There are dozens of Pokémon that evolve through the use of special stones, but collecting those stones is sometimes a big chore since you can’t normally buy them all in a Poké Mart.
But Sword and Shield have left many of those precious stones just sitting in the Wild Area, ready to be collected by players who are willing to explore the entire thing and come back from time to time.
All 10 of the main stones are available in one spot and they actually respawn after 24 hours just like most of the Strong Spawn overworld Pokémon do—though they won’t all appear at the same time. That single location is a group of rock pillars in the Lake of Outrage, so you’ll have to have the Rotom Bike surfing upgrade to get there.
But that’s just one place you can find them when there are plenty of other spots available much earlier in the game. So don’t worry, you won’t need to wait until the sixth gym to evolve your Growlithe or Helioptile.
Here are the known locations where you can find the evolutionary stones in Sword and Shield.
| Stone | Locations |
| Dawn Stone | Giant’s Cap Lake of Outrage |
| Dusk Stone | Stow-on-Side (behind the Pokémon Center) Lake of Outrage |
| Fire Stone | Motostoke Riverbank Lake of Outrage |
| Ice Stone | Route 9 (after obtaining Rotom Bike’s surf upgrade) Giant’s Cap Lake of Outrage |
| Leaf Stone | Turffield Lake of Outrage |
| Moon Stone | Dusty Bowl Lake of Outrage |
| Shiny Stone | Route 8 Lake of Outrage |
| Sun Stone | Dusty Bowl Lake of Outrage |
| Thunder Stone | Giant’s Seat Lake of Outrage |
| Water Stone | Bridge Field (right along the wall for Motostoke) Lake of Outrage |
You can also obtain all of these stones by paying the Digging Duo near the bridge in the Wild Area 500 Watts, but the results of those digs are completely random. Overall, your best bet would be to collect them one at a time so your team can be fully evolved before the sixth gym.
After that, you have an endless amount of those precious materials to use while training up Pokémon for Max Raid Battles or competitive play.
