I decided to go back to Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield to do some shiny hunting. And I gotta say, it’s probably the worst shiny hunting mechanic since the dawn of mankind. Granted, my experience across the many games is pretty limited since I started to seriously hunt in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. And my God was I spoiled. SOS hunting is by far the best method. With just a little prep work, SOS hunting doesn’t require a lot of attention, meaning pokémon can be hunted passively. And the odds are great up until 256 ally pokemon are seen then the odds reset. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon saw a slight tweak in the mechanic to make things even easier by getting rid of the 256 cap.
Sword and Shield, however, has a shiny hunting mechanic where you have to battle hundreds of the particular pokémon you are shiny hunting for the best odds. Ideally, you’ll have the shiny charm and battle a pokémon at least a 100 times. That’s the magic threshold where you have the maximum chance, 3%, for a pokémon to spawn as brilliant. And brilliant pokemon, where a pokémon has a yellow aura around it, has the best chances hitting a shiny and get better the more you kill capping at 600 encounters.
It sounds ridiculous right? Feint hundreds of pokémon to increase your shiny odds? it sounds ridiculous because it is! Hundreds! And it just sucks because it’s not passive, the brilliant spawn rate is abysmal. It’s stupid and I hate it. That being said, I tortured myself through a couple of hunts. My latest acquisition is this here shiny Frosmoth:
I have a couple of others from Sword/Shield but I’ll save those for another time.
