Your Guide to Safer and Faster Shiny Hunting (WIP)

[SacredDiver]

Your Guide to Safer and Faster Shiny Hunting

 

Hi! I'm Sacred and Shiny hunting is my passion. Although it hasn't happened to me before, it pains my heart when I see someone lose a Shiny Pokémon. I am extremely paranoid and double-check the moves, abilities and held items of any Shiny that I am going after. I was a bit bored and have decided to make this guide in order to share my nerdiness and help you safely capture your Shiny Pokémon, and avoid a situation in which you would fail to catch it, leaving you in a deep state of sorrow and despair. I will also be including strategies that will speed up some of your Shiny hunts even if they aren't necessarily dangerous. I have tried to be as clear and detailed as possible, perhaps more than necessary. This guide addresses hordes but you can also apply the strategies to your single-encounter hunts as you see fit.

I will be dividing the Pokémon into categories. Each of those categories will include the Pokémon in question along with a strategy that will help you catch it.

 

Miscellaneous Tips:

• If possible, lead with a Cute Charm or Synchronize Pokémon in order to increase your chances of finding your desired gender or nature.
• Always carry enough Pokéballs, in order to avoid a situation in which you would find yourself in front of a Shiny Pokémon without any to throw at it.
• Carry multiple high-level Pokémon in your party that can take multiple hits from the Horde Pokémon without fainting and knock them out in return, especially if the Horde Pokémon are high-level.
• Carry HP-restoring items and revives just in case something goes wrong.

 

Intimidate/Forewarn/Illusion/Unnerve/Mold Breaker

As you may already know, the addition of the Reactive Gas ability has made Shiny hunting Zorua a lot easier. In the past, you would have to waste multiple turns figuring out whether there was a Zorua in the horde, which one of the Horde Pokémon it was and whether it was Shiny or not. Thanks to Reactive Gas, you can just get all of that information immediately when you encounter the Horde without wasting any turns. This ability is also useful when Shiny hunting Pokémon with abilities such as Intimidate which takes so much time displaying multiple messages one at a time before you can run away from the Horde.

Target Pokémon:

• Arbok, Growlithe, Drowzee, Hypno, Jynx, Stantler, Mightyena, Mawile, Staravia, Shinx, Luxio, Herdier, Sandile, Krokorok, Scraggy, Zorua, Joltik, Axew

Required Pokémon:

/

• Koffing/Weezing
  • Ability: Reactive Gas 

Strategy:

• Simply lead with your Koffing or Weezing and save yourself some precious time during your Shiny hunt.
• Be very careful when it comes to Zorua, even if the shiny gets revealed by Reactive Gas, your client will still recognize it as the Pokémon it's disguised at, which will most likely be a non-shiny Venipede/Petilil/Cottonee. This means that it will not display a warning message if you try to run away from it or knock it out. There will also not be a shiny particle sound effect.

 

Follow Me/Rage Powder

• Follow me and Rage Powder have a priority of +2 and make the user the center of attention, forcing opposing Pokémon to use their moves on the user rather than the intended target for the rest of the turn.
• Extreme Speed inflicts damage and has a priority of +2.

You are finally facing your target Shiny Pokémon after possibly tens of thousands of encounters. You attempt to knock-out the non-Shinies in the horde before catching it as usual, just to be caught off guard by that sneaky little bastard of a Shiny using one of those two moves to draw your damaging move towards itself, making you knock it out instead.

Target Pokémon:

• Clefairy, Skiploom, Amoonguss

Required Pokémon:

//////

• Arcanine/Dragonite/Smeargle/Zigzagoon/Linoone/Lucario/Togekiss
  • Make sure your Pokémon is faster than your target Shiny.
  • Moveset:

- Extreme Speed

Strategy:

• Extreme Speed has the same priority as Rage Powder and Follow Me, meaning that, as long as you're faster, you're safe to knock out the non-Shinies as usual before the Shiny has the chance to direct your attack towards itself. Credit goes to my dear friend and teammate @ZwoeleAnjer for informing me of this strategy.

