ShinyHuntWhat is Poké Radar chaining?
Chaining shaking grass in Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, X, Y, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
The Poké Radar makes patches of grass shake. Beat or catch the Pokémon in one patch, then step into another patch with the same species to grow your chain. The longer the chain, the better the chance that a patch sparkles, and a sparkling patch always holds a shiny.
Odds by game
- Diamond, Pearl and Platinum: at a chain of 40 the shiny check for a patch succeeds about 1 in 200 times. Each patch only gets that check part of the time (more often the farther it is from you), so with all four patches the real chance is about 1.16% per Radar use, roughly 1 in 86, or about 1 in 74 right after a catch. Bulbapedia's general Shiny Pokémon page simplifies this to about 1 in 50; we use the detailed figure from its Poké Radar page.
- X and Y: a sparkling patch starts at 1 in 8,100 and improves by 200 per link, topping out at 1 in 100 at a chain of 40.
- Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: tops out at about 1 in 99 at a chain of 40.
Once you hit 40, you only need to keep the chain alive and recharge the Radar.
Things that break a chain
- Running from a battle or meeting a different species.
- Leaving the area.
- Riding the Bike (or Roller Skates in X and Y).
Many hunters use Repels so random encounters don't interrupt the chain. The Radar's own patches still start battles while a Repel is active.
Shiny Charm
In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl the Shiny Charm does not help the Poké Radar at all. In X and Y it only affects ordinary (non-chained) shaking patches.
- Diamond / Pearl / Platinum: About 1 in 86 per Radar use (about 1 in 74 right after a catch)
- X / Y: 1 in 100 per patch
- Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl: About 1 in 99 per patch
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