Complete Guide to Shiny Hunting in Pokémon Legends Z-A

Every time a Pokémon is generated in Pokémon Legends Z-A, the game runs a check to see if it should be shiny. The base odds of encountering a shiny Pokémon in Legends Z-A is 1 in 4096. This means that, on average, you would encounter one shiny for every 4096 Pokémon you see. However, with the shiny charm, these odds improve to 1 in 1024. This makes shiny hunting significantly more efficient once you have obtained the charm.

A nice feature of the game is that it will save the last 10 shiny encounters you had. So if you find a shiny Pokémon you can return to that same location later and still have the same shiny Pokémon available to catch.

In the Mega Dimension DLC you can make sweet donuts that sometimes give Sparkling Power to increase shiny odds in Hyperspace Lumiose. Sparkling Power level 1 increases shiny odds to 1 in 2048, level 2 gives 1 in 1365, and level 3 gives 1 in 1024. With Sparkling Power and the shiny charm you shiny odds increase to 1 in 819 at level 1, 1 in 683 at level 2, and 1 in 585 at level 3.

Check out our Donut Guide for the best recipes to make donuts!

Thanks to @Sinuna_Switch on X for making a great breakdown of the shiny odds.

To get the Shiny Charm, you must complete all 50 Pokédex research missions from Mable. This involves catchings all the Pokémon in the Pokédex in addition to battling and smashing mega crystals. This is easier to obtain with the Mega Dimension DLC, as it adds several requests.

Shiny hunting involves seeing as many different Pokémon as possible to trigger the shiny check. Here are the different methods you can use to force Pokémon to respawn:

• Going more than 70 meters away from the Pokémon and the go within 50 meters
• Fast traveling
• Going through a door (works well in Wild Zone 3)
• Waiting at a bench
• Going through a teleporter in the Lysandre Cafe