Pokémon Champions has Shiny Pokémon you can obtain through its new recruitment feature. However, while they could have a higher chance to appear in the multiplayer, Shinies might actually be more difficult to find overall. Here is everything you need to know about Pokémon Champions Shiny hunting odds.
Pokémon Champions Shiny Hunting Odds Explained
Currently, it’s estimated that Pokémon Champions Shiny hunting odds are 1/4,096. However, this is purely speculation at this point, because we don’t have enough data to actually confirm this. This number is largely based on the rates from previous titles.
Where things get interesting, is many players believe the Pokémon Champions Shiny hunting odds are actually closer to 1 in 450, due to the frequency of users being able to recruit Shinies.
While we unfortunately don’t have a definitive answer, the Shiny odds in recent Pokémon games might actually give us an idea of what we are working with in Champions. To give you an example of what they are, here are the rates from the last few titles in the franchise:
- Pokémon Sword and Shield
- Base Odds: 1/4096
- Shiny Charm: 1/1365.33
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
- Base Odds: 1/4096
- Shiny Charm: 1/1365.33
- Outbreak 60+: Charm + Sandwich: 1/512
- Pokémon Legends Z-A
- Base Odds: 1/4,096.
- Shiny Charm: 1/1,024.
- Pokémon GO
- Base Odds: 1/512
- Pokémon Sleep
- Base Odds: 1/450 (estimated)
Why Pokémon Champions Shiny Rates Could Be Different
Looking at that list, it’s pretty clear that most mainline Pokémon games have a base 1/4096 Shiny odds. However, what is important is that spinoff titles typically have higher rates. For example, Pokémon GO has 1 out of 512 odds. Which makes sense, since you have to physically encounter Pokémon in the real world, so full Shiny odds would be a bit ridiculous.
It’s also estimated that Pokémon Sleep also has Shiny odds of 1 out of 450 encounters. Again, this makes sense, seeing as you can only sleep so much every day to roll encounters. Point being, it appears that Pokémon games tend to adjust their Shiny rates depending on whether the in-game mechanics are limited in how often you actually encounter Pokémon.
Pokémon Champions Might Have Boosted Shiny Odds
Pokémon Champions fits both of these criteria. In Pokémon Champions, you are only able to recruit 10 Pokémon every 22 hours (unless you use quick coupons to refresh the roster). And according to recent reports, the multiplayer isn’t considered a mainline game. So Champions might actually have a higher rate of Shinies.
The current theory from some players is that Pokémon Champions has Shiny hunting odds of 1/450. But again, this is pure speculation and completely anecdotal. For every Reddit poster claiming they’ve encountered multiple Shinies, there are players like myself who have never encountered one in the game despite multiple recruitment refreshes.
Why Shiny Hunting Still Feels Harder
However, even if Shiny odds are technically higher in Champions, the rare ‘mon might still be more difficult to find because of encounter limitations. Unlike mainline games, you can’t just go out and repeatedly hunt for Shinies by re-rolling the same spawns over and over again.
There also isn’t a Shiny Charm or buff that increases your odds. It’s completely locked to the Pokémon Champions recruitment system, which is on a timer and limits you to 10 Pokémon encounters per roll.
If you really want a Shiny in Pokémon Champions, you are better off just catching one in another game like Legends Z-A and transferring it over using Pokémon Home. As far as Pokémon Champions odds go, at this point, it’s best to just wait for dataminers, or for someone to do a comprehensive study on the the actual rates as we this is currently all guesswork.
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