The mascot of the Lonely Isle of Armor DLC in Pokémon Sword and Shield is Kubfu, a small legendary Pokémon that resembles a grizzly bear. It is a Fighting-type Pokémon that draws motivation from defeat, training hard after each defeat to get stronger and stronger. We talked about it briefly during our review, but this guide is more detailed and focused on how to get it and make it evolve.
How to get Kubfu
The legendary Kubfu will be given to us automatically by the master Mustard as soon as you pass the three tests of the Dojo. These are very simple and consist of:
- Capture the master's three Galar Slowpokes
- Finding Mushrooms Max
- Defeat in a battle in the Dojo Sofora or Savory, rivals of Sword and Shield respectively
To catch Mustard's strangely fast and specially trained Slowpokes, you'll need to head to the grassy area right after the Dojo. The Pokémon will be signaled by clouds of dust raised by their speed, all you have to do is catch them and defeat them in battle.
Mustard will then challenge us to be the first to bring back special mushrooms that only grow on the Lonely Isle of Armor. They will be used to prepare a special soup, the Zuppamax, which for gameplay is used to Gigamaxize all the Pokémon that have the ability, such as our eighth generation starters. The mushrooms, large and pink in color, are found in a cave near the Tower of Darkness (the red one) but before you tear them from the ground you will have to defeat Sophora or Savory.
The third and final test consists in another fight against one's rival, which takes place in an exceptional place. Sophora will use Poison-type Pokémon, while Savory will use Psychic-type Pokémon.
Once you pass the third test Mustard will deliver us the most precious treasure of the island - Kubfu, complete with a nice presentation.
How to evolve Kubfu into Urshifu
Kubfu will be given to us at level 10 and is very shy: the master will then instruct us to make friends with Kubfu, which is the only way to ensure that the Pokémon can climb one of the two Towers on the Lonely Island of Armor and become Urshifu.
The first step is to become best friends; to do this objects such as Calmanella or methods such as Sword and Shield Pokécamping have practically no use because achieving this goal is even easier than that: just bring Kubfu with you and stop at two panoramic points of the island, marked on the map in the form of exclamation marks. The viewpoints are also marked by members of the Dojo nearby.
Once you have reached a high level of affinity with Kubfu it will be time to return to Mustard, detaching him from the Nintendo Switch. The master, given the strong bond, will consider us worthy to advance to the last real test of the island, the Challenge of the Two Towers.
On the Solitary Isle of Armor there are two towers, the Dark Tower (red) and Water Tower (blue). To make Kubfu evolve you have to choose which Tower to climb (the other will close forever): the decision is fundamental because it determines the final form of Urshifu, the evolution of Kubfu.
Choosing the Dark Tower Kubfu will evolve into Urshifu Single Strike (Fight / Dark type); choosing instead the Water tower it will evolve into Urshifu Pluricolpo (Fight / Water type). We advise you to bring Kubfu to at least level 70 to be on par with the five floors of the Tower: the peculiarity of this challenge is that the other Pokémon will be deposited in the box, only you and Kubfu can enter the door. Once you have conquered the tower you can make Kubfu evolve to your liking by interacting with the scroll behind the last trainer, and thus make him become Urshifu.
The stats between the two Pokémon are the same; what changes, besides the pose, is the peculiar move. An Urshifu who has followed the path of darkness can deliver a strong single blow (Darkfist), while an Urshifu who has followed the path of the waters can deliver a combination of three blows (Hydroraff). Both always guarantee a critical hit. Urshifu's signature ability is Invisible Fists, which ignores moves like Protection or Detect.
And Urshifu Gigamax?
Urshifu is one of the Pokémon capable of gigamaxizing. To allow the Legendary Pokémon and use it in battles in this form comes the Zuppamax which we mentioned earlier. Legend has it that Urshifu doesn't like the island's special soup and that the only way to get him to eat it is sweeten it with Miele Max.
The last part of the DLC will therefore be a little trip with Hop to track down this Honey. The first stop will be the forest and after a short curtain with a Petilil, a Lilligant and an Applin, the final destination will be the hexagonal island that can be seen on the map. To collect Honey Max, interact with the large central tree and defeat Vespiquen Dynamax. Once this is done, just bring the honey back to the Dojo, add it to the Zuppamax and be rewarded with Urshifu Gigamax.
I don't want to buy the DLC, can I get the same Kubfu?
Those who do not intend to buy the Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass do not have to give up the new legendary Pokémon and can always hope to receive it with an exchange from someone who has it or try their luck with a prodigious exchange . The chances, however, are very rare, because the Kubfu specimen is unique and being a legendary Pokémon does not lay eggs at the Pokémon pension.
That's all there is to know about how to get Kubfu, evolve it into Urshifu, and allow it to mutate into Urshifu Gigamax. Everything happens simply by following the main adventure proposed by the Lonely Island of Armor, available from June 17 for Nintendo Switch. For our impressions on the first part of the Pokémon Sword and Shield expansion, we refer you again to our test.
► Pokémon Sword and Shield is an RPG type game developed by Game Freak and published by Game Freak Nintendo for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/11/2019