Notes:

• Feint is another damaging move with a priority of +2 that you can use. Extreme Speed is preferred however as it has a base power of 80 compared to Feint's base power of 30.
• You can also prevent Rage Powder and Follow Me with Taunt. Keep in mind however that it might take you multiple tries to taunt the Shiny successfully as Taunt can also be redirected with those moves. Also keep in mind that you will need to keep track of whether Taunt's effect has worn out or not before using a damaging move, making this method all the more tedious.
• A Grass-type Pokémon or a Pokémon with the ability Overcoat would be immune to the effects of Rage Powder and would not have its attacks redirected by it. This means that it can safely attack and knockout the rest of the horde without fear of knocking out the Shiny. This is only viable for Amoonguss however as Skiploom can carry Worry Seed which removes the Overcoat ability.

Arena Trap/Shadow Tag

• Arena Trap prevents all grounded adjacent opponents from fleeing fleeing or switching out as long as the user remains in battle.
• Shadow Tag prevents all adjacent opponents from fleeing or switching out while the Pokémon with this Ability is on the field.
• Ghost-type Pokémon are immune to effects that prevent recall or escape, and they are also guaranteed to flee from any wild battle regardless of Speed.

These abilities can annoyingly trap your usual lead. Luckily, there's an easy workaround.

Target Pokémon:

• Diglett, Dugtrio, Wobbuffet, Trapinch

Required Pokémon:

• Any Ghost-type Pokémon

Strategy:

• Lead with the Ghost-type Pokémon. It will be able run away normally.

Notes:

• Flying-type Pokémon, Pokémon with the ability "Levitate" and Pokémon holding an Air Balloon are not considered grounded. They are in consequence also immune to the effects of Arena Trap.
• Pokémon with the ability "Run Away" are also guaranteed to flee successfully, they are however not guaranteed to switch out and are therefore not recommended.

 

Trick

• The Trick user switches held items with the target. If only one of them is holding an item, the item is moved to the other.
• At the end of the turn, the Toxic Orb badly poisons its holder.

Something to be wary of when Shiny Hunting Kadabra in Cerulean Cave. Breloom is a popular choice as a catcher, with Toxic Orb as a held item in order to take advantage of its Poison Heal ability. The Shiny Kadabra might use Trick on your Breloom and poison itself, possibly leading to it knocking itself out.

Target Pokémon:

• Kadabra

Strategy:

• Do not send out your catcher Breloom that is holding a Toxic Orb into battle

 

Selfdestruct + Reactive Gas

• Selfdestruct inflicts damage and causes the user to faint.
• Reactive Gas suppresses the effects of Abilities of other Pokémon currently in battle.

This is a special case because you would normally simply use a Damp Pokémon in order to prevent the Shiny Koffing from using Selfdestruct but in this case, Damp will just get suppressed by Reactive Gas which would allow the Shiny Koffing to still be able to use Selfdestruct.

Target Pokémon:

• Koffing

Required Pokémon:

///////////

• Grimer/Muk/Gengar/Smeargle/Baltoy/Claydol/Drifblim/Vanillite/Vanillish/Vanilluxe/Golett/Golurk
  • Moveset:

- Imprison (As long as the user remains in battle, opponents cannot use any move which is also known by the user.) 
- Selfdestruct

- Any damage-dealing move (In a Horde Encounter, a Trainer cannot throw a Poké Ball unless there is only one wild Pokémon remaining.) 

- False Swipe or any status move that puts the target to sleep or paralyzes it (Optional) 

Strategy:

1. Lead with your Imprison Pokémon and do not switch out under any circumstances.
2. Use Imprison in the first turn to prevent the Shiny Koffing from using Selfdestruct.
3. Proceed to knock out the rest of the horde with your damage-dealing move until only the Shiny Koffing remains.
4. Proceed to catch the Shiny Koffing.

