I’m having trouble bathing my Midday Lycanroc, since he’s a Rock-type. How do I keep him clean?

Provide him with a dust bath, not a water bath, anonymous. In the wild, lycanroc (and rockruff, for that matter) roll around in volcanic ash in order to clean themselves, and this can be simulated in domestic settings, either by spreading commercially sold pokémon dust in a manmade sand pit or by simply leaving a bare patch of dirt in your lawn, depending on whether or not you live in a dust-heavy environment. Either way, be sure to clean your lycanroc’s bathing area regularly by raking the used dust away and replacing it with new dust every few days.

It’s also highly recommended that you follow up your lycanroc’s dust bath with a thorough brushing to remove excess dust.

This may seem like it’s not enough, but really, a thorough dust bath clears oils and dirt off the fur, scrubs the skin beneath clean, and knocks off and suffocates parasites. It will actually be perfectly sufficient unless your lycanroc is too weak to bathe himself or too caked in dirt for a dust bath to be effective. In these cases, you may need to use a water bath as well, but be sure to keep your lycanroc’s rock collar as dry as possible. Moreover, it’s imperative to follow up with a dust bath anyway, either by allowing your lycanroc to administer one himself or by helping your lycanroc to roll in his dust pit. This will help draw out any moisture from his fur and allow his body to dry.

I have two brother rockruffs and after discussing evolution with them I found out that one wants to become the midday form and the other midnight. I have done research and discovered that the midday likes to be alone, and the midnight form tends to provoke others into fights. They are well trained, but like typical brothers they tend to get into mild fights, I was just wondering how big of a problem I’m going to have when they evolve.

When it comes to two wild rockruff, the answer to this question would be rather complicated, but luckily, what we have here instead are a pair of tame rockruff. This means that your rockruff grew up feeling safe and secure, under the guidance of a trainer who very clearly cares about them. Thus, even though you may have heard things about either lycanroc’s aggressive nature, those facts are a bit more applicable to wild lycanroc, especially with regards to the midnight form. If you, as a trainer, manage to raise a midnight form lycanroc from its final, more rebellious days as a rockruff, that lycanroc will remember that you did this, so he’ll be more inclined to listen to you when you tell him to stop fighting his brother. (Midday lycanroc are very given to obeying orders from the outset, regardless of who trained them or how they were trained.)

At the same time, I also feel it’s highly important to note the nature of siblings. Speaking from personal experience, when you have two siblings who evolve (or, well, in the case of the example I’m thinking of, grow up) to be two completely different beings with polar opposite personalities, you may think that they would never get along. It’s true that fights are inevitable, as you’re correct in saying these are simply part of the experience of being a sibling. However, if the fights are never truly bitter or violent, then it’s very likely that a sort of undercurrent of familial love exists between them. That is to say, while it’s in the nature of two siblings to fight, it’s also in the nature of two siblings give their left arms for each other. Or in other words, siblings may bicker, but they will very rarely actually want to hurt each other, no matter how tense their relationship with one another may be.

Or to answer your question simply, I doubt those two will be a problem, anonymous. As always, keep close watch on them shortly after evolution and perhaps encourage them to take their fighting outside (just in case), but if I’m correct about their relationship, then the most trouble you may see would be some mild sparring with each other.

Can I evolve both my rockruffs into the different forms of Lycanroc or will this make them fight? Would it be better if theybecame the same one?

Allow me to answer your second question first. It depends on the form. Midnight lycanroc are generally lone wolves (excuse the pun) and will fight anything within its line of sight, including other midnight lycanroc. Midday lycarnroc, on the other hand, are highly loyal, including and especially to other midday lycanroc and rockruff. Consequently, if you have two midday lycanroc in the same room, they will most likely form a pack and get along perfectly, even if they were originally from two completely different packs.

However, to answer your first question, things aren’t quite as simple as that. While the above is true for wild lycanroc, tame lycanroc typically respond to memories instilled in them as rockruff. That is to say, if two rockruff were raised by a single trainer, evolving into two different lycanroc will not make them fight—not normally, anyway. There may be some tension, and if the rockruff didn’t get along before evolving, that will continue after their evolution. But if your rockruff had gotten along quite well before evolution, they will indeed continue to get along, even if one is a midnight and the other is a midday.

Still, always be prepared to moderate any potential bickering over food, water, or sleeping locations. Just in case.

Hi Bill, Canalave dark-type specialist here! There’s recently been a load of trainers getting Rockruff on their holidays so there’ve been a load of them evolving into midnight form around. I’ve had a lot of their owners asking me for advice on them because of their similarity to dark types so I was wondering how similar they really are? I tend to think of them as honorary dark types and they seem to get along well with them. they love sparring with my Tyranintar and hanging out with my Mightyena

Hello again! Excellent to see you settling into Sinnoh so well!

