Pokemon Go: How to Catch Shiny Pikachu

Today is your best chance to catch a Shiny Pikachu!

As part of Pokemon Go‘s Community Day event, Pokemon Go has increased the odds of finding a Shiny Pikachu.

A Shiny Pikachu is a variant colored version of Pikachu, and are typically super rare in both Pokemon Go and the main versions of Pokemon games. While we don’t have specific odds on how rare a Shiny Pokemon is in Pokemon Go, we do know that typically a Shiny Pokemon only appears about 1 out of every 4,000 encounters in the main Pokemon games like Pokemon Sun and Moon.

So what do you need to do to catch a Shiny Pikachu in Pokemon Go? Well, there’s no exact way to guarantee grabbing one, but here’s a few helpful hints that might increase your odds exponentially:

Pikachu, Pikachu Everywhere

As part of today’s Community Day Event, Pikachu will spawn in greater frequency all across North and South America between 11 AM PT and 2 PM PT. As long as you’re by a normal spawn point, chances are you’ll find plenty of Pikachu that could be Shiny. 

There’s anecdotal evidence that even more Pikachu appear in parks, but it’s hard to tell if that’s just because more Pokemon tend to spawn in parks or if Pokemon Go actually increased spawn rates for this event. Players can also use a lure if they want to increase the amount of Pikachu they see – after all, some players have complained that setting a lure during the event only caused a Pikachu to appear. 

Shiny Pikachu don’t look any differently than normal Pikachu on the overworld map, but they do appear Shiny on the catch screen. Here’s a look at how a Shiny Pikachu differs from a normal Pikachu: 

As you can see, that’s a pretty subtle difference, so you’ll need to be eagle-eyed to ensure that you don’t pass up on catching one of these great Pikachu.

General Catching Tips

Once you find a Shiny Pikachu, you’ll want to do everything you can to make sure it doesn’t get away. Pikachu has a base capture rate of just 20%, which is a lot lower than a lot of other Pokemon. It also has a flee rate of 10% – which means there’s a decent chance Pikachu will run away if you 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 Pikachu on the first throw. For example, hitting a Pikachu with a curved Ultra Ball throw while using a Golden Razz Berry will jump your odds up from 20% all the way up to 71%, even if you don’t hit him with the most accurate throw.

Players who have caught lots of Electric-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 80% if they have a Gold medal for catching Electric-Type Pokemon. 

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