If you’ve been playing Pokemon for a long time, you would know the reputation of the dreaded Magikarp. People just want to know what level does Magikarp evolve so that they can get rid of it. It sounds a bit harsh, but Magikarp has a reputation of being the worst and sometimes most useless Pokemon of all time. If you read the Pokedex entries, all they have is negativity towards the poor Magikarp.
However, there’s more to this Pokemon than meets the eye. If nothing else, it evolves to Gyarados, but on its own, it can have its own charm. Let’s dive deep into Magikarp and what can make it good.
Related: What Level Does Eevee Evolve?
There are a lot of videos out there where players are using only Magikarp in their runs, and they have completed the games, but it requires a lot of time and in-game money.
Table of Contents
Everything you need to know about Magikarp
What level does Magikarp evolve
The question on everyone’s head is that what level does Magikarp evolve? That’s because they just want to get over it. The only purpose for getting Magikarp other than getting Gyarados is to get the Pokedex info on Magikarp. The answer to the question is that Magikarp evolves at level 20, regardless of which game it is present.
How do you evolve a Magikarp?
Magikarp evolves directly through leveling up. Once it reaches level 20, it will evolve into Gyarados. It doesn’t need any evolutionary items or any kind of method. Just level it up and it will evolve.
Can Magikarp learn any moves?
The answer is yes because, at level 1, Magikarp learns Splash. Unfortunately, Splash is useless because it doesn’t deal any damage. It learns Flail at level 15, which is helpful to some extent. The smaller the HP that Magikarp has, the more damage Flail does. Those are the only moves that Magikarp learns naturally through leveling up. It also uses Struggle when it runs out of moves which deal damage to some extent.
In Generation VIII, it can learn the move Bounce from TM52. It can also learn Hydro Pump from TR03. Bounce deals Flying-type damage which is like a discount version of Fly where the first turn lets the Pokemon disappear and deals damage the next turn with the chance to inflict PAR. Hydro Pump is one of the strongest Water-type moves in any Pokemon game.
Should I wait to evolve Magikarp?
Now that you know what level does Magikarp has evolve, the question is should you do it right away or not. The answer is really up to you. There are certain factors to this, and one could be the game. Another factor is your Pokemon lineup, and we’ll take a look at Pokemon FireRed or LeafGreen. Let’s say you didn’t choose Squirtle and you need a good Water-type. You can access Magikarp as early as Mt. Moon.
This is a situation where you may want to evolve Magikarp right away to get a Gyarados and make it your strong Water-type, considering you can’t catch any other Water-types until a little later on. That’s just FireRed and LeafGreen because the other games can vary because they can have their own lineup of Water-types accessible earlier on in the game.
Is Magikarp a good Pokemon?
The answer is no because Magikarp on its own is not that good. However, if you have the time to spend and a lot of in-game money, then you can make something out of Magikarp. The answer here is leveling up your Magikarp. The moves can be a problem unless you’re playing Sword and Shield.
The only thing to invest in would be vitamins to go up its stats. Any Pokemon can be strong when you use the right combination of Vitamins to improve their stats, and that can be the same for Magikarp.
Conclusion
Now that you know what level does Magikarp evolve, you’ll have an idea if you want to grab one or not. Why not try Magikarp runs when you have the time to spend, that will prove interesting.
