Pokémon Legends: Z-A Budew Guide – How to Find, Catch Evolve

Budew is one of those Pokémon that looks adorable but is genuinely frustrating to catch. This tiny baby Grass-type flees the instant it spots you, spawns in limited locations, and requires friendship evolution to transform into Roselia. If you’re working on completing your Pokédex or collecting Grass-types for Mable’s Research Challenges, you’ll need to hunt down Budew eventually.

I spent way too long chasing Budew around rooftops before figuring out the optimal catching strategy. Let me save you that headache with this complete guide to finding, catching, and evolving Budew into Roserade.

Table of Contents

Where to Find Budew in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Budew is a Grass-type Pokémon with specific habitat preferences. According to the Pokédex lore, it prefers sunny, isolated locations where it can photosynthesize without human interference—which explains why it’s so skittish around trainers.

Primary Budew Location: Wild Zone 2

Best spawn point: Entrance area of Wild Zone 2

Unlock requirement: Complete Main Mission 5

Time availability: All times of day (despite preferring sunlight, it spawns day and night)

Wild Zone 2 is your guaranteed Budew spawn and the easiest place to catch one for basic Pokédex completion. Check our Wild Zone 2 complete guide for full details on all Pokémon in this area.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Budew Guide – How to Find, Catch & Evolve to Roserade

Alternative Budew Locations: Vert District Rooftops

If you’re Shiny hunting or want multiple Budew for different purposes (trading, evolution variations, etc.), you have more options.

Secondary spawn locations:

Rooftops of buildings surrounding Wild Zone 2
Vert District rooftop areas

Other Pokémon sharing these rooftops:

Vivillon
Pidgey
Cleffa (also rare and worth catching—see our Cleffa evolution guide)

Why rooftops matter: These elevated areas have different spawn tables than ground-level zones. Many baby Pokémon and evolved forms appear exclusively on rooftops, making vertical exploration essential. Check our all Wild Zones guide for more rooftop spawn patterns.

How to Catch Budew: The Skittish Problem

Here’s the challenge: Budew is extremely skittish and will flee instantly when it spots a trainer approaching. Unlike aggressive Pokémon that attack or passive ones that ignore you, Budew operates on hair-trigger flee response similar to Audino in Wild Zone 7.

Best Catching Strategies

Method 1: Stealth Approach (Recommended)

Crouch and enter stealth mode before Budew spots you
Approach slowly from behind for a back strike opportunity
Throw a Poké Ball while still in stealth for increased catch rate
Use Ultra Balls or Quick Balls for higher success chance

Method 2: Quick Ball Rush

The moment you see Budew, immediately throw a Quick Ball
Quick Balls have boosted catch rates on the first turn
This bypasses combat entirely if successful
Stock up on Quick Balls at the Poké Mart beforehand

Method 3: Sleep/Paralysis Status

Send out a Pokémon with Sleep or Paralysis moves
Inflict status conditions immediately
Status effects prevent fleeing and increase catch rates
Follow up with Ultra Balls

Pro tip: Budew’s flee response is instantaneous. Don’t bother with regular combat strategies—you need to either catch it immediately or immobilize it with status moves.

What NOT to Do

Don’t approach Budew head-on without stealth
Don’t waste regular Poké Balls (catch rate is too low)
Don’t assume you’ll get a second chance if it flees
Don’t forget to save before attempting if you’re Shiny hunting

How to Evolve Budew into Roselia

Budew is a baby Pokémon that evolves through friendship (happiness) + time of day requirement. This is the same evolution method used by several other Pokémon in Z-A.

Evolution Requirements

To evolve Budew → Roselia:

Max out Budew’s friendship level
Level up Budew once while friendship is maxed
Must be during daytime

If all conditions are met, the evolution symbol will appear over Budew’s thumbnail in your menu, allowing you to evolve it.

How to Max Friendship Quickly: The Café Method

Pokémon Legends: Z-A has streamlined friendship evolution significantly compared to older games. Instead of walking thousands of steps or battling endlessly, you can just take Budew to a café.

