General Information:
This setup works by using one Pokemon to Sync any nature of your choice, and by ensuring the caller will never faint to struggle. This is a good as chains can get really long and you can become inattentive. Before this setup I have personally broken chains in the hundreds, and even fainted a shiny bagon by not paying proper attention.
By using this team you can make it easier to simply put your 3ds down until you're awake enough to deal with it again and not worry about where you were up to.
Ideal Setup:
Lead Pokemon:
Literally Anything @ Who Cares
EVs: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
DESIRED NATURE FOR HUNTED SHINY
- Make sure it's fainted in slot one. Nothing but that and the nature matters.
Notes:
In an SOS battle synchronize will use this Pokemon's nature for summoned allies regardless Alakazam's own nature. Seem silly? It isn't! Now you can use one Alakazam (or synchronize Pokemon of your choice) to hunt any nature you like. What Pokemon it is doesn't matter, I just used duskull as an example because it is cute and the skull seemed appropriate. Find it. Faint it. Make sure it is in slot 1 of your party.
Harvest Swapper:
Trevenant @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Skill Swap
- Trick
- Sunny Day/Block/Horn Leech
- Shadow Claw
Notes:
Step 1: hit skill swap.
Step 2: hit trick.
Step 3: Swap to Smeargle.
This essentially gives the 'caller' infinite PP meaning it will never struggle to death. Shadow claw is there in case you get the wrong species to start the chain, and sunny day is there in case you're worried about a berry that hasn't regenerated in a bit.* If you're not worried about that, Block can be used to start Abra chains.
*Harvest gives a 50% chance to regenerate a berry on any given turn. As such the chance of it failing every one of the ten turns provided by the leppa berry is (1/2)^10 or 0.000976%. Personally, I use block.
False Swiper:
Smeargle @ Scope Lens
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Jolly Nature
- False Swipe
- Soak
- Purify/Minimize
- Spore/Baton Pass
Notes:
Smeargle is the only pokemon that can have both false swipe and soak. Enough said. Use soak on ghosts, and false swipe to drop your caller to 1hp. Minimise and baton pass work well together but are optional: they just mean less time spent on broken subs and more time killing things that aren't shiny. Alternatively you can use Purify in case your caller gets a status, and Spore to help catch your shiny (you can soak that too).
If you really want that Minimize + Baton Pass swag, but like purify and spore, see the extra optional team mates section.
Nature Sync:
Alakazam @ Leppa Berry/Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 66 Def / 100 SpA / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Recycle/Taunt
Notes:
Step 1: substitute to stop synchronize giving your caller a status
Step 2: use adrenaline orb
Step 3: kill everything not shiny (that isn't your caller).
Recycle vs Taunt comes down to how many extra Leppa berries you have laying around. Recycle lets you use the same one over and over, but taunt is better if the chained Pokemon has recovery or status (infiltrator) moves. Signal beam is there to let you chain dark types (I'm coming for you, shiny Zorua).
Extra Team Mates:
This folder contains Pokemon for special circumstances. Cute charm can be used to help find female Salazzle for example, while skill swap magic guard will stop beldum from recoiling to death (though there are downsides to this - see inside). If you have good sets, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll add them here!
The TL;DR Version:
- Put fainted Pokemon with desired nature in slot 1.
- Use Trev to give harvest and Leppa berry.
- Use Smeargle to reduce caller to 1hp.
- Kill everything that isn't a shiny with Alakazam.
This isn't an original idea as harvest trev has been around for a bit, however the team setup is my own. I have done my best to choose Pokemon that don't require pokebank and that can condense their roles as much as possible - if you like it please leave a comment and feel free show off your new shinies! Here's hoping you found this guide helpful, and that the RNGsus is kind to us all! Good luck from this old nerd,
-Wite.
- This is a shiny chaining guide for USUM (note: harvest trick does work in SM): this isn't intended for IV chaining.
- The Pokemon were chosen for role condensation & because they are easy to find in USUM - you can use others.
- SOS Chaining is a lot less tedious if you turn off battle animations.
- A statused Pokemon will not call allies - do not burn, poison, paralyse or freeze your caller.
- The Shiny Charm is your friend.
- The Adrenaline Orb is your friend - use it to waste turns (the item won't be used).
This setup works by using one Pokemon to Sync any nature of your choice, and by ensuring the caller will never faint to struggle. This is a good as chains can get really long and you can become inattentive. Before this setup I have personally broken chains in the hundreds, and even fainted a shiny bagon by not paying proper attention.
By using this team you can make it easier to simply put your 3ds down until you're awake enough to deal with it again and not worry about where you were up to.
Ideal Setup:
Lead Pokemon:
Literally Anything @ Who Cares
EVs: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
DESIRED NATURE FOR HUNTED SHINY
- Make sure it's fainted in slot one. Nothing but that and the nature matters.
Notes:
In an SOS battle synchronize will use this Pokemon's nature for summoned allies regardless Alakazam's own nature. Seem silly? It isn't! Now you can use one Alakazam (or synchronize Pokemon of your choice) to hunt any nature you like. What Pokemon it is doesn't matter, I just used duskull as an example because it is cute and the skull seemed appropriate. Find it. Faint it. Make sure it is in slot 1 of your party.
Harvest Swapper:
Trevenant @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Skill Swap
- Trick
- Sunny Day/Block/Horn Leech
- Shadow Claw
Notes:
Step 1: hit skill swap.
Step 2: hit trick.
Step 3: Swap to Smeargle.
This essentially gives the 'caller' infinite PP meaning it will never struggle to death. Shadow claw is there in case you get the wrong species to start the chain, and sunny day is there in case you're worried about a berry that hasn't regenerated in a bit.* If you're not worried about that, Block can be used to start Abra chains.
