Pokemon AlphaSapphire/Omega Ruby Shiny Hunting FAQ Written By: Devan Braden/Gameplay ================================================================================ Table of Contents ================================================================================ 1. Introduction 2. What Are Shinies 3. The Mechanics of Shiny Pokemon 4. Random Encounter Shiny Hunting 5. Chain Fishing Shiny Hunting 6. Horde Encounter Shiny Hunting 7. DexNac Shiny Hunting 8. Masuda Method Shiny Hunting 9. Soft-Restting Shiny Hunting 10.Version History 11.Legal Information ================================================================================ 1. Introduction ================================================================================ Hello, and welcome to my Omega Ruby and AlphaSapphire Shiny Hunting FAQ. In this FAQ Shiny Hunting will be explained in detail, to help aid you in your quest for a great Shiny Collection. I have amassed a collection of all the Pokemon in their Shiny Version, with a big portion of them being caught myself. Not listed in this FAQ, is trading. I don't list this, because trading isn't really a "hunting" method. It is, however, necessary to have a Shiny Living Dex. A Living Shiny Dex is the collection of all Pokemon in their Shiny versions and having them accessible in real life, not just readable in the Pokedex. I hope that you read my FAQ and follow it's advice and are able to enjoy playing with your own Shinies. While some methods are simple and don't require much detail, others are more complicated and require alot of information. I have invested much effort into making my FAQ as comprehensible as I can, providing all of the information necessarry to help you strategically hunt for Shiny Pokemon. ================================================================================ 2. What Are Shinies. ================================================================================ Going online to any Pokemon related site, you will quickly learn that there is alot of talk about Shiny Pokemon. Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare Pokemon that come in different colors than their original counterpart. For instance Latios is a light green color, rather than blue and white. Honedge is red on the blade instead of the normal silver color. In addition to being differently colored, when the Shiny Pokemon enters battle, an explosion of stars sparkles from the Pokemon, indicating that it is for sure Shiny. When the Pokemon's summary is checked, you will notice a red star in the bottom left of the Pokemon's picture. Shiny Pokemon are mostly sought out as trophies and collections. They are often traded for other Shinies, helping people build a collection which they are proud of. Shiny Pokemon can also help players trade for rare Event Pokemon, as well as anything else they desire. However, encountering a Shiny Pokemon is probably the HARDEST activity that the Pokemon games have. The chance of encountering one normally in the wild is 1/4092! Which means that you would have to go through an average of 4,000 battles to find one shiny! Luckily, there is a tool along with many methods of finding Shiny Pokemon. Regardless though, unless you're lucky, finding Shiny Pokemon takes time, persistence, and dedication. Despite that, it's well worth it once you finally achieve your Shiny. An item called the Shiny Charm, triples your chances of finding a Shiny Pokemon. This item isn't easy to attain however, and impossible for those without internet. To achieve this item, you must complete your National Pokedex, registering every Pokemon besides event Pokemon like Celebi and Jirachi. That's a huge feat to accomplish, but, as with all things in Pokemon this goal takes great patience and dedication. It's not achieved overnight. But it is well worth it. I wouldn't have been able to achieve a Living Shiny Dex without the Shiny Charm. Also, it should be noted, that you will still need ALOT of patience and time after getting the Shiny Charm. This item should be looked at as an item that takes the luck out of getting a Shiny and makes it an eventual possibility. The odds go from 1/4092, to 1/1364! ================================================================================ 3. The Mechanics of Shiny Pokemon ================================================================================ As stated, encounter a Shiny Pokemon is based on odds, similar to gambling at a Casino. However, there is a great deal of complexity. What makes the game flow and be fluid, rather than jumping around like old computer games used to do, is a Frame System. In one second, there are 60 frams that roll by. Meaning that there is set of 60 frames for each second. What generates every random feature of these games is a series of set coding with each frame that depicts what you will