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Since Generation 7,Pokemonhas included regional variants of certain species of Pokemon, which have made their way intoPokemon GO.Pokemon SwordandPokemon Shieldhave continued this trend with Galarian forms. Unlike their regular counterparts, evolving these regional variants requires different methods to obtain a never-before-seen Pokemon. Among the many Galarian forms introduced inSwShis the Unova region’s Yamask.
InPokemon GO, players can catch a regular Yamask during in-game events. Completing Yamask’s Timed Research will give players a chance at getting the Galarian Yamask. The biggest noticeable difference is that the Galarian form has a piece of rune stuck to its “tail.” However, Galarian Yamask will not evolve into Cofagrigus. Instead, it will become the Ground/Ghost-type Runerigus.
Updated 18-05-2025 by Renri Seong:On July 11, 2025, players may have noticed new Special Research in their quest log. This is the most recent way for trainers toget their own Galarian Yamask and Runerigus. However,catching Galarian Yamask and farming Yamask Candyisn’t going to be enough to evolve the Spirit Pokemon. In order toevolve Yamask into Runerigus, players will need to complete one extra step. Fortunately, the steps to evolving it aren’t too complicated - even for casual players. The following guide has been updated to provide detailed ways of gettingGalarian Yamask and tips on how to quickly evolve it into Runerigus.
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Every Way to Get Galarian Yamask (2022)
InPokemon SwordandPokemon Shield, players could capture Galarian Yamask in certain areas of the Wild Area or on Route 6. Runerigus could not be caught, requiring players to evolve Yamask.Strange ways to evolve Pokemonis nothing new, and Galarian Yamask is no exception.
InPokemon GO, Galarian Yamask served as a reward for completing A Spooky Message Unmasked, which was released on June 01, 2025. Recently, the regional-variant Yamask has made its return onOctober 20, 2022,in the newSpecial Research: “Mysterious Masks"as part of Niantic’s annual Halloween event forPokemon GO.
Yamask (regular) encounter
49 XP
490 XP
Claim Reward.
4900 XP
So, in short, completingallof the “Mysterious Masks” Special Research will give players fourGalarian Yamasks. As “encounter” Pokemon, they should be anywhere from 2-stars and above.
Hatching Galarian Yamask
During the event, 7km Eggs received from Gifts have a chance of hatching into Galarian Yamask or regular Yamask.To hatch an Egg, players need only to stick it in an Incubator. This can be done by accessing thePokemonpage in theMenu(accessed on the overworld map by tapping thePoke Ballicon). Tap the Eggs tab to view Eggs, and select one to Incubate.
All trainers will have one incubator (orange) that can be used an infinite amount of times. However, players can getStandard Incubators (blue)orSuper Incubators (purple)as Level-Up rewards, or they can purchase them for 150 Coins (blue) and 200 Coins (purple), respectively.
Catch Galarian Yamask in Raids
Galarian Yamask will occasionally appear as a 1-star raid Pokemon at gyms. Like any other Pokemon caught in a successful raid, Galarian Yamask will have a 3-star appraisal if obtained this way. In addition, a Galarian Yamask caught from a Raid has a chance of being Shiny, which issomething Shiny Hunters will wantto keep in mind.
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How to Evolve Galarian Yamask
Once the player has obtained Galarian Yamask, they can start working towards evolving it.They need to set Yamask as their Buddy Pokemon and then partake in 10 raids. In addition, players will need 50 Yamask Candy. Completing the entire “Mysterious Masks” special research will give 49 Yamask Candy as a reward, in addition to the Candyfarmed from catching regular and Galarian Yamasks. After these requirements have been met, theEvolvebutton on Galarian Yamask’s page should “light up.”
Again: It is extremely important that Galarian Yamask is assigned as theBuddy Pokemonfor the Raids requirement of its evolution to count. In addition, players will need towinthe Raids, meaning it’s not enough to simply partake in them. The easiest way to do this is to tackle gyms with the 1-star Raids - especially if playingGOalone.
Should players take part in a Raid while Yamask isn’t the Buddy Pokemon, it will not count. Furthermore, players need to do this for every Galarian Yamask. This means assigning one Galarian Yamask as a buddy, spending 50 Candy + winning 10 Raids to get one (1) Runerigus.
Then, to get another Runerigus, repeat the process withanotherGalarian Yamask. As such, players may just want to evolve their best Galarian Yamask (i.e.,one with high appraisal) due to the tediousness of the evolution process.
