Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Get Dusk Form Lycanroc, Own Tempo Rockruff, and Evolve Rockruff - Outsider Gaming (2024)

The Pokémon Sword and Shield expansion Isle of Armor has landed, adding a vast new island filled with new biomes to the game – and over 100 more Pokémon to add to your Pokédex.

Of those 100 ‘new’ Pokémon in the Isle of Armor DLC, several of them don’t evolve by the conventional means of merely hitting a set level.

Here, we’re going to run through one of the more varied Pokémon evolution chains, looking into how to evolve Rockruff into each of the three forms of Lycanroc (Dusk, Midday, and Midnight) in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.

To move directly to how to get Dusk Form Lycanroc in Isle of Armor, use the contents just below:

Where to find Rockruff in Pokémon Sword and Shield

Rockruff first appeared in the world of Pokémon in Generation VII (Pokémon Sun and Moon), with its evolution methods moving into Generation VIII remaining the same (based on the time of day and Rockruff’s ability).

The Puppy Pokémon has three potential abilities, one of which has proven to be quite tricky to find in a wild Rockruff. However, in Pokémon Sword and Shield, it is still possible to get all three forms of Lycanroc.

To find Rockruff in the Isle of Armor expansion (in both Sword and Shield), you’ll need to look in the following places:

• Fields of Honor: Normal Conditions, Intense Sun (Overworld)
• Challenge Road: Normal Conditions, Overcast, Raining, Thunderstorm, Intense Sun, Sandstorm, Fog (Overworld)

You’d be hard-pressed to not find a Rockruff wandering along Challenge Road, or even one of its evolution forms.

If you want to skip to Rockruff evolution process, you can find Midnight Lycanroc and Midday Lycanroc wandering Challenge Road as overworld encounters.

Midday Lycanroc can be seen during normal conditions, and Midnight Lycanroc can be seen during overcast weather.

How to catch Rockruff in Pokémon Sword and Shield

Rockruff can be found in the wild from around level 15 to level 22, with the strongest ones being on Challenge Road. Of course, past a certain point of progression, you’ll only find level 60 Rockruff around.

It isn’t a tough Pokémon to catch, with a Quick Ball from the start of the encounter, or even a Great Ball, being enough to catch the Rockruff with your first action.

However, if you do need to cut down some of its health, be cautious of Rockruff being a rock-type Pokémon. This means that it’s susceptible to water, grass, fighting, ground, and steel-type attacks.

If you want to gradually chip away at its HP bar, use a similarly-levelled Pokémon with normal, fire, poison, and flying-type attacks.

How to evolve Rockruff in Pokémon Sword and Shield

Rockruff can evolve into three forms of Lycanroc: Dusk, Midday, and Midnight. As the forms allude to, you have to evolve your Rockruff at set times of the day to get each form.

You’ll want to make sure that your Rockruff has either the Keen Eye or Vital Spirit as these are the common abilities. If you get a Rockruff with the Own Tempo ability, save it for a different evolution method.

To ensure that you get Midday Form Lycanroc or Midnight Form Lycanroc, regardless of Rockruff’s ability, you need to level it up to or beyond level 25 at these times:

• Midday Form Lycanroc: Evolve Rockruff between 10 am and 5 pm (Day).
• Midnight Form Lycanroc: Evolve Rockruff between 10 pm and 5 am (Night).

You don’t have to wait for these times to come around, though, as you can use the same method of changing the weather to change the time in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

To level-up your Rockruff, you can either battle Pokémon in the wild or use Exp. Candy. You’re better off saving Rare Candy for higher level boosts, especially as it doesn’t take much to level-up a Rockruff.

If you go into your Rockruff’s summary, you can see how much xp is needed to level it up one step, with the following being how much xp each Exp. Candy gives your Pokémon:

• S Exp. Candy gives 800 xp
• M Exp. Candy gives 3000 xp
• L Exp. Candy gives 10,000 xp
• XL Exp. Candy gives 30,000 xp

Once you’ve set the time of day, level-up your Rockruff to level 25 or above to see it evolve into Midday Form Lycanroc or Midnight Form Lycanroc.