Notes

• If the Shiny Koffing is Level 27, you won't need to use this strategy. You can just proceed to catch it normally as it won't know Selfdestruct at that Level and will not be affected by other Koffings using Selfdestruct.
• If you're not using a False Swipe Smeargle, something you can do to bring the Shiny Koffing down to 1 HP before catching it is to run Trick and a Focus Sash on your Imprison Pokémon. You can Trick the Focus Sash onto the Shiny Koffing then safely hit it with your damage-dealing move even if it would otherwise faint, making it survive with 1 HP and increasing its catch rate. Keep in mind however that the Shiny Koffing needs to have full HP in order for this to work. This is viable if you're using Gengar, Baltoy, Claydol, Drifblim or Golurk. Credit goes to @essigessenz for pointing this out.

 

Transform

• Transform changes the user's current species, form, gender differences, type, stats, stat modifications, moves, and Ability to that of the target's.

Something can easily go wrong when you're Shiny hunting Ditto. You may end up facing a Horde of the most powerful Pokémon in your party and helplessly watch as they proceed to knock out your whole team.

Target Pokémon:

• Ditto

Required Pokémon:

• Any low-level Pokémon that knows four moves that cannot deal damage to their user or make it faint, and that are preferably weak or useless.

Strategy:

1. Lead with your low-level Pokémon or switch it in on the first turn so that the Dittos transform into it, making them unable to deal considerable damage to your team.
2. Safely switch out your low-level Pokémon and proceed to catch the Shiny Ditto normally.

Notes:

• Be wary that all moves copied by Transform will initially have 5 remaining PP. This is why you would want to run four moves on the low-level Pokémon to give you as many turns as possible before the Shiny Ditto runs out of PP and starts using Struggle and taking recoil damage. Thank you @repposh for pointing this out!
• Transform will fail if targeting a Pokémon behind a substitute, or targeting a Pokémon under the effect of Illusion. This means that you can also use either Substitute or a Zorua/Zoroark to prevent the Dittos from transforming. You will need to lead with your Substitute user and use Substitute in the first turn and you will need to switch in your Zorua/Zoroark in the first turn. Keep in mind that the Dittos will transform if you decide to switch out. Also keep in mind that each of the dittos, including the shiny, will only have 5 PP on Transform, and will start struggling as soon as they run out, making this method not very reliable.

 

Rage Powder + Bounce + Memento

• Rage Powder has a priority of +2 and makes the user the center of attention, forcing opposing Pokémon to use their moves on the user rather than the intended target.
• Memento causes the user to faint and in return lowers the Attack and Special Attack stat of the target by two stages each.

Ah, Hoppip. These little shitheads have more than one way of knocking themselves out. You would think that you can prevent both Rage Powder and Memento with Taunt but another Hoppip can just make you taunt it instead of the Shiny one so that the Shiny one can use Memento successfully.

Target Pokémon:

• Hoppip

Required Pokémon:

• Smeargle
  • Moveset:

- Imprison (As long as the user remains in battle, opponents cannot use any move which is also known by the user.) 

- Smack Down (Smack Down can hit Pokémon during the semi-invulnerable turns of Fly, Bounce, and Sky Drop.) 

- Rage Powder 

- Memento 

Strategy:

1. Lead with your Smeargle and do not switch out under any circumstances.
2. Use Imprison on the first turn to prevent any of the Hoppips from using Rage Powder or Memento.
3. Proceed to knock out the rest of the horde with Smack Down even if they're in the semi-invulnerable stage of bounce until only the Shiny Hoppip remains.
4. Proceed to catch the Shiny Hoppip.

