Shiny Pokémon are the stuff of legend in the Pokémon games, and far from easy to find. Here’s how to effectively track them down in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

What Are Shiny Pokémon?¶

If you’re just now getting into the Pokémon games or have only played them very casually over the years, you may not be entirely sure what shiny Pokémon actually are.

They are rare variants of Pokémon with different colors. They have no different movesets or stats, but their unique appearance is what makes them hunted.

How to Find Shiny Pokémon¶

There are a variety of different ways you can find shiny Pokémon in the Sinnoh remakes.

Choose Your Starter¶

It is possible to find a shiny starter Pokémon in the remakes. If you’re really determined, you can keep closing the game and restarting it every time you enter your first battle and your chosen starter isn’t shiny.

This can take a lot of patience but for some collectors, is worth it.

Random Encounters¶

It is possible to find a shiny in a completely random encounter, either in the wild or in the Grand Underground. However, the chances are extremely low at 1:4096.

While exploring the Grand Underground, although you can see the Pokémon roaming around, keep in mind that Shiny Pokémon will look completely normal.

Another thing: Pokémon spawns are fixed once you enter a hideaway. If you encounter one of these Pokémon and it isn’t shiny, you need to exit the hideaway and re-enter to make a different Pokémon appear. Otherwise, if you soft-reset and keep encountering that same Pokémon, it will never change (or become shiny).

Breeding¶

Pokémon you hatch from Eggs can be shiny just like Pokémon you catch. So if you don’t want to be stuck choosing your starter forever, for instance, you could simply breed until you get a shiny starter instead!

The Poké Radar¶

This is by far the most effective shiny-hunting method there is.

Once you’ve completed the game and have received the National Dex, you should talk to Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town. He will gift you the Poké Radar. You’ll then want to talk to Professor Oak at the Ramanas Park building to get a new app for your Pokétch.

You can then use a method known as chaining to hunt Shiny Pokémon. Head to the middle of a patch of grass and use the Poké Radar. Grass will start to rustle, and you can move into it to encounter a Pokémon.

Encountering, catching and/or defeating Pokémon of the same type will build up your chain, which will increase the odds of the next Pokémon being a shiny. You’ll want to use some Super or Max Repels while doing this, as this will prevent you from encountering random wild Pokémon and breaking your chain.

The odds increase to:

• 10 chained: 1:2521
• 20 chained: 1:1820
• 30 chained: 1:1310
• 40 chained: 1:99

You can’t go any higher than this. You’ll be able to tell if the next Pokémon you encounter is going to be a shiny in the grass because you’ll see sparkles around them.

How to Increase the Shiny Chance¶

Grand Underground Lightstone¶

Look for sparkles on the ground of the Grand Underground and you’ll find a Diglett. Run into forty in a row to reveal a Shiny countdown. You’ll be able to see the bar in the top-left corner of the screen.

For four minutes, your odds of encountering a shiny has now increased to 3:4096.

The Shiny Charm¶

Once you’ve captured all 493 Pokémon in the game (currently impossible, but should be coming with game updates!), you can get the Shiny Charm. This will bring the odds to 1:1365, but there’s a catch - this only works for breeding.

Masuda Method¶

Named after the Pokémon Director who first disclosed this method. If you breed a Pokémon with another Pokémon that has a different language tag (eg. GER, ITA next to their name) than it, the Pokémon that hatches is six times more likely to be shiny!

This can stack with the Shiny Charm, to boost the shiny rate to eight times (1:512).