How to get Primal Energy for Kyogre and Groudon’s Primal Reversion in Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go introduced Primal Reversion as part of Go Tour Hoenn in Feb. 2023, allowing two powerful legendaries — Kyogre and Groudon — to become even stronger.

Similar to Mega Evolutions, this is a temporary transformation, and requires collecting Primal Energy from raids and other sources. It’ll also give you party a boost while active — making them useful for Community Day and other events.

How to get Primal Energy in Pokémon Go

Similar to Mega Evolutions, you’ll have to collect Primal Energy for that specific Pokémon.

There are three ways to get Primal Energy in Pokémon Go:

• Defeating Primal Kyogre or Primal Groudon in raids (80-100 Primal Energy)
• Walking as your Buddy after transforming at least once (100 Primal Energy per 20km)
• Completing Chasing Legends research (one time 200 Primal Energy reward)

The best method for earning Primal Kyogre or Primal Groudon energy is in raids — by taking them on and earning Primal Energy for that specific Pokémon. The faster you beat them, the more Primal Energy you’ll be rewarded.

It will take multiple raids of the same Pokémon before you’ll have enough energy to initiate Primal Reversion. You need to have 400 Primal Energy for either Kyogre or Groudon to activate Primal Reversion for the first time in Pokémon Go.

Like Mega Raids, it’s likely Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon will not be available year-round and will rotate infrequently through events, starting with Go Tour Hoenn, so make sure to stock up on any Primal Energy you want before these Pokémon leave.

To give you a boost, be sure to complete Chasing Legends. This is research that can be started during the Go Tour Hoenn event hours, and doesn’t have a deadline. Completing this research will grant you an additional 200 Primal Energy for either Kyogre or Groudon, depending on your choice during “Primal Rumblings” Special Research.

At the time of writing, it’s unknown over time whether you will also earn Primal Energy from other methods beyond the above — such as completing research tasks — as you can with Mega Energy.

How Primal Reversion works in Pokémon Go

Once you have 400 Primal Energy, you can then transform Kyogre or Groudon into their Primal form temporarily.

Once reverted, they will remain in that form for eight hours, and the more transformations they undergo, the less Primal Energy is required each time.

As well as increased CP and power, there will also be additional perks to take advantage of when in Primal form. You can boost these the more you use each Primal form, with improvements across three stages: Base Level, High Level, and Max Level.

Primal Reversion bonuses

When in Primal form, Kyogre and Groudon will have the following perks. The exact improvements across all three levels — Base Level, High Level, and Max Level — have yet to be confirmed.

Primal Kyogre bonuses

• When in your party: Water-, Electric- and Bug-type attack boosted for your Pokémon
• As your buddy: Water-, Electric- and Bug-type catches will grant bonus XP and Candy

Image: Niantic

Primal Groudon bonuses

• When in your party: Fire-, Grass, and Ground-type attack boosts for your Pokémon
• As your buddy: Fire-, Grass, and Ground-type catches will grant bonus XP and Candy

Image: Niantic

What Primal Pokémon are available in Pokémon Go?

Only Kyogre and Groudon can undergo Primal Reversion in Pokémon Go.

In fact, that’s also all the Primal forms currently available in the main series. Primal Reversion was a concept first introduced in 2014’s Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and to date, only those two Pokémon can undergo the transformation.

This is different than Mega Evolutions, in that the main games have countless more Mega forms that Pokémon Go has yet to see. Though it’s possible Pokémon Go could introduce more Primal forms, without them debuting in the main series first, this is unlikely.

What else do we know about Primal Reversion?

Though Primal Reversion closely mirrors Mega Evolutions, there are some related observations and differences to be aware of:

• Based on the debut of Primal raids during Go Tour Hoenn Las Vegas, it’s possible to boost the average 60-90 Primal Energy reward to 100 if you manage to complete the encounter 30 seconds. With a high CP of over 90,000, you’ll need close to the max Raid lobby to pull this off.

• As with Mega Raids, you will only catch the pre-evolved version of the Pokémon during the catch phase. These Raid encounters have a chance to be shiny, and using a shiny Kyogre or Groudon during a Primal Reversion will adopt the same changed color scheme.

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Niantic

• You cannot have a Mega Evolution and a Primal Reversion active at the same time, and using one will disable the other if it’s currently active (thanks ThunderDragon356 on reddit for confirming).
• To underline the similarity between the two features, Mega Evolutions and Primal Reversion share the same filter in the in-game Pokédex.

During the Go Tour Hoenn weekend, can also encounter Latios or Latias and regionals Torkoal, Tropius, and Relicanth.