get. For example a frame 2 milliseconds from starting the game might have a set of certain IVs, an Adamant nature, and a certain item and ability. Then the 3rd millisecond will have a different set of IVs, a Timid nature, a different item, or no item, and a different ability. And this will progressively change as the the Frames continue to roll by. Even the Pokemon that you encounter are based on these frames. What makes a Pokemon Shiny, is encountering a Pokemon that is on a rare Shiny Frame. With full odds, you will have a Shiny Frame every 4092 frames. Which means that every 68 seconds you have a chance at encountering a Shiny Pokemon. Now this isn't set in stone. It is possible to have the Shiny Frames set up in a way that cause you to encounter two Shinies in a row. But I've never had that happen. With the Shiny Charm you have on average a Shiny Frame every 22 seconds. The frames are always random, as they are decided by when you first press the button to move from the first screen as the game is starting. Finding a Shiny Frame is almost always going to be difficult, but you will have you lucky days. You practically have to exercise patience, persistence, and dedication as much as you can to find a Shiny. ================================================================================ 4. Random Encounter Shiny Hunting ================================================================================ The term Random Encounter is used when running through the Tall Grass, around in Caves, or Surfing in the water. All Pokemon that are encountered this way are randomly encountered. Finding a Shiny Pokemon this way is one of the luckiest finds you can get because when you hunt via Random Encounter, you are dealing with the game's full 1/4092 odds of encountering a Shiny Pokemon. There are howevere some theories and tricks to helping to increase your luck. Once you have obtained the Shiny Charm, your chances are a 1/1364 chance of finding a Shiny. This makes it a whole lot easier to find a Shiny, but even with nonstop grinding of Pokemon, it may take a couple of days. The best thing to do while Random Encountering Pokemon is to train Pokemon in the wild to give you a goal while you Shiny Hunt. There are Theories which say that you can use a Pokemon with an ability that increases the Encounter Rate to also increase the Shiny Rate. Along with those abilities is the Encounter Power O-Power that can also double the Encounter Rate once it reaches Lv. 3. Combining these two should make it much easier to find a Shiny. However, none of this has been proven. --------- |Abilities| --------- There are many abilities that have affects outside of Battle. Some increase the Encounter Rate for all Pokemon, while some increase the Encounter Rate for specific types; like Electric and Steel type Pokemon. Some abilities influence the Nature that the Encountered Pokemon will have. Some abilities also influence the Level of the Encountered Pokemon. There are many Abilities that can be used to your advantage in finding great Shinies. Learning what they are and how to use them appropriately will lead to even more valuable Shinies. These tricks can also be used with the other methods of Shiny Hunting that are listed in this FAQ. Also, for these abilities to be active, the Pokemon holding the ability will need to be in the lead of the party. It's also best to choose a Pokemon that is of a low level and to allow them to become knocked out |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Illuminate |Increases the Encounter Rate by x2 or %200. | |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Staryu, Starmie, Chinchou, Lanturn, Volbeat | |Watchog | |------------------------------------------------| My advice is to use Illuminate as often as possible. There are many theories that the Shiny Encounter rate is doubled along with the doubled Encounter Rate in general. Meaning that each Pokemon you run into while employing the Ability Illuminate may have twice the chance of being Shiny. Either way using Illuminate helps you hit frames quicker which will definetely increase your chances of finding a Shiny Frame. This is important in finding Shiny Pokemon since it's easy to pass over a Shiny Frame while searching for the next Pokemon. I personally have found most of my Radnom Encounter Shinies via Staryu with it's Illuminate ability. I haven't used/tested this ability far enough to give a numerical value or any validation to it's effects. Due to the fact that I've found most of my Wild Shinies while using the ability Illuminate, I recommend it's use. It won't hurt to try anyway. The only hard thing about using this ability is that it is easy to forget to get the Pokemon knocked out which leads to the Pokemon increasing in Level which will make it harder to knock the Pokemon out. My strategy