Shiny Rates in Pokémon Sword and Shield

Pokémon Sword and Shield have some of the most ways to hunt Shiny Pokémon in the series. Trainers can hunt random encounters, breed eggs (including the Masuda Method), challenge Dynamax Raids, do some Dynamax Adventures, make lots of curry, and even hunt some gift Pokémon. On this page, we present some useful tables and explanations of the various ways you can shiny hunt in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

If you want to know why this page uses "shiny rates" instead of "shiny odds," "shiny chances," or "shiny probabilities" check out our guide on shiny rate verbiage. Long story short, we use "rate" to mean mathematical probability (i.e. a value between 0 and 1 that indicates how likely an event will occur) presented as fractions. For example, a rate of 1/4096 means "the probability of a shiny is one in an average of 4096 encounters".

Special thanks to Anubis and others in the community for the data!

linkThe Most Important Shiny Rates

(If you're on mobile, you will need to scroll horizontally to view the whole table!)

linkBase Shiny Rate

The base shiny rate in Scarlet and Violet is 1/4096. If you have the shiny charm, the chance is typically increased to 1/1365.67, but only for encounters that use it. Shiny Charm, in most cases, will add an additional two shiny rolls when spawning the Pokémon.

This information is not universally true for this game. Please see further tables below for specific hunts.

linkStatic Encounters and Shiny Locks

There are a good number of "Static Encounters" in Sword and Shield. Static Encounters are typically Pokémon that require you to press A to interact with, but there are some Overworld Spawns that fall under this category.

"Strong Spawns" is a term the community gave to stand-alone Pokémon spawns in the wild area, these are the ones that change daily and always return even when you walk away from them. Similarly, Virizion, Cobalion, and Terrakion follow these same rules.

There are also a few special Pokémon that spawn on some of the routes. On Route 5, these is an Eldegoss that is blown by the wind. In the Galar Mines, there's a Carkoal you can race down the tracks. These Pokémon can be shiny and are affected by the Shiny Charm!

Here is a summary of Static Encounter shiny rates:

There are quite a few Shiny Locked Pokémon in Sword and Shield. There aren't too many good "patterns" that indicate the locks, so we'll provide a list instead. This includes the following:

• The Gift Starters: Grookey, Scorbunny, Sobble
• The gift Charmander you obtain in Postwick
• The Gigantamax Pikachu available at the Meetup Spot for having Let's Go, Pikachu! Save Data
• The Gigantamax Eevee available at the Meetup Spot for having Let's Go, Eevee! Save Data
• The Galarian Slowpoke encounter in Wedgehurst at the Train Station
• The Type: Null gift at the Battle Tower
• The Toxel Route 5 Gift
• Zacian and Zamazenta
• Eternatus
• Any Pokémon that are above your current capture level

That last bullet point refers to when you see a message stating a Pokémon is "very strong looking." These are impossible to catch, and fortunately the game places a shiny lock on them so you can't lose a shiny.

linkWild Encounters

The information in this section only applies to wild encounters. In Sword and Shield there are a large number of spawns that are considered "wild encounters."

First there are Encounter Slots, which are all of the Pokémon that spawn around patches of grass that roam around. You see these everywhere. If you walk too far away, these Pokémon will disappear and new ones will spawn in. Additionally, we have the Grass Hidden Encounters which are the Pokémon that appear with an exclamation point (!) when you walk in the grass. The final type included here are the Berry Tree Hidden Encounters, which are when a Pokémon jumps out at you when you're collecting berries.

Here's a table for wild encounters:

However, for Encounter Slots, or the Pokémon that spawn around you, there's an additional mechanic through Brilliant Spawns.

linkBrilliant Spawns

There's a lot to understand about Brilliant Spawns (we've got plans to make a full write-up and guide soon!), but we'll go over some of the basics here. First, the game tracks how many Pokémon of a particular species you've encountered and KO'd in your Pokédex. When a Pokémon spawns, the game will actually check the Pokédex KO count and determine if it should apply some extra shiny rolls. If those shiny rolls are applied, then the Pokémon appears with a "Brilliant Aura."

You must have at least one KO for a Brilliant Spawn to occur. Additionally, we recommend only KOing up to 100 or so, as the brilliant rate reaches its cap at 100. Any additional KOs will increase your shiny rate, but the amount of time you want to spend is up to you.

Therefore, only Pokémon with a Brilliant Aura had a potential bonus chance of being shiny. Here's a table explaining the shiny rates on brilliant spawns:

linkCurry Encounters

Curry Encounters are an interesting mechanism where if you have at least one empty slot in your party and then go to make curry, a Pokémon has a chance to join you. These Pokémon come from the Encounter Slots mentioned above, so where you make curry will determine what Pokémon you'll get. These Pokémon are not affected by the Shiny Charm, so they have the base shiny rate on top of being a rare occurrence.

The shiny rate for Curry Encounters is always 1/4096.0.

linkMax Raid Battles

Max Raid Battles are the multiplayer feature in the Wild Area where you can encounter Dynamx Pokémon. When you encounter ones of these beams of light, everything about the Pokémon is fixed. You cannot just close and re-open the game to change it.

That being said, Max Raid Dynamax Pokémon have a chance at being shiny. However, these battles are not affected by the Shiny Charm.

The shiny rate for all Max Raid Battles and the Dynamax Pokémon you catch within is always 1/4096.00.

However, this method is extremely easy to manipulate with RNG, but that will be in another guide.

linkDynamax Adventures

Dynamax Adventures are a feature added in the Crown Tundra DLC which allows you to optionally team up with three other players to challenge a Legendary Pokémon (or an Ultra Beast). These battles allow you to catch up to four Pokémon at once, and you can keep the Legendary Pokémon to add to your collection.

Whether or not a Pokémon is shiny is determined at the results screen and is unique for everyone playing the Adventure. Each Pokémon has an individual chance of 1/300.00 to be Shiny without the Shiny Charm. This includes the boss Pokémon at the end of the challenge.

With the Shiny Charm, this increases to 1/100.0.

Keep in mind that these are individual rates. While you technically have a 1/75.38 chance (or a 1/25.39 chance with Shiny Charm) that at least one of the four rewards is shiny without charm, this does not mean that your Legendary Shiny rate increases. You do not get a bonus for catching all four in your adventure.