Politoed is easily one of the best water Pokemon ever, but getting it will require a little help from a friend… and perhaps a few thousand Pokedollars. Here’s how to get Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
How to Get Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
To get Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll need to either catch a Poliwhirl and evolve it with a King’s Rock, or catch Politoed in a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid. Of course, you can also trade for one with players online if you’d like to get a Politoed that way.
If you have Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ve likely noticed there’s not a single Poliwag anywhere across the whole of Paldea. But if you have the Teal Mask DLC, you can get your very own tadpole in Kitakami, just outside of Moussi Town. Poliwags and even Poliwhirls love the river just south and east of town.
But these Poliwhirls can evolve into more than just Poliwrath. If you want your very own Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll need to trade a Poliwhirl holding a King’s Rock.
If you don’t have a friend on hand to trade with, there are community-set trade codes for the Teal Mask, which can help you get your Politoed. But in exchange, you’ll need to trade back a Poliwhirl holding a King’s Rock.
Poliwag and Poliwhirl location
Both Poliwag and its evolution, Poliwhirl, can be found all over the Teal Mask’s Kitakami region. They particularly like to hang out in the rivers of Kitakami’s southeastern quarter. In particular, you’ll want to check Kitakami Road, Reveler’s Road, Mossfell Confluence, and Fellhorn Gorge.
If you pick yourself up a Poliwag, you can evolve it to Poliwhirl starting at level 25. But Poliwhirl and Poliwag like to stick together, and you’ll often see the more mature of the two running around with a gaggle of its younger kin. Whichever you choose to start with, you’ll be able to immediately evolve Poliwhirl to Politoed through trade.
Should You Evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed or Poliwrath?
If you don’t already know, Politoed is a divergent evolution and can actually evolve into Poliwrath instead via a Water Stone. You’ll eventually need both if you’re trying to fill out your Pokedex, but if the Pokedex isn’t a concern of yours, then which evolution is better?
Politoed and Poliwrath are not too dissimilar, with the primary difference being that Politoed is more focused on Special Attack while Poliwrath is more focused on Physical Attack. In general, you can consider Poliwrath to be a little better with a slightly higher stat spread and better type coverage.
Here’s a breakdown of the stat differences between Politoed and Poliwhirl:
| Stat | Politoed | Poliwrath |
|---|---|---|
| HP | 90 | 90 |
| Attack | 75 | 95 |
| Defense | 75 | 95 |
| Special Attack | 90 | 70 |
| Special Defense | 100 | 90 |
| Speed | 70 | 70 |
Poliwrath is a Water/Fighting type, giving it several more type resistances but also several more weaknesses. Its dual typing means that it has access to a larger pool of moves and more opportunities for boosted STAB damage against its opponent, but the Water type does not typically make much use of Physical Attack moves, so the move pool may not be as desirable as you might think.
Politoed is a pure Water type, so while it’s type coverage may not be as good as Poliwrath’s, it makes better use of its higher Special Attack stat to do boosted damage with some of the Water type’s best moves, such as Surf and Hydro Pump.
How to Get a King’s Rock in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
To get a King’s Rock in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you must go to the Delibird Presents Shop in Mesagoza.
It’s the shop closest to the southeast entrance. But be prepared to spend quite a bit on it. They go for 10,000 Pokedollars.
What Other Pokemon Evolve With a King’s Rock?
Turn’s out Poliwhirl isn’t the only Pokemon you can evolve with a King’s Rock—you can also evolve Kantonian Slowpoke. Kantonian Slowpoke normally evolves into Slowbro starting at level 37, but much like Poliwhirl, if you trade it while it’s holding a King’s Rock, that Slowpoke will then evolve into the handsomely royal Slowking.
And that’s it—those are the only two Pokemon that evolve with a King’s Rock. But the Rock does also have a useful habit of occasionally making your opponent Flinch when attacking them, so it’s a pretty good item to keep around.
How to Get Politoed Without Trading
If you don’t want to trade for a Politoed, you have a couple of options: you can transfer Politoed through Pokemon HOME or catch it in a high-level Tera Raid.