with Illuminate is to capture a Staryu which can be found in ORAS in Lillycove City and then breed a Lv. 1 Staryu with the Illuminate ability. As a rule- of-thumb, attach the item Black Sludge, which is easily found on Grimer in the Fiery Path. This item hurts Pokemon, except for Poison Types at the end of each turn. It also heals Poison Types at the end of each turn, making it a useful battle item as well. Then keep the Staryu in the lead of your Party for it's Abilities effect to take advantage. Upon entering battle, do whatever is needed to allow this Staryu to Faint, then finish or Run from the Encounter. From this point on the second Pokemon in your Party will be used in Battle. Granted, you can only Train five Pokemon at once, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh this con. When grinding through Random Encounters, it's best to either set a time limit to dedicate yourself to, or to watch some TV while grinding Pokemon. With the Encounter Power and Illuminate Ability you can encounter twelve Pokemon within a three minute time span. Which is doubled from about six Pokemon in that time frame, which is definately alot more frames that you'll be hitting. |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Static |Increases the Encounter Rate of Electrics by 150| |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Pikachu, Raichu, Voltorb, Electrode Eletrik, | |Electabuzz, Pichu, Mareep, Flaffy, Ampharos, | |Ekekid, Eletrike, Manectrike, Emolga, Stunfisk | |------------------------------------------------| In Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire the first of these Pokemon that you will encounter is Electrike and Voltorb both on Route 110. Capture either of these Pokemon and then breed them to Lv. 1 so that they may easily be knocked out. Keep them as head of the Party so their ability will still take effect, and any area that your Character enters into that has electric Type Pokemon will trigger this Ability. Which will attract Electric-Type Pokemon to you most of the time. Use this Ability when you're looking for Shiny Electric-Type Pokemon. |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Magnet Pull|Increases Steel Encounter Rate by %150 | |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Magnemite, Magneton, Nosepass, Magnezone, | |Probopass | |------------------------------------------------| In Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire the first of these Pokemon that you will Encounter is Nosepass in Granit Cave. Either attract one in Hordes or use the HM Rock Smash that you get from Wally's Uncle in front of the Mauville Gym. Capture this Pokemon and then breed it to Lv. 1 so that it may easily be knocked out. Keep it as head of the Party so it's ability will still take effect, and any area that your Character enters into that has a Steel-Type Pokemon will trigger this Ability. You will notice that you will more commonly Encounter Steel-Type Pokemon. This is helpful if your are specifically searching for a Pokemon of this type, especially since Steel-Type Pokemon are rarely encountered. |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Synchronize|%50 chance of meeting Pokemon with same nature | |-----------|as the Synchronizing Pokemon | |------------------------------------------------| |Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam, Mew, Natu, Xatu, Espeon| |Umbreon, Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir, Munna, | |Musharna, Elgym, Beheeyem. | |------------------------------------------------| Synchronize ability can be used at all times of course, but a few certain times, I've found this ability to be the most helpful. Either when DexNaving or Soft-Resetting in front of a Pokemon that can be seen in the overworld without using the DexNav. Synchronize gives you a fifty percent chance of the Synchronizing Pokemon matching the Wild Pokemon's Nature to the Synchronizing Pokemon's Nature. For example, if you have a Synchronize Ralts who's Nature is Adamant. You will have a fifty percent chance of encountering Wild Pokemon that are Adamant. Most commonly, this ability is probably used as a filter when Encountering Pokemon using the DexNav. However, it is also very common for a Synchronize Pokemon to be in the lead of the Party when Encountering a Legendary Pokemon. The chances are that, the Encountered Pokemon will have the ability of the Pokemon in the lead of the Party. My advice is to spend some time capturing random Ralts in Route 2, using the DexNav so that you can easily encounter them and quickly capture different Ralts' with different Natures and the Synchronize ability. As these Ralts' are low-level, you don't need to breed for a Lv. 1 Ralts. |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Hustle |Increases Encounter Rate by %50 | |-----------|------------------------------------------------| |Togepi, Togetic, Corsola, Remoraid, Delibird | |Togekiss, Darumaka, Durant, Deino, Zweilous | |------------------------------------------------| Hustle increases the Encounter Rate by another %50. Not quit as good as Illuminate, but still helps if you like a Hustle Pokemon better. There's not much more to be said about Hustle except that you won't be able to find a Hustle Pokemon until you reach the surrounding area of the Gym Leader Wallace. ================================================================================ Chain Fishing Shiny Hunting ================================================================================ First introduced in Pokemon X and Y, Chain Fishing has opened the door for all players to be able to encounter and capture a Shiny Pokemon. While the typing is limited to primarily Water-Type Pokemon, there is a great variety of different species of Pokemon which can be caught via, Chain Fishing. Through Chain Fishing, the patient player can amass a rather great collection of Shiny Pokemon. Making it a must for Shiny Hunters to pursue. What is Chain Fishing? It is simply the act of consecutively reeling in Pokemon using any of the Fishing Rods without moving, failing a hook, or doing much other than Fishing. Each consecutive Pokemon that you reel in, in a row, adds another link to your Chain. Each link that's added to the Chain will slightly improve your odds of reeling in a Shiny Pokemon. It is unkown by how much the odds are increased, but it's not uncommon to find a Shiny Pokemon even at a Chain of two or three. Most commonly, you will find one between a Chain of twenty and forty. Don't get TOO excited though. I've also frequently had to do chains that exceeding a hundred links! Anyone who's went fishing in these games will know that it seems impossible to get a Chain over three links high! Luckily, GameFreak created Pokemon Abilities which make Chain Fishing possible. Use a Pokemon with the Abilities of either Suction Cups or Sticky hold and you will reel in Pokemon only rarely going without a bite. These Pokemon are easy to be found, with Grimer being the first Pokemon you can find with the Sticky Hold Ability in the Fiery Path. There are tricks to Chain Fishing though. First, it's easy to break a Chain. While some sources claim that you can keep your Chain after running from a Pokemon, this isn't proven, and some sources claim that this does in fact break your Chain. There are many ways to break your Chain and I will list them here. -Running from a Pokemon -Reeling in too early -Reeling in too late -Moving from the spot you are fishing in -exiting the game -Starting a Trade/Battle You can switch your Pokemon, close the 3DS, heal your Pokemon, and use O-Powers while Chain Fishing. All of these things are in fact necessary as you will need to recover your Pokemon health and PP. List of Pokemon which can be attained via Chain Fishing: |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Magikarp | All Routes/w water | Old Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Gyaradose | Sootopolis City | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Goldeen | Route 102, Petalburg| | |----------| City, 117, 111, 114,| | | | Meteor Falls, 120, | Old Rod | | | Safari Zone, 123 | | | | Victory Road | | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Seaking | Safari Zone | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Tentacool | Route 103, 105, 106,| | |----------| Dewford Town, 107, | | | | 108, 109, Sea | Old Rod/ | | | Mauville, Slateport,| Good Rode | | | 110, 118, 119, 120, | | | | All of the ocean | | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Corphish | 102, Petalburg City | Super Rod | |----------| 117, 123 | Good Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Crawdaunt | 117, 123 | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Barboach | 111, 114, Meteor | Super Rod | |----------| Falls, Victory Road | Good Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Whiscash | Meteor Falls | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Carvanha | 118, 119 | Good Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Sharpedo | 118, 119 | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Feebas | 118 *see below | All Rods | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Staryu | Lillycove City | Good Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Wailmer | 103, 110, 115, | | |----------| Dewford, Slateport | Good Rod | | | Lillycove, all of | Super Rold| | | ocean | | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Luvdisc | 128, EverGrand City |Super Rod | |----------| Victory Road | | | |---------------------|-----------| |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Corsola | 128, EverGrand City | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Horsea | 131, 132, 133, 134 | Good Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| |Seaking | 131, 132, 133, 134 | Super Rod | |----------|---------------------|-----------| Feebas is generally a VERY rare Pokemon to encounter. However, there are certain times of day and locations where Feebas has a hundred percent encounter rate. During the day, cast your line underneath the bridge in front of the waterfall. At night, find the rock at the bottom of the River near the house and fish in water surrounding the rock. It should also be noted that it may not be possible to encounter all of these Pokemon as Shiny. Corsola has a VERY low encounter rate, making it very unlikely that you will every find one as a Shiny. Whiscash, Staryu, Seaking, and Gyaradose are in the same boat as the Corsola. ========================================================================= Horde Encounter Shiny Hunting ========================================================================= Yet another great addition to the Pokemon World is the option to encounter a Horde of Pokemon. Introduced in Pokemon X and Y you can encounter up to five wild Pokemon in one wild battle. The Pokemon that you can encounter in a Horde are specific for each Route. Using the move Sweet Scent or the item Honey, you can attract these Horde Battles instantly. The next step is to have a Pokemon with a move that can strike all five Pokemon at once, or to run from them. Such moves are: |----------------| |Surf | |----------------| |Struggle Bug | |----------------| |Razor Leaf | |----------------| |Bulldoze | |----------------| |Magnitude | |----------------| |Earthquake | |----------------| |Heat Wave | |----------------| |Rock Slide | |----------------| |Dazzling Gleam | |----------------| |Precipice Blades| |----------------| |Snarl | |----------------| |Razor Wind | |----------------| |Discharge | |----------------| |Sludge Wave | |----------------| The key to Shiny Hunting via Horde Encounters is to keep patient and dedicate yourself to it. With the Shiny Charm, your odds are 1/1236, divide that by five and you have about 247 Hordes to grind through, making Horde Hunting one of the fastest Shiny Hunting techniques to achieve your goals. What's more? You can put Pokemon with specific abilities in the lead spot of your Party to great influence what you encounter. If you are looking for a Magnemite, put a Nosepass or a regular Magnemite with Magnet Pull in the lead of your Part and you will almost always encounter the Steel-Type Magnemite. If you want an Adamant Pokemon, catch an Adamant Ralts with the Synchronize ability and place him/her in the lead spot of your Party and fifty percent of the Pokemon that you encounter will have the Adamant Nature. Each route and cave hold different Pokemon that can be encounter in Hordes. Following will be a list of each of these Pokemon and which locations they appear in. (*) means that the Pokemon is rarely encounter, I include this detail to help you decide on what to hunt for. |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 101 | Zigzagoon, Poochyena* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 102 | Lotad (AS), Seedot (OR), RaltsI*, Zigzagoon | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 103 | Poochyena, Wingull*, Zigzagoon | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 104 South| Wingull*, Zigzagoon | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Petalburg Woods| Shroomish*, Wurmple, Zigzagoon | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 104 North| Tailow*, Zigzagoon | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 116 | Nincada, Skitty*, Zigzagoon | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Rusturf Tunnel | Whismur | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Granite Cave | Geodude, Nosepass* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 110 | Magnemite, Minun (OR)*, Plusle (AS)*, | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 111 | Sandshrew | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 117 | Marill*, Oddish+Zigzagoon, Roselia | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 112 | Machop, Numel | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Fiery Path | Grimer(AS), Koffing(OR), Numel, Slugma* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 113 | Skarmory*, Spinda | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 114 | Lotad+Swablue(AS), Seedot(OR), Swablu | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Meteor Falls | Zubat, Bagon B1F Lower Chamber* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 115 | Swablu | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Jagged Pass | Machop, Spoink | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 118 | Electrike, Kecleon*, Wingull | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 