Shiny Pokemon are the holy grail for dedicated Poke-hunters. Some players are spending literal days resetting their Nintendo Switch to get shiny starter Pokemon, and its all worth it. Getting a Shiny Pokemon is an investment in your future as a fan. A Shiny Pokemon will stick with you even as the series progresses — thanks to a constant stream of different sharing apps and methods. You’ll always, eventually, be able to bring your Shiny Pokemon with you.
And the odds of ever finding a Shiny Pokemon are absurdly low. For regular players, you might never see a single Shiny in 50+ hours of playing. Normally, there’s a 1-in-4096 of seeing a Shiny Pokemon, and many of them are only slightly different reskins that only a trained eye can spot. This is the extra layer of obsession that makes Pokemon in another league, and there’s a few method to increase your chances of ever finding a Shiny Pokemon. Don’t worry, these methods are better than just resetting your console 8000~ times.
More Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl guides:
How To Catch All Legendary Pokemon | How To Get Mew, Jirachi & Manaphy | How Get A Useful Catcher Pokemon | Where To Find Evolution Stones | All Field Moves | Early Mystery Gifts | Easier Grand Underground Catching | How To Catch Rotom & Change Forms | All Gift & Fossil Pokemon | Ultimate Moves Locations
How To Farm For Shiny Pokemon & Increase Your Chances
Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare alternate skins for regular Pokemon. They have a 1-in-4096 chance of appearing at any time. Sometimes Shiny Pokemon colors are only a subtle difference. Shiny Pokemon don’t have any other benefits or bonuses — they just have an extremely rare set of colors that are valuable to collectors.
There are three ways to increase your chances of seeing a Shiny Pokemon in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.
Method #1: Breeding Pokemon From Another Country + Shiny Badge
The standard method for increasing your Shiny odds returns in the remake, but with a few twists. Like always, breeding Pokemon with a Pokemon from a game in another language. Basically, you need to trade and get a Pokemon from another country that’s in another language.
The Shiny Badge is ONLY USEFUL for breeding now. The Shiny Badge only works to increase Shiny Pokemon chances when breeding, and won’t improve chances with Wild Pokemon encounters.
- Breeding Pokemon with Pokemon from another language increases your odds of seeing Shiny Pokemon to 1-in-683~.
- Breeding Pokemon with Pokemon from another language & holding the Shiny Badge increases your odds of seeing a Shiny Pokemon to 1-in-512.
To get the Shiny Badge, you need collect every National Pokedex Pokemon in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. You’ll get the National Pokedex by completing the main story and defeating the Elite 4. After that, you’ll be able to catch Pokemon from other regions. This is impossible for now, but once you’re able to transfer Pokemon from other sources, this will be a lot easier.
Method #2: Grand Underground – Diglett Energy
In the Grand Underground, while exploring, you’ll encounter Diglett or Dugtrio at some junctions or pathways. Instead of fighting, the Diglett / Dugtrio will run away and leave behind a twinkling energy pick-up.
- Diglett energy is worth 1 point.
- Dugtrio energy is worth 3 points.
If you collect 40 points in one session, you’ll get a timed bonus in the Grand Underground. For 4 minutes you’ll roughly double your chances of seeing Shiny Pokemon in wild encounters. The odds go from 1-in-4096 to 1-in-2048. Not ideal, but not bad either. Definitely better than nothing.
Method #3: Poke Radar Chain Bonus
Once you gain the National Pokedex, you’ll unlock a feature called Poke Radar. Using Poke Radar, you can hunt for a specific Pokemon in tall grass — as you encounter spots with shaking grass, you’ll build a Chain Bonus. The Chain Bonus will build as long as you fight the shaking grass encounters and the same species keeps appearing. If a Wild Pokemon battle is initiated or the shaking grass has a different Pokemon, the Chain Bonus will break.
If you manage to build up your Chain Bonus to 40+, you can increase your chances of seeing Shiny Pokemon to a ludicrous 1-in-99 chance. Those are great odds, but getting your Chain Bonus that high is based almost entirely on luck. Even building your Chain Bonus a little bit will help your odds significantly. The Shiny Badge does not increase your chances of seeing Shiny Pokemon with this method. But, your Chain Bonus DOES increase your chances of seeing a Shiny Wild Pokemon — the bonus applies to any Pokemon you encounter, even if that breaks your chain.
| Chain Bonus ## | Shiny Rate Increase |
| 0 | 1-in-4096 |
| 1 | 1-in-3855 |
| 2 | 1-in-3640 |
| 3 | 1-in-3449 |
| 4 | 1-in-3277 |
| 5 | 1-in-3121 |
| 6 | 1-in-2979 |
| 7 | 1-in-2849 |
| 8 | 1-in-2731 |
| 9 | 1-in-2621 |
| 10 | 1-in-2521 |
| 11 | 1-in-2427 |
| 12 | 1-in-2341 |
| 13 | 1-in-2259 |
| 14 | 1-in-2185 |
| 15 | 1-in-2114 |
| 16 | 1-in-2048 |
| 17 | 1-in-1986 |
| 18 | 1-in-1927 |
| 19 | 1-in-1872 |
| 20 | 1-in-1820 |
| 21 | 1-in-1771 |
| 22 | 1-in-1724 |
| 23 | 1-in-1680 |
| 24 | 1-in-1638 |
| 25 | 1-in-1598 |
| 26 | 1-in-1560 |
| 27 | 1-in-1524 |
| 28 | 1-in-1489 |
| 29 | 1-in-1456 |
| 30 | 1-in-1310 |
| 31 | 1-in-1285 |
| 32 | 1-in-1260 |
| 33 | 1-in-1236 |
| 34 | 1-in-1213 |
| 35 | 1-in-1192 |
| 36 | 1-in-993 |
| 37 | 1-in-799 |
| 38 | 1-in-400 |
| 39 | 1-in-200 |
| 40+ | 1-in-99 |
Source: [1]