If you have a copy of Pokemon Sword or Shield and its Isle of Armor DLC, you can catch a Politoed in the Soothing Wetlands, and then have it transferred over, using the Pokemon HOME app on your Nintendo Switch. The process is simple and free to use, as long as you have a copy of the aforementioned game available.
You can also try to catch Politoed in Pokemon GO and transfer from there, but the process may be a little more involved, and there’s no guarantee of finding a Politoed in the GO app if you don’t already have one.
Catching Politoed in a Tera Raid is likely the most accessible option for the majority of players, but it’s contingent on your luck of first finding one. To help with the process, know that you can change your Switch’s internal clock to force Tera Raids to respawn. This should help speed up your chances of finding a Politoed raid, but you may still be waiting for quite a while before you actually come across one.
Can You Catch Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet?
To catch Politoed, you’ll need to come across one in a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid. Politoed aren’t walking around in the wild, so this is the only way to get one if you want to bypass trading and transferring.
You’ll have to come prepared, because high-level Tera Raids are no joke. The best way to tackle these raids are with a friend or with strangers online, but we understand that’s not always an option, so we’ll try to give you a little guidance here.
You’ll be facing off against a level 75 or 90 Politoed with near-perfect stats and a random Tera type. Given that Tera types are random, we can’t tell you exactly which Pokemon will be best as a type match-up, but we can at least tell you that you’ll want to bring a Pokemon that can tank some serious Water damage. The Politoed we faced had the moves Surf, Hyper Voice, Weather Ball, and Encore, and had the ability Drizzle which makes it rain at the start of battle, buffing all water-type moves.
In our playthrough, we used Walking Wake against Politoed. Walking Wake is a bulky Pokemon that can not only can tank Politoed’s enhanced Water attacks but also use Sunny Day to keep the effects of rain at bay. As a bonus, Walking Wake’s ability, Protosynthesis, meant that the harsh sunlight from Sunny Day boosted its most proficient stat as well as Fire-type attacks. The amount of mileage you get out of Fire attacks will depend on the Tera type you’re up against. Our Politoed’s Tera type was Fairy, which is weak to Fire, so this was perfect for us.
Success in a high-level Tera Raid depends on your ability to deal as much damage as possible, so if Walking Wake isn’t cutting the mustard for you, try looking at Ghost/Grass duo type Pokemon like Trevenant or Ghost/Dragon duo types like Drakloak. The Ghost typing will make you immune to Hyper Voice (and possibly Weather Ball if you can get rid of the rain), and the Grass and Dragon typing will make you resistant to Water. Just be sure to have a move-set that can output the damage you need.
While Drakloak may not be available to everyone given it’s exclusivity to Violet players, you can catch a tera-shifted Trevenant from a guarenteed static encounter in the Kitakami region’s Timeless Woods. It should have access to both Will-O-Wisp and Hex, a deadly high-damaging combination against most any Pokemon.
Once you knock out Politoed, you’ll be able to catch it with a guaranteed 100% catch rate no matter the ball you choose. Despite facing off against a level 90 Politoed, the Politoed you catch will always be level 75.
How to Unlock 6-Star Tera Raids
To unlock 6-Star Tera Raids, you need to first finish the game. This includes all three pathways: Victory Road, Path of Legends, and Starfall Street. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have to face all eight gym leaders for a second time, and then beat the first Academy Ace Tournament. After that, Jacq will call you and tell you about these strong raid crystals popping up.
You should tackle as many of these strong raids as you can. After completing ten 4-Star and 5-Star Tera Raids, you’ll unlock 6-Star Raids. Once unlocked, you will find only one 6-Star Tera Raid per real-life day. But you can always move your Switch’s internal clock forward if you’re particularly impatient. Good luck finding that Politoed!
Politoed isn’t the only Pokemon you’ll have to jump through a few hoops to grab. Getting a Masterpiece Poltchaegist might be one of the hardest tasks in the Teal Mask DLC.
