Launched in November 2022, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has been available for a little over two months. Even without a Pokémon Home port, that’s enough time for the hackers to descend upon the Surprise Trade.
Unlike Pokémon Sword & Shield, it’s definitely harder to tell if a Pokémon is hacked or not. Scarlet & Violet removed the ability to rename another Trainer’s Pokémon. This was a very helpful tool in determining if a Pokémon was legit. Name rating would be extra helpful in Scarlet & Violet, especially due to the increased Shiny rates throughout the game and Perfect IV rates in Tera Raids.
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However, after receiving my first hacked Pokémon through a Surprise Trade, the same base rules apply. And considering this was my first hacked Pokémon after well over one hundred Surprise Trades, without the Pokémon Home port, it’s much harder to hack Scarlet & Violet.
Differences with Sword & Shield
Currently, Scarlet & Violet do not have Pokémon HOME support. This means that players cannot transfer Pokémon from past games or from Pokémon GO into Scarlet & Violet. However, this will be temporary as the Pokémon Company confirmed that Scarlet & Violet will receive full HOME support in spring of 2023.
More permanent differences include the lack of a Name Rater. Scarlet & Violet allows you to change your Pokémon’s name through the Summary screen. However, you can no longer change the names of any traded Pokémon. Worse, you lost two ways to tell if a Pokémon is hacked: the nicknames for same-language Pokémon and Pokémon memories.
Additionally, Scarlet & Violet does not have a designated Pokémon Nursery. You can breed Pokémon anywhere with the Picnic system, so Eggs can and will be hatched all around Paldea. However, the Pokémon summary will always say that they were found at a picnic, then where the Egg hatched.
Similarities with Sword & Shield
A lot of the basics between the two games stay the same. Look at a Pokémon’s moves for the max PP, look at the Trainer ID and Trainer name, check the Pokémon’s IVs, check the level, and check if the Pokémon is Shiny. Take everything in as a whole and if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
When Scarlet & Violet receives HOME compatibility, Pokémon imported from other games will most likely be marked in some way.
Additionally, hacks will most likely be Shiny. Scarlet & Violet made it easier than ever before to Shiny hunt, boosting the normal encounter rate up to 1 in 4,000. This can be boosted again by getting the Shiny Charm, using the Sparkly Power through Sandwiches, and by participating in Mass Outbreaks. This will make it trickier to determine if your Pokémon is legal.
However, barring the Pokémon nicknames and memories, the previous Sword & Shield methods apply.
The Infamous Italian Ditto
Let’s talk about the sussy baka in the room: the Italian Ditto. Back in Sword & Shield, if you received an internationally marked Pokémon through a Surprise Trade, you could not change the nickname. The Italian Ditto took advantage of this, eliminating a good way to tell if a Pokémon was hacked.
Well, the Italian Ditto is back, but it’s a little different. This Ditto is also Italian, Shiny, Level 100, and nicknamed “Zacian.net,” the same as its Trainer name. Any Pokémon promoting a website will always be a hack. It’s almost impressive that a hack made it into the Surprise Trades before the HOME support launches. Either way, we can learn some things from this Ditto.
First, getting to Level 100 is no easy feat. Despite the increased availability of Exp Candies, it still takes a significant amount of candies to get a Pokémon to Level 100. Most Trainers will devote those resources to Pokémon they plan to use in competitive battle or Tera Raids. While it’s not impossible to receive a Level 100 Pokémon through Surprise Trades, it certainly will not be a Pokémon solely meant for breeding.
Second, this Ditto has natural Perfect IVs – meaning that it hasn’t been hyper trained to get Perfect IVs. Starting at Level 50, Pokémon can be hyper trained using Bottle Caps, so you no longer have to breed for the perfect competitive Pokémon. Some players still do this because they can start training a Pokémon’s EVs at Level 1. So it’s not uncommon to see natural Perfect IVs. But if these are on a Level 100 Pokémon, then count it as two yellow flags against the Pokémon.
Finally, though this Ditto doesn’t have any, check the Pokémon’s Ribbons and Marks. In the past, most hacked Pokémon had some kind of event ribbon or multiple ribbons. The same goes for marks. While these traits are not as sought-after as Shiny forms, having multiple rare marks or ribbons should be a cause for concern.
Check the Memories
Though not as robust a method as the Sword & Shield NPC, the Pokémon Memories can still help us determine if a Pokémon is a hack. No matter what, Pokémon will have some type of note indicating how the Trainer got the Pokémon.
This Ditto says the Trainer met it at Dalizapa Passage. This is impossible because Dittos can’t be found in Dalizapa Passage. They can be found to the west of the Passage, but not in the Passage itself.
Look at the Pokémon’s encounter level too. As you can see, the Trainer supposedly met this Ditto when it was Level 30. Again, while the Pokémon that spawn at Dalizapa Passage are around Level 30, a majority of them are Level 35 to 37.
Check the Pokéball
Certain Pokémon can only come from certain Pokéballs. For example, while the Paldean starters can be bred and do have Shiny forms, they will only come from regular Pokéballs. Right now, there is no way for players to catch Fuecoco, Sprigatito, or Quaxly out in the wild.
Right now, only one Event Pokémon comes in a Celebration ball: Jiseok’s Garganacl. This is the only one – the Flying Pikachu arrived in a regular Pokéball. In past games, any Event Pokémon were delivered to Trainers in a Celebration ball. These Pokéballs are not available in the game for Trainers to use. So unless you get the event Garganacl, no other Pokémon legally come in Celebration balls.
Check the Held Item
The classic held item hack is the Master Ball. Like all other games before it, Scarlet & Violet gives the player one Master Ball each. While you can always give the Master Ball to a Pokémon, trade the Pokémon to another game, and then trade that Pokémon back to yourself after restarting the first game, this is tedious. And since Scarlet & Violet doesn’t offer HOME support yet, you would need two Switches with different profiles to successfully trade with yourself.
For Scarlet & Violet, look out for the Exp. Candy XL and Ability Patch. The XL candies, while not impossible to farm, requires completion of multiple 5 star and up Tera Raids. The Ability Patch is a much rarer item that players would not just send through a Surprise Trade.
Check Past Events
Event Pokémon hacks will likely become a problem in the future, but for now, it’s very straightforward. As of writing, the only Event Pokémon for Scarlet & Violet is the Flying Pikachu. Legendary Pokémon outside of the Paldea region are not available yet.
So far, there have been three major Tera Raid events: Charizard, Fighting-type Cinderace and Poison-type Greninja. You can easily check past Tera Raid events through the Poké Portal news. In addition to competition guidelines, you can view the past Tera Raids.
Charmander, Scorbunny, and Froakie are floating around the Surprise Trade. Again, due to breeding and increased Shiny rates, receiving a Level 1 Shiny version of any of those Pokémon isn’t immediately a red flag. So keep using the past methods to make a determination for yourself.
Check the Moves
In addition to the PP count of a move, look for whether the Pokémon can learn its moves through breeding or TMs. This is when the fan wikis can really come in handy as they have a massive knowledge base contributing to them, making them some of the most reliable sources for Pokémon game data.
Searching by individual Pokémon will show you what moves a certain Pokémon can learn through leveling up, breeding, and TMs. Anything not on those lists are considered illegal moves as the game itself will never allow the Pokémon to learn a move outside of leveling up, breeding, and valid TMs. It’s always worth double-checking moves, you’d be surprised by the number of moves that you think a Pokémon should be able to learn through TMs, but can’t. Yes, I’m thinking of how Seismitoad can’t learn Ice Beam but Swampert can.
