Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players share simple tips to prevent shiny encounter fails

Niladri Sarkar
pokemon scarlet and violet shiny noibat encounter image

Shiny Pokemon are among the most sought-after species in Scarlet and Violet. So losing a shiny encounter due to fainting is the worst experience. Luckily, a few Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players shared some simple tips to make sure that you catch shiny species that you encounter in the wild.

With the Teal Mask DLC of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in full swing, players are looking to catch all the new and returning Pokemon, including their shinies.

Collecting all available shiny species is one of the most popular things to do in Pokemon games and fans are grinding to get the job done.

However, when a Reddit post showed a shiny wild Pokemon fainting during a lucky encounter, several users dropped in to share some great tips on how players can prevent it from happening again.

Scarlet & Violet players share tricks to catch shiny Pokemon

Reddit user ‘DRUNK__SOULS’ came across a shiny Litwick in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Teal Mask DLC and discovered that it has the move Memento, causing it to faint while lowering the opponent’s stats.

When a wild shiny Pokemon faints, players are unable to encounter that shiny again unless they follow the OP’s tip: “Save. Your. Game. First.”

Saving your game on encountering a shiny species, will allow you to find the same Pokemon again in its shiny version, as one user put it: “Should note that if you ‘accidentally’ encounter a shiny, you can always Run then Save without having it escape. Just an extra step but can save your sanity lol.”

Others wrote, “Always always save when you see a shiny. You have time to do so” as well as “They made this game in a way you could save before encountering a shiny… and people still don’t lol.”

There were also comments by other players that highlighted some tricks to ensure that the shiny Pokemon doesn’t faint. “I heard using Gholdengo negates them being able to use Memento so that also works.”

One player suggested a clever build with Drifblim: “I have a Drifblim that knows Memento, Explosion, and Imprison. I’ll bring her out if I encounter any shiny to Imprison block those self-kill moves.”

Players also tend to forget a very useful way to catch shinies and that is by utilizing a Quick Ball.

pokemon scarlet and violet dlc quick ball image
The Quick Ball provides a boosted catch rate if it is used at the start of a wild encounter.

Users mentioned how they rely on Quick Balls for catching shinies. Their advice included “I always start with a Quick Ball when catching shinies. They work a lot of the time” and “I just used a Quick Ball and caught it right off.”

Ultimately, a player summed up the best method to catch wild shiny Pokemon by commenting: “I always hard save and then use quick ball turn 1, if it doesn’t catch, I reset and go until it catches. Might take extra time, but I don’t have to worry about losing a shiny.”

Though you are bound to get excited when encountering a wild shiny in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, it’s always best to save the game, use a Quick Ball, and have a handy catching strategy with one of the Pokemon on your team.

While you’re at it, check out how you can grab free Herba Mystica as well as the Scarlet and Violet Shiny Sandwich recipes to get more shiny Pokemon in the game.

About The Author

Niladri is a Writer who specializes in Pokemon Go, Scarlet and Violet, and competitive VGC battles. With more than seven years of experience in copywriting and SEO content writing, Niladri has previously written for Pokémon GO Hub and Smogon. He has been covering Pokemon for CharlieIntel since June 2023. Niladri can be contacted at [email protected].