119 | Oddish | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 120 | Kecleon*, Marill, Oddish | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 121 | Kecleon*, Shuppet, Wingull | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Safari Zone | Doduo, Oddish, Psyduck* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Route 123 | Kecleon*, Shuppet, Wingull | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Mt. Pyre | Shuppet | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Shoal Cave | Shpeal, Zubat, Snorunt Ice Cavern* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Seafloor Cavern| Zubat | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Cave of Origin | Zubat | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |New Mauville | Magnemite, Voltorb | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Victory Road | Aron, Loudred*, Zubat | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| |Sky Pillar | Ariados, Golbat, Swablu* | |---------------|---------------------------------------------| As you can tell, there are MANY Pokemon whom you can encounter through Hordes. Horde Hunting is, in my opinion, the easiest Method to attaining Shinies. See if you can catch them all! ================================================================================ DexNav Shiny Hunting ================================================================================ Exclusive to Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is the DexNave. The DexNav is a Pokemon Hunting tool which allows you to search for specific Pokemon multiple times in a row. Given to you by your friend in Route 101, all you have to do is tap on a Pokemon's sprite in the DexNav App and then tap the search button. Within seconds, that Pokemon will be shown on the overworld making a ruckuss. Then, sneak up on the Pokemon by lightly tilting the Control Stick in the direction of the Hidden Pokemon, until you reach it. The DexNav is similar to Chain Fishing in many ways, but still retains a great deal of it's own uniquity. Running from the Pokemon, leaving the area, or scaring it away will cause you to break your DexNav Chain. To continuosly encounter a Pokemon using the DexNav, you must maintain a Chain. You may switch the Pokemon you are Chaining, and still retain your Chain. The DexNav differs from Chain Fishing because the DexNav has a set Shiny Rate that isn't increased by your Chain. This rate is 1/512. You have this chance of encountering a Shiny Pokemon, each time that you encounter a Hidden Pokemon. The Shiny Charm does not increase the Shiny Rate using the DexNav either. ALL of the Pokemon in the game may be attained in their Shiny form using the DexNav. Searching for Pokemon via the DexNav in caves, the Desert, or in water will prove to be much more difficult as these Pokemon are always moving around and will run away much more quickly. In the grass, you have up to one minute to reach the Hidden Pokemon. The time is significantly reduced in the water and in caves, in fact, it's random. The time is halved even, when the Pokemon is a Special one that is shot up several levels. So spend time mastering the DexNav to bring in valuable Shinies. The higher the DexNav's Search Level, the higher quality of Pokemon that you will find. Egg Moves, Hidden Abilities, and Higher IV's are the result of the DexNav Level being high. |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |Attribute |Lv.0| Lv.5 |Lv. 10|Lv. 25|Lv. 50|Lv. 100| |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |0 Potential |? | 85% | 73% | 60% | 62% | 56% | |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |1 Potential |? | 14% | 17% | 17% | 15% | 8% | |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |2 Potentail |? | 1% | 9% | 16% | 17% | 24% | |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |3 Potentail |? | 0% | 1% | 7% | 6% | 12% | |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |Egg Move |21% | 45% | 58% | 63% | 65% | 83% | |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |Hidden Abil | 0% | 0% | 5% | 15% | 20% | 23% | |------------|----|-------|------|------|------|-------| |Boosted Lv. | 4% | |------------|-----------------------------------------| The good thing about having to increase the search lv. to find valuable Pokemon, is that while you are doing this, you will also be working towards finding that Pokemon as a Shiny. ================================================================================ Masuda Method Shiny Hunting ================================================================================ Perhaps the most common method of Shiny Hunting is the Masuda Method. By pairing two Pokemon of differing languages together, one being from a foreign country, and the other being from your own Country, you can double your odds of hatching