*Harvest gives a 50% chance to regenerate a berry on any given turn. As such the chance of it failing every one of the ten turns provided by the leppa berry is (1/2)^10 or 0.000976%. Personally, I use block.
False Swiper:
Smeargle @ Scope Lens
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Jolly Nature
- False Swipe
- Soak
- Purify/Minimize
- Spore/Baton Pass
Notes:
Smeargle is the only pokemon that can have both false swipe and soak. Enough said. Use soak on ghosts, and false swipe to drop your caller to 1hp. Minimise and baton pass work well together but are optional: they just mean less time spent on broken subs and more time killing things that aren't shiny. Alternatively you can use Purify in case your caller gets a status, and Spore to help catch your shiny (you can soak that too).
If you really want that Minimize + Baton Pass swag, but like purify and spore, see the extra optional team mates section.
Nature Sync:
Alakazam @ Leppa Berry/Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 66 Def / 100 SpA / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Recycle/Taunt
Notes:
Step 1: substitute to stop synchronize giving your caller a status
Step 2: use adrenaline orb
Step 3: kill everything not shiny (that isn't your caller).
Recycle vs Taunt comes down to how many extra Leppa berries you have laying around. Recycle lets you use the same one over and over, but taunt is better if the chained Pokemon has recovery or status (infiltrator) moves. Signal beam is there to let you chain dark types (I'm coming for you, shiny Zorua).
Extra Team Mates:
This folder contains Pokemon for special circumstances. Cute charm can be used to help find female Salazzle for example, while skill swap magic guard will stop beldum from recoiling to death (though there are downsides to this - see inside). If you have good sets, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll add them here!
Minimize Baton Pass:
Drifblim @ Leftovers
Ability: Not Aftermath
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Timid Nature
- Minimize
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Haze
Minimize baton pass allows you to spend less time making subs with 'Zam, and more time killing things that aren't shiny. Haze can be used to remove boosts from a caller getting too big for its boots.
Drifblim @ Leftovers
Ability: Not Aftermath
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Timid Nature
- Minimize
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Haze
Minimize baton pass allows you to spend less time making subs with 'Zam, and more time killing things that aren't shiny. Haze can be used to remove boosts from a caller getting too big for its boots.
Cute Charm.
Sylveon (opposite to desired gender of shiny) @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Echoed Voice
- Psyshock
- Substitute
Cute Charm is useful for those 12.5%-ers, however it does mean you cannot sync your desired nature. Salazzle springs to mind - why, game freak? Why?!?
Sylveon (opposite to desired gender of shiny) @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Echoed Voice
- Psyshock
- Substitute
Cute Charm is useful for those 12.5%-ers, however it does mean you cannot sync your desired nature. Salazzle springs to mind - why, game freak? Why?!?
Anti High Jump Kick
Butterfree @ none
Ability: Compound Eyes
- Skill Swap
- Thief
- Roost
- Aerial Ace
OR
Smeargle @ Flynium Z/Normalium Z
Ability: Technician
- Heart Swap
- Defog/Sweet Scent
- False Swipe
- Filler
All wild scraggy in USUM have high jump kick - if your caller misses with it you can break your chain. There are two ways to deal with this: skill swap it compound eyes with butterfree (making it 117% accurate, but loosing the harvest trick), or heart swap it an accuracy boost from Smeargle's Z moves. The second is the better option, but it depends if you can be bothered getting heart swap on smeargle. Lastly, keep a no guard Pokemon in the back to avoid a shiny suicidal scraggy.
Butterfree @ none
Ability: Compound Eyes
- Skill Swap
- Thief
- Roost
- Aerial Ace
OR
Smeargle @ Flynium Z/Normalium Z
Ability: Technician
- Heart Swap
- Defog/Sweet Scent
- False Swipe
- Filler
All wild scraggy in USUM have high jump kick - if your caller misses with it you can break your chain. There are two ways to deal with this: skill swap it compound eyes with butterfree (making it 117% accurate, but loosing the harvest trick), or heart swap it an accuracy boost from Smeargle's Z moves. The second is the better option, but it depends if you can be bothered getting heart swap on smeargle. Lastly, keep a no guard Pokemon in the back to avoid a shiny suicidal scraggy.
Anti Recoil:
Sigilyph @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Skill Swap
- Psychic
- Heat Wave
- Ice Beam
This is the best thing I could come up with to deal with recoil (thanks to ReturnoftheHavoX for pointing out that Magic Guard negates that), yet still allow for that Synchronization goodness. Sigilyph is the best option for magic guard + skill swap as it isn't even a hidden ability, however this does mean you cannot use the Harvest trick. Choose your poison.
Sigilyph @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Skill Swap
- Psychic
- Heat Wave
- Ice Beam
This is the best thing I could come up with to deal with recoil (thanks to ReturnoftheHavoX for pointing out that Magic Guard negates that), yet still allow for that Synchronization goodness. Sigilyph is the best option for magic guard + skill swap as it isn't even a hidden ability, however this does mean you cannot use the Harvest trick. Choose your poison.
The TL;DR Version:
- Put fainted Pokemon with desired nature in slot 1.
- Use Trev to give harvest and Leppa berry.
- Use Smeargle to reduce caller to 1hp.
- Kill everything that isn't a shiny with Alakazam.
This isn't an original idea as harvest trev has been around for a bit, however the team setup is my own. I have done my best to choose Pokemon that don't require pokebank and that can condense their roles as much as possible - if you like it please leave a comment and feel free show off your new shinies! Here's hoping you found this guide helpful, and that the RNGsus is kind to us all! Good luck from this old nerd,
-Wite.
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