What Is the Fastest Way to Evolve Azurill in "Pokemon?"

Getting your Azurill to evolve requires you to make it happy and friendly. As a baby Pokemon and the pre-evolved form of Marill, Azurill is generally much weaker than other Pokemon it may battle. With few moves in general and even fewer worthwhile ones, evolving your Azurill immediately should be a priority. However, without understanding how the Friendship stat works, evolution may take too long, causing you to miss a useful move.

The Friendship Stat

Friendship is a hidden stat used by Pokemon games since "Pokemon Gold" and "Pokemon Silver." Also called "happiness," friendship refers to the Pokemon's attachment to you and can be raised or lowered in a number of ways. Keeping the Pokemon in your party, using it in battle and leveling it will raise friendship You can also raise friendship by using vitamins and some other items and by having the Pokemon hold a Soothe Bell. Letting it faint will lower friendship, as will using certain items that indicate your Pokemon won't like them in their tooltip. Almost all friendship raising methods have diminishing returns as the Pokemon becomes more attached. Azurill will evolve when it levels up after reaching maximum friendship.

Raising Friendship: X and Y

In "Pokemon X" and "Pokemon Y," there are several ways to raise friendship, including some unavailable in other versions. Taking your Pokemon to Cyllage City to get a massage will raise friendship by a large amount, as will using a Soothing Bag during Super Training. Using Wings and Effort Value lowering Berries will also raise friendship, as will all the drinks from the Juice Shoppe in Lumiose City except the Perilous Soup.

Raising Friendship: Black 2 and White 2

"Pokemon Black 2" and "Pokemon White 2" feature several of the same methods for raising friendship as X and Y, in addition to newer methods added for those games. A massage from the Medal Office in Castelia City will raise friendship considerably, as will using Effort Value lowering berries. In both games and X and Y, raising friendship in the place where you and the Pokemon met will yield a bonus friendship point.

Getting the Most from Marill

Like Azurill, Marill isn't a very tough Pokemon. It evolves into Azumarill at level 18, where it will attain its maximum stat growth during leveling. Evolving your Marill to Azumarill should be a priority, as it learns several other moves that Marill does not. In X and Y, Marill and Azumarill are dual-typed Water and Fairy, making them one of the few Pokemon in the game with the newer Fairy type. This mix gives them a decent mix of offensive and defensive bonuses and weaknesses against several types of Pokemon.