To answer your question, while it’s true that on the surface, midnight lycanroc can sometimes resemble dark-type pokémon, in truth, they have about as many similarities to members of that element as midday lycanroc. In terms of battle capabilities, midnight lycanroc’s elemental balances and lean towards defense over offense (physical attributes aside) are actually reminiscent of a rock-type, and its favored battling style (aggressive, direct assaults) diverges from a dark-type’s general preference for sneak or mob attacks. In fact, regarding the latter, midnight lycanroc actually more resembles a fighting-type like lucario than it does a dark-type.

However, off the battlefield, the comparison is apt, given the typical lycanroc’s generally aggressive and sometimes difficult-to-tame nature. For this reason, if trainers are asking you for tips on caring for a midnight lycanroc, it’s fair to advise them to take care of theirs the same way you would a dark-type. (The only difference, really, is that lycanroc should be allowed to self-groom, due to their rock element—that is, only give them baths if absolutely necessary.) If, however, trainers are asking you for tips on raising a battle-ready lycanroc, it’s important to remind them that it is a rock-type and should be raised as such.

Do growlithes or rockruffs make better travel companions ? What about service animals?

This is difficult to say, anonymous, because they both have fantastically similar dispositions. Both are extremely loyal, friendly, and easy to train, both require exactly the same kind of care, and both have excellent hearing and senses of smell, among other physical attributes.

As a traveling companion, it really depends on which region you’re starting in. For many regions, beginning with a fire-type is a bit more challenging than beginning with a rock-type. Additionally, in some regions, the fire stones growlithe need to evolve are rare to nonexistent, which only adds to the challenge. On the other hand, just because rockruff may pose less of a challenge when it comes to the gym circuit and evolution doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be difficult to handle overall. While it’s true that lycanroc are generally more powerful than arcanine, they’re also generally more fragile as well, and rock-types have more weaknesses than fire-types. Likewise, the midnight form of lycanroc are notoriously rowdier but also slower than either its midday counterpart or arcanine.

As a service pokémon, it’s roughly even … but there’s a footnote to this. Growlithe is slightly easier to train than rockruff when it comes to getting them to heel and work, but rockruff have the ability to sense when their trainers are in need of emotional support, which makes rockruff slightly better as an emotional support pokémon than growlithe. However, growlithe are highly difficult to evolve, so they rarely need retraining because they’ll often remain growlithe for their entire lives. Rockruff, on the other hand, evolve by field experience, which means they can evolve at any time if they’re not wearing specialized collars equipped with everstones. This is dangerous because both of its evolutionary forms may pose a risk to their human partners. Obviously, midnight lycanroc are naturally hot-blooded and must be retrained to heel. Otherwise, they have a tendency to run off and challenge practically any pokémon that wanders into their line of sight. Midday lycanroc, meanwhile, are highly obedient and loyal and thus don’t actually need retraining … it’s just that their manes contain extremely sharp and long rocks that can damage property or anyone that touches them. If these manes are trimmed and smoothed down, then they’re actually fantastic choices for service pokémon, but it’s very rare to find a lycanroc who will sit through such a procedure.

Rockruff and Lycanroc

Rockruff
The Puppy Pokémon
Type: Rock
Official Registration #: 744
Entry: Thought to be the cousin of growlithe, this small, puppy-like pokémon possesses very much the same disposition. It is highly loyal, and it’s very fond of humans. As such, it’s considered one of the easier pokémon for beginning trainers to start off with, as its loyal and agreeable disposition make it easy to teach rockruff new tricks. For this reason, rockruff is also generally considered to be a Good Dog.

Lycanroc (Midday Form)
The Wolf Pokémon
Type: Rock
Official Registration #: 745
Entry: The evolved form of rockruff, by battle experience, if trained during the day. Exposing rockruff to sunlight during its evolution causes it to evolve into a quadrupedal form of lycanroc. This form retains a lot of the same loyalty and agreeable disposition as its preevolved form, and as such, this pokémon is considered to be a stalwart battler and excellent companion. However, be warned: while it normally uses the sharp rocks around its collar as weapons, some retain the tendency to rub these rocks against their trainers as a form of affection. Considering the fact that these rocks can grow to be a foot long and roughly as sharp as knives, this may result in unfortunate mishaps. Nonetheless, this form of lycanroc is still generally considered to be a Good Dog.

Lycanroc (Midnight Form)
The Wolf Pokémon
Type: Rock
Official Registration #: 745
Entry: The evolved form of rockruff, by battle experience, if trained during the night. Allowing rockruff to evolve under the cover of night causes it to assume a more violent, impulsive form. While this form of lycanroc loses its rocky collar, it gains a hard head, which it uses to smash its opponents into submission after it goads them into attacking. Well aware of its boots in power, midnight lycanroc actively seeks opponents and will attack without being ordered to, rendering this form of lycanroc highly difficult to tame and train. However, despite the comparative difficulties of training this form (as opposed to rockruff or midday lycanroc), midnight lycanroc is not considered to be a Bad Dog but rather a Not Quite Great But Still Pretty All Right Dog.