Like most Pokémon games, in Pokémon Legends: Z-A you have a low chance to encounter most Pokémon in their Shiny form, a color difference from their normal appearance. Since this is a rare occurrence and a visual difference, fans often will hunt Shiny Pokémon for their team or collection. Understanding the Shiny rates below will help you in your searching, but note that some Pokémon cannot be encountered as Shiny (they are “Shiny Locked”).
What is a Shiny Pokémon
As mentioned above, a Shiny Pokémon is a Pokémon that is a different color from its normal appearance. Each Pokémon has one Shiny coloration and they are sometimes quite similar to their normal colors. Being Shiny is only a cosmetic difference in the Pokémon’s coloration — it has no impact on a Pokémon’s stats.
Scatterbug, above, demonstrates the difference between its normal and Shiny colorations. This is a Pokémon you’ll encounter very early into your adventures in Lumiose City.
Finding a Shiny Pokémon in Legends: Z-A
In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Shiny Pokémon have both audio and visual clues (in case you can’t immediately identify it as being Shiny). List while you’re around wild Pokémon in case a Shiny is nearby — there will also be a continuing sound, not just the initial one. You can see little stars spark off of the Pokémon when looking at it.
Shiny Pokémon will not de-spawn if you leave the area and will return if the time of day changes. The game will store up to 10 Shiny Pokémon you’ve encountered as spawns that wait for you. You can still lose them if you battle them, knock them out and miss your last chance to catch them or if they spot you and flee.
Shiny Pokémon rates
Each time a Pokémon spawns in the game, there’s an internal “roll” on whether or not the Pokémon will be Shiny. That base rate is 1 in 4096 for a Pokémon to be Shiny, or 0.02%. If a player has the Shiny Charm, obtained from Mable’s Research rewards, three additional rolls will be performed for a total of four, bringing the odds to 1 in 1024.38, or 0.0976%.
Fossil Pokémon are unaffected by the Shiny Charm when revived, so keep that in mind! They will have a 1 in 4096 chance of being Shiny regardless.
