• Welcome back to Pokécharms! We've recently launched a new site and upgraded forums, so there may be a few teething issues as everything settles in. Please see our Relaunch FAQs for more information.

How to Chain, Step by Step

Ruko

Bearded Trout Warrior
This is how to chain for Shinies, or EVs using the PokeRadar. Normally there's only a 1 in 8000-something chance of getting a shiny, but the radar improves that. The longer of a chain you get, the more likely a shiny is to appear on the radar.

When you use the Radar, random patches of grass move in one of two ways. One way is slow, and lasts a while. The other is fast, easier to notice, but more abrupt. The faster moving grass SHOULD be rarer pokemon, and the slower should be less rare, but I've found this to seem sketchy.

Go to the patch corresponding with what you want to encounter, and if it is right, you either must faint, or capture the Pokemon. Running from battle will break the chain, and so will getting on your bike between battles. To keep the chain going, go to the patch of grass farthest from your current location that matches the movement of the previous grass patch.

Here are step by step instructions:

1) Stock up on Super Repel. [max repel are a rip-off]

2) Get a pokemon in your team that is higher leveled than any of the wild pokemon in the region you are chaining.

3) [for shinies] It really helps to have False Swipe available, so get something in your party with it.

4) Use a Repel, and use more every time one runs out IMMEDIATELY. *

5) Switch to PokeApp 20 on your watch if you have it... **

6) Go to the center of a decent sized grass patch, and use the radar.

7) Walk onto one of the patches that moved, and try to remember whether it moved in one of two ways... ***

8) If you encountered what you wanted then ignore this step, if you encountered something else, just run and recharge your PokeRadar's Battery then try again.

9) Now that you have encountered what you want to, you have to either kill it, or catch it; running will break a chain.

10) After battle pay attention to the grass. If the chain is kept going then more grass will move as if you instantly re-used the radar. ****

Look for a patch that moved the same way as the first one did, and go to the one that is the farthest away without running into any of the others along the way.

if there are no patches of grass that matched the movement of the one you're chaining with, or if the ones that do match seem to be too close, run around without leaving the patch and re-use the radar. different patches will move

one final note, when you're moving towards the patch of grass you want a battle from, avoid walking on the patch directly above you. If it rustled, your head will block the view of it and you won't know.

I think that's it... but now for the * notes

*Even though the radar is in use, random battles can still occur and regardless of what appears will instantly break a chain. USE REPEL!
The patches of grass that move will spark a battle even if repel is in use

** App 20 will tell you what your longest chains in the past were, and tell you what your current chain is if you have one going.

*** The grass will actually move in three ways,  the third being a bright flash indicating a shiny is there... but memorize and learn to differentiate the two types of movement. One should be faster, one should be slower and more subtle.

**** If the patch doesn't move, and the music reverts to normal, you have either broken the chain, or you patch of grass was so small that the game's programming didn't randomly place anymore rustling. If you have 'etch app 20, you can check to see if the chain is broken or not.

[edit]

thanks to Filb.de, I now have a probability formula for shinies with radar.
All chains after forty have the same probability as a chain at forty.

                            14747 - 40(n)   
Probability(shiny) = ------------------        n = Chain length
                          2621440 x (41 - n)   
 
Hey Ruko, I would like to add that if you're chaining for shinies, it's important to have a pokemon with the ability "Synchronize" (Abra, Mew, Umbreon etc.) at the top of your party, because it has a 50% chance of passing down its nature to wild pokemon. Say you wanted a Shiny Adamant Bidoof. Have an Adamant natured pokemon with the Ability Synchronize at the top of your party, chain for Bidoofs, and when you eventually get a Shiny one, it has a 50% chance of being Adamant!!!!
 

Ruko

Bearded Trout Warrior
That's good to know... thanks, Chase ;D

that can also be used to help get the natures you want for breeding...
 
I just wanted to add something that's very very inportant...

One very last thing: NEVER USE THE BIKE!!!!! This will immediately break the chain, so NEVER USE THE BIKE!!! :)
 
theres another thing. when chaining for shinies, i get to about 20 and the chain breaks. I've been trying for a shiny shinx and ponyta, my highest chain is 22 for a shinx and it broke for no apparent reason, the second is 21 for a ponyta, again it broke for no reason and the third is on 19 when chaining for a shinx and broke for no reason, i done all the things above and the patches were the big ones on route 202 and route 214.

apparently, the chain will sometimes will break for no reason so don't give up, i've been trying for 2 days now and have hardly stopped but the chains do keep on growing. i just thought that i should mention this.
 

Ruko

Bearded Trout Warrior
If the patch is too small, or if you go into the corner for a battle, it has a higher chance of breaking because the programming doesn't have enough room to randomly place a pokemon.

If the only matching available spots are too far to a corner, then keep running around until the radar recharges, and use it again for a different set of patches. This will wear through your super repels really fast, however, if you're chaining for a shiny you must have, it's worth it not to have to start over.
 

