Highlights
- Toxel is a standout shiny baby Pokemon with its magenta hue, making it easier to find in the wild.
- Riolu’s bright yellow shade stands out among green landscapes, making it one of the easiest shinies to spot.
- Shiny Elekid is only slightly brighter, making it a challenging hunt despite its subtle color difference.
With a new outbreak in Scarlet and Violet offering a few baby Pokemon at boosted shiny rates, the state of shiny hunting the baby Pokemon is at the forefront of many players’ minds. While baby Pokemon are usually found when breeding certain Pokemon sometimes holding specific items like Pikachu or Snorlax holding the full incense, Paldea offers a wide array of these diminutive Pokemon in the wild.
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Although not every baby Pokemon is available in Scarlet and Violet, with the entire Togepi line missing from the game, the ones available are not inherently simple to shiny hunt despite the name potentially implying. The easiest and hardest to spot shiny baby Pokemon are obvious.
13 Toxel
Location: South Province Area One, Two, Four
- National Pokedex Entry: #848
Going from purple to a fiery magenta, Toxel is one of the easier shiny forms to spot among the baby Pokemon. With Toxel also being an electric and poison type, it’s fairly simple to single out the toxic lizard, making it one of the easier-to-obtain babies.
The most recent baby Pokemon, Toxel is one of the few Pokemon where players wanting a complete collection of shinies need two to achieve. For players wanting both Toxtricity and a shiny Toxel, it won’t be too much of a hassle to find.
12 Riolu
Location: South Province Area Two, Four, North Province Area One
- National Pokedex Entry: #447
It is practically impossible to miss a shiny Riolu. Even with its original form being a shade of blue, the stark bright yellow against usually green landscapes makes it one of the easiest, if not the easiest, shinies to spot in the entire game.
With Riolu being a pure fighting type, actually hunting it outside of an outbreak can be trickier than other Pokemon. Since Pawmi and its evolutions are extremely common throughout Scarlet and Violet, the real challenge with hunting a shiny Riolu is hoping another shiny doesn’t appear first.
11 Tyrogue
Location: Canyon Biome
- National Pokedex Entry: #236
Like Riolu, it is exceedingly difficult to completely miss a shiny Tyrogue. With dull brown legs switching to a vibrant and bold blue, in a distinctly dull and brown environment in the Terrarium of the Indigo Disk, Tyrogue is an easy choice for shiny hunters.
Since Tyrogue is only found in the Indigo Disk DLC, it is inherently locked off for some players. Beyond that stipulation, however, Tyrogue is a breeze to hunt, with much of the canyon biome having rock and ground types in that region.
10 Azurill
Location: East Province Area One, South Province Area One, Two, Five
- National Pokedex Entry: #298
The baby form of one of the most divisive Tera Raid Pokemon, Azurill is a pretty easy shiny to spot given its usual spawning locations and its base form. With the typical blue swapping to green and with the buoyant bunny being found mostly in water, spotting this Pokemon shouldn’t be a challenge.
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Additionally, as Azurill is a normal and fairy-type Pokemon, despite all signs pointing to it being part water, it’s usually an easy Pokemon to find with sandwich powers for either type.
9 Bonsly
Location: South Province Area One, Two, Kitakami
- National Pokedex Entry: #438
While the main body of Bonsly remains more or less the same, the sticking point to this shiny Pokemon is within the fake tree’s “leaves.” Swapping from a typical green to a deep magenta, Bonsly isn’t exactly blending into the natural world.
Most of the time, rock types are often too plentiful in the given region they’re found in. Thankfully for Bonsly, given the whole premise behind the Pokemon, the grassy areas it’s found in don’t often feature other rock types, making it an easier hunt.
8 Magby
Location: Coastal Biome, Savanna Biome, Torchlit Labyrinth
- National Pokedex Entry: #240
One of the original baby Pokemon introduced, Magby is perhaps the easiest among the original bunch. While not as drastic of a change as other Pokemon, the swap from a red to a fiery orange shouldn’t add too much tedium for most players.
Found throughout several biomes in the Indigo Disk, Magby isn’t a difficult Pokemon to find for players that have the DLC. Unfortunately, fire types aren’t especially rare, meaning outbreaks might be the key for this baby Pokemon.