How to get Dusk Form Lycanroc in Pokémon Sword and Shield (Isle of Armor)

The key thing to know is that you don’t need to transfer Pokémon from Sun and Moon to get Dusk Lycanroc in the Isle of Armor DLC.

The main issue with Dusk Form Lycanroc is that it was a special event evolution of Rockruff as the Rockruff required the ability Own Tempo when the Pokémon was first discovered in Generation VII.

To evolve an Own Tempo Rockruff into a Dusk Form Lycanroc, you need to level it up to level 25 or beyond during the one-hour timeslot of between 7 pm and 8 pm.

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, it is said that it’s very rare, if not impossible, to find an Own Tempo Rockruff in the wild. However, it is possible to encounter one in set Max Raid battles – which are easier to find than you may think.

To get to the Max Raid Den above, head from the Tower of Darkness doors on Challenge Road, down the steps and then down the next ramp, turn left at the lantern, go through the tall grass, around the leftwards bend, and head behind the rock.

This Max Raid Den has a high rate of producing Rockruffs, a decent rate of producing Own Tempo Rockruffs, and can even host a Dusk Form Lycanroc – as was discovered below.

Dusk Form Lycanroc is a rock-type Pokémon, so use any of your strongest Pokémon that have powerful water, grass, fighting, ground, or steel-type attacks.

To summon any Pokémon to a Max Raid Den, with Rockruffs and Dusk Form Lycanrocs being present in this particular Den, use a Wishing Piece from your Other Item pocket.

Just in case it does influence what comes up, the Dusk Form Lycanroc above was summoned with a Wishing Piece at the Max Raid Den shown on 24 June 2020 at 20:58/20:59.

It showed a red beam, but a purple beam Max Raid Den has a much higher chance of summoning an Own Tempo Rockruff or a Dusk Form Lycanroc.

Don’t be put off if the first attempts don’t yield a Dusk Lycanroc or a Rockruff with Own Tempo as both are still fairly low-rate spawns. Just keep trying or seeking to jump on others’ Max Raid battles with an encounter that looks like this:

How to use Dusk Form Lycanroc, Midday Form Lycanroc, and Midnight Form Lycanroc (strengths and weaknesses)

All three Lycanroc forms are rock-type Pokémon, with the primary difference between Dusk Form, Midday Form, and Midnight Form being their appearances and abilities.

Dawn Form Lycanroc can have the following abilities:

• Tough Claws: Moves that make physical contact are increased in power by 30 per cent.

Midday Form Lycanroc can have the following abilities:

• Keen Eye: Lycanroc ignores opponents’ evasion boosts, and its accuracy cannot be lowered by an opponent.
• Sand Rush: In a sandstorm, Lycanroc’s speed is doubled.
• Steadfast (Hidden Ability): Every time Lycanroc flinches, its speed raises by one level.

Midnight Form Lycanroc can have the following abilities:

• Keen Eye: Lycanroc ignores opponents’ evasion boosts, and its accuracy cannot be lowered by an opponent.
• Vital Spirit: Lycanroc cannot fall asleep.
• No Guard (Hidden Ability): All moves known by Lycanroc and all Pokémon targeting Lycanroc see their accuracy rise by 100 per cent.

Against the rock-type Pokémon, water, steel, grass, ground, and fighting-type moves are super effective. Lycanroc is, however, strong against normal, flying, fire, and poison-type moves.

In terms of base stats, Dusk Lycanroc and the other two forms are fairly middling regarding HP, defence, and special defence.

Lycanroc boasts a lofty attack and speed stat line, however, its special attack rating is very weak – so stick to learning physical attacks.

There you have it: your Rockruff just evolved into a Dusk Lycanroc, Midday Lycanroc, or Midnight Lycanroc. You now know how to manipulate the evolution of Rockruff to get the form that you want in your team.

Check out more of our articles below to find out how to get Hitmontop and more.

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