest between Stow-on-Side and Ballonlea. You’ll have to rustle through the tall grass to trigger an exclamation point to pop up, and Sinistea is among the Pokemon that can show up when the battle starts.

Once you catch a Sinistea, head back to Stow-on-Side and talk to the right-hand man running the marketplace stand. He sells a different “bargain” item every day, most of which are evolutionary items for various Pokemon. The item you’re looking for is the Cracked Pot–if he’s not selling it today, ask him for his next bargain to see if it’ll come tomorrow. One you get it, all you have to do is use it on Sinistea the way you would use an evolutionary stone to get Polteageist.

Polteageist’s signature move is Teatime, which forces all Pokemon on the field to eat their berries at once. This can be useful if you think your opponent’s Pokemon are holding berries that reduce the damage they’d take from a super-effective move, for example–that way, you can hit the Pokemon head-on for full damage right off the bat.

For more on Pokemon Sword and Shield, be sure to read our review! And we have other guides on how to evolve specific Pokemon in the game, including Milcery, Galarian Linoone, and Applin.

There are a number of Pokemon with branching evolution trees, in which various factors can determine if a Pokemon evolves into one form or another. Gloom, for example, can either evolve into Vileplume via a Leaf Stone or Bellossom via a Sun Stone. Pokemon Sword and Shield introduce a new Pokemon with a branching evolution line, but uniquely, it evolves differently based on which version you’re playing.

That’s only sort of correct, though. Sword and Shield each have an exclusive evolutionary item, and each one can be used to get a different evolution of the grass/dragon Pokemon Applin. In Sword, you can get a Tart Apple to evolve Applin into Flapple, and in Shield, you can use a Sweet Apple to evolve it into Appletun. As the names would imply, this family is all apple-themed. All you have to do is use the Apple on an Applin like an evolutionary stone.

There’s a boy on the west side of Hammerlocke who will clue you in to how to evolve Applin, and he’ll even give you the respective Apple item. You can also find either a Tart or Sweet Apple under a tree on Axew’s Eye in the Wild Area, and they’re also one of the many sweets-related rewards for victory at the Battle Cafes in Motostoke, Hammerlocke, and Wyndon. While we haven’t been able to test it yet, we assume that you can give an Apple to any other Pokemon to trade with a friend and get the other version’s item in your game so you can evolve your Applin as you please. We’ll update this story when we can confirm if it works.

For more on Gen 8, check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield review. We also have guides on other strange evolutions of new Pokemon, including Milcery/Alcremie, Galarian Linoone/Obstagoon, and Sinistea/Polteageist.