How to get Dusk Form Lycanroc in Pokémon Go

After almost a year of waiting for an important update from Alola, players can finally complete their collection of Rockruff evolutions in Pokémon Go with Dusk Form Lycanroc becoming available. The previous two evolutions were already available, but Dusk Form is a tricky evolution to get.

Rockruff has three evolutions in total: A Midday, Midnight, and Dusk Form Lycanroc in Pokémon Go. These evolutions all have to do with the time of day you evolve Rockruff, and you want to make sure you hold off for a particular time to get the correct one. Niantic has now made it possible to obtain Dusk Form Lycanrock; however, the method of getting one is still a bit tedious—just like in main series games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Here’s what you need to know about how to evolve Rockruff into Dusk Form Lycanroc in Pokémon Go.

How to evolve Rockruff into Dusk Form Lycanroc in Pokémon Go

Unlike Midday Lycanroc or Midnight Lycanroc, Dusk Form Lycanroc can’t be obtained simply by evolving your Rockruff at the right time. Instead, there is an element of randomness that you have no control over. It all comes down to catching the correct Rockruff, but you’ll never be able to know until you catch it and examine it in your Pokémon Go collection.

To get Dusk Form Lycanroc in Pokémon Go, you need to get lucky with the Rockruff you capture. Niantic has made it so any Rockruff you encounter has a random chance at being able to evolve into Dusk Lycanroc rather than the other forms. You can tell based on the silhouette on the Evolve button on the Pokémon Summary page, but you won’t be able to evolve just any Rockruff into Dusk Lycanroc. It should have a partially hidden sun, but not all the way down.

You need to see the sunset evolution requirement symbol when you attempt to evolve Rockruff to know you have the correct one. You must continue trying to catch or defeat it in the wild from one-star raids.

To get Midday or Midnight Lycanroc, you must evolve your Rockruff using 50 Rockruff Candy during the day or nighttime, respectively. The exact time of day needs to be apparent in Pokémon Go, and before you evolve Rockruff, you’ll see the symbol of when you can evolve it. Even if it’s dark outside for you, if it’s not dark or night while you’re playing the mobile game, there’s a good chance you could get the incorrect one.

In the main series, you could get Dusk Form Lycanroc by evolving a Rockruff with the Ability Own Tempo between 5pm and 7pm local time, though that doesn’t work in Pokémon Go since Abilities aren’t in the game. 

However, an additional method was also added in Pokémon Go. If you have a Dawn Wings Necrozma or a Dusk Mane Necrozma, activate their Adventure Effect attacks, Moongeist Beam or Sunsteel Strike, respectively. While in these effects, there’s a chance for Rockruff to evolve into its Dusk Form Lycanroc form, but only a chance. It is not guaranteed.

This method is a bummer for some players who may have been saving a strong or Shiny Rockruff to evolve into potentially the strongest version of Lycanroc. It also means that you won’t be locked out of potentially getting Dusk Lycanroc, since it should always be available if you catch the right Rockruff. Hopefully, the Adventure Effects of Dawn Wings Necrozma and Dusk Mane Necrozma make it easier for players to unlock this rare Pokémon form.