Pokémon: Let’s Go! makes shiny hunting easier than ever

Shiny Pokémon are like badges of honor for the hardcore player — a collection of the uniquely colored, rare monsters is highly coveted. What used to be a self-driven pursuit is now encouraged by the developers, with Pokémon: Let’s Go! having both an in-game item and a proven method to help capture shinies. And understandably, players are making the most of them.

The way to capture shiny Pokémon is streamlined for Let’s Go!, making it way easier than ever to seek out these special monsters. It will take a huge time investment, however, but one that’s actually … kind of fun if you’re into catching an obscene amount of Pokémon.

How to hunt shiny Pokémon in Pokémon: Let’s Go!

Players have come to a relative consensus on how finding shiny Pokémon works in Let’s Go!, and it requires a lot of patience. And if you want an extra boost, you’ll also have to become a Pokémon Master first.

We’ll first recommend a more accessible, well-tested method, however. Most players are having luck chaining catch combos, which are racked up when capturing several of the same species of Pokémon. As your chain increases, so do the odds of finding a shiny Pokémon. Once hitting the maximum combo, 31 (although you can still continue to catch more of the same kind of Pokémon after this if you’d like), you’ll now have a one in 341 chance of landing on a shiny. The combo will reset if you exit out to the home menu, break it by catching a different, non-shiny monster or a Pokémon runs away from a fight.

What you have to do then is wait. Either keep catching the same Pokémon over and over until you encounter a shiny version of the type you’d like, or just pace around until that shiny appears. (You’ll either immediately recognize them on the overworld map or see them sparkle.)

Game Freak/The Pokemon Company

One in 341 still isn’t the most encouraging set of odds, but it’s a whole lot better than the standard probability without chaining catch combos: one in 4,096.

If you want to bring that baseline number down even more — supposing you don’t really want to go along with the catch combo trick — it requires you to have every Pokémon in the Kanto region Pokédex. After capturing all 151, head to Celadon City and visit the Game Freak offices. (This cute Easter egg is found in the back of a building demarcated by a solitary Poliwhirl.) The game director inside will hand over a Shiny Charm item, which brings the number down from one in 4,096 to one in 1,365. That’s a very big difference, to be sure.

If you have a Shiny Charm in your bag and also follow the catch combo trick, the chances you’ll find a shiny are even better. One out of 293 Pokémon could be shiny. If you add a Lure, an item that attracts Pokémon, into the mix, you hit the optimal number, which is one in 273. (These odds come courtesy of the fansite Serebii.)

Successful shiny hunting galore

It’s common to see Pokémon fans now sharing their shiny collections from Let’s Go!, including kicking off shiny hunting livestreams and contests for their viewers to participate in. Content creators like Pokémon Master Holly and Mystic7, huge names in the Pokémon Go community, are among those regularly sharing their conquests.

These can both inspire jealousy and some secret drive within you to go out there and find your own shiny Chansey or Charmander or Ponyta or whatever else strikes your fancy. Let’s Go!’s version of hunting is definitely a lot easier than trying to find them in any previous Kanto-region game before.