Shinies are one of the big features in any Pokémon game. Those shinier aesthetics are a collector’s paradise for players hunting Pokémon for their squads. Pokemon ZA is no different as you can once again find shinies. There are a few different mechanics, so here’s everything you need to know to make Pokemon Legends ZA shiny hunting much easier.

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Here’s how to go Shiny hunting in Pokémon Legends ZA. As you can see, we have two shiny Pokémon already! Image via Gamer Guides / Nintendo.

Shiny Hunting Methods in Legends ZA¶

For the most part, shiny hunting is somewhat the same. They have a percentage chance to spawn in Wild Zones. You’ll be able to clear through the Wild Zone and farm enemy spawns fairly easily.
To increase the spawn rates of Pokémon, here are a few tactics:

• Transitioning between day and night seems to reload enemies. Look for a bench and wait till day or night using the change the time option (unlocks in mission 9 by the way)
• In some Wild Zones, you can climb really high buildings. We’ve seen it before where when you fall down the Pokémon on the ground will start respawning back in.
• Teleport back in and out of Wild Zones to a far away Pokemart and then go back again. Teleporting that far away and back seems to respawn enemies back into the game.

That said, Pokémon will just respawn over time anyway in Wild Zones, so you may not need to force a spawn refresh.

These are the main ways you’ll find Pokémon in the wild zones. You’ll know when you’ve found a shiny as it will have a glinting effect around the Pokémon. The appearance of the Pokémon will have a different color palette on it compared to its normal look too. Check the glinting sparkles around it, and you’ll know it’s a shiny version. It will also have a similarly shimmering sound. It is very iconic when you’re in the area, and can be heard quite far away. If a shiny does spawn, it doesn’t seem to despawn either. So even if you miss it the first time, that spawn node will associate with the shiny until you capture or beat it. When you do capture it, you should see the Pokémon icon with its shiny look, alongside a shiny icon next to the level of the Pokémon.

If you want to increase your chances, there is a shiny charm you can get. The Shiny Charm increases the likelihood of you finding shiny variants of Pokémon. To get this, you will need to reach research level 50. Work through Mabel’s research tasks, and you’ll gradually gain research points that level you up. You’ll need to do a lot for this, but it is something to be mindful of if you’re hunting shinies in the later part of the campaign or post game content.

It is important to note that some Pokémon are shiny locked. It seems the unique Pokémon that are story related, or given as gifts cannot be shiny. So, don’t try to look for some shinies. If a Pokémon does appear again later in the game as a wild, then it can spawn as a shiny based on what we’ve seen for those further ahead on socials.

This should give you all of the shiny hunting tactics you need in the wild zones. So, you should start seeing some shinies at various points of your journey.