The first fixed, non-random Sun Stone in Pokémon X comes from a Hiker in Shalour City, who trades it for the Intriguing Stone that Tierno gives you on Shalour’s beach. Talk to him by the stairs east of the Pokémon Center once you’ve battled your rival at the Tower of Mastery. That’s before the third Gym. The second is a Poké Ball on Route 13, in a small ravine you reach on the grind rail, west of the stairs just outside the Lumiose City gate. The third is hidden in the bush just right of the Anistar City Sundial, and the Dowsing Machine can help you find it. No shop in Kalos sells Sun Stones. For more, try the Drag Down Hydreigon! Secret Super Training regimen, Psychic Inver’s daily battle on Route 18, a Pokémon with Pickup, or a wild Solrock in Glittering Cave. Pokémon Y has the same sources in the same places.
This page covers Pokémon X and Pokémon Y on Nintendo 3DS and 2DS, versions 1.0 to 1.5. None of the updates moved any items. Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, Sun, Moon and Legends: Z-A have their own maps and their own Sun Stone spots, so those locations don’t apply here.
Every way to get a Sun Stone in Pokémon X and Y
| Source | When you can get it | How many |
|---|---|---|
| Hiker in Shalour City, for the Intriguing Stone | After your rival battle at the Tower of Mastery, before the third Gym | 1 |
| Poké Ball on Route 13, in the ravine by the stairs outside the Lumiose City gate | When you cross Route 13 after the fourth Gym | 1 |
| Hidden item in Anistar City, bush right of the Sundial | When you reach Anistar City | 1 |
| Secret Super Training: Drag Down Hydreigon! | Any time, once one of your Pokémon is Fully Trained | As many as you like, on top results |
| Psychic Inver, Inverse House on Route 18 | When Route 18 opens, once a day | Random: one of ten stones for a score of 7 to 9 |
| Pickup Ability | Any time, with a Pickup Pokémon at level 31 or higher | Random |
| Wild Solrock in Glittering Cave | From Route 9 on, before the second Gym | 5% held item (20% with Compound Eyes) |
The Sun Stone is not for sale anywhere in Kalos. The Stone Emporium in Lumiose City only sells Fire, Water and Leaf Stones. If you end up with a spare Sun Stone, any shop buys it for $1,050.
Sun Stone 1: the Hiker in Shalour City
This is the first fixed, non-random Sun Stone, and you can’t miss the item that pays for it. When you walk onto the big beach in Shalour City, Tierno runs up and gives you the Intriguing Stone. Your friends hope it’s a Mega Stone, but at the Tower of Mastery you’re told it’s just an ordinary rock. It goes into the Key Items pocket and does nothing on its own.
Go to the Tower of Mastery at the end of the beach and battle your rival (Calem or Serena). Then come back into town. A Hiker stands by the stairs east of the Pokémon Center. He’s been looking for an “intriguing stone” and can’t find one. Talk to him, he takes the Intriguing Stone and gives you a Sun Stone. You get one per save file.
You don’t need to beat Korrina first. The trade works as soon as your rival battle at the tower is over, so you can evolve a Helioptile or a Gloom before the Shalour Gym.
Sun Stone 2: the ravine on Route 13
Route 13, the Lumiose Badlands, is the dusty route between Coumarine City and Lumiose City, with the Kalos Power Plant at its far end. You cross it after Ramos’s Gym, on your way back to Lumiose for Clemont. The Sun Stone is a normal, visible Poké Ball. It sits at the end of a small ravine west of the stairs just outside the Lumiose City gate.
You can’t walk into the ravine from the sand. Put on your Roller Skates (you got them in Santalune City) and ride the grind rail beside it. The rail drops you inside, and the ball is in the ravine. Route 13 has more items, including a Rare Candy and TM57 (Charge Beam), but both sit behind cracked rocks, so bring a Pokémon that knows Rock Smash.
The ball isn’t in the open desert near the Power Plant, so don’t search the sand around the plant. If you’ve left Route 13 without it, leave Lumiose City through the Route 13 gate and go down the stairs. The ravine is just west of them.
Sun Stone 3: hidden by the Anistar Sundial
The last free Sun Stone is a hidden item. You don’t need the Dowsing Machine to pick it up, but it helps. A Swimmer on Route 8 gives you one after you clear Glittering Cave. Walk up to the Sundial in the plaza at the top of Anistar City. Stand in front of the giant crystal and look at the round hedges on its right side. The stone is in the bush closest to the crystal. Press A facing that bush, or switch on the Dowsing Machine and follow it until it beeps fast.
