How to get shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Champions

It's confirmed: there are shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Champions. Since this is purely a battle simulator though, and you cannot acquire Pokémon by catching them the normal way, this means getting shiny Pokémon is a little different. It does seem like every Pokémon in Pokémon Champions can be shiny though, so with enough patience, you could have an entirely shiny roster. And if you're lucky, you could get Pokémon with titles or Pokémon in rare Poké Balls.

Here's how you can get shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Champions, and explain other special Pokémon you can find via recruitment.

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How to get shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Champions

There are two main ways of getting shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Champions. The first is essentially the same method used to unlock more Pokémon: recruitment. There is a chance that when recruiting a Pokémon via Roster Ranch, you may encounter a shiny. This is indicated during the animation before the lineup of Pokémon appears: when the third silhouette appears from behind the bush, sparkles will emit.

If you see this, there will be a shiny Pokémon in your lineup. You can then choose whether to recruit it on a trial basis or permanently, but let's be real: if you get a shiny, you're gonna want to keep it on a permanent basis. However, since you're limited to only 30 Pokémon in your box initially (which increases by a small amount every time you climb a tier in ranked play), you will need to balance shinies with which Pokémon are best in the meta.

As for the odds of getting a shiny, they're currently unconfirmed. Generally, recent Pokémon games have base shiny odds of 1/4,096, but there are exceptions like Pokémon Go, which has the base shiny rate of 1/512. When the exact rates have been confirmed by the community, we'll update this guide.

If you don't want to use up Quick Coupons or VP to recruit more Pokémon and hunt for a shiny, you can transfer Pokémon from other games via Pokémon Home. This is required to get your hands on four specific Mega Stones anyway, so while you're there, you could bring in your shinies from games that make it easier to shiny hunt, such as Legends Z-A.

Instead of the sparkles during the intro animation for recruiting Pokémon, you may see bubbles appear instead. This can indicate one of two things: a Pokémon with a title after their name, or a Pokémon caught with a special type of Poké Ball.

The title comes after their name, such as "Primarina the Early Riser" and this title is displayed to both players when the Pokémon is used in battle. The bubbles may also mean a Pokémon has been caught with a special Poké Ball. I have a Sinistcha in a Level Ball and a Slurpuff in a Dusk Ball, for example. Both of these are purely cosmetic, and give players another thing to strive for and collect.