Notes:

• You can use Gust instead of Smack Down as it can also hit Pokémon during the semi-invulnerable turns of Bounce, it will even deal double the damage if it does.
• If the Shiny Hoppip is Level 43-48, you won't need to use this strategy. You can just proceed to catch it normally as it won't know Rage Powder nor Memento at that Level and you won't have to worry about the rest of the Horde using those moves.
• If the Shiny Hoppip is Level 40, it will only know Rage Powder and not Memento. This means that you can just keep using Taunt until you taunt the Shiny Hoppip successfully then proceed to knock out the rest of the hordes before catching it. Keep in mind that the duration of Taunt is three turns only.
• Hoppip cannot know both Rage Powder and Memento at the same time.
• Memento will fail if it is blocked by substitute. However, I think that this method is risky and do not recommend it because there is the possibility that a Hoppip will break your substitute with a damage dealing move and that the Shiny Hoppip will use Memento in the same turn before you can create another substitute. You can also get paralyzed by one of the Hoppips using Bounce in the same turn that your Substitute is broken. You won't be able to create another substitute if you get fully paralyzed and the Shiny Hoppip might use Memento in the same turn.
• You can use a Pokémon that knows Imprison, Taunt, a damage-dealing move and Memento. You can use Grimer, Muk, Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir, Duskull, Dusclops, Spiritomb, Gallade, Dusknoir, Gallade, Dusknoir, Zorua, Zoroark, Litwick, Lampent or Chandelure. The strategy is the same except you have to use Taunt after using Imprison.
• Grass-type Pokémon and Pokémon with the ability Overcoat are immune to Rage Powder, such that their attacks are not diverted by it. This means that it is possible to use any of those Pokémon that can also learn Taunt and taunt the Shiny Hoppip to prevent it from using both Rage Powder and Memento without worrying about Taunt being diverted to another Hoppip. You can use Snivy, Servine, Serperior, Pansage, Simisage, Cottonee, Whimsicott or Overcoat Vullaby/Mandibuzz. This Method however is unreliable as the Grass-type Pokémon are weak to Bounce and the Hoppips can carry Worry Seed which cancels Overcoat. You also have to worry about getting paralyzed with Bounce and failing to taunt the Shiny Hoppip the second time. In the event that you would opt to run a bulky Grass-type Pokémon, you can have it hold a Flame Orb to remedy the latter problem. Thank you @Poufilou for pointing this out!

 

Perish Song + Grudge (Obsolete)

The behavior of the move "Perish Song" in hordes has been intentionally changed to make all Pokémon in the horde immune to its effects, this makes shiny hunting said Pokémon completely safe. This means that you do not need to use this strategy anymore, it is merely kept around in this guide for educational purposes. Do be aware however that the move will still behave normally and make its user faint outside of hordes, i.e. single encounters.

Credit goes to @Sherlocke for clearing this out.

 

Spoiler

• All Pokémon on the field when Perish Song is used gain a perish count, except Pokémon with the Ability Soundproof and Pokémon that already have a perish count. Starting at 4 on the turn Perish Song is used, the perish count decreases by 1 at the end of each turn (including the turn Perish Song was used). When a Pokémon's perish count reaches 0, it faints.
• When Grudge is used, if the user faints as the direct result of an attack, the move which causes the user to faint will lose all of its PP.

If any Pokémon in the horde uses Perish Song, your Shiny Misdreavus will faint in 3 turns. Grudge is also problematic because you might end up with no PP left on your only attacking move, and this strategy will not be successful if you switch out.

Target Pokémon:

• Misdreavus

Required Pokémon:

• Smeargle
  • Moveset:

- Imprison (As long as the user of the move Imprison remains in battle, opponents cannot use any move which is also known by the user.)

- Perish Song

- Grudge

- Any damage-dealing move (In a Horde Encounter, a Trainer cannot throw a Poké Ball unless there is only one wild Pokémon remaining.) 

Strategy:

1. Lead with your Smeargle and do not switch it out under any circumstances.
2. Use Imprison on the first turn.
3. Proceed to knock out the rest of the horde with your damage-dealing move until only the Shiny Misdreavus remains.
4. Proceed to catch your Shiny Misdreavus.

