An efficient way to find Shiny Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet

Another method for easily finding Shiny Pokémon has been discovered in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. This new method uses the junctions between areas and is a more efficient way to reset the Pokémon that appear in an area compared to the previous picnic method.

Just like many other games in the series, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feature the very rare Shiny Pokémon variants. With some luck, trainers are able to encounter Pokémon that possess a different color scheme than usual. Players have investigated a variety of different methods in the hope of discovering an efficient way to encounter these Shiny Pokémon (related article).

The most popular method is to use picnics to reset the Pokémon in an area. When you begin a picnic, all the wild Pokémon in the area disappear, and when you end your picnic, they respawn. This means that you can reset the wild Pokémon in an area without having to engage in any battles.  

But according to a tweet by Twitter user @TAK_Reor, there is an even more efficient way to find Shiny Pokémon that involves Mass Outbreaks that occur close to the “dividing lines” of towns and areas.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feature seamless traversal between different areas, but Pokémon and NPCs disappear once you are a certain distance away from them. And for wild Pokémon, there are dividing lines between areas that determine whether they appear. @TAK_Reor’s post explains that if a Mass Outbreak occurs near one of these dividing lines, then it is possible to reset the wild Pokémon that appear simply by moving back and forth between areas.

Of course, these “dividing lines” are part of the game’s internal processing, so players are unable to see their position on the map. However, just as @TAK_Reor’s explains, it is easy to confirm that such dividing lines exist on the borders between areas. If you see a Mass Outbreak on the map that seems to be near the border of two areas, then it’s likely to be a great spot for some Shiny hunting.

Dividing lines also exist inside caves. A user on Twitter posted footage of a section located within The Great Crater of Paldea where it is very quick and easy to reset the wild Pokémon that appear. This shows that there are areas where you can easily find Shiny Pokémon just by moving around, without the need to search for Mass Outbreaks. It’s possible that you may even find other areas that are similar to this one. For those players who want to try out this “dividing line” method, it’s probably still a good idea to make use of the Lv. 3 Encounter and Sparkling Meal Powers in order to boost your chances.

New Shiny hunting methods continue to be discovered in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. By making good use of the various approaches, you should be able to get your hands on the Shiny variants of a good number of different Pokémon.


[Update 2023/01/17 15:20 JST] Updated the headline so that it makes more sense upon first read.

Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-12-15 14:46 JST)