SoulGold Mega Evolution guide: stones, Mega Ring, and the three new Megas

Every Mega is in SoulGold, 118 of them, and they run on 18 type stones instead of one stone per Pokémon. You won’t get the Mega Ring until after your seventh badge, so the stones you find early just sit in your bag. Here’s where they all are, what each one unlocks, and the Megas that carried my Hard run.

How the type stones work

A stone works for every Pokémon whose Mega form has that type. Firetite covers Mega Charizard Y, Mega Camerupt, Mega Heatran, Mega Emboar, Mega Pyroar, Mega Cinderace and Mega Centiskorch. Dragotite covers Mega Charizard X, so the stone Charizard holds picks which Mega you get. It took me a minute to stop looking for a Charizardite.

Same rule for every Pokémon with two Megas:

• Mewtwo: Fightite for X, Psychite for Y
• Garchomp: Groundite for Mega Garchomp, Dragotite for Mega Garchomp Z
• Lucario: Fightite for Mega Lucario, Steeltite for Mega Lucario Z
• Absol: Darktite for Mega Absol, Ghostite for Mega Absol Z
• Gardevoir: Fairytite for Mega Gardevoir, Bondstone for Mega Gardevoir Z

Raichu is the odd one. Both its Megas are pure Electric and can’t share one Electrite, so Mega Raichu Y uses the Bondstone.

The Bondstone works for the nine starter Megas (Meganium, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Blaziken, Chesnaught, Delphox, Greninja, Meowscarada, Primarina). It also covers Mega Raichu Y, Mega Gardevoir Z and Mega Ogerpon Teal. Ogerpon’s other three Megas use the Wellspring, Hearthflame and Cornerstone Masks from Kitakami Temple Storage. Rayquaza doesn’t need a stone. Teach it Dragon Ascent.

To Mega Evolve:

1. Give the Pokémon the right stone.
2. Have the Mega Ring.
3. Press Start on the move screen.

You can’t toss Mega Stones, so you can’t lose one by accident. Turn on Fast megas to cut the animation, and Follower Mega if you want the Mega walking behind you. I turned Fast megas on after about the fifth time.

Where the Mega Ring comes from

Prof. Oak gives it to you after Team Rocket takes over Goldenrod City. That starts after seven badges, no matter what order you did Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce. The level cap is 55 during the event. Your first Mega will land somewhere between the Radio Tower and Clair.

That’s a lot later than Unbound or Gaia. The leaders don’t wait, though. Chuck’s Falinks holds Fightite, Jasmine’s Steelix holds Steeltite and Pryce’s Froslass holds Icetite, on Normal and Hard. Plan your first seven badges without a Mega. Watching Jasmine Mega Evolve when I couldn’t was a little rude.

Where every stone is

Seventeen stones are item balls on the map. Fairytite, the Bondstone and the three masks are gifts. (Gmax) means a Gigantamax design turned into a Mega.

