4th Gen Shiny Hunting with the PokéRadar

Space Guard · Apr 26, 2008

Rules

Discuss chaining only (No offtopicness :) ).
Don't offer/request to trade
Not really a rule but, don't be frightened to ask questions about chaining :)

There are many things to consider when you are chaining for Shiny Pokémon. Here are a few ponters:

1. The animation for the pokeradar grass patches appear above the fog. (Very useful for people chaining Bagon)
2. For chaining in the sandstorm it helps to be in a very dark place and to have your DS (Preferably a DS Lite) on highest light setting, and have it be around 11 Am. It should be very bright and easier to see the grass patches. You can also tilt the screen a little to semi-invert the colors and see better (if that helps).
3. Every chain breaks for some reason. (Yes, they all do. It's in the coding.)
4. Magnet Pull attracts Steel type pokemon.
5. Static attracts Electric type pokemon.
6. Synchronize attracts pokemon with the same nature as the pokemon with Synchronize (which is helpful if you want a Pokémon to EV train and put on your team)

Chaining Resources Contents.

Coursty of forum member halcyonXlll, we have a video of what Shiny patch actually looks like, check out the video here (Also includes Shiny Ralts encounter)

Below are some guides that may help you to chain your Pokémon if your starting out, or your having no luck in getting your chain to 40:
Guide 1

Spoiler:

Guide 2

Spoiler:

SHUKO'S CHAINING GUIDE

Don't want to read the text? Watch the amazingly boring video!

There is a lot of dispute going around as to whether or not this method works. I believe it does, because most people who get a high enough chain and catch a shiny are able to keep the chain going, and catch more shinies within only a few minutes of each other. For that reason, I think it deserves its own topic.

First off, I'll assume that you know what both shinies and the Pokeradar are. If not, I'd suggest not reading this, as it'll only confuse you.

Second, I'd like to begin by letting you know a few things you'll need to begin this method. Be sure to have the following:
1. The Pokeradar.
2. Pokeballs (to catch the shiny with, of course)
3. LOTS of max repels. You'll need to buy a lot of these, over 120 in some cases. I'd suggest fighting the Socialite and Gentleman on Rt. 212 with the Vs. Seeker and an amulet coin until you have enough for some max repels. You're gonna need them!
4. A strong, high-level Pokemon with enough PP in high power moves to take out a bunch of Pokemon in one blow. You'll want to specialize this in some cases, depending on which Pokemon you'll be chaining.
5. A Pokemon that can whittle your shiny's health down for catching. Obviously, this is optional, but very helpful if you're not swimming in master balls.
6. PP Restoring items. (I prefer leppa berries, as they're easy to find).

Now that we know what we'll need, let's get started! The first thing you'll want to do is go to Sandgem town and find out from Dawn's/Lucas's sister what Pokemon are swarming that day. In my case, it's Spoink, and they're on Rt. 214.

Once you know where the swarm is, go to that route, and find an ideal place to begin chaining. An ideal spot is one where the grass nearly covers the screen. My ideal spot is pretty far down, as you can see. Once you're there, save the game.

Now, I'm going to introduce you to a method known as "chaining." Chaining is a process by which you "chain" multiples of the same species of Pokemon one after another by using the Pokeradar. When done correctly, you can get dozens of these things in a row, and an added bonus to doing so is that it boosts your chances at finding a shiny Pokemon dramatically.

So first, we'll use a max repel, and then we use our radar. Notice all the wiggling patches of grass? I tend to go for the ones that aren't sparkling, as they're harder to confuse with others.

Now it's time to let you know about the "Rules of Chaining."

Rule 1:
Only choose a patch of grass if there are FOUR patches shaking.

Rule 2:
After the first patch you choose, all subsequent patches MUST shake in the same way. Choose any others, and you'll break your chain.

Rule 3:
Never choose a patch of grass that forces you out of the radar's range.
(The range is dictated by whether or not you can see all of the moving patches. This is especially important to consider when you only see two or three patches moving. Often this is due to the fact that there are patches shaking in other areas of grass on the edge of the screen. Take care not to choose a patch of grass from these sets, as you could break your chain)

Rule 4:
ONLY choose a patch of grass that's farthest from you, and is at least four patches away.
Important
The patches must be four grass patches away. Look at the following.
A good patch to go into: P####%#
A bad patch to go into: P###%##
P=Your Player
#=Non-shaking grass
%= Shaking grass

Rule 5:
When using another repel, NEVER choose a patch of grass until you reset the radar. (This one is kind of up in the air. Most of the time, using a repel doesn't seem to upset my chosen patch of grass. This may only be a superstition. But proceed with caution anyway.)

