Shiny Pokemon can be incredibly hard to find in Pokemon Sword and Shield, with a base chance of 1/4096 to encounter them. However, from July 16 until July 19 fans have an increased chance of encountering the Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny Wailord during Max Raid battles.
How to Get a Shiny Wailord in Pokemon Sword and Shield
The rate of encountering a Shiny Wailord in Pokemon Sword and Shield has temporarily gone up to a chance of 1/50, giving players a 2% likelihood of seeing a Shiny Wailord in-game. This may still sound like quite rare odds by itself but when compared to the usual 0.02441% chance of finding a Shiny Pokemon, a 2% encounter rate is a steal for both dedicated Shiny hunters and casual Pokemon fans alike.
If you’re new to the game, you’ll have a chance of catching a Shiny Wailord in Pokemon Sword and Shield by competing in Max Raid Battles. These can be found in both Sword and Shield by exploring the Wild Area in the base game or the eponymous island in the Isle or Armor expansion. Simply travel to any of the large glowing pink beams in either area and press the A button when near them to activate the battle.
You can see which Pokemon you are about to encounter by looking at its silhouette, if it’s a Pokemon other than what you’re looking for (such as Wailord) you can simply back out with the B button and move on to another.
Additionally, players can join other people’s raid battles by pressing Y to activate the Y-com, which will show the player a list of raids happening at any given moment. Simply scroll until you find the correct silhouette and press A to join their battle.
Wailord is a pure water-type Pokemon, so Grass, Electric, or Dragon Pokemon are recommended for this encounter. Using their Pokemon to battle the Wailord, players must defeat it before being given one shot to throw a Pokeball at them.
A similar event happened in early January to celebrate New Years Day. The Pokemon Magikarp could be found in raids during that time with a 1% chance of being Shiny. While certainly not as iconic as the Red Gyarados which Shiny Magikarp evolves into, Wailord’s bright pink shiny coloration makes it a very fun and unique Pokemon to have in your collection.
As said above, the Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny Wailord bonus is only active until July 19, so players will have to act fast if they want an increased chance at having a giant pink whale Pokemon in their teams.