Stone	Where	Megas it unlocks
Bondstone	Prof. Elm, during the story after the 8th badge	Meganium, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Blaziken, Chesnaught, Delphox, Greninja, Meowscarada, Primarina, Raichu Y, Gardevoir Z, Ogerpon Teal
Normalite	Tohjo Falls Cavern	Kangaskhan, Snorlax (Gmax), Lopunny, Audino, Drampa
Firetite	Mt Mortar Depths 1	Charizard Y, Camerupt, Heatran, Emboar, Pyroar, Cinderace (Gmax), Centiskorch (Gmax)
Watertite	Whirl Islands B1F	Blastoise, Slowbro, Starmie, Gyarados, Swampert, Sharpedo, Inteleon (Gmax)
Electrite	Railway Cave 2F	Raichu X, Ampharos, Manectric, Eelektross, Zeraora, Toxtricity Amped (Gmax), Toxtricity Low Key (Gmax)
Grasstite	Deep Ilex Forest	Venusaur, Sceptile, Rillaboom (Gmax), Scovillain
Icetite	Ice Path Depths	Lapras (Gmax), Glalie, Froslass, Abomasnow, Crabominable
Fightite	Dark Cave North Side	Machamp (Gmax), Mewtwo X, Medicham, Lucario, Hawlucha, Falinks
Poisontite	Lost Woods	Victreebel, Scolipede, Dragalge
Groundite	Union Cave B2F	Garchomp, Excadrill, Golurk, Sandaconda (Gmax)
Flyingite	Route 47, next to the Embedded Tower	Pidgeot, Staraptor, Corviknight (Gmax)
Psychite	Mt Mortar 2F, past the Strength boulders	Alakazam, Mewtwo Y, Gallade, Chimecho, Meowstic (male), Meowstic (female)
Bugtite	National Park	Butterfree (Gmax), Beedrill, Scizor, Pinsir, Heracross, Golisopod
Rocktite	Route 46	Aerodactyl, Tyranitar, Barbaracle, Glimmora
Ghostite	Sprout Tower Basement	Gengar, Banette, Absol Z, Chandelure
Dragotite	Dragon’s Den Cavern	Charizard X, Dragonite, Salamence, Latias, Latios, Garchomp Z, Tatsugiri (Curly, Droopy, Stretchy), Baxcalibur
Darktite	Rocket Hideout B3F	Houndoom, Sableye, Absol, Darkrai, Scrafty, Malamar
Steeltite	Victory Road B1F	Steelix, Skarmory, Aggron, Metagross, Lucario Z, Magearna, Magearna (Original Color)
Fairytite	Route 30, Mr. Pokémon’s house (gift)	Clefable, Gardevoir, Mawile, Altaria, Floette (Eternal Flower), Diancie
Wellspring, Hearthflame, Cornerstone Mask	Kitakami Temple Storage (gifts)	The matching Ogerpon forms
No stone	Knows Dragon Ascent	Rayquaza

That’s 116 forms. The other two are Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon. Catch Kyogre in the Route 33 South Underwater Cave and you get the Blue Orb on the spot. Catch Groudon in Route 50 Underwater Cave 2 and you get the Red Orb. Give your Kyogre the Blue Orb or your Groudon the Red Orb and it goes Primal in battle.

Get all 18 stones plus the Bondstone for the Platinum trophy Mega Collector. The last two you’ll pick up are the Bondstone (after badge 8) and Steeltite (Victory Road B1F), so the earliest you can get it is right before the Elite Four.

The three new Megas: Typhlosion, Meowscarada, Primarina

These three starters never got a Mega in the main games, so SoulGold made them. Rafael Sanna drew the sprites. All three use the Bondstone, so your starter’s Mega shows up after the eighth badge whichever one you took.

Mega	Types	HP / Atk / Def / SpA / SpD / Spe	BST	Ability	Innates (Lv 75 / 85 / 95)
Mega Typhlosion	Fire / Ground	78 / 94 / 98 / 149 / 95 / 120	634	Drought	Solar Power / Flame Body / Heat Rush
Mega Meowscarada	Grass / Dark	76 / 140 / 93 / 91 / 90 / 140	630	Protean	Prankster / Abyssal Veil / Maim and Mend
Mega Primarina	Water / Fairy	80 / 74 / 134 / 124 / 128 / 90	630	Valkyrie	Liquid Voice / Soothing / Aroma Veil

Typhlosion gains 100 BST, mostly in Special Attack (109 to 149) and Speed (100 to 120). It also picks up Ground and Drought. Base Typhlosion learns Mud Shot and Earth Power here, so the Ground STAB works from the moment you Mega Evolve.

Drought is the reason to use it, and it’s my favorite of the three. Eruption and Flamethrower in sun off 149 Special Attack wipe most Elite Four leads before they move. Watch the 4x Water weakness, though. Lance’s Hard team has Baxcalibur and a Dragotite Dragonite with Hurricane.

Meowscarada is the fastest of the three, with 140 Speed and 140 Attack. It stays Grass/Dark and swaps Overgrow for Protean. Here Protean changes its type on every move, not once per battle.

Its defenses go from 70/70 to 93/90. That’s enough to take a resisted hit in doubles. Abyssal Veil at 85 blocks status moves while it’s above 75% HP, and Maim and Mend at 95 heals a quarter of the damage on a crit. Both are postgame only.

