How do I shiny hunt in Scarlet and Violet?

Question

I’ve been thinking about getting a shiny Pokémon without getting the shiny charm and was wondering if there is any way to increase the shiny odds without the need of the shiny charm and the best way to get shiny Pokémon?

Answer 1

Part 1

As of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, shiny hunting is arguably the easiest it's ever been in the main series games, and the chances you'll find one in a normal playthrough is higher than in past titles. There are many methods and techniques you can use to encounter shiny Pokemon, and this will serve as a guide on what those are and how to utilize them.

What are the shiny odds in Scarlet and Violet?

The base shiny odds in Scarlet and Violet are 1/4096. These are your odds of encountering a shiny Pokemon by running into them in the wild and by hatching eggs. These odds can be boosted by the methods listed below.

However, throughout the map, you will find Static Encounters and wild Tera Pokémon, which respawn everyday when the clock hits midnight. These encounters are capped at the base 1/4096 odds and are not affected by the Shiny Charm and Sparkling Encounter Power sandwiches. Additionally, Pokemon encountered in Tera Raids have slightly slower odds of being encountered as shiny at 1/4103.05 and these odds cannot be boosted by any methods. Shiny Pokemon that are encountered in a Tera Raid do not sparkle, so look out for them and catch them if you aren't sure.

How do I boost the odds of encountering a shiny?

Getting the Shiny Charm
The Shiny Charm is a key item that boosts the odds of encountering a shiny from 1/4096 to about 1/1365. The shiny charm can be obtained as soon as you can ride Koraidon/Miraidon by going to the the Biology room of Uva/Naranja Academy and talking to Jacq while having all 400 Pokémon registered in the Paldean Pokedex. While having the Shiny Charm isn't necessary to find shinies, it does stack with the other methods mentioned.

The Masuda Method
By breeding 2 Pokemon of different language origins (English and Japanese for example), the odds of hatching a shiny fom an egg goes up to 1/683 without charm or 1/512 with the Shiny Charm. Many players tend to use a foreign Ditto, as it can breed with most Pokemon in the game.

To obtain eggs in Scarlet and Violet, set up a picnic with the Pokemon you want to breed with (if you have multiple compatible partners, you can obtain eggs of different Pokemon simultaneously which adds a random factor if you aren't single hunting). Eggs will appear in the basket on the ground next to the table if you have compatible partners. Eggs take a long time to appear without Egg Power, so making a sandwich with Egg Power boosts is the best way to get eggs quickly. Recipes #17 and #25 grant you Egg Power 2 and are obtained by talking to a man in Deli Cioso after obtaining 4 Gym Badges, recipe #12 grants Egg Power 1 and is available at the start of the game, and Egg Power 2 boosts are available as meals in certain restaurants.

Pokemon with the abilities Flame Body, Magma Armor, and Steam Engine halve the amount of steps needed for an egg to hatch, while Egg Power reduces egg cycles by ×1.25, ×1.50, and by ×2, depending on if you use levels 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Dashing on Koraidon/Miraidon is the fastest way to get steps for your eggs to hatch.

If you want to avoid releasing all your hatched Pokemon, save before obtaining your eggs, and if none of them are shiny, reset your game. Only do this if you are comfortable that your game will not crash when you are hatching eggs.

Sparkling Power
This is a new method to boost your shiny odds in Scarlet and Violet. By using adding two Herba Mystica to a sandwich, you will get Sparkling Power Level 3, which boosts your base shiny odds to 1/1024 without charm and 1/683 with the Shiny Charm. Additionally, you can obtain a Level 1 Sparkling Power boost by purchasing the Academy Special meal at Blueberry Academy in the Indigo Disk DLC for 150 BP, which boosts your shiny odds to 1/2048 without charm and 1/1024 with the Shiny Charm. Meal boosts last for 30 minutes on an in-game timer (putting your console in sleep mode pauses the timer), and the boosts stack with Outbreaks but do not affect eggs.

Herba Mystica are most efficiently obtained by defeating 5 and 6 star Tera Raids which only appear in your game after beating the main story (5 star) and participating in the Academy Ace Tournament (6 star). Some Pokemon have a higher chance to drop Herba Mystica, but in general, 5 star raids have about a 10% chance to drop while 6 star raids have about a 13% chance. Making a sandwich with Raid Power boosts gives you extra rolls in the loot table, but I personally don't think it is worth the effort. As a tip, save before you use your Herba Mystica, because if you don't get a shiny during your sandwich duration, you can reset to get them back.

Mass Outbreaks
In Scarlet and Violet, Mass Outbreaks spawn a specific species of Pokémon in a specific location, which is marked on the map by a Pokemon icon with a red symbol behind it. The shiny odds depend on how many Pokemon from the outbreak you catch/defeat:

• 30-59 defeated: Base 1/2048 | Charm 1/1024 | SP1 1/1365 | SP1+Charm 1/819 | SP3 1/819 | SP3+Charm 1/587
• 60+ defeated: Base 1/1365 | Charm 1/819 | SP1 1/1024 | SP1+Charm 1/683 | SP3 1/683 | SP3+Charm 1/512

Using the Auto Battle feature is the easiest way to quickly KO Pokemon. When you get the message "There aren't many Pokemon left from the original outbreak," that's usually a good indicator that you've defeated more than 60 Pokemon from the outbreak, however I do recommend defeating a couple more and keeping a mental count. Be careful not to defeat too many Pokemon or the outbreak will end.