Notes:

• A popular strategy is to lead with a Mr. Mime (or Mime Jr.) with the ability Soundproof and the move Skill Swap. As stated previously, Pokémon with the Ability Soundproof are immune to Perish Song. The idea is to give the Shiny Misdreavus Soundproof with Skill Swap, making it immune to Perish Song. This probably won't work if the Shiny Misdreavus has already gained a perish count before gaining Soundproof, so it's important to lead with your Mr. Mime and use Skill Swap turn one. Grudge is not an issue when it comes to this strategy. Thank you @Milotic for pointing this out!
  Something very important to note when it comes to this strategy. Starting from Gen 8, Pokémon with Soundproof are no longer immune to their own moves; consequently, if a Pokémon uses Perish Song, it will now gain a perish count even if it has Soundproof. This means that if the Shiny Misdreavus itself uses Perish Song, it will still gain a perish count and faint in 3 turns even if it has Skill Swap.

 

Sketch

• Sketch allows the user to learn the target's last move permanently, replacing Sketch in the process.

Your Shiny Smeargle will only know Sketch which only has 1PP. This means that in the event that Sketch fails, your Smeargle will struggle to death without leaving you enough time to knock out the rest of the Smeargles in the horde and catch it.

Target Pokémon:

• Smeargle

Strategy:

• All you need to do is use a move, any move on the first turn, and allow the Shiny Smeargle to sketch it. You can use a non-damaging move such as Sweet Scent, Haze, etc... You can also knock out one of the non-Shiny Smeargles with a damaging move. Your Shiny Smeargle won't struggle to death as long as it sketches a move successfully. Opt for a move with a high number of PP. Avoid taunting the Shiny Smeargle as this will prevent it from using Sketch and make it struggle, using Substitute as Sketch cannot bypass substitutes or, obviously, knocking it out with a damaging move. Also avoid using a move that switches its user out such as Volt Switch and U-Turn, and moves with negative priority.

 

Trace + Teleport

• In wild battles, the user of Teleport flees and the battle ends.

Quite simple, this strategy consists of trapping your Shiny Pokémon and preventing it from fleeing. Ralts can also have the ability "Trace" which displays a time-wasting message when it activates. It might be tempting to lead with a Reactive Gas Weezing in order to skip the messages, this however makes your hunt slower by displaying the Reactive Gas message in front of Bibarel hordes too. Leading with Zoroark skips the Trace messages without displaying a message of its own.

Target Pokémon:

• Ralts

Required Pokémon:

//

• Dilgett/Dugtrio/Trapinch
  • Ability: Arena Trap (prevents all grounded adjacent opponents from fleeing (including Teleport) as long as the user remains in battle.)
  • Moveset:

- One single-target damage dealing move that is used to knock out the non-shiny Ralts in the horde.

/

• Zorua/Zoroark
  • Ability: Illlusion (cannot be copied by Trace)

Strategy:

1. Lead with your Zorua/Zoroark in order to skip the Trace messages
2. Switch in your Arena Trap Pokémon on the first turn and don't switch it out under any circumstances.
3. Proceed to knock out the two non-Shiny Ralts then proceed to catch your Shiny Ralts.

Notes:

• You can use trapping moves such as "Block", "Mean Look" or "Spider Web" as well. Keep in mind however that this requires you to lead with the Pokémon that knows the move and to use it on the first turn. The effect of those moves ends when the user switches out, do not switch out under any circumstances. The reason I have opted for Arena Trap instead is that it allows you to use a different lead such as one with the "Cute Charm" or "Synchronize" abilities. You can also lead with something like Synchronize Gardevoir with Imprison and Teleport.
• The ability "Shadow Tag" would normally be viable as well. It is unreliable on PokeMMO however, as its effects only last two turns.
• It's a good idea to carry an Arena Trap Pokémon with you at all times just in case, or if you're doing single-encounters in an area with Pokémon that know Teleport such as Ralts and Abra.
   

Sticky Barb

• At the end of the turn, the Sticky Barb damages the holder by 12.5% of its maximum HP each turn.

