How to Evolve Friendship Pokemon in Cobblemon: The Ultimate Guide

Friendship Evolutions in Cobblemon (1.7+)

In Cobblemon, some of the most iconic and powerful Pokemon—like Sylveon, Lucario, and Snorlax—require high friendship levels to evolve. If you want to know how to catch these friendship Pokemon (like Riolu, Munchlax, and Eevee lines), use my free spawn tool to find the best biomes and hunt setups.

While this process can sometimes feel like a grind, understanding how to raise friendship in Cobblemon efficiently can reduce the time spent from hours to under five minutes. In this guide, we’ll break down the mechanics for Cobblemon 1.7 and beyond, including the best items, berries, and strategies to maximize your team’s friendship.

Video Guide

Don't like reading? Watch on YouTube.

Prefer watching? Check out the video walkthrough above for a fast, step-by-step friendship evolution setup.

How to Check Friendship in Cobblemon

Before you start training, you need to know where your Pokemon stands. To check your Pokemon’s current friendship level:

Press the M key to open the menu.
Click on the Stats button.
Select Other.

You will see a numerical value for friendship here.

Important Note: Unlike the traditional Pokemon games that often require 225 friendship, you only need 160 friendship to evolve a Pokemon in Cobblemon.

How to Raise Friendship in Cobblemon: The Best Methods

There are several ways to boost your friendship levels, ranging from passive growth to high-speed item usage. Below are the fastest methods (and the “5-minute evolution” workflow).

The Power of the Friend Ball

The single most effective way to start your journey is by using a Friend Ball. When you catch a Pokemon in a Friend Ball, its base friendship starts at 150, compared to the standard 50 points for a regular Pokeball. Since you only need 160 to evolve, catching a Pokemon in a Friend Ball puts you just a few points away from your goal.

Friend Ball Recipe:

2 Green Apricorns
1 Iron Ingot
1 Red Apricorn
1 Yellow Apricorn

Using the Soothe Bell

The Soothe Bell is a held item that boosts all friendship gains by 50%. Whether you are walking or battling, having your Pokemon hold this item significantly speeds up the process.

Soothe Bell Recipe:

1 Iron Nugget
3 Iron Ingots
2 Pieces of Wool (any color)

Friendship Berries (The Fastest Method)

If you want to know how to evolve friendship Pokemon in Cobblemon instantly, you need to start a berry farm. Certain berries raise friendship by 5 points per berry while lowering Effort Values (EVs). If you use these on a freshly caught Pokemon with no EVs, there are no negative consequences.

The most effective berries for this are:

Pomeg Berry
Kelpsy Berry
Qualot Berry
Hondew Berry
Grepa Berry
Tamato Berry

By feeding a Pokemon just a few of these berries, you can hit the 160 threshold in seconds.

Passive Growth: Walking and Battling

If you don’t have items or berries yet, you can still build friendship with traditional methods:

Walking: Having your Pokemon follow you outside of its Pokeball grows friendship slowly over time.
Leveling Up: Every time your Pokemon levels up through battle, it gains approximately 3 friendship points.

The “5-Minute Evolution” Strategy

To evolve any friendship Pokemon in under five minutes, follow this optimized workflow:

Catch the Pokemon using a Friend Ball (sets friendship to 150).
Give it a Soothe Bell to hold.
Feed it two or three EV-lowering berries (like Pomeg or Kelpsy) to reach the 160 mark.
Level it up once through battle or a Rare Candy, and it will evolve immediately.

Using this method, even Pokemon with difficult catch rates like Eevee or Munchlax can be evolved into Sylveon or Snorlax almost instantly.

And if you want to evolve friendship Pokemon with friends, you’ll need a Cobblemon server. You can set one up in less than 10 minutes by following my Cobblemon server setup guide.