Pokémon Go: How To Find (& Catch) Shiny Rockruff & Lycanroc

Rockruff and Lycanroc have joined Pokémon Go in the first batch of Alola Pokémon. Fortunately, their Shiny forms have also been included. In the mainline series, every Pokémon has a Shiny variant that is incredibly rare to naturally encounter. The only thing that makes them special is their unique color variation and how rare it is to spawn. In the case of Pokémon Go, Shiny Pokémon are typically added separately from their base forms. These are normally pushed during a big in-game event or something that relates to the Shiny Pokémon to make them relevant again.

Although, they mixed it up with the first batch of Pokémon Go Alola additions. Both Rockruff and Yungoos have their Shiny forms included at the same time as their base form. It’s fairly rare when this happens, but it’s possible to encounter them both right out of the gate. The Pokémon Go Alola event is focused on introducing a handful of Pokémon from Melemele Island, the first main location in Pokémon Sun and Moon. To find a Shiny Rockruff, players will need to defeat it in a raid battle.

Rockruff will appear in one-star raid battles in Pokémon Go from Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. to Wednesday, March 9, 2022, at 8:00 p.m. local time. Since this is just a one-star raid, it’s possible to bring it down as a solo player. After it’s defeated, it has a chance to appear in its Shiny form during the capturing phase and will appear with a sparkle on the screen with blue fur instead of brown. It will only take 50 candy to evolve Rockruff into a Lycanroc.

Maxing Shiny Rockruff Raid Battles in Pokémon Go

The odds of finding a Shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Go is 1/500. This is much bigger than the mainline titles’ 1/4096 chance of a Shiny Pokémon appearing. In order to increase the chances of encountering one, it’s important to participate in as many Rockruff raid battles as possible. There is no guarantee that a Shiny Rockruff will appear, but the only way to increase the chances is to keep trying. Although, this can get expensive real quick if players aren’t careful.

The shop is giving away a remote raid pass for a single Poké Coin in the shop every week and trainers can also collect a free raid pass from swiping at a Gym. Rockruff will leave the raid battle rotation on March 9th, giving trainers a limited time to encounter this Pokémon. On the bright side, because its Shiny form is available so early into the game, it’s likely players will run into them sooner rather than later. Try to get it before it appears less frequently.

Pokémon Go is available now on iOS and Android.

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Sky Flores
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Sky Flores is a writer and game player based out of New York City. His hobbies consist of creating content on YouTube and streaming video games on Twitch. His online alias is @SkywardWing.

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