You can grab it as soon as you reach Anistar City, before Olympia’s Gym. If the bush gives you nothing, you’ve already picked it up. Check the Items pocket of your Bag.
The best early use: Helioptile into Heliolisk
Helioptile is the obvious early Sun Stone target, and the timing works out well. Catch it in the rough terrain (the rocky patches) on Route 9, the Spikes Passage you ride on Rhyhorn before Glittering Cave. It shows up at level 15 to 17, about one encounter in five. Route 9 comes before the second Gym and the Shalour trade comes after it, so you can have a Heliolisk before the third Gym.
Helioptile only evolves with a Sun Stone. It never evolves by level, so don’t wait for it. Clemont, the fifth Gym Leader in Lumiose City, uses a level 37 Heliolisk of his own after Emolga and Magneton at level 35.
How to get more Sun Stones
The three free stones are gone once you’ve used them. To evolve a second Bellossom or a whole team of Grass types, use one of the sources below. None of them is guaranteed every time, but Super Training and Pickup don’t have a daily limit.
Secret Super Training: Drag Down Hydreigon!
Super Training is on the Touch Screen from the start. Its secret regimens open once one of your Pokémon is Fully Trained, meaning it has the full 510 effort points. Using a Reset Bag on it later doesn’t take the secret regimens away. The regimens unlock one at a time, and Drag Down Hydreigon! is the 11th of the 12, so clear the ten before it first.
Beating it inside the target time always pays one prize, picked from Pretty Wing, Lemonade, Stardust, Sun Stone, Moon Stone and PP Up. The more you beat the target time by, the better your odds of a rare one like the stones. It’s still random, so if you get Stardust, play it again.
Psychic Inver on Route 18
Psychic Inver lives in the Inverse House on Route 18, the route between Anistar City and Couriway Town. Route 18 opens after you defeat Team Flare in Geosenge Town. He battles you once a day with the type chart flipped. His Pokémon are level 55, or 65 after the Hall of Fame. Your score goes up for each super-effective hit and down for each not-very-effective one, and the prize depends on the final score:
| Score | Prize |
|---|---|
| 0 | Oran Berry |
| 1 to 3 | Sitrus Berry |
| 4 to 6 | A type-resist Berry |
| 7 to 9 | One of: Fire, Water, Leaf, Thunder, Moon, Sun, Shiny, Dusk or Dawn Stone, or an Everstone |
| 10 or more | Rare Candy |
If none of your Pokémon faint, you get three of the prize instead of one. Aim for 7 to 9, not the highest score you can manage, and stop attacking with super-effective moves once you’re in range.
Pickup
A Pokémon with the Pickup Ability that isn’t holding anything sometimes finds an item after a battle, about one battle in ten. What it finds depends on its own level. Sun Stones are on the list from level 31 up: 4% of finds at level 31 to 50, and 10% at level 51 and above. Bunnelby has Pickup and is easy to catch on Routes 2, 3, 5 and 22. Zigzagoon on Route 2 can have it too. Check the Ability on its summary screen, keep a few in your party with empty hands, and look through them every so often.
Wild Solrock in Glittering Cave
Solrock lives in the first part of Glittering Cave, off Route 9, in both X and Y. It’s level 17 and appears about one encounter in ten, the same rate as Lunatone. A wild Solrock holds a Sun Stone 5% of the time. Lead with a Pokémon that has Compound Eyes, such as Vivillon or Butterfree, and that goes up to 20%. Then take the stone with Thief (TM46, from a house in Camphrier Town) or catch the Solrock and take its item from the party menu. Lunatone carries Moon Stones the same way.
Which method to use
| Your situation | Best option |
|---|---|
| You just reached Shalour City and want Heliolisk now | Trade the Intriguing Stone to the Hiker after your rival battle |
| You need a second stone before Lumiose City | Pick up the Route 13 ball, or farm Solrock in Glittering Cave with a Compound Eyes lead |
| You have a Fully Trained Pokémon | Farm Drag Down Hydreigon! in Super Training |
| Route 18 is open | Fight Inver once a day for a score of 7 to 9 |
| Your team is level 50 or higher | Carry a Pickup Pokémon while you train |
What the Sun Stone evolves in X and Y
| Pokémon | Evolves into | Where to find it in X and Y |
|---|---|---|
| Gloom | Bellossom | Catch Oddish on Route 6 and level it to 21. Gloom also appears in Poison-type Friend Safaris, and Oddish in Grass-type ones. |
| Sunkern | Sunflora | Grass-type Friend Safaris |
| Cottonee | Whimsicott | Not in the wild in X or Y. You need to trade one in. |
| Petilil | Lilligant | Grass-type Friend Safaris |
| Helioptile | Heliolisk | Route 9, rough terrain, level 15 to 17 |
Open the Bag, pick the Sun Stone and choose the Pokémon. The evolution starts right away, B can’t stop it, and the stone is used up. Giving the stone to a Pokémon to hold does nothing. For the Friend Safari Pokémon, see our Friend Safari types list.
