Shiny Hunting All Legendaries in Sword and Shield's Crown Tundra

The Crown Tundra brought back a significant number of Legendary Pokémon, and most of them can be shiny hunted. Additionally, there's a whole new method of shiny hunting for most of these Legendary Pokémon! This guide will detail what we know about hunting these legendaries through Dynamax Adventures and some soft resetting methods.

linkShiny Locked Pokémon

There are a few Pokémon that are confirmed shiny locked. The following are shiny locked:

• Galarian Articuno
• Galarian Zapdos
• Galarian Moltres
• Victini
• Keldeo
• Cosmog
• Poipole
• Glastrier
• Spectrier
• Calyrex

linkDynamax Adventures

The most important news is that all Pokémon within Dynamax Adventures can be shiny. That includes the Legendary Pokémon available at the end of the adventure. For a full list of Pokémon available in the Dynamax Adventures mode, you can use our Dynamax Adventures Types Tool. Here are some mechanics that we know about the Adventure.

linkCompleting the Adventure Best Practices

One very important thing to know about the Dynamax Adventure is that you should throw a Poké Ball (any kind) at every single stage. Every single Pokémon has a 100% catch rate!

You cannot know if a Pokémon will be shiny until the very end of the adventure. If you have the shiny charm any individual Pokémon has a 1/100 chance of being shiny. If you do not have the shiny charm, it's a 1/300 chance. Not bad, though the adventures take a lot longer than simply resetting.

This means that you should always throw a Poké Ball of some kind as you’re traversing through the adventure. Please note that your Poké Ball is consumed. If you are using a rare ball, you can close your game on the “select” screen after verifying it isn’t shiny and relaunch to try again and reclaim your Poké Ball.

When you reset your game after seeing your results, the same seed that generated which Pokémon you encounter will be used again. However, the scientist will start charging you Dynite Ore on each reset after two consecutive resets. So after three resets, you pay three ore, four for four, and the pattern continues up to ten. Constantly resetting will eat through your ore very quickly! Choosing to not take any Pokémon will reset this penalty.

The shinyness of all Pokémon is determined after the adventure and before the selection screen. It also uses system RNG to determine if the Pokémon is shiny, so the shininess will be different for every person joining the raid and is unable to be manipulated.

When you defeat the Legendary at the end (and catch it), you will be presented with a list of the Pokémon that you caught during your adventure. This is the point where you can see if the Pokémon is shiny. If it is not shiny, simply choose a different Pokémon (or reset if you are trying to save special Poké Balls). As long as you do not choose to take the legendary Pokémon with you at the end, you can encounter it again.

Once you “catch” the Pokémon and choose to not take it with you, the scientist at the front will ask you if you want her to remember where the legendary was located. If you want to hunt it again, say yes. You can then reattempt the adventure to try for the shiny again.

linkSteps to Follow to Shiny Hunt

So, in short, here’s the sequence of events that you should follow when shiny hunting legendaries through Dynamax Adventure based on the above information:

1. Enter the Adventure
2. Defeat and Capture every single Pokémon within the den
3. On the screen that lets you choose your Pokémon, check to see if it is shiny by finding the shiny symbol in the summary screen (you can also toggle the forms with our Catch Calculator application, see the table below, or use our Dynamax Adventures Types Tool).
4. If it is shiny, you’re done! If not, either select a different Pokémon, don’t take anything, or restart your game
5. Repeat until the Pokémon shines

If a more efficient method is found, we will be sure to update this page. Also, the AI that controls the random adventurers is not very good, so it is recommended you attempt with friends.

linkShiny Odds in Dynamax Adventure

As anticipated, the Shiny Odds in Dynamax Adventure are much higher than normal encounter methods. According to dataminers, the rates are exactly 1/300 if you don’t have the charm and 1/100 if you do have the charm for each of the four Pokémon you catch.

For this reason it is highly recommended that you catch every Pokémon in the den, as each catch can be shiny. Without the shiny charm you have approximately a 1/75 chance of at least one of them being shiny. With the charm, that increases to approximately 1/25! It is worth your effort throwing at least a Poké Ball after each battle.

linkStatic Pokémon Encounters

Within the Crown Tundra, there are a few Legendary Pokémon that you can encounter not within the Dynamax Adventure. These are the Regis and the Swords of Justice. None of these Pokémon are shiny locked.

You can soft reset for these shinies by saving in front of them, encountering, and then closing the game if not shiny. You can defeat and/or run away from them and they can be encountered again immediately. In some cases, defeating or running away will be faster than closing and reopening the game.

Defeating the Pokémon does not increase your odds! Since these are “static” encounters (even with the roaming beasts), the “KO” Method bonus is not applied. Thus, for the Regis, it is fastest to save in front of the activated statue, enter the battle, close the game, and relaunch the game (I timed Registeel and it took approximately 40 seconds to cycle through the KO and lighting the lights and 30 seconds to just reset the game).

It is also important to note that the Regis are not affected by the shiny charm. That means that your chance of getting a shiny Regi is 1/4096, which is unfortunate. They also do not follow wild Pokemon spawn mechanics (like the Swords) so they have a 1/16 chance of being Square, while the Swords will almost always be square.

A method for the Swords of Justice is to go to their encounter location, encounter the Pokémon, run away, and then open up your Campsite. This will force them to respawn immediately! You can even set up camping right on their spawn point to encounter them immediately as well.

The Regis are hidden within their temples. And the Swords of Justice can be found after finding all of the “Clues” (footprints) and then speaking with Sonia to locate them. Here are comparisons of their shiny forms and how to encounter them.

linkLegendaries In Dynamax Adventures

Every Legendary Pokémon at the end of the adventure can be shiny. The following table shows all of the available Legendary Pokémon obtainable through Dynamax Adventures. They are all level 70 when fought and captured and their movesets have been included for convenience.

Dynamax Adventures appears to show only one type from the Pokémon before you battle it.

linkUltra Beasts

The Ultra Beasts are part of Dynamax Adventures. However, they are not available until after you catch the Regis, the Galarian Birds, and Calyrex. Once that is done, they behave just like the rest of the legendaries in Dynamax Adventures.

Here are the Ultra Beasts in the game

linkFrequently Asked Questions

Can I catch Pokémon in other hosts’ Dynamax Adventures?
Yes! You absolutely can. Be sure to get with friends to defeat them quickly and get as many legendaries as you can!

Does that mean I can have more than one if I join a friend?
No. If you already collected the legendary, it is forever locked from you. The Pokémon will disappear into the den, though you can still choose one of the remaining Pokémon and get rewards from that adventure.

Are my Poké Balls consumed when I use them and don’t choose that Pokémon?
Yes. When you throw a Poké Ball (of any kind) at a Pokémon in Dynamax Adventure, it is consumed. Be cautious with rare Poké Balls unless you want to reload your game through a soft reset.

Can I have more than one Pokémon’s location set by the scientist?
Yes. You can hold on to the locations of 3 Pokémon at a time, but you can have more than one as long as you are sure to say “yes” when she asks if she should remember it.

Do I have to choose a Pokémon when completing the adventure?
No. You do not have to choose a Pokémon at the final screen. You can choose to quit and the game will not reward you a Pokémon.