Franchise progression
Pokéjam Evolution Guide
120 of the 291 Pokémon can still evolve, and evolution is the only way a mid-table pick outgrows a first-round one. It runs on your franchise level, not on the individual player, so every evolution you plan for arrives on the same schedule.
How evolution works
Your franchise has a level, and it goes up as the season progresses. When it reaches the number a Pokémon's evolution is keyed to, that player becomes the next form: a new card, new ratings, same roster slot. Nothing is spent and nothing is lost — the evolution is a straight upgrade on a delay.
The consequence for drafting is that a low rating is not automatically a bad pick. A player who evolves at level 3 spends the first third of the season as a weak starter and the rest of it as a good one, and they were available far later in the draft than the finished article would have been.
The numbers
- Evolution paths
- 130
- Can evolve
- 120
- Average jump
- +15.7
- Biggest jump
- +62
When evolutions land
Most evolutions are keyed to level 4, and level 3 is where the biggest average jump sits, which makes it the most valuable early milestone to plan around.
| Franchise level | Paths | Average OVR gain |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 | 19 | +10.9 |
| Level 3 | 27 | +18.7 |
| Level 4 | 76 | +15.6 |
| Level 5 | 6 | +17.2 |
| Level 6 | 2 | +22 |
The jumps worth drafting for
These are the largest rating changes in the game. A player on this list who is cheap in the draft is the closest thing Pokéjam has to a free lunch.
| Evolution | From | To | Gain | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magikarp to Gyarados | 25 (PG) | 87 (C) | +62 | 3 |
| Tyrogue to Hitmonlee | 47 (SG) | 78 (SF) | +31 | 3 |
| Tyrogue to Hitmonchan | 47 (SG) | 78 (SG) | +31 | 3 |
| Shellder to Cloyster | 54 (SG) | 83 (C) | +29 | 4 |
| Pichu to Pikachu | 51 (PG) | 80 (PG) | +29 | 4 |
| Vulpix to Ninetales | 58 (PG) | 85 (PG) | +27 | 4 |
| Wooper to Quagsire | 44 (SF) | 71 (C) | +27 | 3 |
| Sentret to Furret | 44 (SF) | 69 (SF) | +25 | 2 |
| Pineco to Forretress | 52 (SF) | 77 (C) | +25 | 4 |
| Seel to Dewgong | 55 (SF) | 79 (C) | +24 | 4 |
The obvious one
Magikarp 25 to Gyarados 87
A 62-point swing at franchise level 3, and it converts a PG into a C — the position where the roster is thinnest. No other path in the game is within twenty points of this. If Magikarp is on the board late and you have a bench slot, there is no better use for it.
The ones that barely move
Not every evolution is worth planning around: 25 paths gain fewer than ten points, and a handful are effectively cosmetic — they change the card without changing the player.
| Evolution | From | To | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scyther to Scizor | 83 | 86 | +3 |
| Poliwag to Poliwhirl | 62 | 66 | +4 |
| Electabuzz to Electivire | 79 | 84 | +5 |
| Gloom to Bellossom | 62 | 68 | +6 |
| Poliwhirl to Politoed | 66 | 72 | +6 |
| Rhydon to Rhyperior | 79 | 85 | +6 |
The lesson is not that these players are bad — several are already good, which is exactly why the gain is small. It is that a level-4 evolution slot is a finite resource across a season: spend your planning on the 27 paths that land at level 3, not on the ones that arrive too late to matter.
Planning a roster around evolution
- One project per season. Two developmental picks means two weak starters in the same lineup for the first third of the year.
- Check the position it becomes. A project that evolves into a centre is worth more than one that evolves into a shooting guard, simply because centres are harder to find.
- Do not cut a project early. The gains land in a single step, and a 25-overall player is still a 25-overall player until then.