Fast friendship method:

Add Budew to your active party (not in boxes)
Go to any Café in Lumiose City
Order 3-4 teas with Budew as your partner
Roserade Tea is most effective (ironic, since it’s named after Budew’s final evolution)
After 3-4 drinks (costs ~1,000-1,500 Pokédollars total), friendship maxes out

Why this works: Each café drink significantly boosts friendship. The entire process takes 2-3 minutes of real time, making it dramatically faster than traditional friendship grinding.

Check our complete happiness guide for more details on friendship mechanics.

Evolving During Daytime

Once Budew’s friendship is maxed:

Make sure it’s daytime in-game (check the sky or your menu)
Level up Budew once (battle, Exp. Candy, anything works)
The evolution prompt appears
Confirm the evolution

Time-change shortcut: If it’s currently nighttime, find a bench near any Pokémon Center and interact with it to change the time of day. This instantly switches between day and night without waiting.

Important: Evolution control in Z-A has changed from previous games. You now manually choose when to evolve Pokémon—the Everstone item isn’t needed to prevent evolution anymore. This means you can safely max friendship and wait for the perfect moment to evolve.

How to Evolve Roselia into Roserade

Once you have Roselia, the final evolution is straightforward: Shiny Stone.

Getting the Shiny Stone

Where to buy: Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue

Other sources:

Found in red Pokéballs on Lumiose City streets and rooftops
Random drops from defeating/catching certain Pokémon
Mission rewards (occasionally)

Cost: Check the Stone Emporium for current prices (usually a few thousand Pokédollars)

Pro tip: The Stone Emporium sells all evolution stones. If you’re working on multiple stone evolutions, stock up while you’re there. Check our special evolutions guide for the complete list of stone-evolved Pokémon.

Other Pokémon Using Shiny Stones

If you’re collecting Shiny Stones, these Pokémon also evolve with them:

Floette → Florges (see our Flabébé locations guide)
Minccino → Cinccino
Togetic → Togekiss

Complete Evolution Chain Summary

Budew → Roselia → Roserade

Stage	Evolution Method	Requirements
Budew → Roselia	Friendship + Level Up	Max friendship during daytime, then level up once
Roselia → Roserade	Evolution Stone	Use a Shiny Stone (buyable at Stone Emporium)

Total cost: ~1,500 Pokédollars (café drinks) + Shiny Stone cost (~2,000-5,000 Pokédollars depending on game economy)

Total time: 5-10 minutes if you have resources ready

Is Roserade Worth Using Competitively?

Let me be honest—Roserade is a solid mid-tier Pokémon, but it’s not breaking any competitive tier lists in Z-A.

Roserade’s Strengths

Pros:

High Special Attack stat (good for offensive moves)
Grass/Poison dual typing gives some coverage
Access to decent Special moves (Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, etc.)
Useful for specific type matchups

Pokédex/Research value:

Counts toward Grass-type Research Challenges for Mable
Required for full Pokédex completion
Helps unlock Rank 50 (Master Ball) and Rank 51 (Shiny Charm)

Roserade’s Weaknesses

Cons:

Too many type weaknesses: Fire, Flying, Psychic, Ice
Fragile defenses: Low HP and Defense stats
Outclassed by Mega Evolutions: Can’t compete with Mega-evolved threats
Weak to common Mega types: Gets destroyed by Mega Charizard X/Y, Mega Camerupt, Mega Pyroar

Specific counters that wall Roserade:

Mega Beedrill (Bug/Poison with better stats)
Mega Pidgeot (Flying destroys Grass)
Any Fire-type Mega Evolution (one-shot potential)

When to Use Roserade

Good situations:

Early-to-mid game teams (before Megas become common)
Water/Ground-type matchups (Grass is super effective)
Rock-type matchups (Grass is super effective)
Pokédex completion and Research Challenges

Avoid using against:

Fire-types (you’ll get destroyed)
Flying-types (4x weakness from Poison typing)
Psychic-types (Poison weakness)
Any opponent with Mega Evolution potential

Better alternatives: Check our Mega Evolution Tier List and best early Pokémon guide for stronger team options.