Rule 6:
NEVER choose a patch of grass that occurs on a corner. Beware of patches on an outside edge as well.

Rule 7:
Avoid patches of grass if they are right beside other moving patches.

Rule 8:
When in doubt, reset the radar and try again.

Rule 9:
If you see a patch of grass that sparkles twice dramatically, and seems to have a differently colored hue, it's a shiny Pokemon. Proceed with caution! What the grass will look like (video courtesy of Pokerealm)

Rule 10:
Never run away from the Pokemon, and never let it flee either.

Rule 11:
Never use your bike.

It's a lot to remember, but in time, it'll become second nature. Now, I should address one more thing before moving onto the tips and tricks. Resetting the radar.

Here's how you do it. The Pokeradar needs to recharge after every fifty steps. If you come across a set of wiggling grass that doesn't go by the rules, walk fifty steps in non-wiggling grass, and use the radar again. This will not break your chain, so long as you are in range when you use the radar again. And believe me when I say this: you'll be doing a lot more resetting than running into Pokemon.

So now you have the basics. Is there anything else you should consider? Of course! Here are a few tips and tricks you might want to keep in mind before you begin:

1. Swarming Pokemon make the best chains. I've found through experience that swarming Pokemon make longer chains for me than any of the standard ones you might run into. It's worth noting.

2. Never enter the grass directly behind your character. Unfortunately, this grass is mostly hidden from view, and if it wiggles, you'll be hard pressed to see it. I make it a point never to enter this grass unless I can see all four of the wiggling grasses elsewhere.

3. It's good to have a Pokemon that knows super fang or false swipe in your team. They'll help make the Pokemon easier to catch. Any immobilizing statuses like sleep or paralysis are good too.

4. If you're hunting an electric Pokemon, put a Pokemon with static at the head of your party. This'll help ensure even more that you'll run into your chosen Pokemon (or so it is believed).

5. App. No. 20, the Pokeradar App, is very helpful. It will tell you how many pokemon you've chained, as well as your longest chains so far. This'll help you determine when you're ready to start resetting for shinies.

6. Register the Pokeradar. This'll help you out a lot.

7. Put your max repels at the top of your item list.

8. At some point, stop chaining and start resetting. Most people say 40 is a safe number to start resetting the radar, but as long as you have enough patience and max repels, even 20 could work. It's all a matter of how far you're willing to go to raise your chances. A chain can break for seemingly no reason at all sometimes. It's best to be extremely cautious.

9. If you need a break, take one! But make sure you'll know where you are when you come back. I find it best to take breaks in the middle of a battle, or right before I reset the Pokeradar. But whatever works for you. Real time won't affect your chain, so take all the breaks you need. Just be sure to plug your DS in if you need to leave it on for a while, and putting it in sleep mode won't hurt either.

And that's it! If you stick at it, you too should notice results. I've only been doing it for five days, and I already have five shinies to show for it!

Guide 3

Spoiler:

MEARBEAR'S CHAINING GUIDE

I've been chaining for a while and learned a lot from reading Shuko and Pokerealm's posts, guides and videos. Here are some tips to help folks who are having trouble:

o Buy hundreds of Max Repels. Once you have a chain at 40 you don't want to run out. I usually start chaining with over 300. Money is easy to get using the VS Seeker on the rich folks near the mansion. Keep battling them until you have enough to buy lots of Max Repels.

o Each time you are in a grass space and activate the pokeradar imagine this grid around you (with you being 0 in the center):

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4
4 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 4
4 3 2 1 1 1 2 3 4
4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4
4 3 2 1 1 1 2 3 4
4 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 4
4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Four spaces are chosen to be shaking spaces. One in the 1 area, one in 2, one in 3 and one in 4. (If you want to verify this, watch some videos on youtube and pause it during the shaking.) Those four spots chosen to shake may or may not land in grass. If where you're standing causes any part of the grid to be on a non-grass space there is a chance you won't see four shaking grasses as some may end up in non-grass spots.

This is why the chain can break if you're near an edge. If all four chosen spaces land on non-grass spaces your chain will end. This would explain why you really do need to stay at least one space away from a wall or edge so you're guaranteed to get at least one grass to shake in the 1 area and not break your chain. Remember you can always reset the radar if you don't like the shaking grasses available to you.

The above explains why sometimes people go into battle with the right type of pokemon, but it still breaks the chain. I think the next four spaces are chosen as you enter battle and if you are near an edge and the four land in non-grass areas, the chain breaks. It's happened to me, but not since I've followed these steps.

