'Pokémon Sun and Moon' Walkthrough and Tricks: Hatching eggs faster, shiny starter Pokémon and more
Pokémon Sun and Moon has been out for a few months now, giving experienced trainers more than enough time to begin sifting through the post-game. However, a lot of the post-game requires your Pokémon to be in tip-top shape, which means breeding, EV training and of course, having a lot of in-game money. If you're still dragging your heels on paying for the newly updated Pokémon Bank, you should have plenty of time on your hands to get your Alolan team in fighting shape.
Fortunately, we're here to help grease the wheels with some tips on how to speed up the breeding process, how to get a lot of money quickly and how to do EV training smarter (not harder), as well as a few different ways you can catch those elusive shiny Pokémon. We're sure you're raring to go, so let's jump right in.
Pokémon Sun and Moon Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks: How to hatch your eggs faster
Whether you're trying to open up the IV Judge in the Battle Tree, trying to breed a Pokémon with a good nature for competitive battling or just breeding lots of your starter Pokémon so you can make someone's day through Wonder Trading, you're going to be spending a lot of time with an egg in your party. But what if we told you that there was a way to speed up that egg hatching process?
To do so, find a Pokémon with the Flame Body or Magma Armor ability. We recommend catching a Magby or a Magmar in Wela Volcano Park for the easiest access, though you could also evolve a Fletchinder from the Fletchlings you can catch in the park as well. In addition to their in-combat effects, having a Pokémon with one of these two abilities in your party will halve the amount of cycles it takes to hatch an egg.
Once you've got an egg and a Pokémon with one of those two abilities in your party, IGN reports that you can also use the Tauros Charge ride Pokémon to quickly hatch an egg in your party, by utilizing the ride Pokémon's charge ability on a long straightaway. They recommend using either Route 6 or Heahea City on Akala Island, but you can also run around in circles outside the Pokémon Nursery.
Pokémon Sun and Moon Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks: Maximize your chances of breeding a shiny Pokémon
Look, we get it, you've got a sickness in your heart that only shiny Pokémon can cure. However, it's really difficult to get those elusive off-color critters. Luckily for you, Junichi Masuda, GameFreak's director, has made it easier to breed shiny Pokémon provided you have Pokémon from two different localizations of the game.
Because of how the game is programmed, having two Pokémon of differing regions (for example, North America and Japan) your odds of the resulting Pokémon being shiny are about 1/683. That's the same as if you'd reached a chain of 70 in SOS Battles while using the Shiny Charm (detailed below). This is known as the Masuda method, or "international marriage" in Japanese.
The easiest way to check what region your Pokémon are from is to look in the upper right hand corner of your top screen when checking them in your box. Pokémon from a different region will have a tag there indicating what region they're from (JPN for Japan, GER for Germany, SPA for Spain, etc).
Since Ditto can breed with any Pokémon (please don't think too hard about the logistics of that), your best bet would be to get a foreign Ditto and breed to your heart's content. Fair warning, though: Unless you've got friends across the world or are comfortable coordinating with someone over the internet, you'll be stuck Wonder Trading to make it happen. But for shiny Pokémon, no task is too great.
Pokémon Sun and Moon Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks: Get more money by finding the Amulet Coin
If you're like us, money wasn't really much of an issue in Pokémon Sun and Moon once you found a haircut you liked and dressed your trainer like a total nerd (not hard to do considering a headwear option is a Trilby Hat). However, if you're all about making those fat stacks of Pokémon Dollars, IGN has some tips. You can find an item called the Amulet Coin behind a red truck in the Paniola Ranch next to the Pokémon Nursery. It's a held item that doubles the amount of money you get from trainer battles, provided the Pokémon holding it participates in the battle.
For an extra boost, you can also use Mystery Gift Munchlax's move Happy Hour to double your prize earnings for a net multiplier of four times. IGN suggests using this against Madam and Gentlemen-type trainers, who will shell out a whopping 12,000 Pokédollars per fight if you use both.
Pokémon Sun and Moon Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks: The new SOS Battle mechanic is your friend
Although we recently covered the basics of EVs in our late game team builder guide, there was one aspect of it that we didn't go into. You can supercharge your Pokémon's EV growth by exploiting the newly introduced SOS Battle system.
Remember how after you beat Captain Ilima's trial on Melemele Island, even wild Pokémon began calling for help in battles? Remember how it makes catching a weakened Pokémon a total pain in the behind and can drag out fights for an eternity when you're a little under-leveled? Yeah, they're not fun, but there's a silver lining. According to Bulbapedia, as you allow a Pokémon to summon more and more allies in battle, they'll have a higher chance of calling in Pokémon with hidden abilities and perfect IVs. Once you've had a chain of 70, you'll even maximize the chance to find a shiny Pokémon.
Additionally, the EVs received from a KO-ed Pokémon who's called for help are doubled, and this effect stacks with the EV-enhancing items you can buy from the Battle Royale Dome. These items will give you an additional eight EVs when you knock out a Pokémon. So, when combined with the doubling effect of SOS Battles, it will give you a whopping 18 EVs per KO (assuming you're using, say, the strength EV-enhancing item in battle with a Pokémon that already gives a strength EV). That means that instead of needing to KO 252 of that Pokémon, you'll only need to KO 14, which is much more doable. To maximize your chances of getting SOS Pokémon, use an Adrenaline Orb in battle, which you can buy from any PokéMart for 300 Pokémon Dollars.
Pokémon Sun and Moon Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks: How to get a shiny starters
Okay, okay. We all know why you're still here. Yes, you can get a shiny starter, it's true. And who wouldn't want to explore Alola with a shiny Popplio, Litten or Rowlet? Just remember the base odds of getting a shiny Pokémon is 1-in-4,096 and this method will take you around 3.5 minutes each time you soft reset. The embedded video explains how to do the whole process, and we'll give you paraphrased version below that.
Save your game after Tapu Koko rescues you and Nebby from the collapsing bridge at the start of the game. It's imperative that you save the game before heading back into town since it's your last chance before receiving your starter. After saving, talk to Lillie, who will take you back to Iki Town. You'll have to sit through the whole cutscene and pick your starter, but note that you won't be able to see whether your starter is shiny while you're on the platform. Once you choose your starter and it chooses you, you'll be taken to the nickname screen where you'll finally be able to check whether your starter is shiny or not. If not, reload your save and try again.
Frankly, we can't say we recommend doing this based on sheer person-hours it might take. But shiny Decidueye also has black and white polka dot wings so... do what you have to do.
More Pokémon Sun and Moon guides, tips, tricks, cheats and secrets
If you're serious about Pokémon Sun and Moon, you'll want to read up so you can be the very best. Check out our guides for picking the right starter, Pokémon Sun and Moon cheats, using a damage calculator, how to catch the new legendary Pokémon, how to customize your character, how to trade, how to find all the evolution stones, how to use QR codes, all the Team Skull passwords, which Pokémon to catch early on and picking between Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.
