Pokémon Sun and Moon introduced SOS Battles as a new means of battling and catching wild Pokémon, and new details have been discovered that can help trainers find the Pokémon they want.
Weeks after its release, it seems some investigative Pokémon trainers have found a pattern in how SOS Battles and chaining for Shiny Pokémon work in Sun and Moon.
SOS Battles are a great new way for trainers to find Shiny Pokémon, EV Train and find Pokémon that they wouldn’t otherwise find in the wild.
In a detailed reddit post, the chains to obtain Shiny Pokémon, perfect IVs and Hidden Abilities have been discovered.
To get a Pokémon with perfect IVs, the SOS chains to go for are as follows.
Chain length 0 to 4: No guaranteed perfect IVs
Chain length of 5 to 9: 1 guaranteed perfect IV
Chain length of 10 to 19: 2 guaranteed perfect IVs
Chain length of 20 to 29: 3 guaranteed perfect IVs
Chain length of 30 to 255: 4 guaranteed perfect IVs
It needs to be noted that after the 255th Pokémon, the chain will reset back to zero. You will be better off leaving the battle and starting over again. This pattern is also present in chaining for Shiny and Hidden Abilities.
If you’re looking for a Pokémon with its Hidden Ability, here’s the percentage alongside the chain.
Chain length of 0 to 9: 0% chance of Hidden Ability
Chain length of 10 to 19: 5% chance of Hidden Ability
Chain length of 20 to 29: 10% chance of Hidden Ability
Chain length of 30 to 255: 15% chance of Hidden Ability
Like searching for perfect IVs, after the 255th Pokémon the chain will reset and you are better off starting all over again.
Shiny hunters will want to pay attention to the next SOS Chaining data as it looks to give the odds for finding Shiny Pokémon.
Chain length of 0 to 69: ???
Chain length of 70 to 255: Three extra rolls for a shiny spawn.
From the start of an SOS Chain, the chances for a Shiny Pokémon are not yet known but it’s probably around the same as finding a Shiny Pokémon on the first encounter, which is around 1/4096 but after the 70th Pokémon that chance increases.
After a chain of 70 the game rolls the shiny chance an extra three times, meaning the normal chance of 1/4096 gets increased to 4/4096, effectively giving a chance of 1/1024.
Again, after the 255th Pokémon the chain will reset.
There’s a lot of information here but if you need a visual, our friend aDrive has uploaded a video explaining the new details surrounding SOS Chaining, which you can watch below. And let us know what you think of these numbers in the comments section.