What is the most efficient way to single out my target?

Encounter Power Sandwiches
Encounter Power sandwiches boost the encounter rate of a specific type, depending on the sandwich you made. This is especially useful if your target is the only Pokémon of a specific type in a certain area, or your target has the highest encounter rate of that type. Using Herba Mystica, you can make a sandwich with both Sparkling Power and Encounter Power level 3. There are many resources online that provide the right recipes for specific types, but I have a couple linked here, here, and here.

Mass Outbreaks are just as useful if you're going for a rare Pokemon like Umbreon that doesn't spawn frequently even with an Encounter Power sandwich. By making an Encounter Power sandwich of a specific type, it will be more likely that outbreaks with Pokemon of that type appear whenever your raids and outbreaks reset. By using the Date and Time method, you can quickly reset your outbreaks, and although it may take a while for you to get your desired outbreak, it's an efficient method for getting some of the rarer outbreaks in the game(I believe this still works on the Switch 2 but I don't know the Switch 2 layout).
To take this a step further, outbreaks are sometimes influenced by the player's location in the base version of the game, so resetting in a specific location can get you rare outbreaks like Palossand and Gastrodon if you care about seeing the sparkles like me, although this does still take a long time.

Static and Tera Encounter Resets
Static and Wild Tera Pokémon serve as unique shiny encounters for those who are daring enough to hunt them, so here's a quick guide.

For Static Pokémon, send out your lead at a distance from the static Pokémon. While your lead auto battles the static Pokémon, quickly dash from the Pokémon and get as far away as possible. If you did this right, when you come back, the Pokemon should have spawned again (this is a phantom, it will kick you out of the battle if you run into it). Simply auto battle it again, save, and then reload the game. A new static Pokémon should have appeared. You can check the Pokémon's gender/stats to be sure.

If you did this wrong, both Static and wild Tera Pokémon respawn at midnight, so simply knock them out and wait for the next one to spawn.

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Part 2 below.

Comments

Level 2 peanut butter sandwich also has egg power 2, so that's the one I use.

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Also, yes, pokémon do sometimes spawn in walls. Once, in area 0, I saw a garganacl in the crystals. Actually, I see a lot of pokémon spawning in walls.

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Does this need a quick update? I think the increased spawns and better performance on Switch 2 are worth mentioning.

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It needs a massive update, there's stuff I didn't mention and factors like the switch 2 that can affect specific shiny hunts. I will get to updating this at some point.

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Cool. Thought I would mention as "the algorithm" has started to favour this question.

Answer 2

Part 2

How do I avoid failing shinies?

SAVE THE GAME!!!
If you care about keeping the shinies you find, then it's always a good idea to save whenever you see a shiny. If you know a shiny has a self damaging move, you can run away from the battle and save. If you manage to KO the shiny or it KOs itself, you can always reset the game to get it back, assuming you have Autosave turned off. Sometimes, it may not appear right away, but if you reset again, it should show up.

Do basic research and come prepared
A mistake many inexperienced shiny hunters make is going into a battle, weakening the shiny, and the shiny KOs itself. While saving prevents losing the shiny, knowing what moves a Pokemon has and properly preparing is still valuable, especially to save sandwich time. In general, prepare a Pokemon with False Swipe, a status inflicting move (preferably sleep) moves like Taunt, and even bring abilities like Damp, depending on your target.

Keep an eye out for shinies
In general, knowing what a shiny looks like is the best way to avoid failing it. Scarlet and Violet have their fair share of subtle shinies that you can easily miss. Your Pokémon will always refuse to auto battle a shiny, so if you see a Pokémon and you aren't sure if it is shiny, target it with an auto battle just to be sure.

Sometimes, Pokémon spawn in the walls. Usually, these are a lost cause, since you can't target Pokémon found in the walls. However, if the shiny gets close enough to the wall, you may be able to encounter it. If you are playing on the base version, you can lock on to the Pokémon with ZL and throw a Poke Ball at it if it's close enough. In general, it's best to avoid walls with Pokémon spawning in them.

Be careful with despawning Pokémon!
Setting up a picnic and entering certain zones like cities and towns despawn all Pokémon. This is a useful technique for going through encounters quickly, especially in places like caves. Just be sure to make sure there are no shinies before setting up a picnic or entering a despawning zone or you might lose your target.

Don't run towards the camera! Pokémon tend to spawn both around around you and wherever the camera is focused. So if you are moving towards the camera, there's a chance you can spawn and despawn a shiny at the back of the screen before you can even reach it.

Any Pokémon you run into in a Union Circle will despawn when you run away from the battle. If you or someone else disconnects from the Union Circle, all the Pokémon around you will disappear. The only exception to this is if you save in front of Pokémon you spawned, they will reappear if you reload the game to your save point. All other spawns won't reload if you didn't spawn them. If you know a shiny is your own spawn, it's best to save just in case something happens.

