How To Catch Shiny Pokemon In ‘Pokemon: Let’s Go!’
Pokemon isn’t always about catching ’em all. Sometimes it’s about capturing an aesthetic.
In the Pokemon video games, shiny Pokemon are Pokemon with different colouration than what is typical for their species. For example, while Ponyta usually has an orange mane and tail, a shiny Ponyta’s will be blue. Dratini’s body is normally blue, but a shiny Dratini is pink. Your average Geodude looks like a rock with arms, whereas a shiny Geodude looks like a chicken nugget with arms.
Yes shiny Geodude #PokemonLetsGo #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/XoNNQarxd1
— g (@sn0rlaxinnn) November 26, 2018
Shiny Pokemon aren’t any stronger, faster or more resilient than regular Pokemon, nor are they weaker, though look markedly different. As such, the only reason to collect shiny Pokemon is for the aesthetic, but that is a noble pursuit in and of itself.
Prior to the release of Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, shiny Pokemon were the mark of an incredibly dedicated Pokemon Master. The odds of finding a shiny Pokemon in the wild were one in 8192, meaning many players would have never even seen one during their game. Catching one required hours of dedicated hunting through long grass or dark caves, hoping the randomised number generator gods would bless you.
The latest Pokemon games have now made shiny hunting a little easier, allowing fewer hardcore trainers in on the action. Though finding a shiny will still take a big chunk of time, Pokemon: Let’s Go has halved the odds, meaning there is a base one in 4096 chance of finding a shiny Pokemon.
These odds are better than before, but still not great. However, according to Serebii, you can increase the odds in several different ways, which can be compounded to raise your shiny encounter odds to as high as one in 273.07.
JUST CAUGHT SHINY PONYTAAAAAAA #PokemonLetsGo #NintendoSwitch #Pokemon pic.twitter.com/es9wgECJD4
— Angelily (@Angelillers) November 21, 2018
The first and most common method is “chaining” your catches. Pokemon: Let’s Go introduces Catch Combos, which will increase as you catch several of the same Pokemon in a row. The chain won’t be broken if you run from a Pokemon, but it will break if a Pokemon runs from you, if you catch a different Pokemon, or if you save and exit the game.
One of the advantages of chaining is that, depending upon how long the chain is, it can increase the chance of a shiny Pokemon spawning. The odds max out once your chain reaches 31, giving you a one in 341.3 of seeing a shiny — a significant improvement.
Chaining can then be combined with items that further increase your chances. Using a Lure, Super Lure or Max Lure purchased at a PokeMart, your chance to get a shiny increases to one in 315.08 when combined with a 31+ chain. And when you add a Shiny Charm, which you can get from Celadon City after you finish your Pokedex, you’ll have the best possible shiny odds at one in 273.07.
In another quality of life improvement for shiny hunters, Pokemon: Let’s Go also lets you see the wild Pokemon on the map. This means you can immediately run toward the elusive shiny variant when it finally shows up, and away from the basic scrubs. Pokemon: Still teaching us life lessons over a decade later.