What level before evolving?

[erwaso]

I see that the higher level you are the higher the pokemon CP is. At what level do you recommend starting to evolve pokemon? Or what CP level should the pokemon be?

I'm only at level 8 now while i see most gyms around me are level 15 with a 600 to 900 CP pokemon. Ugh.

 

[DenverRalphy]

I personally use Evolving as more of a mechanic to gain XP than I do to improve my Pokemons (so by that, start evolving as soon as you can). Typically, I'll evolve the first one of a specific breed as soon as I can (just for the XP), then I keep an un-evolved pokemon in reserve until I have enough candies to evolve again. During that time waiting to stockpile candies, whenever I get a second unevolved pokemon, I'll trade in the lesser of the two. After the next evolve, then trade in the lesser of the two evolved and repeat the process. Using this method, typically the second evolved base pokemon was high enough in CP that the evolve results in a better than the first evolved.

Evolving is a very handy method of gainging XP and levelling. Especially if you have some Lucky Eggs to multiply your XP gain by x2.

Reading back... that may seem confusing, but if you read through it again, I hope it makes sense.

 

[AdamEndgame]

Wait until level 8 to evolve any of your pokemon because at that level you get a lucky egg, and when you get a new pokemon added to your pokedex you get 500xp(so 1000 with a lucky egg popped)

If you are looking for crazy CP rank ups, the Evee seems to have jumped the most for me, going from a 389 Evee to a 1020 Vaporean when i evolved her

 

[Morty2264]

My first thought was, "Train them to higher levels so they can learn better moves before evolving them!" but then I realized you dudes were talking about Pokémon Go.

Love seeing these threads up!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[cpramsden]

I have a similar question along these lines. Does Evolving really matter at all? will a 10CP rattatta still become as powerful as a 150cp rattata when they become evolved into Raticate? OR will the Higher CP give me a higher starting point and thus a higher CP at peak?

 

[tony bag o donuts]

I have a similar question along these lines. Does Evolving really matter at all? will a 10CP rattatta still become as powerful as a 150cp rattata when they become evolved into Raticate? OR will the Higher CP give me a higher starting point and thus a higher CP at peak?

I am trying to figure that out as well.

 

[tlaswell]

Another question about evolution. I am trying to keep each unique attack combo. One ratta has dig where another has body slam. If I evolve them do they keep that attack or get a different one? If they get different after evolve I might as well transfer all my weaker ones no matter the attack.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[kitty9192]

I have a similar question along these lines. Does Evolving really matter at all? will a 10CP rattatta still become as powerful as a 150cp rattata when they become evolved into Raticate? OR will the Higher CP give me a higher starting point and thus a higher CP at peak?

From experiencing the higher the CP when evolving will lead to higher CP after it is evolved. Not sure if the end CP is the same but evolving at higher CP gives more potential either way.

 

[DenverRalphy]

I have a similar question along these lines. Does Evolving really matter at all? will a 10CP rattatta still become as powerful as a 150cp rattata when they become evolved into Raticate? OR will the Higher CP give me a higher starting point and thus a higher CP at peak?

Each Pokemon (and their associated evolution stages) has a set Maximum CP. When you evolve a Pokemon, if you take note of the position on the curved bar above their head, you'll see that after evolving, that bar doesn't change. ie.. if the CP bar is dead center at 50%, after evolving the CP bar will still be at 50%. So basically, if you have a 1st gen Pokemon that you powered up until it's maxed, you won't have to power it up anymore after evolving to higher stages (you won't even get the option when it's maxxed). Additionally, the candy/dust cost for power ups doesn't change from 1st, 2nd, or 3rd stages of evolution. So if you wait to power up until after evolving, the power up costs will remain the same. You won't be penalized for powering up the 2nd or 3rd stages just because the CP went up. It's soley based on where you are on the CP bar.

Each breed has a set max, so if you're concerned about CP it doesn't really matter at what point you evolve it because the max will be the same regardless. The only consideration you may wish to take into account, is candy/dust cost efficiency. For example, if you have a CP 10 Pidgey and a CP200 Pidgey each of which costs 12 candy to evolve to it's 2nd stage, evolve the CP200 Pidgey so that you can bypass having to spend a ton of dust and candy powering up. The end result in power will be the same when they reach max CP.

Another example, I only just today got my 5th Pikachu (hatched it from an egg) that has the CP bar at almost full (probably only needs 3 or 4 powerups to hit max). Which was a great relief, because for me they're so rare to find that I thought for sure it'd take ages to save up enough just to evolve it, let alone power him up. I probably shaved a couple hundred hours of farming Pikachus, and a boatload of dust, with that acquisition.