Some Pokémon have a chance of holding this item in the wild, the Shiny will get knocked out if it takes damage from the item after getting false-swiped for example. You also have a limited number of turns (8-9) to catch it even if you don't use False Swipe.

Target Pokémon:

• Cacnea, Ferroseed

Required Pokémon:

/////////////

• Slowpoke/Slowbro/Chansey/Slowking/Smeargle/Blissey/Ralts/Kirlia/Gardevoir/Chimecho/Lucario/Gallade/Audino/Alomomola
  • Moveset:

- Heal Pulse (restores up to 50% of the target's HP)

Strategy:

• Do not use False Swipe on the Shiny Pokémon
• Switch in your Heal Pulse Pokémon and heal the Shiny Pokémon as necessary.

Notes:

• Another strategy would be to steal the Sticky Barb with Trick or Switcheroo. This is less reliable when it comes to Cacnea however because they can have the ability "Sand Veil" which boosts their evasiveness. They can also lower your Pokémon's accuracy with Sand-Attack. Heal Pulse is more reliable because, unlike Trick and Switcheroo, it bypasses accuracy checks and always hits.

 

Frisk + Curse / Frisk + Trick

• Frisk allows the Pokémon to see the opponent's held item upon entering battle. If the foe is holding an item, a message identifying the item will be shown right after the Pokémon with Frisk enters the battle. If the foe is not holding an item, no message will appear.
• Upon using Curse, a Ghost-type Pokémon will lose half of its maximum HP while a non-Ghost type Pokémon will have its Speed stat drop and its Attack and Defense stats rise.
• The Trick user switches held items with the target. If only one of them is holding an item, the item is moved to the other.
• At the end of the turn, the Toxic Orb badly poisons its holder.

Banette gets its own category because it shares traits with Pokémon from multiple other categories.

Target Pokémon:

• Banette

Required Pokémon:

////////////////////

• Psyduck/Golduck/Goldeen/Seaking/Remoraid/Octillery/Pelipper/Surskit/Masquerain/Wailord/Luvdisc/Buizel/Floatzel/Finneon/Lumineon/Oshawott/Dewott/Samurott/Basuclin/Alomomola
  • Moveset:

- Soak (changes the target's type to pure Water-type)

Strategy:

• Remove your lead Pokémon's held item in order to skip Frisk messages. Proceed with either Option 1 or Option 2 depending on your location.
  • Option 1: Sinnoh Route 226 & Route 227 Night Hordes (Curse):
    1. Switch in your Soak Pokémon on the first turn.
    2. Use Soak on the Shiny Banette, turning it into a water-type and preventing it from knocking itself out with Curse.
  • Option 2: Hoenn Sky Pillar Hordes (Trick):
    • No need to worry about Curse, just avoid switching in your Toxic Orb Breloom, so that the Shiny Banette doesn't steal the item with Trick and poison itself.

 

Destiny Bond + Selfdestruct

• When Destiny Bond is used, until the user moves again, if the user faints as the direct result of an attack the attacking Pokémon also faints.
• Selfdestruct inflicts damage and causes the user to faint.

What can go wrong here is having your Damp Pokémon faint as a result of knocking out one of the Drifblims that has previously used Destiny Bond, then having your Shiny Drifblim use Selfdestruct on the same turn without your Damp Pokémon on the field to prevent it.

Target Pokémon:

• Drifblim

Required Pokémon:

////////////

• Paras/Parasect/Psyduck/Golduck/Poliwag/Poliwhirl/Poliwrath/Politoed/Wooper/Quagsire/Mudkip/Marshtomp/Swampert
  • Ability: Damp (prevents all Pokémon from using Self-Destruct and Explosion; if a Pokémon attempts to use one of these moves, it will fail and the user will not faint or take damage)
  • Moveset:

- One single-target damage dealing move that is used to knock out the non-shiny Drifblims in the horde

- One useless move that cannot deal damage and that will be used to stall, such as Sweet Scent, Stealth Rock, Recover, Protect, etc...

