Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare and they are an achievement to get in the Pokemon games. This guide will teach you how to breed for shiny Pokemon in Pokemon Sword and Shield. If you’re familiar with the old method in previous games, not much has changed. This guide aims at making the experience less troublesome in the new games while also explaining how it’s done.
Step 1: Get The Shiny Charm & Oval Charm
The first step to breeding for shiny Pokemon in Pokemon Sword/Shield is obtaining the shiny charm. The shiny charm is an item that increases the odds of catching or hatching a shiny Pokemon in the games.
To get a shiny charm, you must have all Pokemon registered in your Pokedex as ‘caught’. Once that’s done, follow this guide to get the shiny charm (click link).
The oval charm increases the chance of the Daycare Lady giving you an egg and it can be obtained in the same building where you get the shiny charm (see guide for more details).
Step 2: Get a Foreign Ditto/Pokemon
This guide is based on the Masuda method, therefore a foreign Pokemon is required to make the method work. If you’re having trouble obtaining a foreign Ditto or the Pokemon you’re breeding for, you can always find someone over the Internet to trade with. Alternatively, you can use the Foreign Ditto Trading Hotline to get a foreign Ditto. It does work, so keep trying.
Foreign Ditto Trading Hotline
- Press Y to open up the Online menu in Pokemon Sword/Shield.
- Press [+] to connect to the Internet.
- Choose Link Trade and the Link Code option.
- Type in 4448 and search for a trading partner.
Eventually, you should find a trading partner who will send you a foreign Ditto or a foreign Pokemon. The other trader might also be looking for a foreign Ditto, so it’s best if you trade them a Ditto you caught from the Wild Area (Lake of Outrage or Max Raid Den).
Step 3: Switch OFF These Settings
Breeding Pokemon and hatching eggs for hours or days can be a pain and can quickly get boring. You can turn off the following settings to make collecting eggs faster instead of having to manually press buttons to cancel prompted screens.
Settings that are being turned OFF:
- Nicknaming Pokemon after they’re hatched.
- Choosing where to send Pokemon after obtaining them.
How to turn OFF these settings:
- Press the X button to bring up the menu.
- Choose Options.
- Scroll down to Send to Boxes and switch it to Automatic.
- Scroll down to Give Nicknames and switch to Don’t give.
- Exiting the screen will ask you if you want to save changes. Save, of course.
It does not increase your chances of hatching a shiny Pokemon, however, it makes the experience less of a pain as you will no longer find yourself having to cancel extra screens after hatching each egg.
Step 4: Start Shiny Breeding
It’s finally time to start shiny breeding for shiny Pokemon.
To hatch eggs faster, first, try to get a Pokemon with the Steam Engine or Flame Body ability. Steam Engine and Flame Body halves the number of steps required to hatch eggs when the Pokemon with the ability is in your party.
Pokemon with the Steam Engine ability in Sword/Shield:
- Rolycoly (found at Route 3, Galar Mine, Giant’s Cap, and Motostoke Riverbank)
- Carkol (found at Galar Mine, Bridge Field, Giant’s Cap, and Stony Wilderness)
- Coalossal (found at Dusty Bowl, Giant’s Cap, and Lake of Outrage)
Pokemon with the Flame Body ability in Sword/Shield:
- Litwick (Bridge Field, Motostoke, and Motostoke Riverbank)
- Lampent (Lake of Outrage)
- Chandelure (Lake of Outrage)
- Carkol and Coalossal (see the first list)
- Sizzlipede and Centiskorch (hidden ability from Max Raids)
Next, open the Town Map and use the flying taxi to travel to the Bridge Field Daycare in the Wild Area. Turn around and give the Daycare Nurse your foreign Ditto and the other parent Pokemon you want to hatch a shiny for. Collect eggs and begin to hatch them using your preferred method.
Staying close to the Daycare makes it possible to collect a lot of eggs (extras are sent to PC boxes) and you can ride your bike in small circles nearby. Some people mass-collect eggs and travel across the Wild Area to hatch them. then return to the Daycare Nurse to collect more eggs.
Keep collecting eggs and hatching them. Eventually, you should hatch a shiny Pokemon. It may take the time to hatch 100-800 eggs to finally hatch a shiny Pokemon. This number is not a guarantee and the average is around 500 eggs. Just don’t give up.
