What is the 'love' requirement to evolve Riolu, and how can I quickly increase it?

Question

Some Pokemon need to be raised with love to evolve right? Well, if it is possible, I'd like to evolve my Riolu at Level 2, but I don't think I can get enough love into one level. That's where Pokemon Amie comes in.

If I raise Riolu's Affection to 5 hearts and level it up once, will it evolve?

Answer 1

Affection and friendship are two separate things! Friendship is gathered from things like levelling, using items or giving massages. Some examples:

• Walking 128 steps 2 / 2 / 1
• Wing 3 / 2 / 1
• Vitamin 5 / 3 / 2
• Message 5 (74% of the time) 10 (20%) 30 (6%)
• EV lowering berries 10 / 5 / 2
• Soothing bag (from Super Training) 20

The first number is with a friendship between 0 and 99. The second between 100 and 199, and the third 200-255. Information how much exactly and what different kinds is on Bulbapedia.

Pokemon Amie is for affection. The only Pokemon right now that evolves with affection is Eevee (into Sylveon, while also knowing a Fairy type move). The different effects are the following (from Bulbapedia):

• At affection level 2 and higher

  • a Pokémon will gain 1.2 times the normal experience from battles.

• At affection level 4 and higher, a Pokémon can sometimes:

  • Avoid attacks, even when they have 100% accuracy. This can activate multiple times per turn.
  • Endure attacks that could otherwise make it faint and survive with 1 HP (including confusion damage). This can activate multiple times per turn.
  • Shake off status conditions at the end of the turn.

• At affection level 5 and higher, a Pokémon can sometimes:

  • Have higher chance of critical hits.

How do you evolve your Riolu at level 2?

So if you want to evolve your Riolu at level 2, you can give him berries, or walk an enormous amount of steps. You'll need a friendship of 220 before it evolves, and you gain 1 friendship every 256 steps. That will be 56064 steps. You can also use vitamins or EV lowering berries to reduce this amount of steps. Good luck!

Answer 2

A fast way to increase Friendship is give your Pokemon the Soothe Bell, which boosts friendship gained, then activate Befriending Power level 3 and ride your bike for a while.

To check Friendship value, go to the lady in Verdanturf Town. She will look at the Pokémon in the front of your party and she will tell you how happy it is with various statements.

If you need to know how items and specific actions affect Friendship value (for example, EV lowering berries and massages), you can find a useful table here.

Notes:

• Befriending Power is given to the player by the Hipster in the Mauville City Pokémon Center after listening to his trendy words for the first time. The Hipster will only appear once the player has the Dynamo Badge.
• Soothe Bell is obtained if you show a friendly Pokemon to the woman in Pokemon Fan Club, in Slateport City.
• Massage girl is located on the western part of the ground floor of the Mauville City shopping area is this stall.