Finding Zorua in 'Pokémon GO' Is Worth the Effort — Here's What the Pokémon Can Be

In October 2022, the Dark-type Pokémon Zorua arrived in Pokémon GO a bit earlier than intended, thanks to a bug during the Shuppet Spotlight Hour. Eventually, developer Niantic resolved the issue, making the tricky fox catchable by its intended method.

The Pokémon debuted in the mainline Gen. V Pokémon Black and White games in 2010 and could evolve into Zoroark when it reached Level 30. With that in mind, Pokémon GO players will likely be eager to know if that applies to their version of the Pokémon in the mobile AR game. Here's what we know.

In Pokémon Black and White, the Dark-type only appeared under special circumstances, and that's still the case in Pokémon GO. The tricky fox Pokémon has a knack for transforming into other Pokémon, similar to Ditto, so it's a given that trying to find one will require some workaround.

On the plus side, the Zorua only mimics your Buddy Pokémon in the mobile game. Knowing that, you can cut back randomly battling Pokémon and instead smartly assign your Buddy Pokémon. The only catch is that setting your Buddy to a common one in your area will make discovering Zorua harder. It's best to assign it as an uncommon, rare, Legendary, Shadow/Purified Pokémon, or a Shiny as your Buddy.

When encountering your Buddy Pokémon out in the wild, there won't be anything notifying you that it could be Zorua. You'll need to battle Pokémon and try catching it first. When you catch it successfully, the usual "Gotcha!" will appear as a unique animation saying, "Oh?" if it's Zorua.

The "Buddy Pokémon" will then transform into Zorua in a similar way to Ditto upon capture and will then be added to your PokéDex.

Zorua can evolve into Zoroark, an illusion fox Pokémon, with a mix of Dark, Normal, Bug, and Psychic-type moves. Its diversity of types makes Zoroark a great addition to any Pokémon team and strong against Ghost and Psychic-type Pokémon, making the grind to evolve Zorua worthwhile.

Speaking of grinding, you'll need 50 Zorua candy to evolve the tricky fox into Zoroark, which players can collect from capturing its base form. Once you have enough, it's as simple as using the items to evolve your Zorua into the illusive Zoroark. As a reminder, you can increase the amount of dandy earned with Pinap Berries.

The only downside to this is that it can be pretty time-consuming. Especially considering the lengths players will need to go to find Zorua in the first place.

You can encounter the Pokémon as a Shiny from the overworld map. This version of Zorua will give away its identity and appear on the map. Aside from its similar moveset, the standard crimson streaks over the Pokémon will be blue for the Shiny, and it will have red eyes instead of blue.

Per usual for other Shinies in the game, your chances of finding one right away are slim. Players likely will engage in multiple battles before catching a glimpse of a Shiny Zorua out and about.