When building your chain to 40, the safest shaking grass to choose is one in the 4 area. It should shake in the same way as the first grass you went into in the chain. I like to choose the bright sparkle shaking grass as that is easiest to see. From what I can tell there are four types:
long no sparkle
sort dim sparkle
short bright sparkle
long bright pulsing sparkle <- shiny!

Try to reset the radar near the middle of the grass so that the 4 area will not land against a wall or edge. If the one in the 4 area has any non-grass area around it, don't choose it or you risk braking your chain on the next round of shakes. Just reset the radar. Be patient.

The next important thing is resetting the radar. Don't be afraid to do it often. You should have hundreds of Max Repels (see above) so don't skimp on using them. When resetting, stay a few spaces near where you last used the radar or you risk walking out of range and breaking your chain. I like to choose a row where no grasses shook and run back and forth three or four squares in each direction.

Once you hit 40, stop going into grasses unless it is a shiny pokemon. Just stay near the middle of the grass area and reset the radar. Run back and forth in a short range and reset again. Make sure not to walk into the space above your head unless you clearly saw 4 grasses shaking, otherwise you risk stepping into the wrong type of shaking grass if you didn't see one shake behind your character.

Most important of all, stop and take breaks when you're not concentrating fully. Just stop in the middle of a battle or when you reset the radar and need to walk more spaces. Close the lid on the DS and plug it in. You can keep a chain going for days. The ponyta chain I'm on now started several days ago. I just come back to it and continue resetting the radar for shinies when I have time. It may take 20 minutes or an hour between shinies, but they appear eventually.

This next is just a superstition on my part. If you're looking for a particular pokemon to start a chain and can't find it, try switching your lead pokemon to something else. I think certain pokemon in the lead cause you to encounter certain types more easily than others. Could be wrong, but it works for me.

Hope this didn't sound preachy. I just want to help everyone get more shinies. Hope this helps someone out there. Good luck to everyone,
Merbear

I got the content from another forum and decided to implement it here. That's if it's okay with the mods?

At the moment I'm trying to get a shiny Floatzel. My highest chain so far has been 28. What (if any) shiny targets do you have? Have you caught any Shiny Pokémon using the radar? Discuss.

El Gofre · Apr 26, 2008

Yeah, there is already a perfectly good guide in the FAQ. Its a nice idea, but its already been done.

Space Guard · Apr 26, 2008

It's not actually supposed to be a guide. In this thread you can post about what your currently chaining and how many shinys you've caught in that chain. This thread is basically about discussing chaining Pokémon.

HalcyonXIII · Apr 26, 2008

Haha, I was thinking about starting a chaining thread here after what's been going on with the one at Serebiiforums :P
Looks like you beat me to it xD

I hope it kicks off well, 'cause I miss the old one ;__;

Er, anyways, those that saw my post on the other site would already know what i've been chaining.. As if my sig didn't make that obvious enough. I have to find more box space before I can continue though x___x

Btw.. This thread would make a niice sticky.

*hints* =^_^=

Toblerone · Apr 26, 2008

I agree. It would make a great sticky. I quit chaining as it got SOOO annoying. It was only a matter of time until i got frustrated, so.. i got on with the game.

Space Guard · Apr 27, 2008

halcyonXlll: didn't realise you had an account on here. I still can't believe that Pokécommunity didn't have a thread about this, on Serebii it's probably the most popular thread on the boards! i also miss the style of the old thread over on serebii

If this thread get's stickied, then at least it'll stop it from falling into the wilderness of page 2 :p. I also hope this thread encourahes more people to start chaining for shinys. Not only is it rewarding but it can be fun!

hothead · Apr 27, 2008

Hey with Chaning ive never gotta a shiny in tentionaly i always get them by complete accident but i was chining a Shinxs and i saw a patch of grass right next to me that was sparkling and then the one 5 steps away from me just shock and i went to that one and the chained continued but was the other one a shiney because its brothred me snice it happend

(Sorry about the spelling and all of that i live in Australia and it is 3 am in the morning and im tired)

Space Guard · Apr 27, 2008

If you look at halcyonXlll's signature, you'll see what a shiny patch looks like. if the patch looked like that, you've missed out on a shiny :(

DCFC_Woody · Apr 27, 2008

Nice guide and glad we got a thread started...

I chained 79 machops earlyer and got a total of 5 shinys
Traded 2 away for shiny scyther & shiny chansey

ClassicRockFan · Apr 27, 2008

Well, I just chained 58 Starlys and got 4 shinies out of it (With one Adamant natured one)

Space Guard · Apr 27, 2008

Congrats on the shinys you two!

