Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare in Pokémon games, and Sword and Shield are no different. The game contains over 400 Pokémon, but only a few will have Shiny variants to catch.

Shiny Pokémon no longer appear on the overworld, as they did in Let’s Go, and you won’t know if you can catch one until you start a battle. Ultra Sun and Moon’s SOS chain has also been removed, adding further mystery to catching these rare Shiny variants.

Pokémon Sword and Shield Shiny system works by giving you extra rolls to try and generate one based on how many of a specific Pokémon you have previously battled in the game. The more battles you have with a Pokémon that has a Shiny variant, and the longer you fight them, the higher chances you have of encountering a Shiny.

Pokémon Sword/Shield give you extra rerolls to try to generate a shiny based on how many of the Pokémon you’ve ever battled, and how long your current encounter chain is. Shiny charm still gives +2 if obtained.

We’re not sure what increments your chain counter, but this is it! pic.twitter.com/k5rX7tTcUf

— Kurt (@Kaphotics) November 14, 2019

Each Pokémon will have a Number Encountered figure in their Pokédex entry, which will tell you how many lifetime encounters you have had with that Pokémon in Sword and Shield. As this number increase, there are different brackets that will affect that chance of getting a Shiny from an encounter.

  • 50 Pokémon = 2x Shiny rate
  • 100 Pokémon = 3x Shiny rate
  • 200 Pokémon = 4x Shiny rate
  • 300 Pokémon = 5x Shiny rate
  • 500 Pokémon = 6x Shiny rate

Datamining has revealed the chances of catching a Shiny, with the full multiplier as shown above from knocking out or capturing 500 Pokémon is 1/682. If we also use a Shiny Charm, an item that increases your chance of catching a Shiny, this will improve to 1/512. As you can see, Shiny hunting is still incredibly difficult, even after building up the multiplier.

There’s the method of how to chain Shiny Pokémon in Sword and Shield. Hopefully, there are other techniques. If anything new comes to light, we will update this guide.