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Pokémon Sword and Shield: Every Candy and How to Use It

A practical guide to every candy in Pokémon Sword and Shield, including experience yields, Dynamax effects, Milcery evolution, and how to get them.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Pokémon Sword and Shield has candies for four different jobs: raising a level, adding experience, increasing Dynamax HP, and evolving Milcery. Rare Candy and Exp. Candy are not interchangeable, while Alcremie Sweets are evolution items rather than training items. Use the guide below to choose the right one.

Choose a candy by what you want it to do

Goal Use What it changes
Raise a Pokémon exactly one level Rare Candy Raises its level by one
Give a chosen amount of experience Exp. Candy XS, S, M, L, or XL Adds a fixed number of experience points; the level gain depends on the Pokémon
Increase HP while Dynamaxed Dynamax Candy Raises Dynamax Level by one, up to level 10
Evolve Milcery and choose an Alcremie decoration One of the seven Alcremie Sweets Enables the evolution and determines the resulting decoration

These are the candy items covered here. Although broad item indexes may show stat or species candies, their presence in an index does not establish them as normally usable Sword and Shield mechanics.

Rare Candy: raise a Pokémon by exactly one level

Use a Rare Candy from the Bag when you want an immediate one-level increase without gaining experience through battles. The item raises one Pokémon’s level by exactly one; it does not award a fixed experience amount.

Exp. Candy: add a fixed amount of experience

Exp. Candy grants experience directly. Each size has a fixed yield, but the number of levels gained depends on the Pokémon’s current level and experience curve. Bulbapedia lists the following game-mechanic values; its source does not state a publication year.

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Item Experience points
Exp. Candy XS 100
Exp. Candy S 800
Exp. Candy M 3,000
Exp. Candy L 10,000
Exp. Candy XL 30,000

For scale, the item reference gives examples in which one XL Candy takes a level 1 Pokémon to level 31, but takes a level 99 Pokémon only to level 100. Those examples are not a general level-per-candy rule. The official Pokémon Sword and Shield Exp. Candy page also describes using candy to give Pokémon experience points directly.

Getting Exp. Candy

  • Max Raid Battles are the main source. Candy size tracks raid rank, and Exp. Candy XL is restricted to five-star raids.
  • A Wild Area Hiker can offer Exp. Candy in exchange for Watts.
  • Battle Café rewards are another possible source.

Dynamax Candy: increase Dynamax HP

Use Dynamax Candy from the Bag to raise a Pokémon’s Dynamax Level by one. The maximum is level 10. Each level adds HP while the Pokémon is Dynamaxed equal to 5% of its maximum base HP, according to Bulbapedia; no publication year is stated for that mechanic.

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Max Raid Battles at any level can award Dynamax Candy. If you own The Crown Tundra expansion, the Dynite Ore trader in the Max Lair is another route.

  • Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus cannot Dynamax, so Dynamax Candy will not give them this benefit.
  • Shedinja can use the candy, but gains no HP from it.
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Alcremie Sweets: evolve Milcery and select its decoration

The seven Alcremie Sweets are Strawberry, Love, Berry, Clover, Flower, Star, and Ribbon. Give one to Milcery to hold, then trigger its special evolution by spinning. The Sweet determines Alcremie’s decoration and eye color. The spin’s time of day, duration, and direction influence the cream type, so the Sweet does not by itself determine the full form.

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Getting Alcremie Sweets

  • Battle Café rewards can provide Strawberry, Love, Berry, Clover, and Flower Sweets.
  • A Strawberry Sweet pickup is listed in Hammerlocke.
  • The Cram-o-matic in The Isle of Armor and a Watt Trader in The Crown Tundra are also listed routes.

Some routes depend on game version, expansion ownership, or availability. Check that a route applies to your game before relying on it for a particular Sweet.

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Which candy should you use?

  • Choose Rare Candy for an exact one-level increase.
  • Choose Exp. Candy when you want to give experience directly, and select its size based on the amount needed rather than an assumed level gain.
  • Choose Dynamax Candy only when the Pokémon can Dynamax and you want to improve its Dynamax HP.
  • Give Milcery an Alcremie Sweet when you are ready to evolve it and want that Sweet’s decoration.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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