Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Shiny Hunting Guide

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet add new Shiny Pokemon to catch. Shiny hunting has been a thing in Pokemon games since the second generation of the franchise. Shiny Pokemon are different colors, they are much rarer variants with different colors, but their underlying combat stats are the same. This guide explains all Shiny Hunting Methods for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

The odds of running into a shiny Pokemon in the game are 1 in 4,096 but there are a few ways to increase your odds. Below you will find a few different methods in improving the odds to be more favorable:

The Shiny Charm

The shiny charm is where you should start your shiny hunting although it takes the longest amount of time of any of the steps. It stacks with all the other methods to make them more effective. Below you will find the steps to attaining the Shiny Charm:

1. Complete the Pokedex. You will have to have caught or owned every single one of the 400 available Pokemon:
   
   
2. Once you have completed the Pokedex you will need to travel back to the biology lab in the Mesagoza Academy:
   
   
3. Speak with Jacq in the corner of the room and he will be impressed with you getting all 400 Pokemon registered in the Pokedex and will award you with the shiny charm:
   
   
   

The shiny charm does not need to be manually activated, it’s permanently on by default. It doubles the Shiny Spawn Rate to 1 in 2,048.

Masuda Method Breeding

The Masuda Method is the act of breeding your Pokemon with higher odds of the egg hatching into a Shiny Pokemon. This method was introduced in Generation 4 and is one of the best methods for obtaining a Shiny Pokemon. This method of breeding is 100% the same as breeding normally but instead with 2 Pokemon of different languages. The best way to go about this is simply to use a Ditto of another language region (Japanese, German, English etc) and have it breed with the Pokemon from your game.

The odds of finding a shiny from an egg using the Masuda method alone is 1 in 683.

The odds of finding a shiny from an egg using the Masuda method in conjunction with the shiny charm is 1 in 512.

For a detailed description on how to breed refer to: Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Breeding Guide – How to Breed Eggs.

Mass Outbreaks

Potentially the easiest way as of now to finding shiny Pokemon in the wild is mass outbreaks. Here’s how Mass Outbreaks work:

1. Locate the Pokemon having a mass outbreak on the map. This will be signified by seeing the Pokemon’s picture on the map:
   
   
2. Head to the location and in the top right corner you will see a notification that you have found the Mass Outbreak:
   
   
3. Once you have found the Mass Outbreak run around and use the Let’s Go feature to knock out Pokemon of the one in the Mass Outbreak. You will want to defeat 60 of the Pokemon you are trying to find in shiny form.
4. Once you have knocked out 60 Pokemon save your game and search the area to see if any of the Pokemon are shiny. They will appear shiny in the Overworld so you can tell before battling them:
   
   
5. If none are shiny, don’t worry, simply pull out a Picnic and this will reload all of the spawns. Leave the picnic right away and look again until you find the Pokemon you are looking for as a shiny.
6. Once you find one SAVE YOUR GAME and then simply start a fight with it and try to catch it. It is best to have a high-level Pokemon that knows the TM Move False Swipe.
   
   
    
   

You can also use Sandwiches to further increase your chances of finding a shiny Pokemon.

For more guides check out Pokemon Scarlet & Violet 100% Wiki.