Strategy:

1. Switch in your Damp Pokémon on the first turn and don't switch it out under any circumstances.
2. Proceed to knock out the non-Shiny Drifblims in the horde while avoiding the ones that had used Destiny Bond on their previous turn. If all of the remaining non-shinies have used Destiny Bond, use your useless move to stall the turn then proceed to only knock them out when they haven't used Destiny Bond on the previous turn.

Notes:

• Another strategy you can use is leading with a Gengar, Smeargle, or Drifblim of your own with the moves "Imprison, Destiny Bond, Selfdestruct" and a single-target damage-dealing move. You can use Imprison on the first turn then proceed to knock out the rest of the horde with disregard to any of the dangerous moves that can compromise the catching of your Shiny Drifblim.

 

Soak + Take Down + Final Gambit + Thrash + Double-Edge

• Soak changes the target's type to pure Water-type.
• Take Down and Double-Edge are recoil moves, meaning they cause the user to take recoil damage.
• Final Gambit causes the user to faint, and the target receives damage equal to the user's remaining HP before using Final Gambit. If Final Gambit doesn't hit the opponent due to missing, type immunity, or protection, then Final Gambit will fail, and the user will not faint.
• After Thrash is finished, the user becomes confused. Confusion causes a Pokémon to sometimes damage itself in its confusion instead of executing a move.

God knows why you would hunt this abomination of a Shiny in hordes. It's your party though, so here's a strategy that lets you safely capture it without fear of it knocking itself out. All of the problematic moves mentioned above can be remedied by carrying a Ghost-type that is immune to them, causing them to fail. All of them except Soak. Soak will turn your Ghost Pokémon into a pure Water-type, taking away its immunity to all of those moves, and allowing the Shiny Basculin to instantly knock itself out with Final Gambit. Jellicent, on top of being a Ghost-type Pokémon that is immune to those moves, has the ability Water Absorb which also makes it immune to Soak.

Target Pokémon:

• Basculin

Required Pokémon:

/

• Frillish/Jellicent
  • Ability: Water Absorb (When a Pokémon with Water Absorb is hit by a Water-type move, its HP is restored by one quarter of its maximum HP, and the move will have no effect on that Pokémon)
  • Moveset:

- One single-target damage dealing move that is used to knock out the non-Shiny Basculins in the horde.

Strategy:

1. Switch in your Frilish/Jellicent on the first turn and don't switch it out under any circumstances.
2. Proceed to knock out the non-Shiny Basculin then proceed to catch your Shiny Basculin.

Notes:

• Dragonspiral Tower is a popular Shiny-hunting spot for Dratini. It has encounters of Basculins that carry some of these problematic moves. A safe strategy would be to carry two ghost-types and switch between them accordingly if one of them gets soaked. That is however risky if you're using a lure as there is a possibility that you will run into a double-encounter with a shiny Basculin in it. You can use the Jellicent strategy in order to remedy that. Be extremely careful however as in the event that both encounters are Basculins, there is a possibility that then non-Shiny one will use Soak first then have the Shiny one use Final Gambit on the same turn. Either carry two Jellicents to be completely safe or carry a Jellicent and two other ghost-types that you can switch in between in case one of them gets soaked. In the event that you are not carrying two Jellicents, make it a priority to knock out the non-shiny Basculin as fast as possible, as having only one Basculin on the field would make it easier to manage.

 

I hope that this guide has been helpful. Feel free to ask any questions, point out any mistakes that I might have made, or even share your own strategies. Good luck on your Shiny hunts!

Edited September 7, 2023 by SacredDiver

[JasperDraven]

Thanks for the advice!

[essigessenz]

If you want your claydol to be able to get the shiny koffing down to 1 hp, you can give it trick + focus sash (instead of rest and leftovers).