Research Challenge Connection: Why Budew Matters

Even if Roserade isn’t your competitive ace, catching and evolving Budew is essential for Mable’s Research Challenges.

Key Research Challenge categories:

Pokédex completion: Budew line counts as 3 entries (Budew, Roselia, Roserade)
Grass-type catches: Each Grass-type caught progresses this challenge
Evolution challenges: Evolving Pokémon contributes to evolution-specific research

Major Research Rewards:

Rank 50: Master Ball (catch anything guaranteed – see our Master Ball guide)
Rank 51: Shiny Charm (dramatically increases Shiny encounter rates)

These are arguably the two best rewards in the entire game, making Pokédex completion (including Budew) absolutely worth the effort.

Alternative Grass-Types to Consider

If you’re building a Grass-type team or completing Research Challenges, consider these alternatives:

Better Grass-type options:

Mega Venusaur (Bulbasaur line – Mega Evolution available)
Gogoat (pure Grass with better bulk)
Chesnaught (Chespin line – Grass/Fighting dual typing)

Other catchable Grass-types:

Bellsprout → Weepinbell → Victreebel (Leaf Stone evolution)
Pansage → Simisage (Leaf Stone evolution – see our Pansage guide)
Snover → Abomasnow (Grass/Ice dual typing)

Tips for Budew Hunting & Evolution

Catching preparation:

Stock 20+ Quick Balls before hunting
Practice stealth approach on easier targets first
Save your game before attempting (especially for Shinies)
Check rooftops if Wild Zone 2 entrance is empty

Evolution preparation:

Have 2,000+ Pokédollars for café drinks
Buy Shiny Stone from Stone Emporium in advance
Use a bench to switch to daytime if needed
Level Budew to at least level 10 before friendship grinding (makes post-friendship leveling faster)

Shiny hunting considerations:

Budew has a distinct color difference when Shiny (lighter/brighter)
Rooftops around Wild Zone 2 provide multiple spawn points
Shiny Charm (Rank 51 reward) dramatically increases odds
Save before every encounter when Shiny hunting

Similar evolution mechanics:

Riolu Evolution (Lucario) – Also friendship + daytime
Cleffa Evolution Chain – Friendship evolution baby Pokémon
Eevee Eeveelutions – Multiple friendship evolutions
Complete Special Evolutions – All non-level evolution methods

Other skittish Pokémon guides:

Wild Zone exploration:

My Experience With Budew

Budew was one of those Pokémon I initially ignored because “it’s just a baby Grass-type, how useful can it be?” Then I started working on Pokédex completion and realized I needed the entire evolution line for Research Challenges.

The catching part was annoying but manageable once I learned the stealth approach. The friendship evolution was trivially easy thanks to the café system—honestly one of my favorite quality-of-life features in Z-A.

As for using Roserade competitively? I benched it pretty quickly once Mega Evolutions became available. It’s fine for mid-game content, but it gets outclassed hard in late-game battles. Still, I’m glad I caught and evolved it for Pokédex completion and Research progress.

If you’re a completionist working toward that Shiny Charm, Budew is non-negotiable. If you’re just building a competitive team, you can probably skip it unless you specifically need a Grass/Poison-type for coverage.

Final Thoughts

Budew is worth catching primarily for Pokédex completion and Mable’s Research Challenges. The catching process is frustrating due to its flee response, but Quick Balls or stealth approaches solve that problem. Evolution is quick and easy thanks to the café friendship system and readily available Shiny Stones.

Competitively, Roserade is serviceable but not exceptional. It has too many weaknesses and gets hard-countered by common Mega Evolutions. Use it for mid-game content if you like Grass-types, but plan to replace it with stronger options for post-game challenges.

For Pokédex completionists? Absolutely catch and evolve Budew. Those Research Challenge rewards (Master Ball and Shiny Charm) are too valuable to skip.

For official game information, visit the Pokémon Legends website or grab the game from Nintendo’s store.

Now get out there, catch that skittish Budew, and add another entry to your Pokédex!

How to Get & Evolve Budew in Pokémon Legends: Z-A