Shiny Pokémon are a big part of the Trainer experience in this franchise. The hunting of these unique appearances is a huge meme. And given the amount of hype around this new game, there’s a ton of Trainers looking to hunt shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Along with the changes to evolutions systems, the new game is making things a bit more granular. Players will most likely spend less time grinding, but have more fun as they get faster rewards.
How shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus work
The biggest change is that you can now see Shiny spawns in the overworld. And given how much the new Switch game focuses on its version of the wild area, that’s a great thing. The shiny Pokémon you encounter in Pokémon Legends will be appearing in the overworld while you play the game. This means you will have to spend a lot less time grabbing shiny spawns. The Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee games did very much the same thing.
A core part of the gameplay loop is observing wild monsters, and gathering Research. As your Research rate for a given species increases, the chance for a shiny spawn increases. When you reach research level 10 with a Pokémon, those chances increase to 1 in 2,048, from the normal rate of 1 in 4,096. Then there’s the shiny charm that’s been reported as part of the game. Combining max Research and Shiny Charm, you can bring the odds to 1 in 819.
One of the common complaints that players have is which shiny Pokémon can be found in these games. The shiny hunters in the community love to get shiny starters, or even shiny legendary spawns. The game looks to be keeping that addictive grind in place. So let’s talk about it.
Can starter Pokémon be shiny in Pokémon Legends: Arceus?
The question remains, will starters be able to spawn shiny? The short answer is yes, but not the actual starter. The Pokémon you get from the professor character will never be shiny. But it’s not all bad news. While your initial starter Pokémon cannot be shiny, these Pokémon are not shiny locked in the rest of the game. So other methods of creating spawns, be they wild encounters or egg hatching.
So you can still get out there and hunt shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is out now on Nintendo Switch.