You can trick the focus sash on to the shiny and hit it with extrasensory. (focus sash wont be used up)

 

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by essigessenz

[SacredDiver]

13 minutes ago, essigessenz said:

If you want your claydol to be able to get the shiny koffing down to 1 hp, you can give it trick + focus sash (instead of rest and leftovers).

You can trick the focus sash on to the shiny and hit it with extrasensory. (focus sash wont be used up)

 

 

Thank you for sharing this! Would it be okay if I mentioned it in my guide? I will give you credit of course.

[essigessenz]

Just now, SacredDiver said:

Thank you for sharing this! Would it be okay if I mentioned it in my guide? I will give you credit of course.

sure

[SacredDiver]

Complete revamp of the guide to include multiple Pokémon. Will be adding more soon!

[Poufilou]

Nice. 

For Hoppip you can also use Taunt with a regular Mandibuzz whose Overcoat ability bypass Rage Powder. 

[SacredDiver]

32 minutes ago, Poufilou said:

Nice. 

For Hoppip you can also use Taunt with a regular Mandibuzz whose Overcoat ability bypass Rage Powder. 

Oh wow, I haven't thought of that. Would you mind if I included this in my guide?

[Quinn010]

great guide ^_^

[Poufilou]

3 hours ago, SacredDiver said:

Oh wow, I haven't thought of that. Would you mind if I included this in my guide?

Don't mind. Also, all grass types are immune to it. So any grass type with taunt will do, although its less good because of weakness to Bounce. The taunt strat is less good than Smeargle because you can get parahax with Bounce and fail to taunt the shiny the second time. I recommend making your pokemon hold Flame Orb so you don't get para. 

Edited July 18, 2022 by Poufilou

[repposh]

Nice guide, you should change the magikarp thing for the ditto as i believe if it transforms into it and thats its only move it will have just 5 pp (all moves do after transformation) so its close to struggling, its best to have a bunch of weak or useless moves but not just one.

[SacredDiver]

21 hours ago, repposh said:

Nice guide, you should change the magikarp thing for the ditto as i believe if it transforms into it and thats its only move it will have just 5 pp (all moves do after transformation) so its close to struggling, its best to have a bunch of weak or useless moves but not just one.

That's a really good point, I totally forgot to take that into account. Thank you!

[Poufilou]

On 7/18/2022 at 11:26 AM, Poufilou said:

The taunt strat is less good than Smeargle because you can get parahax with Bounce and fail to taunt the shiny the second time

Holding Flame Orb fix that problem and makes Taunt a reliable method. 

[SacredDiver]

Added strategies for Kadabra, Ralts, Smeargle, Clefairy, Skiploom and Amoonguss. I've got a list of about a dozen more that I will be adding in the upcoming days if I'm not too distracted.

[Milotic]

For Misdreavus everyone should lead with a Skill Swap + Soundproof Mr. Mime to prevent it from using /  dying to perish song 

[SacredDiver]

Added strategies for Diglett, Dugtrio, Wobbuffet, Misdreavus, Trapinch, Cacnea, Ferroseed and Banette. More to come soon™.

[MarkiFer]

wowww

[Serlocke]

 

About Perish Song:

On 7/3/2022 at 4:20 AM, SacredDiver said:

the move seems to be bugged, it only affects the target and not the user or the rest of the horde. In fact, this means that you don't currently need to use any of the two mentioned strategies because only your Pokémon will gain a perish count.

It's not a bug. I made a ticket about this on October last year and according to the response I got from staff, it's expected behavior for horde battles.

Feel free to lead with a sync or cute charmer mon without fear.

 

.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Serlocke

[SacredDiver]

14 hours ago, Serlocke said:

 

About Perish Song:

It's not a bug. I made a ticket about this on October last year and according to the response I got from staff, it's expected behavior for horde battles.

Feel free to lead with a sync or cute charmer mon without fear.

 

.

 

Many thanks for the valuable input. I will edit the main post to mention that the behavior of the move is intentional in hordes.