Mega Evolutions are Pokémon transformations introduced in Generation VI. A Pokémon Mega Evolves in order to perform a special move or to gain a special ability. Mega evolution lasts only for the duration of the fight. Mega-Evolved Pokémon are identified by having “Mega” in front of their name.

There are 46 species of Pokémon that are capable of Mega Evolution, and there are 48 different Mega Evolutions.

Mega Evolutions in Pokemon main series games

In main series games in order to Mega Evolve, most Pokémon must be holding their appropriate Mega Stone and the Trainer must have a Key Stone.

Only Rayquaza does not need a Mega Stone to Mega Evolve, instead, it must know the move Dragon Ascent.
Kyogre and Groudon can’t Mega Evolve, but they can undergo Primal Reversion and transform into Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon. Primal Reversion is said to restore a Pokémon’s true powers as the Pokémon absorbs the energy of nature to greatly increase its power.

Mega Evolutions are not permanent, they happen in Pokemon battle where each Trainer may Mega Evolve a single Pokémon once. A Mega-Evolved Pokémon will only revert back to its original state if it faints or the battle ends.

A Mega-Evolved Pokémon has different base stats, with the exception of HP, and can have a different Ability and type from its non-Mega-Evolved form. Every Mega-Evolved Pokémon has a base stat total 100 points higher than that of its base form.

How can Mega Evolutions work in Pokemon GO?

We all know that Niantic likes to keep their game simple and we don’t know how the game will look like when and if Mega-Evolved Pokémon come to Pokémon GO. But we can speculate, so lets see how can Mega Evolutions be implemented in Pokémon GO.

1) Mega Evolutions work only during the battle

Like in main series games, Niantic can implement that trainer can Mega Evolve only one Pokémon once during a battle. In that case, there would probably be one Mega Stone that Mega Evolves every Pokémon, you would simple click “the stone button” on your screen during the battle and your Pokémon would Mega Evolve until the battle is over or until he faints.

This implementation has a few problems. Pokémon GO battles often don’t last very long, at best you can fight six Pokémon in a row and that usually don’t take really long and right now only a few Pokémon can give you problems. If you’re trying to take down a Legendary Raid boss for example, your Pokémon will probably faint in 30 seconds or less no matter how strong they are.

And if you Mega Evolve Pokémon during the battle, does it have the same moves as he had before and just boosted stats?

So it doesn’t really make sense to implement Mega Evolution only during battles with current Gym battle and Raid mechanics. In that case, Mega Stone that Mega Evolves your Pokémon wouldn’t really be that rare and you would just use it almost every Raid Battle without improving you performance much.

2) Mega Evolutions are permanent

This implementation would differ from the main series games but that wouldn’t be the first time Niantic did something like that. We think that this implementation makes much more sense but it can be done in many different ways.

Mega Evolved Pokémon would have better stats, new movesets and some of them different type.

But you need to have some kind of limitation, for example, you could only have one of every Mega Evolved Pokémon. That way IVs come into play even more, because you don’t want to Mega Evolve some 91% IV Pokémon when can only have one. You would be searching and trying to hatch that 100% IV one to Mega Evolve it. And it wouldn’t break the Meta game because you would also need other Pokémon to take down a gym or Raid boss.

There are also ways to make getting Mega Evolved Pokémon harder. Like you need to walk with a certain Pokémon at least 50 km to be able to Mega Evolve it or you need 500 candy to Mega Evolve Pokémon. You could also make it that every Pokémon needs it’s own Mega Stone to Mega Evolve, like in main series games.

From what we see, a great way would be a combination of all of the above implemented with Pokémon Quests where for example you need to do following to get Mega stone to Mega Evolve your Pokémon:

• walk X km with certain Pokémon
• win X gym battles with certain Pokémon
• win X raids with certain Pokémon as a Raid boss
• spin X Pokestops or Gyms
• and others

Mega Evolutions and their Max CP

We can only speculate about how will Mega Evolutions work in Pokémon GO and only hope abilities and other features will also be implemented some time before that.

Until then, let’s see what currently available Pokémon can Mega Evolve and what would their Max CP be with current CP formula so you can maybe start saving some candies.

Pokémon with asterisk next to its Max CP has had his stats nerfed.