How to Evolve Pichu (& Get a Pikachu and Raichu) in Pokemon…

Pikachu is probably the most iconic Pokemon of all time, and it would make sense why trainers would want one for their team in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Luckily, you can get a Pikachu using two different methods pretty early on in the game, and we'll walk you through how to find one and how to evolve it into Raichu.

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First Way to Get Pikachu in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Good Ol' Catching

The first way to catch a Pikachu early on in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is by going through the main story missions until you gain access to Wild Zone 3. This happens during the 'The City in the Shadow of Prism Tower' mission, where you head to Emma's agency.

Once you make it into Wild Zone 3, you should be able to find a couple of Pikachu in the southeast quadrant. The Electric Mouse Pokemon should appear during the day or at night (you can learn how to change the time of day here).

Second Way to Get Pikachu in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Evolve Pichu!

If you've already gone through Wild Zone 1, you should have spotted a Pichu by the western gate near a pond. You can check out our Wild Zone 1 guide here to catch 'em all, but if you have that Pichu in your party, you can actually evolve it into Pikachu (it just takes some time).

How to Evolve Pichu into Pikachu

Friendship

Pichu will only evolve into Pikachu once it reaches a high friendship/affection level in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. As of the time of writing, we have not found a method to check the friendship level of a Pokemon, but we managed to evolve our Pichu into Pikachu at level 20 by just using it in our party and feeding it Exp. Candies.

You basically just want to take care of Pichu, add it to your party, and level it up until you get the notification that it's ready to evolve into Raichu.

To evolve a Pokemon, you need to head into the Menu, click on your Pokemon and choose to 'let it evolve.'

How to Get a Thunder Stone to Evolve Pikachu

It'll Cost Ya

There's a store in Lumiose City called Stone Emporium that will sell all types of Evolution items, such as the Thunder Stone you will need to evolve Pikachu into Raichu.

You should be able to find the store on Vernal Avenue (northwest of Wild Zone 1) and a bit west of Hotel Z. You can see the map in the images above. However, the store might not be accessible until you progress the story a bit. So if the area is blocked off (or if you don't see the store there), just try to get past main mission 5 or 6.

The Thunder Stone will cost ₽3,000, and to actually use it, check out the 'Other Items' section of your bag, scroll to the stone, and then use it on your Pikachu. Voilà, you now have yourself a Raichu!

It's worth noting that Raichu is getting two new Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, but they will come as part of the Mega Dimension DLC.

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