Zorua, Zoroark, and Ditto disguise themselves as other Pokemon in the overworld. If you run into them, and run away from the battle, they will despawn. To hunt them, make a Dark/Normal encounter Power sandwich, auto battle all imposters, and when your Pokémon refuses to battle one, save. The imposters will have indicator that they are a disguise. If you lock onto the Pokémon with ZL, you will see their real name even though they are disguised. If you get close to them, they will start to sweat and run away. If a Pokémon looks like it's walking suspiciously, it is likely a disguised/transformed Pokémon

Shiny Dondozo outside of an outbreak can despawn itself. Shiny Pokemon usually have a mechanic implemented where if the regular version can despawn, the shiny has a slightly different mechanic so that it doesn't despawn. However, if a Dondozo dives and is left alone for a few seconds, it will despawn regardless of if it is shiny.

If you encounter a shiny Pokémon while in Synchro Mode, don't run into it as you will KO it. Try to lure it back to your character so that it won't despawn Once you exit Synchro Mode. Once it's close enough, you can exit Synchro Mode and encounter it with your trainer.
(Note: I have not played around with this myself, but I think you can only scare shinies back to your trainer with certain Pokémon.)

Although not technically despawning a Pokemon, if you connect to the Internet while you have old event Outbreaks/Tera Raids in your game or when there are new events available, your current raids and outbreaks will reset. This means that if you find a shiny in a Tera Raid and accidentally connect to the Internet during this period, you will lose the Tera Raid and the shiny. Be careful if you're trying to share a shiny Tera Raid with others online.

Other Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks

Holding ZL and targeting a Pokemon will allow you to throw your ball at it. This is useful for Pokemon that are flying, deep underwater, etc.
Additionally, on the base version, if you hold ZL and hold your right control stick at a certain angle, you can see the spawns under the water. This is useful for hunting Pokémon like Skrelp. However, the camera acts different in the current version, so I don't know if this is possible anymore.

On the Switch 1 version, up to 15 Pokémon can be present at a time, but if there is a shiny, there will be 16 Pokémon present. This is useful for hard to notice shines like Tandemaus and is likely the best method for hunting Minior in the wild, as you cannot visibly tell it is shiny unless it is in its Shield's Down form. So if you see 16 Pokémon on screen, save and check each one.

If you adjust the color settings on your TV, you can make the blue and tan pop out more on Tandemaus, making the shiny a lot easier to see compared to the original.

If there are two shinies on opposite ends of the screen and you want both, save, then reset until the Pokémon start heading towards each other or until you can reach one without despawning the other. With patience, it is possible to keep them both.

Look out for event Outbreaks/Tera Raid events! Some event outbreaks allow you to easily find shinies that are hard to find otherwise, and some event outbreaks have boosted shiny odds! Aside from a previous shiny Rayquaza Tera Raid event, there haven't been any Tera Raids with boosted shiny odds. However, Gimmighoul, which is normally shiny locked in normal gameplay, has previously appeared in event Tera Raids with it being unlocked in 5 star raids.

The Switch 2

The Switch 2 patch has brought about many quality of life changes to improve the gameplay. The Switch 2 runs smoother than the Switch 1, making certain areas in the game like Tagtree Thicket and Casseroya Lake better for hunting in as they suffer from lag and frame rate drops far less frequent and intense than in the Switch 1. However, the most significant change by far is the amount of spawns being changed from 15 to around 40, allowing for you to get far more encounters and therefore, more shinies. In addition, Pokémon can spawn in from far away and you need to move much farther away from them to despawn, so combined with the quicker picnic resets, despawning Pokémon and finding your shiny will be much quicker and efficient than before.

Some negatives of this are that it is more likely you will miss a shiny that you simply do not see, and hunts like Minior that relied on the Switch 1's number of spawns are now more efficient to do on the Switch 1, but overall, the Switch 2 patch seems to be a net positive for making shiny hunting even quicker.
(Do note that I do not have a Switch 2 myself, these notes are from my observations of what I've seen and heard online.)

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Let me know if there's anything I missed and happy hunting!

Comments

I had to make this into two parts because I typed too much. :/

Answer 3

So far, the best way to shiny hunt includes three things. #1, using the shiny charm, which can be obtained by completing the pokedex. #2, which is using sandwiches that have sparkling power. And #3, which is mass outbreaks, where if you defeat 60 Pokemon in the outbreak you will get better shiny odds for the rest of the outbreak. With all these combined you get a 1/512 chance, which is the same as the masuda method with the shiny charm.

Comments

This is a better answer than the previous one, but still doesn't answer the question properly. A step by step guide to sandwich hunting would be preferrable

Answer 4

A good way to get shinies is isolated shiny encounters and picnics. Just go to a place where the Pokémon you are hunting is the only one of its type there then make a sandwich that boosts encounter rates for that type.
Source: experience

Comments

A more comprehensive guide would be helpful.

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This does not cover all methods of shiny hunting