What Level Does Magikarp Evolve at & What Is the Fastest Way?

Magikarp is one of the classic original Pokémon, with his appearance in the anime as one of the many bad choices made by Team Rocket’s James. In the games, Magikarp is equally if not more useless, so at what level does Magikarp evolve, and what is the fastest way?

Magikarp evolves at level 20 and can be evolved at any level above 20 by making it go up a level. This can be done by EXP share, items or just swapping it in and out of battle. It is fastest evolved by beating raids and getting Experience Candies.

Join me as we explore how Magikarp’s evolving works, how best to evolve it, and at what level, as well as reasons why keeping it from evolving, are not a good idea.

Can a Level 20 Magikarp Still Evolve?

Magikarp evolves at level 20, so every level it goes up after 19, Magikarp will attempt to evolve.

You can hit the B button to prevent the evolution.

You can evolve a Magikarp at any level above 20, even 99 if you want to. But keep in mind that if it gets to 100, you can’t evolve it into Gyrados unless you give it a Rare Candy. This only works for the recent generations of Pokémon, generally generation VIII.

Even if you leave the Magikarp in the Daycare and it gains many levels, it can still be evolved.

Is Magikarp Evolving Worth It?

Magikarp is not a very powerful Pokémon, and it is almost always the play to evolve it into Gyarados.

In terms of moves, Magikarp comes with a splash, which does no damage or has any effect, but then at level 15 learns the very weak Tackle and at 25 learns Flail.

All of these moves are available to Gyarados, so there is no real reason to delay the evolution just to get access to these moves.

In terms of abilities, Magikarp has both Swift Swim and the Hidden Ability of Rattled. 

Swift Swim causes the Pokémon’s speed to double, whereas Rattled makes Magikarp’s speed gets raised by one stage when hit by a Bug-type, Ghost-type, or Dark-type move or affected by the ability Intimidate.

Gyarados also have a mega form and a huge, powerful moveset, and can even be kept in your team to perform a variety of HM moves.

What Is the Fastest Way To Evolve Magikarp?

There are many options but the fastest is using Experience Candies. Experience Candies are rewards from Max Raid Battles.

More difficult raids will grant more rewards. Go to the Wild Area and look for Raid dens with a red beam, for common raids, and purple beams, for rare raids. You can also find these in the Y-COMM menu. 

If you assemble a good team and play with other players online, it’s possible to complete a 5-star battle in about 5 minutes, getting around 80,000 – 120,000 EXP.

Another way to level up quickly is to just re-run the Endgame Tournament to go up against gym leaders and the champion repeatedly, using the Exp Share item. 

When turned on, all Pokémon who were in the battle get 100% of the experience, whereas those Pokémon who were just in the party but didn’t fight, will get 50% of the experience.

Make your Magikarp hold a Lucky Egg, as this gives increased EXP to that Pokémon.

Giving curry to your Pokémon will give some EXP but keep in mind that Pokémon will have their own favorite flavor, so feeding them the correct one will grant more EXP.

A Pokémon you received in trade will level up faster, so try and obtain a Magikarp through one of the trade methods to get the most out of this EXP boost.

Why Is My Magikarp Not Evolving?

No Pokémon will evolve if it is holding an Everstone. An Everstone is an item specifically designed to prevent a Pokémon from evolving.

This is useful for when you want to get a Pokémon to a certain level before evolving, normally to make sure it learns a specific move that is not available if you evolve it too early. 

Everstones are handy as you don’t have to constantly worry about missing an opportunity to cancel the evolution, which is easy to do when you’re grinding through leveling up a Pokémon.  It was introduced in Generation II and so far has been an important part of many iterations of the games.

Now that you know of all the tricks concerning Magikarp, we hope you’ll manage with him. As we mentioned Magikarp is not an especially powerful Pokémon but if managed correctly, can turn into Gyarados. And you can do just that by employing all the steps we gave you in this guide.