Shiny Pokemon? No Problem.
In Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the odds of encountering a shiny Pokemon are slightly worse than one in four thousand. By themselves, shiny versions of Pokemon aren’t that different from their regular counterparts – but their rarity is what makes them special. I recently went through a shiny hunt of my own, using the “Masuda Method” in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire version. So I can tell you from experience that it’s no small grind. It took well over 20 real hours for me to hatch that shiny Skrelp.
But there’s a difference between methods like the one I used, and the one that Scarlet and Violet players are using. Most shiny-hunting methods rely on a mechanic that boosts your odds of encountering a shiny intentionally. It’s no glitch – it’s just part of the game’s code that if two Pokemon make an egg together, and are from different language regions, the shiny odds are boosted.
The picnic exploit is a bit different. Hence the name change.
Step 1: Find a Pokemon mass outbreak, and start defeating them like normal. Count ’em as you beat ’em.
Step 2: Once you beat your 60th Pokemon, your shiny odds are boosted through non-exploited means. The game changes your odds of encountering a shiny to approximately one in 1,300.
Step 3: Have a nice relaxing picnic. This will de-spawn all outbreak ‘mons, but for some reason, maintain your existing shiny odds. Normally when doing something like this, the game will remember which Pokemon were unloaded, so they’ll be the same when you return from somewhere like a town. But the game simply does not do this for picnics. By the time you end your picnic, the game will surround you in fresh new spawns.
Which means each one rolls for a chance to be a shiny.
And you can just hop in and out of picnics infinitely.
Oh my.