Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl may be brand-new (and they are), but one of the best methods of shiny hunting in the series remains the same: hatching Eggs! Given the return of the Poké Radar, it’s no longer the most efficient method in the game, but it’s still a rather easy one. We’ve gathered all of the information you need to know to start breeding for Shiny Pokémon — let’s get started! If you’d like to check out our equivalent guide for Sword & Shield, you can do so by following this link.
Obtaining a Ditto
If you want the best possible shiny odds while hatching, a foreign-language Ditto is the most important tool. To those unfamiliar, the Masuda method is a mechanic introduced in the original Diamond & Pearl games. By breeding two Pokémon with different native languages, your shiny chance increases. To be exact, that’s 1 in 683 without the Shiny Charm and 1 in 512 with the Shiny Charm. To set this up, you’ll likely have to trade with a trainer from another region. Luckily, there’s high demand for foreign Ditto, so you should be able to find someone online to trade with!
Obtaining a high-IV Ditto on your own is extremely difficult. Your best bet is the Poké Radar on Route 218. On chain 100, you’ll be able to catch a Ditto with a guaranteed 5 perfect IVs. Needless to say, that chain is far too high, so trading works best here. If you’d like, you could find Ditto in the Grand Underground in the Dazzling Cave and Stargleam Cavern areas. There’s just one catch: you have to have unlocked the National Dex.
Party Setup & Hatching
The next step towards optimizing your shiny hunting is to find a Pokémon with the Flame Body or Magma Armor ability. When a Pokémon with one of these abilities is in your party, Eggs hatch twice as fast! Unfortunately, most Pokémon with these abilities cannot be obtained before defeating the Champion. In Shining Pearl you can find Magby in the Grand Underground’s Volcanic Cave, Sandsear Cave, and Typhlo Cavern areas. It’s exclusive to Shining Pearl, though, which means Brilliant Diamond players must wait until post-game. Once you have the National Dex, your best option is catching a Magcargo from Stark Mountain. Both of its abilities speed up Egg hatching!
Before you start, remember to open the Options menu and turn off “give Pokémon nicknames”. Set your box preferences to automatic, too. This saves a lot of time — you won’t be prompted to nickname each Pokémon you hatch, and Eggs obtained at the day-care will be sent to your boxes automatically. When you do hatch a shiny, you can always talk to the Name Rater in the tall building in Eterna City to nickname it manually.
The only day-care center in the Sinnoh region is the one found in Solaceon Town. Head inside and give the Pokémon you wish to breed and your foreign Ditto to the lady inside and then start biking outside! The old man standing out front of the daycare will give you the Eggs, and when he faces east, it means he has an Egg to give you. Once you have a full party of Eggs, hatch them all and replace them with a fresh batch from your PC boxes!
Other Helpful Information
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl’s bike can be a bit awkward to control. You may be tempted to cycle up and down the long path stretching from Route 210 through Solaceon Town and Route 209; however, when turning around, you’re forced to stop for a moment. This might not sound like much, but it adds up over time. Instead, it’s recommended to just bike around in circles next to the day-care. That way you won’t lose time and you’ll be able to see when an Egg is ready for you. It’s worth noting that after you speak to the old man, he’ll face the direction he did when speaking to you. So if you talk to him and have him face east, you might have a hard time noticing when he has a new Egg. To resolve this, you can head upward into Route 210 and then back down to Solaceon Town. This will reset the direction he is facing so you can be sure that you know when he has an Egg!
It’s always recommended to hunt in the background while doing something else. Biking around in circles isn’t very engaging, so you’ll want to occupy yourself by reading an article, watching a video, or listening to music. You can even use your left Joy-Con on its own to free up your other hand. There isn’t a Casual Control option like in Sword & Shield, but you can still use ZL to speak to NPCs, so it works well enough.
The hidden Oval Charm item will drastically accelerate the process of obtaining Eggs. It’s only obtained after defeating the Champion, and in order to earn it, you’ll have to beat the swimmer in the pool in Valor Lakefront. It’s right in front of the house, and the man has a Floatzel nearby. Defeat him and the Oval Charm is yours! This item increases the chance of finding an Egg at the day-care center.
From then on, it’s all up to luck. Keep working at it and eventually you’ll hatch a shiny! It’s quite rewarding in this game because you can have the Shiny Pokémon you hatch follow you in the overworld as long as it’s in your party. Shiny hunting is a long and slow process, but it’s worth it! As always, if you have any questions, you’re welcome to join our Discord community and ask around. Best of luck, and happy hunting!
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