Stationary Pokémon are Pokémon standing around in the field, where you can interact with them to initiate a battle with them. Think Snorlax, Sudowoodo, Lugia, Mewtwo, and so on. They’re not always Legendary Pokémon, but most of the ones worth hunting are. Mechanically, though, they’re the same except for the fact that Legendary Pokémon tend to be much tougher to catch than ordinary stationary Pokémon.
The process for hunting these Pokémon is pretty straightforward — position yourself near the trigger to the fight so all you need to do is press A or move forward in order to start the battle after any necessary mashing, load up the fight to see if the Pokémon shines, and then soft reset if it doesn’t, reloading your save and trying again. The good news is this can usually be done in about 15–30 seconds per attempt, depending on the Pokémon, game, and whether there’s cutscenes or excessive dialogue involved.
The Shiny Charm is the only way to improve your odds of getting a Shiny Pokémon this way and it will give you triple the base odds, so it’s very worthwhile saving these hunts until after you obtain the Shiny Charm. For some Legendary Pokémon, that’s just not possible, as you have to fight and/or catch them for storyline purposes.
Keep in mind that some Pokémon are Shiny Locked. Shiny Locked Pokémon cannot be encountered as a Shiny if that particular encounter with them is Shiny Locked.
Here’s a list of the Pokémon that are Shiny Locked, by game:
- Black & White: Reshiram, Zekrom, Victini
- Black 2 & White 2: Reshiram, Zekrom
- X & Y: The free Lucario Korrina gives you, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, Mewtwo
- Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire: Cosplay Pikachu, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Deoxys
- Sun & Moon, Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon: Zygarde, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini, Cosmog, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma
- Sun & Moon only: Nihilego, Buzzwole, Pheromosa, Xurkitree, Celesteela, Kartana, Guzzlord (these are not Shiny Locked in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon)
Any Pokémon listed above is something that you should not waste your time Shiny Hunting, as it cannot be Shiny when encountering it in that game! This list also does not factor in Wonder Cards from Mystery Gifts; most of those are also Shiny Locked, but that goes beyond the scope of this guide, as most of those events are no longer available.
Again, keep in mind that the chance of finding a Shiny Pokémon through this method is pretty low, as only Shiny Charm will improve your odds. Without it, your base odds are 1 in 8192 in Generation II–V and 1 in 4096 in Generation VI–VII. If it takes you 30 seconds per soft reset, it would take on average 34 hours of soft resetting before getting a Shiny to appear in a 3DS game.
Lastly, you can hunt for stationary Shiny Legendary Pokémon in Let’s Go! Pikachu & Eevee. It would be at the same 1 in 4096 chance, but there’s a rather long cutscene to sit through, plus there’s no soft reset, so it is a very painful process. It’s strongly recommended to borrow a friend’s Legendary Pokémon to help complete your Pokédex, get the Shiny Charm, and then have that improve your odds to 1 in 1365.