Pokemon Go: How to Catch Shiny Dratini

Don't be alarmed if you find a pink Dratini today during Pokemon Go's Community Day.

Players in Asia and Europe have reported that they've caught a Shiny Dratini as part of today's Community Day festivities. This follows our report that Pokemon Go developers added the 3D assets for the Shiny Dratini line to the game yesterday, which was a strong sign that the Shiny Pokemon would be available in the game.

Shiny Pokemon have variant coloration than their non-Shiny counterparts and are usually quite rare. While they don't have better stats than non-Shiny Pokemon, most players want to get their hands on Shiny Pokemon because of their extreme rarity.

As part of today's Community Day events, it appears that Pokemon Go has greatly increased the odds of finding a Shiny Dratini. There are a ton of players reporting that they've caught a Shiny Dratini...although that could just be due to the overabundance of Dratini as part of today's event.

If you live in North or South America and you want to catch a Shiny Dratini, you'll have a great chance to catch a Shiny Dratini today between 11 AM and 2 PM PT. Here's a couple of tips to help you snag one for yourself.

Find High Density Pokemon Areas

Dratini will be spawning everywhere as part of today's event, but you'll want to hedge your bets by going to a place where Pokemon already spawn in high numbers. Parks, malls, and other public areas typically have multiple spawn points, so they'll likely be flooded with Dratini during the event.

You can also increase your odds by dropping a Lure Module on a PokeStop. Dratini will start popping up at the PokeStop, so you can cycle through those to try to grab a Shiny Dratini.

Please note that a Shiny Dratini doesn't look any different on the overworld map, so you'll need to tap on each Dratini and trigger the catch screen to see if its Shiny. Luckily, Shiny Dratini look dramatically different than a normal Dratini (they're pink instead of blue) so you'll instantly know if you've encountered a Shiny Dratini.

General Catching Tips

Once you find a Shiny Dratini, you'll want to do everything you can to make sure it doesn't get away. Dratini has a base capture rate of just 40%, which means that you've got pretty good odds of catching a Dratini just by hitting it with a PokeBall. However, it also has a flee rate of 9% - which means there's a decent chance Dratini will run away if you don't catch it on the first couple of throws.

Luckily, Golden Razz Berries, Ultra Balls, curved throws, and well-aimed throws will all increase your odds of catching Dratini on the first throw. For example, hitting a Dratini with a curved Ultra Ball throw while using a Golden Razz Berry will jump your odds up from 40% all the way up to 97% even if you don't hit him with the most accurate throw.

Players who have caught lots of Dragon-Type Pokemon in the past will also have an advantage. Under the same circumstances as above, players can increase their catch rate all the way up to 100% if they have a Gold medal for catching Dragon-Type Pokemon.

Hopefully, you can find plenty of Shiny Dratini during the event. We've seen reports of players coming away with ten or more Shiny Dratini just for playing during the full 3 hour event. Good luck and get catching!