Magpie

Feathered Overseer
Staff member
Moderator
Not sure how useful this is but I thought it might be worth a mention. If you are chaining a Swarming Pokemon and you have an active chain when the clock changes to midnight (The swarm Pokemon changes), then the chain isn't broken and the Pokemon still appears until you break/lose that chain. Effectively, it's kind of a 'last chance' type thing XD
 
It also might be worth mentioning that having a pokemon that has the static ability in your party, it will be easier to chain electric types, more so if it's first, but if you want a good natured shiny, your synchronize pokemon should be first like Lokster said.
 
I've been wondering, suppose I'm hunting something that shows up at only a specific time. Will the chain break if I go past the time?
Example: I want a shiny Ledian, but I slept in and start working at it around 9:30. I'm in the middle of a chain and the clock strikes 10:00 AM. Does the chain break?
Based on the swarm thing I would guess no, but it would be nice to have confirmation of this.
 
I heard that if you have a pokemon with magnet pull is in your party, the chance is bigger that you get a steel pokemon, same counts for swarm and bug pokemon so it can be a very good idea to have a pokemon with this ability's in your party
 
I've been wondering, suppose I'm hunting something that shows up at only a specific time. Will the chain break if I go past the time?

I believe so. I was chaining Snubbull, my Swarm Pokemon of the day, and I fell asleep with my DS plugged in. When I woke up the next day and used the PokeRadar (with the chain still in effect; the music was still the Radar music), it told me that the radar had lost the signal, or something.

I think this means that if a certain species only appears at a certain time, you have a time limit in which you can chain them before your chain will be forced to break.
 
I believe so. I was chaining Snubbull, my Swarm Pokemon of the day, and I fell asleep with my DS plugged in. When I woke up the next day and used the PokeRadar (with the chain still in effect; the music was still the Radar music), it told me that the radar had lost the signal, or something.

I think this means that if a certain species only appears at a certain time, you have a time limit in which you can chain them before your chain will be forced to break.

That is false. I have chained numerous Swarm Pokemon for more then a day without the chain breaking. You more then likely stepped out of the Radars range, and broke the chain yourself.
 
Well this helps a lot! Chaining is very time consuming... for example if you chained 40 starlys.

14747 - 40 (N)
------------------
2621440 x 41 - N

Now, we replace the 'N' with 40.

14747 - 40 (40)
------------------
2621440 x 41 - 40

Then solve,

13147
------------
2621440

That gives you a 0.50151824951171875% chance of getting a shiny. That means if you chained 80 (which would double the chance), it would only be a 1%.

I think this is right, but I'm not entirly sure. I haven't worked with percentages in a looong time.
 
Actually, on this I'm almost CERTAIN that I'm right.

If you chain beyond 40, your chances of getting a Shiny are NO BETTER than they were at 40.

Also, to simplify Sunny's equation into more understandable chances, you have about a 1 in 200 chance of finding a Shiny at and after a chain of 40.

Much better than your standard 1 in 8192. ;D

Good luck on your shiny hunts!

EDIT: Now I'm 100% certain that I'm right about your chance being the same at 40 and higher. If you replace the N in the equation given to us by * Sunny * with 41, you get 0 in the denominator. Since you can't divide by 0, your chances will NOT get any better beyond the number 40.
 
So chaining 40 Pokemon would be about a .5% Chance.

Versus the original .001%, that is a very good improvment, I suppose.

I love shinies, but I hate hunting them down! Espesially when you get very close to 40 chains, and it breaks randomly. Even though you did everything right.
 
I'd like to add that it's a good idea to try areas with only one or two species of Pokemon available, so there's less chance of breaking the chain by seeing a new Pokemon.
 
This is highly helpful. I always have a problem with getting shinies. Mainly cuz i dont bother with cheats. But now they shouldnt be so hard to find in the near future XD
 
I've read numerous guides on shiny chaining, and this seems to be the simplest explanation, which I hope will help me. I've never gotten a chain higher than 15, and I was chaining for EV's then and not shinies.
However, I did manage to snag a shiny Bidoof during that training, with a chain of only 5. Though seeing as how Bidoof is hated among many, I'm not sure how wonderful that is :p

I'd like to add a tip for anyone else hoping for a shiny Bidoof- chain on route 201, without any GBA games inserted. The only Pokemon you run into are Bidoof and Starly with the Radar, Bidoof being predominant and easy to catch at an extremely low level.
 
I just noticed you've missed the most important part! U= Player, X= Break Chain, 1 2 3 4= percentages, 1 lowest 4 highest. Do the math, sillies. XD

X4444X4444X
4X444X444X4
44333333344
44322222344
44321112344
XX321U123XX
44321112344
44322222344
44333333344
4X444X444X4
X4444X4444X

Obviously, this would appear as a square in the game, but the way letters and numbers are screws that up. :p
 
Top