This page covers the elusive Shining Pom enemy that can spawn in the West Crossbell Highway area, providing details on Shining Poms in general and how to get this one to spawn, specifically.

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The bestiary entry for the Shining Pom on West Crossbell Highway.

What Are Shining Poms in Trails From Zero?¶

Shining Poms are the Trails equivalent of the Metal Slime from Dragon Quest, an elusive, rare monster that’s both durable and prone to flight, but if you manage to kill one you’ll gain great rewards… albeit the Shining Pom isn’t quite as iconic, durable or lucrative as their more distinguished counterparts. Still, if you want to earn [The Usual Suspects] achievement, you’ll need to encounter all the Shining Poms in the game, including this specimen.

Unlike rare monsters - which have a chance to spawn with other enemies - Shining Poms will actually appear as independent entities as you explore dungeons. The trouble is, their spawn rate is distressingly low, and simply zoning in and out of the map where they can spawn isn’t sufficient to reroll their spawn chance. Instead, you typically have to make your way to a “safe” area - like Crossbell city - to reset their spawn chance. The more screens you have to pass through between where the Shining Pom can spawn and the area that resets the Shining Pom’s spawn rate, the more time and bother you’ll have to expend to get a specific Shining Pom to finally spawn.

When you do find a Shining Pom, be sure to save your game! Shining Poms, like most enemies in the game, can spawn with variable formations. In this case, you may end up in a fight with several Shining Poms when you engage with one on the map. Shining Poms are also very difficult (if not impossible) to ambush, and are prone to flight. It’d be an awful shame if you were to spend time trying to spawn a Shining Pom only to have it flee immediately when you engage it in battle.

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(1 of 2) If you see eight enemies on the map for the fifth screen of the West Crossbell Highway,

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If you see eight enemies on the map for the fifth screen of the West Crossbell Highway, (left), you’ll know a Shining Pom is about. (right)

How to Find the Shining Pom on the West Crossbell Highway¶

As far as Shining Poms go, the one on the West Crossbell Highway isn’t too hard to spawn. You’ll find it on the fifth screen of the West Crossbell Highway, in the middle of the area, between a bridge near the exit to the fourth screen and a ramp leading down to [Bellguard Gate]. The latter exit is what makes hunting this Shining Pom easy, as you can just zone in and out between the Bellguard Gate and the fifth screen of the West Crossbell Highway to spawn your target. Just check the map by pressing every time you return to the West Crossbell Highway and look at the center of the map. There are normally seven monsters who spawn in this area, but if you see an eighth, you’ll know the Shining Pom is up there (you will need the Information Quartz equipped to see enemies on the map).

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(1 of 2) Be wary of these Shining Poms - their stats are high enough to make them dangerous,

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Be wary of these Shining Poms - their stats are high enough to make them dangerous, (left), be sure to save before you engage so you can at least Analyze the Shining Pom before it can flee. (right)

Be sure to save before you engage the Shining Pom! This one isn’t any less flighty than others of its kind, and it’d be a nuisance if you went through the effort to spawn this foe only to have it run away. It’s also worth noting that this Shining Pom is Lv16, and its DEF is actually getting quite high - enough to make anything short of an S-Break a waste of time. You might want to have your CP maxed out before you fight this Shining Pom if you plan to do more than merely Analyze it. In addition, the Shining Pom’s STR and ATS stats are both near 200 (normal difficulty), which significantly out-classes that of other monsters in this area. Shining Poms haven’t generally been a foe you needed to fear, but these ones can deal 300+ damage with their CP Slurp and Brilliant Shine attacks, and since the latter attack is an AoE, it can be painful. If two or three of the critters spawn at once, a barrage of Brilliant Shine attacks can be a legitimate threat.