7 Cleffa
Location: Crystal Pool, Infernal Pass, Kitakami Hall, Oni Mountain, Reveler’s Road
- National Pokedex Entry: #173
In theory, and certainly in older games with different lighting, shiny Cleffa should be a fairly easy shiny Pokemon to spot. And while it will definitely contrast against non-shiny Cleffas, the swap from brown ears or horns to green isn’t as obvious as it sounds.
From a distance and at most times of day, telling the difference between a shiny Cleffa and a standard Cleffa can be tedious and difficult. For players hunting down the star-shaped Pokemon, going after outbreaks or choosing caves over open areas may be easier.
6 Munchlax
Location: Kitakami, Oni Mountain, Paradise Barrens, Timeless Woods, Wistful Fields
- National Pokedex Entry: #446
Beyond the Munchlax gifted as a reward for the Ogre Oustin minigame, actually spotting a shiny Munchlax from a normal Munchlax is indicative of a shockingly common trend among baby Pokemon.
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While the saturated shiny Munchlax is just distinct enough from the paler standard variant, there’s a distinct split between baby Pokemon and their shiny forms. Part of the group has the typical, seemingly random color swaps, but for a notable subset of these Pokemon, the shiny forms are basically the exact same as the usual appearance.
5 Chingling
Location: Chilling Waterhead, Crystal Pool, Infernal Pass, Oni Mountain
- National Pokedex Entry: #433
Chingling has a similar change to Bonsly, where part of its main design swaps to a different color, but unlike the tree mimic, Chingling’s ribbons seem to barely change at all in certain lighting.
Going from red and white ribbons to orange and white, the best way to shiny hunt Chingling is to either wait for nighttime or expect to use the Let’s Go function constantly.
4 Happiny
Location: Pokemon League, South Province Area One, Two, Three, Five, West Province Area One, Coastal, Savanna Biome, Torchlit Labyrinth
- National Pokedex Entry: #440
Happiny’s normally pink form cools slightly into a more purple tone for the shiny variant, and while the outrageous green colors of its evolution, Chansey’s shiny may be preferable only for the sake of hunting, at the very least the purple looks nice.
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For outbreaks and sandwich methods, comparing a shiny Happiny to a normal Happiny is somewhat manageable, but certain lighting and weather conditions can confuse the two easily. One of the few shiny forms easier to spot during the day, Happiny is only the start of the eye strain.
3 Pichu
Location: South Province Area One, Two, Kitakami
- National Pokedex Entry: #172
The state of shiny Pichu is almost astounding. It is entirely possible and extremely likely that some players have run right by the shiny, none the wiser of the random treasure. Despite being directly connected to the series’ mascot, shiny Pichu truly adds a challenge back into the idea of a shiny hunt.
Shiny Pichu is only slightly more saturated than normal Pichu. There is no other difference. And with Pichu being a pure electric type, it isn’t a simple hunt by any stretch.
2 Elekid
Location: Canyon Biome, Chargestone Cavern, Polar Biome, Savanna Biome
- National Pokedex Entry: #239
Elekid is an annoying shiny to spot. The shiny variant is, at best, 10% more saturated and brighter than the standard design, and that is about all there is to the difference of this 1/4096 rarity.
Also found within the Indigo Disk, and in locations with plenty of electric types, spotting the shiny from the standard Elekid is not a fast process. While not as tedious as Pokemon like Minior, finding a shiny Elekid isn’t much easier.
1 Igglybuff
Location: Pokemon League, South Province Area One, Two
- National Pokedex Entry: #174
Igglybuff is, perhaps, the worst shiny Pokemon to hunt, and at the very least, among the absolute worst to hunt outside of the Masuda method. It is undoubtedly the worst baby Pokemon to shiny hunt within Scarlet and Violet.
Telling the difference between the normal and the shiny forms of Igglybuff is maddening, as the shiny is ever so slightly more purple, at most 5% more purple than the usual pink. Unless players truly do not want to breed for Igglybuff, the shiny hunt for the balloon Pokemon is a test of patience and eyesight.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
- Released
- November 18, 2022
