Review
Shiny hunting is one of the most popular pastimes of Pokemon fans, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus offers one of the best modern shiny hunting experiences in the franchise. While it’s unclear if and how Pokemon Legends: Z-A will adapt the formula for chasing these rare variants from the foundation laid by its predecessor, fans still have great reason to jump back into the hunt in the meantime. However, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is unique within the series not just for its gameplay shake-up, but for the tools it offers shiny hunters.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet may be the most recent mainline entries in the franchise, but Pokemon Legends: Arceus is still the preferred title for many shiny hunters due to how accessible the game makes this activity. Several crucial mechanics that are foundational to the shiny hunting process in Pokemon Legends: Arceus are not found in Scarlet and Violet, causing a subset of hunters to return to the Hisui Region for more favorable hunting conditions. Players who are returning to Hisui should be aware of some massive sins they should never commit while shiny hunting, as doing so could make the experience much worse.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus Players Should Avoid Committing These Cardinal Sins While Shiny Hunting
Cardinal Sin: Playing With the Sound Off
One of the easiest ways Pokemon Legends: Arceus shiny hunters can accidentally make hunts way harder than they need to be is by playing the game with the volume too low or off entirely. Unlike Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Legends: Arceus has an audio cue to indicate when a shiny Pokemon has spawned near the player. It’s easy to miss a shiny visually when scanning the map from above while riding on Braviary, but the inclusion of an audio notification helps alert the player and increases the chance they will find the shiny.
Cardinal Sin: Enabling Auto-Save
It’s easy for players to commit this cardinal sin because auto-saving is enabled by default in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, but leaving it on while shiny hunting is a recipe for disaster and it can lead to potential failed shiny opportunities. In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, shiny spawns are determined as Pokemon spawn onto the map for the first time, meaning if a shiny flees, players can reload a save made when first entering the map before the shiny spawned to gain another chance at catching it. However, if the game auto-saves after a shiny flees, it is gone for good.
The general rule of thumb to avoid this cardinal sin is to save when first entering an area, so that if the player fails a shiny, they can simply load that save and have the same spawns appear.
Cardinal Sin: Ignoring a Special Mass Outbreak
The Mass Outbreak and Massive Mass Outbreak mechanics give Pokemon Legends: Arceus shiny hunters a reliable way of farming for the rare critters. However, it’s important for players to pay attention to which kinds of outbreaks are appearing before settling on which one to hunt in. While it may be tempting to hunt for a specific critter in a given area of Pokemon Legends: Arceus‘ map, Special Mass Outbreaks, indicated by a star on the creature’s icon, offer the best chance of finding a shiny as they are guaranteed to have two waves of spawns. Shiny hunters could unintentionally shoot themselves in the foot by ignoring these outbreaks.
Cardinal Sin: Starting a Hunt Unprepared
Like in every Pokemon game, players must ensure they are stocked up on Poke Balls when attempting to hunt for shinies. However, Pokemon Legends: Arceus differs from other entries in the franchise by offering players a variety of other tools, like Sticky Globs, Smoke Bombs, and Scatter Bangs, to help them catch the Pokemon they desire. For shiny hunters, starting a hunt with only standard Poke Balls will leave them woefully underprepared, as they will likely need Sticky Globs to slow down fleeing mons, or Smoke Bombs to maneuver around aggressive ones.
Stocking up on Jet Balls is typically the best move for shiny hunters since they can be thrown from long range, allowing players to remain hidden from a distance while shiny hunting.