Primarina is the bulky one. Defense goes from 74 to 134, Special Defense from 116 to 128 and Speed from 60 to 90. Special Attack drops two points to 124.

Its ability is Valkyrie, which is new to this hack. It gives Primarina Steel’s resistances and a Poison immunity without Steel’s weaknesses, and it can’t be poisoned. Mold Breaker ignores it. Only the first innate is different from base Primarina, so it plays like base Primarina with better stats.

Other Megas worth knowing

The Pokémon Champions “Z” Megas are in with their new abilities:

• Mega Lucario Z: Fighting/Steel, 70/100/70/164/70/151, 625 BST. Its ability changed to Aura Guard in 1.1, so it won’t play like it did before that.
• Mega Garchomp Z: pure Dragon, 700 BST, 151 Speed. Got Levitate in 1.1.
• Mega Absol Z: Dark/Ghost, 154 Attack. Got Sharpness in 1.1.
• Mega Gardevoir Z: Psychic/Dark with Last Stand.

Mega Raichu X (Electric Surge, 135 Attack) and Mega Raichu Y (No Guard, 160 Special Attack, 130 Speed) are both 585 BST. Remember Y needs the Bondstone.

Mega Greninja is Water/Dark Protean at 72/125/77/133/81/142. Greninja got Fury Cutter, Air Cutter, Aqua Cutter and Cross Poison here so it can use Sharpness at 85. Mega Floette (Eternal Flower, the 60-trophy reward) is 651 BST with Fairy Aura and uses Fairytite. Mega Rayquaza is 780 BST with Delta Stream. I used it for exactly one fight and felt a bit guilty.

The Legends Z-A Megas are in too: Dragonite, Hawlucha, Starmie, Meganium, Feraligatr, Emboar, Chesnaught, Delphox, Greninja, Froslass, Skarmory, Scolipede, Excadrill, Golurk, Chandelure, Eelektross, Malamar, Dragalge, Barbaracle, Pyroar, Victreebel, Drampa, Baxcalibur, Scovillain, Glimmora, Falinks, Zeraora, Magearna, Darkrai, Heatran, Crabominable, Chimecho, Meowstic, Tatsugiri, Floette, Diancie and Staraptor. They only get a Mega follower sprite where a public sprite exists. The rest follow you in base form. For how Mega innates stack after the credits, see best innates and combos.

My picks for a Hard run

On Hard every gym and Elite Four fight is doubles, and your Mega only shows up after seven badges. So I picked Megas that work in doubles from the Radio Tower on, with a stone that’s on your way.

Mega Typhlosion was my starter Mega and it carried the Elite Four. Drought plus Eruption off 149 Special Attack hits both foes and powers up a Fire partner. 120 Speed beats most of what Will and Koga have at the 70 cap. Keep something on the bench for Lance’s Baxcalibur and Dragonite.

Mega Gyarados is the best stone you’ll pick up mid-game. Watertite is in Whirl Islands B1F on the way to Lugia, so you’ll have it before Clair. Clair’s own Hard team runs a Jolly Dragon Dance Gyarados with Watertite, which tells you how good it is. It cleans up the Fightite and Firetite users between Cianwood and the League.

Mega Scizor is my doubles pick for the Elite Four. Bugtite is in National Park, which you pass long before the Mega Ring. Buy the Metal Coat at the Mahogany Town shop after the Rocket Hideout. Technician Bullet Punch ignores Speed at the 70 cap, which is why Bruno’s rematch runs Mega Scizor too. With one Mega per battle, Scizor usually stays un-Mega’d next to Typhlosion. It’s still worth the slot. I’d take it again.

Mega Lucario Z is the late pick if you’d rather have a special attacker. It has 164 Special Attack and 151 Speed, and Steeltite is in Victory Road B1F right before the League. I skipped it because I didn’t want to figure out Aura Guard in the middle of the Elite Four.

Build the rest of your team from the best team for Hard mode, and pick the starter that gets you to the Bondstone with the starters guide. If you want to see how other hacks hand out Megas, this list covers ten of them.