Pokemon Sword & Shield: How To Evolve Milcery Into Alcremie

Every Pokemon game has those few Pokemon you just can't figure out how to evolve. In Pokemon Sword and Shield, there's one Pokemon in particular that doesn't evolve through any existing means: Milcery, which evolves into the adorable Alcremie. Trading, evolutionary stones, and other evolution-related items don't work on Milcery. Instead, it requires one of the strangest methods to evolve of any Pokemon to date.

First, you have to catch yourself a Milcery. They can be found on Route 4 outside Turffield, and you can only encounter them through the exclamation points that pop up as you walk through the tall grass--you won't see one roaming the overworld. Once you have one, your next stop is one of the three Battle Cafes found throughout Galar. The Motostoke cafe is the easiest to beat, followed by the one in Hammerlocke and finally the one in Wyndon, but any of them will work.

One of the many rewards you can get from winning the daily battle at a cafe is a Sweet of some sort. So far, we've found a Berry Sweet, Strawberry Sweet, Love Sweet, and Flower Sweet--we'll update this article if we find more. Each of these Sweets will have a description indicating that Milcery loves holding them, so give one to your Milcery and get ready for the weird part.

Simply giving a Sweet to a Milcery isn't enough to evolve it. Rather, you have to spin the left analog stick in circles until your character does a fancy twirl followed by a pose--then Milcery will evolve into Alcremie. It seems the thinking here is that you have to stir heavy cream a bunch in order to make whipped cream... but regardless, you'll get a form of Alcremie corresponding to the kind of Sweet you had it hold. As far as we can tell, it's purely aesthetic, but the Pokedex will track and display each different form for you.

Alcremie has the potential to be a great support Pokemon in doubles matches, so it's definitely worth the hassle; its signature move, Decorate, increases the Attack and Special Attack of another Pokemon on the field, which can be a boon in a number of situations. For more on Gen 8, be sure to read our Pokemon Sword and Shield review. For other weird evolutions, check out our guides on evolving Applin, Galarian Linoone, and Sinistea.