I'm still chaining my Floatzel, although I've branched out to chaining Gastrodon and Glameow as they're on the same route. My highest Floatzel chain is around 30, Gastrodon is 18 and Glameow is 34. I'm thinking about taking a break and EV training one of the 11 shiny Bidoofs I caught last week :)

DCFC_Woody · Apr 27, 2008

Yea last week I caught 7 shiny geodudes on a chain of 60 ;)

But I cba with chainin anymore
I would sooner clone a shiny then trade it for another shiny ;)

But Im not having any look what so ever with cloning, it just dosen't work

TwilightBlade · Apr 27, 2008

The problem with making this a sticky is that you nearly copied this right off of SPPf... Using guides/considerations with proper credit are fine, but come up with your own title and rules please. And maybe allow questions here along with the discussion. Then it can be sticked, methinks~ :3

Oh me wahh I recently (more like a month ago :<) caught one shiny Buneary on a chain of 40. /on-topicness

Space Guard · Apr 27, 2008

I'll change the guides so they have proper credit and also change the rules slightly

ShadowTails · Apr 27, 2008

Just got my first shiny of the year today if I'm not mistaking, I've not been playing too much till now, I'm trying to catch it. Eevee for the win and it's being very stubborn, like Beautifly...

YES! Nabbed it, and it's Adamant so Leafeon it is.

Edit: Found 2 more just now, 2 have been Adamant and I'm getting the 3rd one as I type.

HalcyonXIII · Apr 27, 2008

For anyone that wants a reminder of what a Shiny patch looks like, check my video -
Shiny Ralts encounter with Shiny bush

Feel free to put the link in the starter post if you think anyone could benefit from it, Space Guard.
Though i'm not sure if anyone bothers reading the first page around here :P
Ooh, and don't forget to change the thread name to something different to Serebii's, so we can get this stickied already ;D

As part of a chaining request, I am going to set my sights on getting a Shiny Weedle or 20 =)
GBA exclusives are uncommon, but with any luck I can get to 40 with ease..

Good job with your Eevee chain ShadowTails, not an easy one to do by any means.

hothead · Apr 27, 2008

Thanks for that halcyonXIII i was asking weather the patch of grass that glows a little bit was thsiney pokemon that really help me heaps

ShadowTails · Apr 27, 2008

I've got 4 Shiny Eevee's now, I think that's pleanty. I should probably not just wait for the chain to break and get back to something more important, I have 2 Adamants, one quiet and dunno about the forth one. It's good to see I still got it! XD

Too bad I haven't been able to play that often due to punishments preventing it, however I'll probably play like crazy this summer just like last summer and get a ton more shinies. There are still some I want to chain like Nidoran (m) and (f), Abra (hey, it'd be a challenge and I know just how to pull it off so it wont teleport as soon as the battle starts.), maybe some more Trophy Garden exclusives, I definitely will be going after Buneary again (I had a very high chain of them, twice now if I can recall correctly, was reseting the radar at over 40 and still got nothing and it eventually broke.), and I wasn't too impressed when I chained 40 Ralts and my chain broke =\ I caught most of them too just for Synchronize. I've still got my sights set on a few more shiny Pokemon, I just hope Pokemon Ranch comes out soon because I'm going to need it eventually.

-blink blink- I just got 2 Shiny patches in a row, one at 49 and one at 50... reminds me of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNdPd2eR2DA

Jujibear · Apr 27, 2008

Ok so me and my friend try to chain. only problem is that every time i get around 20 the chain ends (and i dont get a shiny) i know that sometimes they end for no apparant reason but i kept track and i've don 53 chains now and the all end anywhere from 4-20. am i doing something wrong?

o and im trying to get a shiny porygon (favorite POKE) and an abra/ralts

hothead · Apr 28, 2008

i was chaning and i got a bidoof up to 20 and then all of a sudden there was only one patch of grass and i went to it and they chain ended

4th Gen Shiny Hunting with the PokéRadar

More options

Space Guard

Part-Time Avenger

El Gofre

I'm Back.

Space Guard

Part-Time Avenger

HalcyonXIII

Toblerone

Which chocolate is the best?

Space Guard

Part-Time Avenger

hothead

Space Guard

Part-Time Avenger

DCFC_Woody

Shinny Hunter

ClassicRockFan

Space Guard

Part-Time Avenger

DCFC_Woody

Shinny Hunter

TwilightBlade

All dreams are but another reality.

Space Guard

Part-Time Avenger

ShadowTails

I'm working on a better Avatar

HalcyonXIII

hothead

ShadowTails

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Jujibear

hothead