As players make their way through Pokémon Sword and Shield, they’ll encounter plenty of new and unique Pokémon living in the Galar region. And with enough patience and a little luck, players can discover some of the region’s rarest Pokémon species, including Applin, a new Grass and Dragon-type.
Applin resembles a green worm-like creature. As its name may suggest, the Pokémon loves apples and is described in the Pokédex as spending its entire life inside the fruit. Applin has two different evolution paths and evolves only once.
Where to find Applin
Players can first encounter Applin on Route 5 after they complete the Grass gym in Turrfield City. The Grass and Dragon-type will be between levels 16 and 18 and can only be found in random encounters in the route’s multiple grassy areas. To encounter the worm-like Pokémon, players will need to interact with the exclamation marks that pop up from the grass.
As they progress through the game, players will be able to catch Applin in the Wild Area as well. The Apple Core Pokémon lingers around the Dusty Bowl, Giant’s Mirror, and Stony Wilderness areas and can only be found in certain types of weather. Like on Route 5, the Pokémon hides in the grass as a random encounter.
In the Dusty Bowl area, Applin appears as a random encounter in normal weather. The Pokémon will only appear in the Giant’s Mirror or Stony Wilderness sections when there’s a thunderstorm, however.
How to evolve Applin into Flapple or Appletun
Like many species found in the Galar region, Applin doesn’t evolve through traditional means. The Pokémon requires new evolutionary items: Tart and Sweet Apples. The Tart Apple is exclusive to Pokémon Sword while the Sweet Apple can be found only in Shield. To get the other type of Apple, players will need to receive a Pokémon from a trade with the item equipped.
After consuming a Tart Apple, Applin will evolve into Flapple, an attack-heavy evolution of the Pokémon. Applin evolves into Appletun, its defensive evolution, with the Sweet Apple.
Players can receive one Sweet or Tart Apple from an NPC in Hammerlocke near the west entrance to the city. The man will ask the player to gift him an Applin, and upon receiving the Pokémon, he tries to then re-gift it to a second NPC. She rejects his gift and he returns the Pokémon to the player before giving them one of the two Apple items depending on their version of the game.
Additional Apples are difficult to come by, but they are one of the many items that can be found beneath the center tree in the Axew’s Eye section of the Wild Area.
