Should I Evolve Magikarp Early? A Comprehensive Guide
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The question of whether to evolve your Magikarp early is a classic dilemma for any Pokemon trainer. The short answer is: Yes, evolve your Magikarp as soon as it reaches level 20! There is almost no benefit to delaying the evolution. Gyarados is a massive upgrade, providing immediate and substantial improvements in combat capabilities.
The Case for Immediate Evolution
Magikarp, frankly, is one of the most underwhelming Pokemon in existence before evolution. Its movepool is severely limited, its stats are abysmal, and it’s generally a liability in any battle. The sooner you evolve it into Gyarados, the sooner you have a powerful Water/Flying-type powerhouse on your team. There is no benefit to powering up a Pokemon before the evolution, as their CP is simply taken off their BASE stats. Thus, the best option is to just collect Magikarp until you have 400 candy and select the best option at that time.
Magikarp’s Limited Usefulness Before Level 20
Before level 20, Magikarp is primarily useful for gaining experience, and even then, it’s a slow and often frustrating process. You’re often forced to switch it out immediately in battles to avoid it fainting.
- Weak Stats: Magikarp’s attack, defense, and special stats are incredibly low, making it difficult to deal significant damage.
- Limited Movepool: Early on, Magikarp only knows Splash, a move that does absolutely nothing. It learns Tackle at level 15, which offers some offensive capability, but it’s still very weak.
- Vulnerability: Given its low stats, Magikarp is easily knocked out by even the weakest attacks.
Gyarados: A Massive Power Boost
Once it evolves into Gyarados at level 20, Magikarp undergoes a dramatic transformation. Gyarados boasts high attack power, decent speed, and a beneficial Water/Flying dual-typing, opening up a wide range of strategic options. At level 20, Gyarados learns the Dark-type move Bite, which has a chance to make your opponent flinch during battle.
- High Attack Stat: Gyarados’s impressive attack stat allows it to deal significant damage to opponents.
- Versatile Movepool: Gyarados can learn a variety of powerful moves through leveling up and TMs, including Water, Flying, Dark, and Dragon-type attacks.
- Strong Typing: Water/Flying gives Gyarados resistances to common types like Fire, Water, and Fighting, while only having a weakness to Electric and a 4x weakness to Rock.
Addressing Common Concerns
Some trainers might be hesitant to evolve Magikarp immediately, fearing that it might miss out on certain moves or stat gains. However, these concerns are largely unfounded. Evolved Pokémon often learn particular moves at later levels than unevolved Pokémon, or they might learn different moves altogether. Although evolved Pokémon’s moves are generally more powerful, some Trainers may want to wait to evolve their Pokémon until it learns a certain favorite move.
- Move Learning: Gyarados learns different moves than Magikarp would have learned if it had continued leveling.
- Stat Growth: Pokemon who evolve at a certain Level will do so normally if a Rare Candy was used to reach that Level. Rare Candies provide no Stat Exp; Pokémon who are raised using this item will therefore tend to be weaker than those who are trained in battle.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Magikarp and Gyarados
1. What is the best level to evolve Magikarp?
The best and only level to evolve Magikarp is level 20. Magikarp automatically evolves into Gyarados at this level in the core Pokemon games.
2. Should I use Rare Candies to evolve Magikarp?
Using Rare Candies to quickly evolve Magikarp is a viable option, especially if you want a Gyarados sooner rather than later. Keep in mind that Rare Candies prevent you from gaining EV’s as you level up, making your pokemon weaker overall. However, they’re pretty useful in-game because you gain EV’s throughout the game.
3. Is Gyarados a good Pokemon to have on my team?
Yes, Gyarados is an excellent addition to any team. It has a high attack stat, learns powerful moves, and has a useful dual-typing. Gyarados is a great Pokemon, but the Great League’s CP restrictions really limit it. It’s possible to leverage its typing and good moveset against select counters, but it’s probably better to level it up to a higher CP and use it in another league.
4. Is it possible to beat Pokemon Red/Blue with just a Magikarp?
While incredibly challenging, it is technically possible to beat Pokemon Red/Blue with just a Magikarp evolving into Gyarados. It would require a lot of patience, strategic use of items, and a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics.
5. What moves can Magikarp learn before evolving?
In the first generation of Pokémon games, Magikarp can only learn 2 moves by level. The moves are Splash and Tackle, at levels 1 and 15, respectively. From generations 2 to 8, Magikarp can learn the aforementioned moves at those respective levels, plus the move Flail, at level 25.
6. Why does it take 400 candies to evolve Magikarp in Pokemon Go?
The answer is simply because Magikarp makes the biggest leap in term of stats and HP from one evolution. Magikarp can easily go from 150 CP to 1600 CP right away. No other Pokemon in the game comes even close to a 1450 CP difference.
7. What CP should my Magikarp be before evolving in Pokemon Go?
You should wait until you get a Karp above 230, or even better, above 250. Don’t waste those hard earned 400 candies on something below 100cp. I would even go as far as saying 150cp should be the level you want to evolve at (1600-1800ish Gyarados), but it’s up to you if you want to evolve something that’s lower.
8. What will a 200 CP Magikarp evolve into?
If we take the number of 200 CP again for Magikarp, it would evolve into a 2,200 Gyarados.
9. Is it worth buying the Magikarp for $500 in the original games?
No, it just costs 500 and you are getting it earlier than if you waited to get to Vermilion City to get the Old Rod. Its just the first water pokemon (evolves into Gyarados at L20) you will run into unless you picked Squirtle as your starter. Oh, and no, there is nothing perticularly special about this Magikarp.
10. How rare is a shiny (gold) Magikarp?
Gold Magikarp is the rarest type of Magikarp you can fish in Magikarp Jump. This is probably a reference to how “Shiny” Pokemon are rarer than normal Pokemon, and Gold Magikarp is the “Shiny” version of normal Magikarp.
11. Can a level 22 Magikarp still evolve?
It evolves at level 20. If you just caught your Magikarp, it’ll evolve on the next level. Check if it’s holding an Everstone or not, that item prevents Evolution.
12. Does leveling up a Pokemon before evolving increase its stats?
There is zero benefit to powering up a Pokemon before the evolution, as their CP is simply taken off their BASE stats.
13. Is it better to train Magikarp before evolving?
If you’re training a level 4 Magikarp up to level 20 so it becomes a Gyarados, you can easily evolve Starly into Staravia and Shinx into Luxio while you’re at it, making you far more likely to actually have a decently-rounded team, as opposed to falling victim to starter syndrome and having a level 40 Infernape.
14. What is a perfect IV Magikarp in Pokemon Go?
While they don’t exactly hold much sway in the Go Battle League, they can be useful in battling Team Go Rocket Grunts or in raids. The CP values that correspond to perfect 15/15/15 values are as follows: Level 30 (wild CP maximum) – 235 CP.
15. Why is Magikarp considered a weak Pokemon?
Magikarp is intentionally designed to be a weak and seemingly useless Pokemon to highlight the drastic transformation it undergoes upon evolving into Gyarados. In actuality, Magikarp is by far the best Pokemon. That’s right–the Pokemon you deemed useless ever since the first games in the series debuted is not quite as lame as you imagined.
Final Verdict
Don’t hesitate. Evolve your Magikarp as soon as it hits level 20. The sooner you do, the sooner you’ll have a powerful Gyarados ready to take on any challenge. For more information on gaming and learning, visit the Games Learning Society at GamesLearningSociety.org.