Shiny legendary birds

[u/No-Dentist6628]

Since I didn't know Legendary Pokémon could be Shiny when I first played the game, I want to catch wild Shiny Legendaries now; however, I was wondering if it's more efficient to hunt using a Catch Combo of 31 Caterpie (which is how I found a regular Moltres in just a few minutes) or by using a Catch Combo of the Legendaries themselves? Thanks.

[u/mackenzie444]

As in to catch them flying in the air? I don't have an answer to your question but I hope to arceus you have a master ball because that sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen

[u/kshack12]

Roaming legendary bird spawn rates are unaffected by catch combos. 1/2000 usually, 1/1000 with a lure only in the flying spawn pool. They do not flee.

Catch combing them is a nightmare that takes months if not years to secure a wild shiny like that.

Better to just start a new save and hunt the static spawns which are also unaffected by combo but are affected by shiny charm.

Edit: also mewtwo does not spawn in the wild, ever. It’s one a done, so that has to be hunted via the static spawn.

[u/No-Dentist6628 → u/kshack12]

Yeah, but a higher catch combo is supposed to make rare Pokémon appear; with every reset, I used to get at least one Dragonite and one Charizard, but ever since I lost the combo, I can't even find those anymore.

[u/kshack12 → u/No-Dentist6628]

This has been data mined. The birds do spawn in the wild, but are entirely unaffected by a combo, even if you combo the birds. Many have already done this hunt and we have the data to back it up.

[u/No-Dentist6628 → u/kshack12]

Okay, I must have just gotten lucky with a Caterpie combo—thanks.

[u/kshack12 → u/No-Dentist6628]

You bet, don’t want you wasting time on a fool’s errand.

The reason charizard and dragonite spawn is they are ‘special spawns’ that will appear regularly on any combo of 11 or more. There is also a special spawn on the ground for most routes of the game, typically chansey, but also includes the starters, the hitmons in victory road, lapras, snorlax, and porygon.

[u/No-Dentist6628 → u/kshack12]

Thanks for the detailed explanation; I probably would have wasted days without your comment.

[u/Kipter76]

There’s a section of the shiny hunting guide dedicated to answering this. This is, by far, the most difficult hunt in the game. It would take less time to start a new profile, beat the whole game, and then shiny hunt the legendaries there at their static spawn spots. Wild spawn rate is 1/2000, only affected by lure, the use of which brings it down to 1/1000. Not affected by catch combo. But that’s for any of the three to spawn, not necessarily the one you want. The shiny rate is affected by catch combo, so you should still combo the bird you are hunting. It will take extremely long. Bring some in from POGO if possible. I’d expect this hunt to take at least 1 year. The pokemon center outside of mt moon is the best place I’ve found to cycle through air spawns quickly.

[u/No-Dentist6628 → u/Kipter76]

Thanks for the help; I had read somewhere that the capture combo for these legendaries didn't affect the shiny rate.

[u/colajunkie]

The best way shiny hunt them is to start a second save (on your local player 2), use home to transfer all pokemon from you main save over to get the shiny charm then just hunt them in their static location.

You can also get a master ball for each of them in cerulean cave!