How to evolve Pidgey into Pidgeot in Pokemon GO (February 2023)

With last week marking Pokemon GO's Spotlight Hour for Pidgey, players everywhere may find a flock of the original bird Pokemon cluttering up their collection. However, what may seem like just a regular bird may actually be trainers' free ticket to the highest division of competitive play.

Seemingly overnight, players' attentions turned to the fully evolved form of Pidgey. Pidgeot is finally viable in the game's competitive Battle League. Many resourceful trainers have taken the chance to use the Pocket Monster to increase their position on the ranked ladder.

Before players can bring a Pidgeot to a ranked battle in Pokemon GO, they will need to know how to get one. This could require some dedication and time, as evolving a three-stage Pokemon like Pidgey takes much more time than many players may think. So what is the best way to do so?

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Tips for evolving and using Pidgeot in Pokemon GO

Pidgeot as it appears in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The first step towards evolving a Pidgey in Pokemon GO is catching one. Since the Spotlight Hour revolving around the creature just ended and considering that it is not a very uncommon encounter, it would be safe to assume that most players have at least one sitting in their box.

To first evolve Pidgey into its second stage evolution, Pidgeotto, players will need to collect 12 Pidgey candies. This should not be hard to do as it requires players to catch three more Pidgeys besides the one they already have. Of course, this is assuming that players don't have Pidgey candy prior to the grind.

Once players have the required candies to evolve their Pidgey into Pidgeotto, the next step is to grind for even more candies. A total of 50 are required for trainers to evolve their Pidgeotto into Pidgeot in Pokemon GO. Though this is much less than other three-stage evolutions, this is still a large number of candies for a player to grind.

The best way to find the required amount of candies to fully evolve a Pidgey is to increase the general spawn rate of an area. This can be done through items like Incense and Lure Modules that work to increase spawn rates by attaching themselves to Pokestops as well as the player.

Using Pokemon GO's weather-boosting feature will also make this much easier. Since Pidgey and its evolutions are both Normal and Flying-types, they have a higher chance of spawning in partly cloudy and windy weather conditions. Players can pair these optimal weather conditions with Lure Modules and Incense to make it easier to look for Pidgey candies.

In terms of what makes Pidgeot so good in Pokemon GO, Niantic recently gave the move, Featherdance, a huge buff. Since Pidgeot is one of the Pocket Monsters capable of learning this attack, this greatly spiked Pidgeot's pick rate.

Pidgeot mostly shines in Great and Ultra League, so players looking to add one to their battle party should use it there for the best results.