a Shiny Pokemon. Commonly, a foreign Ditto is used, as Ditto can breed with all breedable Pokemon. There aren't many tricks to Hatching Shiny babies other than using a Foreign Pokemon. The Shiny Charm, however, does impact the Masuda Method, bringing the odds to 1/400 chance of hatching a Shiny! Since the determination of a Pokemon being Shiny is based off of the games frame rate, my strategy is to collect a few Boxes of Eggs, then use Hatching Power to quickly hatch all of the Eggs. I have found dozens of Shinies via the Masuda Method, and thanks to the mechanics of the Masuda Method, they have been competitive Pokemon that I bring with me to Competitions and Rating Battles. If you want high quality Shinies, there are a few complex techniques and rules that you should know when breeding for Competitive Shinies. First, if you don't have a Ditto, you need to follow the rules of Egg Groups. Egg Groups determine who can breed with who. For example, Sceptile is Monster/Dragon Egg Group, which means that it has two Egg Groups which it can breed with. You'll have to do some research to find the Pokemon that match your Pokemon's Egg Group. Second, the female Pokemon decides the Species, except for Ditto. Meaning that if you have a Male Sceptile and a Female Druddigon, the Pokemon's Eggs will hatch only Druddigon. So whoever you want bred, make sure that she's a female. Also, if you want the Pokemon's Pokeball to be passed down to the baby Pokemon, then the female has to have been caught in that specific Pokeball. Abilities also follow the Female rule. If the Female has the Hidden Ability, then it can be passed down to the Egg, but if the Male has the Hidden Ability, but not the Female, then the Ability will not be passed down. Hidden Ability Ditto is the only except to this rule. Pokemon can be bred with special moves called, Egg Moves. These are moves which the Pokemon does not start out with any other way. Through Egg Move breeding, your Pokemon can learn moves that it wouldn't be able to learn by leveling up on it's. An example is that Meditite can learn Drain Punch through breeding, but it's can't learn the move any other way. Gender does not affect which moves are passed down. Natures can be passed down as well. Whichever Pokemon's nature that you want to be passed down to the baby Pokemon, will have to hold the Everstone Item. This item makes the chance of passing down the holder's nature one hundred percent! A Pokemon's IV's (Individual Values) may be passed down as well. IV's determine a Pokemon's overall Stat growth and cannot be changed once the Pokemon is obtained. To pass down IV's the Pokemon with the best IV's must be holding the item called the Destiny Knot. If you have it easy and have a five or six IV Pokemon, have the one hold the IVs and then the bred Pokemon will have a high chance of having those IVs as well. If you do not have a high IV Pokemon, then you will have to breed the hard way. ================================================================================ Soft-Resetting Shiny Hunting ================================================================================ Soft-Resetting is similar to Random Encounter Shiny Hunting. Your odds of finding a Shiny is the same regardless of any tricks that you try. However, the Pokemon is specific and Synchronize can be employed to help influence the Pokemon's nature. Soft-Resetting is when you find a Pokemon whom you have to interact with to battle, such a Regirock. Save infront of the Pokemon, then encounter it. If the Pokemon is not Shiny, simply reset the game by simultaneously pressing L+R+Start and check again if the Pokemon will be Shiny. With the Shiny Charm, many people have achieved their Shiny within a day or two. Due to it's repetitive nature, I suggest watching a movie while you do this. Some Pokemon are Shiny Locked, which means that they cannot be legitimately obtained as a Shiny. These Pokemon are Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, and Deoxys in Omega Ruby and AlphaSapphire. However, there have been Event releases of these Pokemon in their Shiny versions. ================================================================================ Version History ================================================================================ Version 1 12/28/2015: Completed FAQ ================================================================================ 11. Legal Information ================================================================================ This Shiny Hunting FAQ is copywritten by me, Devan Braden. However, it is open for use by all sites as long as credit is given to me. If anybody has questions that they would like answered in this FAQ, email me at devan_braden@yahoo.com with the title as "FAQ Suggestion" and I will add them as soon as I check the email.