Pokemon Sword and Shield is filled with a variety of unique Shiny Pokemon. These creatures have a different coloration to what is normal for their species so they’re basically special variants. These are very rare and catching them is no easy task since some of the Pokémon are Shiny locked.
Starters and some higher level Pokemon that you encounter in the wild are locked. This guide will go over the different methods you can use to catch Shiny Pokémon easily in Pokemon: Sword and Shield.
Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny Pokemon
Hunting Shinies is as tricky as it gets, and not every Pokemon’s shiny form can be found in the game but those have Shiny forms, can be found by one of the methods explained below:
Hunting Shiny Pokemon
Shiny Hunting is a simple but time-taking procedure. It consists of the following steps:
- Find a common spawning ground for the Pokémon you’re after.
- When it appears, beat it in a battle.
- Repeat the first two steps and beat the same Pokémon a bunch of times. This is known as Chaining. Do this until a Shiny version shows up.
- Beat and catch the Shiny.
Chances of Encountering Shiny Pokémon
This isn’t as clear cut as it sounds since there’s only a 1 in 4,096 chance of you encountering a shiny Pokémon. Random Shiny encounters have a 1 in 16 chance, but if you’re Chaining, then you have 15 in 16 chance.
| Chain Bonus Chain Count | 0.00%[0,3) | 2.00%[3,7) | 5.00%[7-153) | 10.00%[15-25) | 25.00%[25+) | |
| Number Battled | Chance For Extra Rerolls | Extra Rolls | ||||
| 1 | 1.5% | 3.5% | 6.5% | 13.5% | 31.5% | 1 |
| 20 | 2% | 4% | 7% | 14% | 32% | 1 |
| 50 | 2.5% | 4.5% | 7.5% | 14.5% | 32.5% | 2 |
| 100 | 3% | 5% | 8% | 15% | 33% | 3 |
| 200 | 3% | 5% | 8% | 15% | 33% | 4 |
| 300 | 3% | 5% | 8% | 15% | 33% | 5 |
| 500 | 3% | 5% | 8% | 15% | 33% | 6 |
You can check the number of times you’ve fought a Pokemon in your Pokédex. Boost your chances of finding a Shiny by battling a specific Pokemon 1, 20, 50, 100, 200, 300, or 500 times total.
To sum it all up: Battle the same Pokemon 500 times during your playthrough to have the highest chance of encountering a Shiny.
Shiny Pokémon Breeding
The Masuda Method is a breeding strategy that involves two Pokemon from different language games. This increases the chances of Shiny Pokemon hatching by six times.
The best way to use this strategy is breed a Pokemon from your region with a foreign Pokemon. This ensures that it has the Masuda Method’s chances of being Shiny.
The Shiny Charm
You can boost your odds even more if you have an item known as the Shiny Charm. You get the Charm by catching all 400 Pokemon, and recording them to the Pokedex. Once you’ve accomplished this, head the hotel in Circhester and visit the director to get the charm.
Combining the Charm with the previous methods will grant a buff to your chances.
The Occurrence of Shiny and Square Pokemon
Shiny Pokemon rolls are supposed to be obtained early on in the game. Chances of encountering a Pokemon from chaining, breeding, or the shiny charm, that also, without modification, are 1/4096. So to increase the chance of the overall encounter with a Pokemon and to increase the number of extra rolls you get per encounter, you apply the modification method.
When you encounter Pokemon at any odds, this causes Squares to occur, which rolls you shiny on a reroll. Having rolls per encounter with shiny odds modification and then landing a roll in between you 455 chances, caused by the modification, will get you the shiny modification.
The game rolls your shiny on the first roll when you encounter a Pokemon at any odds and Stars occur. So after modification, now that your chances have increased, the game rolls your very first roll, out of the best odds that you have got, and it hits the 1 of 455 chance, you will get your Pokemon a stars animation.
This shows that coming across Shiny Pokemon with Stars animation is much rare than coming across Star Pokemon with Shiny animation.
Breeding does not utilize rerolls. Breeding occurs more commonly in stars when odds of a shiny are increased using the breeding method. If the animation for Squares is considered ultra-shiny, then it can be considered that breeding Pokemon for shinies through the Masuda method is a much easier way to get a shiny.
Chances of being rewarded with the Squares shiny are raised if you are more inclined towards chaining. It is not confirmed though. Just a consideration.
Best Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon Sword and Shield
Shiny Galarian Rapidash
Instead of matching the flaming horse image that we’re used to, this variant fits the fairy aspect of the Pokémon with the unique design of its mane and horn. This design brings a more magical charm to this Pokemon that was previously not there.
Shiny Zacian
This is possibly the best Shiny Legendary Pokemon in generation 8 because of its glorious bright blue design which closely resembles the majestic Articuno and Suicune. The wings also add to the more graceful look.
Shiny Corviknight
The new slick steel coat around Corviknight’s body, coupled with his cool scary face makes this a must-have Shiny variant. The beard gives it a rougher look as well. It’s basically a winged Terminator.
