How to Use Town Method to Find Shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

In the new Pokémon game, Scarlet and Violet, the odds of finding a Shiny Pokémon is 1/4096. Because of this, players are already looking for the best game exploits to use to increase their chances. After noticing that Pokémon vanish, and a new set of Pokémon appear in the wilderness of the Paldea regions. The new technique to finding Shiny Pokémon quicker is called, The Town Method. These are our tips to increasing your chances of finding Shiny Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet.

The Process of The Town Method

The Town Method is a new technique players can do to increase their odds of finding a Shiny Pokémon in a specific area of the map. Unlike the Picnic Reset Method, this can be used at any area on the Paldea map and does not rely on a Mass Outbreak. The premise of this method is for players to use the Pokémon respawning code which de-spawn the Pokémon in the surrounding area after the players enters a town/city. Upon leaving the town, new Pokémon will spawn in around you. These can be both the same Pokémon species previously seen upon entering the town but at a different level than before or a completely different species.

To initiate a new spawn, players simply need to walk over the invisible line of the town to the province. Players will see a pop-up display telling us where we are in this area of the map. For example, when exiting Cortondo into South Province (Area Two), players will be told when they have entered the province. Here the spawn will change and if players head back into the town by taking a few steps backwards and seeing the Cortondo pop-up display, those Pokémon will vanish once more.

Tip #1 Use Towns filled with NPCs

This method does not work if you have entered a town or area separate to that of the Paldea provinces. The reason for this is that the towns with NPCs act as a separate area to that of the provinces. Meaning that players cannot use this method when moving from one province into another. For example, walking into South Province (Area Five) by exiting South Province (Area One) will not change the Pokémon spawn. Whilst players can move away from the Pokémon, wait until they de-spawn and return, this method is much slower than that of the Town and Picnic Method.

Tip #2: Save Your Game

Turn Autosave off when performing the Town Method and manually save only you have found a Shiny Pokémon. Do not attempt to catch with a Poké Ball in the wild or fight this Pokémon yet as, depending on the species you have found which could run away before you get close or risk you losing the Pokémon due to de-spawn.

Tip #3: Check the Nearby Area for New Spawns

Pokémon can spawn in different places as they will never be the exact same Pokémon that spawned in previously. Because of this, players should not have their eye on one spot of the province. Instead, players should observe the surrounding area and be patient with their search. Go slow to not alert any newly spawned Pokémon and take your time before you go back into the town to respawn a new set of Pokémon in the area.

Tip #4: Use Mass Outbreaks to Increase Your Chances Further

This will only work with the Town Method if the Outbreak appears right outside the town in the next province over. If an Outbreak appears here, players can simply exit and re-enter the province via the invisible line into the town and repeat until the Shiny Pokémon appears. To increase your chances even further, similar to the Picnic Reset Method, players should defeat a minimum of 60 Pokémon in the Outbreak. After this, the players should reset the spawn by going back into the town and returning. This changes your chances from 1 in 4096 to 1 in 1,365.

The Town Method is faster than the Picnic Method when finding a Shiny Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet. However, the Picnic Method is best used in Mass Outbreaks in the middle of the wild. The Town Method is far quicker on changing the nearby province spawns and should be used when players are searching for Shiny Pokémon outside of Mass Outbreaks. This also means that players do not know which Shiny Pokémon will appear, unlike Mass Outbreaks of the same Pokémon species.

To reiterate, players must save when they spot a Shiny Pokémon. Whether that is in a Mass Outbreak or anywhere else in the wild.

Related: All Attacks That Hurt Teammates in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.