There’s only one way you can evolve your Pikachu into a Raichu, and that means you need a certain evolution item. The original Generation 4 games introduced a few new ways to evolve your Pokémon with stones, so evolution items got even more complex. Evolution stones can be found in a few locations in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as well as randomly in the Grand Underground. The Digging minigame is a pretty random reward structure, so it’s kind of inconsistent.
Here’s how to get the Thunder Stone. To evolve the classic mouse, you need a Thunder Stone.
There are two separate Thunder Stones in the Sinnoh region, the first at Sunyshore City and another on Route 229. You can find the first one behind the lighthouse on the right-hand side of Sunyshore City. The other can be found after beating the Elite Four, north of the Resort Area.
Because of the randomness, many players prefer to use the set spawns. Here’s how to get the other stones in the game:
- Fire Stone – The Fire Stone can be found at Feugo Ironworks. Inside the Fuego Ironworks building, you can find a Fire Stone right alongside the far-right wall. You will see a red barrel nearby, turn around and head up the wall to find the Fire Stone.
- Water Stone – You’ll find a Water Stone on a floating island block accessible with Surf off Route 213. There is a Water stone on Route 230 that you can use Rock Smash to get. The smashable rock is found ontop of the stairs near the big island.
- Leaf Stone – A Leaf Stone can be found pretty late. To find this, you need Surf. Go to the Fuego Ironworks, then surf over the patch of water at the bottom end of the screen outside.
- Dusk Stone – A Dusk Stone is found inside the Galactic Warehouse during the ending portion of that story. You can also find one in Victory Road.
- Dawn Stone – Route 225 has a Dawn Stone that is up the cliff. Use Rock Climb to get there.
- Oval Stone – An Oval Stone can be found in the tower on Route 209 south of Solaceon Town.
- Shiny Stone – A Shiny Stone can be found along Route 228 when the storm spawns. Bring a bike to get up to the area where it spawns.
So that’s where you can get each of the evolution stones, including the Thunder Stone, in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. You can then use the Thunder Stone to turn your Pikachu into Raichu.
The Razor Claw can be pretty useful, as can the Up-Grade for Porygon fans. There are also a bunch of stat upgrade items to find. If you’re planning on getting into the competitions of who has the prettiest Pokémon, you will need to learn about Poffins too. If you want to make management of your teams easier, get that Box Link.
There’s a lot to learn about this game. You might want to learn a bit about Affection bonuses. If you want more encounters, try finding some Honey Trees. There have also been some new additions to character customization that you need to know about.