Pokémon Sword & Shield: How To Catch Shiny Pokémon

Shiny Pokémon are an extremely rare breed — the odds of finding one in battle are ridiculously low, and that trend continues in Pokémon Sword & Shield. Shiny Pokémon, if you haven’t been hunting for these guys for years now, are unique variants that are incredibly hard to find. Seriously, most Shiny Pokémon have a 1/4000 chance of appearing when you first start the game.

There are ways to improve your chances of seeing a Shiny. Specifically, there are two systems you can use to drastically increase your Shiny hunting quest. They’re very simple, but if you follow these tips, you can practically double your chances of seeing a Shiny Pokémon in the Wild. It all matters how dedicated you are to hunting these critters down. Strap in, and let’s talk about shiny hunting.

More Pokémon Sword & Shield guides:

How To Evolve All The New Galar Region Pokémon | Evolution Guide | Pick This Starter Pokémon For An Early Advantage

How To Hunt For Shiny Pokémon | Rare Pokémon Guide

Before we begin, let’s talk about Shinies. Shiny Pokémon aren’t necessarily ‘Shiny’ — they’re rare variants that appear with different colors. Sometimes the colors are wildly different, and sometimes the colors are so similar it’s hard to tell you’re even looking at a variant.

Shiny Pokémon aren’t any better than normal Pokémon. They don’t have improved stats, and they won’t appear shiny in the Overworld when you see them wondering around. You’ll have to encounter them in battle to check out their color.

How To Improve Shiny Pokémon Chances:

There are two ways you can improve your chances of seeing a Shiny Pokémon.

Chances of seeing a Shiny Pokémon increase depending on how many of a particular Pokémon you defeat in battle.
Chances of seeing a Shiny Pokémon dramatically increase depending on how many of the same Pokémon you battle in a row.

For example, if you’re hunting for a Shiny Yamper, your chances will increase for the global number of Yamper Pokémon you’ve encountered and defeated, as well as the number of Yamper Pokémon you’ve battled in a row — or in a ‘chain‘. If you battle any other type of Pokémon, you’ll break the chain and the counter will reset.

The best way to hunt for Shiny Pokémon is in the Wild, where you’ll see the Pokémon wandering around. That way, you can try to fight the same type as often as possible. Fighting the same Pokémon in a chain requires you to defeat the Pokémon — you can’t simply run away.

Following this method, players have dramatically increased the amount of Shiny Pokémon they’ve encountered early in the game. It’s a great little addition — basically, it works like the old games, except now you can see which Pokémon you’ll encounter, making chaining battles against the same species much easier.