Some Pokémon do not need a stone or a trade to evolve. They need to like you. In the pokee.si data there are 19 friendship evolutions, and nine of them start from a baby Pokémon.
Friendship is a hidden number for each Pokémon. When it is high enough and your Pokémon levels up, it evolves.
How friendship works
Pokémon Database lists the simple ways to raise it. Walk around with the Pokémon in your party, battle with it, let it grow and never let it faint. Massages and haircuts raise friendship by a larger amount. A Soothe Bell, held by the Pokémon, makes the other methods work better.
A friendship evolution is a level-up evolution. The Pokémon must have enough friendship and then gain a level. Bulbapedia notes that a Pokémon at level 100 cannot level up, so it cannot evolve this way.
The number it needs changed between games. Bulbapedia gives 220 for Generations 2 to 7 and 160 from Generation 8 onward. Serebii's friendship page says the same: 220 to evolve in the older games, and 160 and above as the top band from Sword and Shield on. The pokee.si data stores 160 for 16 of these evolutions and 220 for three of them (Pichu into Pikachu, Chingling into Chimecho and Swadloon into Leavanny). We could not confirm why the data mixes the two, so we do not quote a number for each Pokémon. Treat "high friendship" as the rule and 160 as the figure for recent games.
Every friendship evolution
The Gen column is the generation of the Pokémon that evolves.
| Gen | Evolves from | Into | Extra condition | Baby? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golbat | Crobat | none | no |
| 1 | Chansey | Blissey | none | no |
| 1 | Eevee | Espeon | during the day | no |
| 1 | Eevee | Umbreon | at night | no |
| 1 | Eevee | Sylveon | knowing a Fairy-type move | no |
| 2 | Pichu | Pikachu | none | yes |
| 2 | Cleffa | Clefairy | none | yes |
| 2 | Igglybuff | Jigglypuff | none | yes |
| 2 | Togepi | Togetic | none | yes |
| 3 | Azurill | Marill | none | yes |
| 4 | Budew | Roselia | during the day | yes |
| 4 | Buneary | Lopunny | none | no |
| 4 | Chingling | Chimecho | at night | yes |
| 4 | Munchlax | Snorlax | none | yes |
| 4 | Riolu | Lucario | during the day | yes |
| 5 | Woobat | Swoobat | none | no |
| 5 | Swadloon | Leavanny | none | no |
| 7 | Type: Null | Silvally | none | no |
| 8 | Snom | Frosmoth | at night | no |
Three evolve only in the daytime (Budew, Riolu and Eevee into Espeon), and three only at night (Chingling, Snom and Eevee into Umbreon). That makes six with a time of day. One needs a move: Eevee into Sylveon.
Pokémon Database lists one more, Alolan Meowth into Alolan Persian, which is a regional form and not in the table.
Nine baby Pokémon
Pokémon Database notes that many friendship evolutions start from baby Pokémon that were added later as pre-evolutions. These are the nine in the data:
- Pichu into Pikachu
- Cleffa into Clefairy
- Igglybuff into Jigglypuff
- Togepi into Togetic
- Azurill into Marill
- Budew into Roselia, in the daytime
- Chingling into Chimecho, at night
- Munchlax into Snorlax
- Riolu into Lucario, in the daytime
The baby Pokémon list shows all 19 babies and how each one grows up. The rest of the evolutions in this table start from Pokémon that are not babies: Golbat, Chansey, Eevee, Buneary, Woobat, Swadloon, Type: Null and Snom.
Happiny is a baby too, but it is different. It evolves into Chansey when it levels up in the daytime holding an Oval Stone. Chansey then evolves into Blissey with friendship. Zubat is another long line: it becomes Golbat at level 22, and Golbat evolves into Crobat with friendship.
Eevee's three friendship evolutions
Eevee has three friendship evolutions out of its eight. Espeon needs friendship and a level-up in the daytime. Umbreon needs the same at night. Sylveon needs a Fairy-type move known and, in Generation 8 and later, high friendship. Pokémon Database says Generations 6 and 7 used Affection hearts there instead.
You can see the whole Eevee story in Eevee evolutions. For the Scarlet and Violet steps, read how to evolve Eevee in Scarlet and Violet.
Starting friendship
Every Pokémon starts with a base friendship value, and most start at 50. Of the 1,025 species in the data, 838 are at 50. Eight of the nine friendship babies start at 50. Cleffa and Happiny start higher, at 140, and Buneary, which evolves by friendship, starts at 0. Pokémon Database lists the same values for all three.
More ways to evolve
A stone works the moment you use it, but friendship takes time with the Pokémon. You can read about the other ways to evolve in how Pokémon evolution works.