Welcome back, Pokémon fans! Today I want to discuss the pros and cons of the two major categories of shiny hunting: method hunting and full odds hunting. In method hunting, the player uses one or more specific methods to lower the odds of finding shiny Pokémon. In full odds hunting, the player hunts for shiny Pokémon using the default odds. Method hunting and full odds hunting are very different experiences. Maybe you are interested in shiny hunting but don’t know what type of hunting you want to do. I hope that this pros and cons list can help you better understand the difference between both types of shiny hunting so that you can pick the type that works best for you.
The best part of method hunting is that it is extremely variable. There are tons of methods to pick from across generations 4-8, and they span a range of involvement from the mindless encountering of the friend safari to the complex art of chaining with the Poké Radar. The more difficult methods to master, such as those that involve chaining, are really fun to learn and execute well in a way that full odds hunting can’t emulate. Method hunting can also be a lot faster than full odds hunting because method hunting lowers the odds of finding a shiny Pokémon to as high as 1/200 depending on the individual method you use. Additionally, you can stack the shiny charm with any other method to further raise the shiny rate. Method hunting can also net you better Pokémon, especially in more recent generations. For example, the friend safari and ultraspace wormholes allow you to find Pokémon with multiple 31 IVs, and DexNav allows you to find Pokémon with hidden abilities and egg moves.
Method hunting can have its downsides as well. Many methods are difficult to learn and/or gain access to. Methods that require chaining such as DexNav or Poké Radar have a steep learning curve and are not at all intuitive. Many methods can only be obtained post-game. The shiny charm is the hardest method to obtain. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 and in gen 6, the player needed to complete the national Pokedex to obtain the shiny charm. In gens 7 and 8, the player only needs to complete the regional Pokémon, but with recent Pokedexes reaching 400 Pokémon, the task is still time-consuming. Chaining itself can be especially frustrating. Creating a chain high enough to reach a good shiny rate takes a lot of time, and chains can break by chance, a development that resets the shiny odds. Method hunting also does not exist in generations 2 and 3, so you cannot method hunt in those games; methods are very limited in gens 4 and 5. Only in gen 6 and beyond do you have multiple good options for method hunting. Method hunting also limits the Pokémon you can hunt to those that can be encountered with the methods unless you have the time and resources to get the shiny charm.
The best aspect of full odds hunting is its simplicity. You can do it in any generation other than gen 1 (because shiny Pokémon didn’t exist back then), and you can use it to hunt any non-shiny locked Pokémon that you can hatch or encounter in your game of choice. All you have to do is keep encountering/hatching/soft resetting until you find a shiny Pokémon! Because full odds hunting is so simple and repetitive, you can multitask while you hunt. You can watch YouTube, a favorite television series or whatever you want to make your hunt more enjoyable. With respect to random encounters, you can control the Pokémon you want more than you may think with outside of battle methods such as repel tricks and abilities like Synchronise and Magnet Pull. Many people find greater satisfaction in full odds hunting because the shiny odds are at their minimum: 1/8192 for gens 2-5 and 1/4096 for gens 6+. These people find greater value in finding full odds shinies because of their increased rarity compared to method shinies.
Full odds hunting also has its negatives. It gets repetitive and boring after a while. Full odds hunting is also slow because the shiny odds are so low. It is also much easier to lose a shiny with full odds hunting because of zoning out. Running from encounters and especially soft resetting becomes almost automatic after thousands of encounters, and along with distraction from secondary entertainment, it becomes scarily easy to run away from or soft reset over a shiny. Additionally, full odds hunting with wild Pokémon encounters can result in you getting a shiny you did not want, a situation nearly impossible with method hunting. Shiny hunts can go on with multiple phases, one for each shiny other than your target, to total tens or hundreds of thousands of encounters before getting your desired shiny.
Overall, I think that neither method hunting nor full odds hunting is better than the other. Both have merit, and I believe that you should pick the type of shiny hunting that works for you. It is also fun to experiment with both types of hunting! I hope that I informed all of you about the differences between method and full odds hunting as well as their pros and cons. Maybe I even got you interested in shiny hunting. Thank you so much for reading my article, and see you next time Pokémon trainers!
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