'Pokémon Go' Special Evolution Items: 4 weeks of King's Rocks only is item drop-rate hell

The introduction of Pokémon Go's special evolutionary items added an interesting twist to the mobile game. Instead of simply saving up enough Pokémon candy to spark an evolution, items like Dragon Scale, Upgrade and Metal Coat add another layer to the evolution process, evolving Pokémon like Seadra, Porygon and Scyther (respectively). The rarity of these items makes obtaining them frustrating. More frustrating: getting the same damn thing every single time.

Pokémon Go special evolution items: The same item. Every damn time.

Niantic introduced evolutionary items into Pokémon Go back in February, but it was only in mid-March that they changed the drop rate for obtaining evolutionary items. Instead of potentially getting an evolutionary item whenever you spin a Pokéstop once a day for seven days, now it's guaranteed. Here are the results of two months of rare evolutionary items.

Evolutionary items are kept at the very bottom of the list. As you can see, beneath the egg incubator are four King's Rocks and simply a button to exit the item menu. In the game's eagerness to give me the royal treatment, it's deprived me of literally every other special evolution item. Despite the fact that it knows my favorite Pokémon is Scizor. 

In full disclosure, not all of the King's Rocks have come from day-seven spins. Before Niantic changed the drop rate, King's Rocks would sometimes appear from PokéStops out of nowhere. While casually playing the game, I'd go inside my bag and notice yet another evolutionary item I already had, because if you have three King's Rocks, it's paramount that you have a fourth to add to your collection.

If I were interested in obtaining Politoed or Slowking, having four King's Rocks would be a glorious blessing. Thank Arceus for this magical gift!

But that simply isn't the case. It's unclear how one is supposed to catch 'em all when you can't even catch all the evolutionary items. So let this stand as a cautionary tale: virtual items won't ever bring you happiness, no matter how numerous they may be. That is, unless that item is a Metal Coat.

Check out more Pokémon Go news and coverage

If you're just booting up your Pokémon Go account, check out our first impressions of the Gen 2 update. You'll also want to learn more about the Unown and new evolutionary items like the Sun Stone and more. If you're looking for a list of evolutions that weren't initially revealed by Niantic, this article is your guide. 

If you're more interested in the main games, here's the latest on a possible Pokémon title on the Nintendo Switch: Pokémon Stars. And if you're itching to learn about the other mobile Nintendo games, check out our coverage of Fire Emblem Heroes and Super Mario Run.