Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: How to evolve Primeape into Annihilape

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have thrown a lot of new Pokemon our way and many of them have some truly bizarre ways to evolve. Whether you’re putting in the leg work to evolve Pawmo, or saving up to get your Gimmeghoul something nice, it’s not always as straightforward as previous games.

But they also threw some love to some returning Pokemon. Girafarig was revealed to have finally gotten a new evolution along with a few others. But one that really surprised me is the impressively dark final evolution for Primeape. And boy do I mean final.

Mankey and Primeape have been around since the OG 150 and have always been the poster Pokemon for uncontrollable rage. Primeape is said to often die from their uncontrollable anger and the only time you can see a peaceful expression on their face is when they die. I’m not exaggerating, this is canon lore. So where do you go from there? You probably know but don’t want to admit it.

Primeape gets a new evolution in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet known as Annihilape, which is a fighting/ghost type. Oh no. Pokemon Scarlet’s Pokedex describes it by stating: “When its anger rose beyond a critical point, this Pokémon gained power that is unfettered by the limits of its physical body.”

So, you know… its anger lived beyond its physical form. That is dark.

And if you want this living reminder of taking a deep breath from time to time on your team, here’s how to go about it.

In order to get Annihilape, you’ll first need Primeape, which is an evolution of Mankey. Once you catch Mankey, level it up to 28 and it will evolve into Primeape.

From there, you’re going to want to get your Primeape to level 35, when it will learn Rage Fist. If it doesn’t, go into its move list and have it remember moves and you’ll see it there. That’ll happen if it levels up in “Let’s Go” mode.

From there you need hop into a lot of battles and use Rage Fist 20 times. Do this near a Pokecenter as Rage Fist only has 10PP so you’ll need to restock and not waste an Ether. Once you’ve completed the 20th strike and ended the battle, this happens.

And now you have the angry ghost Annihilape on your team. The Fighting/Ghost type is a fun combo too as it’s weak against Flying, Ghost, Psychic, and Fairy but strong against Poison, Rock, and Bug as well as completely immune to both Normal AND Fighting-type moves.