Shiny hunting is a popular pastime in most Pokemon games, but in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the shiny grind is easier than ever before. There are ways to dramatically boost the odds of encountering a shiny Pokemon, and while it can be a bit more frustrating if you can’t get the specific Pokemon you’re looking for to spawn, your chance of finding a shiny are much higher once you do meet all the necessary requirements. Mass outbreaks are the key to shiny hunting in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and they’re the key to finding shiny forms of everything in the Hisui region. Here is everything you need to know about mass outbreaks in Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
What Are Mass Outbreaks in Pokemon Legends: Arceus?
Mass outbreaks are special events that cause a large amount of the same Pokemon to appear in an area for a limited time. They’ll all be corralled in the same spot too, making it easy to look through the crowd for shiny Pokemon. Outbreaks also increase the shiny odds for all Pokemon by default, and you can take advantage of this fact to basically guarantee a shiny spawn with enough patience.
Mass outbreaks happen at random though, which can be frustrating. The Pokemon that are featured in an outbreak are also random as well, and e ach area in the game has its own pool of Pokemon that it pulls from for outbreaks as well, so you’ll have to keep trying again and again to get the Pokemon that you want.
How to Find Mass Outbreaks
You’ll know a mass outbreak is active if you head to the Jubilife Village gate and the guard mentions something about an outbreak. You can then check the world map and you’ll see icons of certain Pokemon hovering over certain areas of the Hisui region. Those Pokemon are currently experiencing mass outbreaks in those areas.
These appear at random and there’s a possibility that none will spawn at all, but thankfully there’s a way to force the outbreaks to shuffle. Just head to any area and then return to Jubilife Village. This will refresh the possible mass outbreaks, giving you a new set of Pokemon. Again, there’s no way to force a certain Pokemon to appear in a mass outbreak, so you’ll have to repeat this until you get the one you want.
How to Shiny Hunt With Mass Outbreaks
Once you find a mass outbreak that you’re interested in, you can start shiny hunting. To begin, go to the area where the outbreak is taking place and save your game manually once you arrive. The outbreak will be marked on your map with an icon of the featured Pokemon, so head in that direction until you come across the crowd. You can use Hisuian Braviary to get there pretty quickly.
Once you find the mass outbreak, just start catching or battling as many as you can. New Pokemon will fill in as you clear the first few out, and each new spawn is another shot at a shiny. Repeat this until you either find a shiny or the Pokemon stop spawning. Once the outbreak is over, you can close your game entirely, reload your save, and then head back to Jubilife Village.
There is a strong chance that the same outbreak will be available again, so you can try to get a shiny once more. There is a chance that the outbreak could disappear though, and if that’s the case, just restart the game again until it reappears. If the outbreak is still in the same area, then just head back there, making sure to make a new manual save once you arrive at the camp.
To recap, here’s how to shiny hunt with mass outbreaks in Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
- Find a mass outbreak with a Pokemon you want.
- Travel to the area with the outbreak.
- Make a manual save when you arrive.
- Go to the outbreak area and catch or battle all the Pokemon.
- Close Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
- Reload your save and return to Jubilife Village.
- Return to the outbreak area.
- Repeat Steps 2-7 until a shiny Pokemon appears.
By repeating this process of saving and reloading the game, you will keep refreshing the pool of Pokemon in the mass outbreak and eventually come across a shiny. Remember, once you do see a shiny Pokemon, make a new manual save before trying to catch it just in case it runs away. That way, you can reload it if things go wrong. Mass outbreaks massively boost your shiny chances, and the odds only go up with the Shiny Charm and better Pokedex completion, so this is a great way to add some shiny Pokemon to your collection.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is available now on Nintendo Switch.