Gloom: Bellossom or Vileplume?
Gloom has two branches. A Sun Stone makes Bellossom, a pure Grass type. A Leaf Stone makes Vileplume, which stays Grass and Poison. The stone can’t be undone, so decide before you use it. Leaf Stones are the easy ones to replace, since the Stone Emporium sells them for $2,100.
Eevee doesn’t use a Sun Stone
The Sun Stone has no effect on Eevee. Espeon comes from friendship. Level up a very friendly Eevee during the day. Our Espeon page has the full steps.
Troubleshooting
- The Shalour Hiker just says he’s looking for something. You don’t have the Intriguing Stone. Tierno gives it to you on the Shalour beach. Check your Key Items pocket.
- The Hiker isn’t there. Battle your rival at the Tower of Mastery first, then go back to the stairs east of the Pokémon Center.
- I can’t reach the Route 13 ball. You have to ride the grind rail with your Roller Skates. Walking won’t get you into the ravine.
- The bush by the Sundial is empty. Try the bush right next to the crystal on its right side. If that one is empty, you already have the stone.
- The Stone Emporium doesn’t sell it. It never will. It only sells Fire, Water and Leaf Stones.
- The Sun Stone won’t work on my Pokémon. Only Gloom, Sunkern, Cottonee, Petilil and Helioptile react to it in X and Y. Oddish has to reach level 21 and become Gloom first.
- A guide sends you to Wild Zones, Poni Island or Hoenn. That guide is about Legends: Z-A, Sun and Moon or Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. This page only covers X and Y. For Alola, see our Sun and Moon evolution stones page.
Trading for Cottonee and extra stones in 2026
Nintendo Network shut down for 3DS games on April 8, 2024. The GTS, Wonder Trade and online trades in X and Y no longer work. Every Sun Stone source on this page still works offline. To get a Cottonee, or to hand a spare Sun Stone to a friend, trade by local wireless with someone in the same room. Friend Safari still works with friends already on your 3DS friend list.
FAQ
Where is the Sun Stone in Pokémon X?
There are three free ones. The Hiker in Shalour City trades one for the Intriguing Stone, a Poké Ball on Route 13 sits in the ravine west of the stairs outside the Lumiose City gate, and one is hidden in the bush right of the Anistar City Sundial.
Are the Sun Stones in the same places in Pokémon Y?
Yes. The Shalour Hiker, Route 13, Anistar City, Super Training, Psychic Inver, Pickup and Solrock are the same in X and Y.
What is the first guaranteed Sun Stone in Pokémon X?
The Shalour City trade. Battle your rival at the Tower of Mastery, then give the Intriguing Stone to the Hiker. That’s before Korrina, the third Gym Leader. You can get one even earlier from a wild Solrock’s held item in Glittering Cave or from Secret Super Training, but neither is guaranteed.
Can I buy a Sun Stone in Lumiose City?
No. The Stone Emporium only sells Fire, Water and Leaf Stones, at $2,100 each. No shop in Kalos sells Sun Stones.
What do I do with the Intriguing Stone?
Give it to the Hiker by the stairs east of the Shalour City Pokémon Center. He trades you a Sun Stone for it. It isn’t a Mega Stone and has no other use.
How do I evolve Helioptile in Pokémon X?
Use a Sun Stone on it from the Bag. Helioptile never evolves by leveling up. Catch it in the rough terrain on Route 9.
How do I get more Sun Stones?
Farm the Drag Down Hydreigon! Secret Super Training regimen, fight Psychic Inver on Route 18 once a day for a score of 7 to 9, carry a Pickup Pokémon at level 31 or higher, or take one from a wild Solrock in Glittering Cave.
What Pokémon does the Sun Stone evolve in X and Y?
Gloom into Bellossom, Sunkern into Sunflora, Cottonee into Whimsicott, Petilil into Lilligant and Helioptile into Heliolisk.
Missing other stones? See the Dusk Stone and Shiny Stone pages. For wild Pokémon on Route 6, Route 9 and Glittering Cave, open the Kalos map, or look up any species in the Kalos Pokédex.