Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl
Stalking Early with the PokeRadar
by ShineyAltaria & ChAndrious
Source credits and thanks:
Serebii BD/SP PokeRadar page
ChAndrious Twitch (reviewer and contributing author)
and special thanks to Pojo!
Hello again, friends!
Stalking with the PokeRadar is simply walking in the chaining area while avoiding everything except the shiny patch. We repeatedly recharge the radar hoping to get a shiny patch next.
The best odds are when we start stalking at chain 40. Therefore, many players have that goal.
But what about stalking early, say at 30 or even 20?
I spent a few hours over each of 8 days recently to do some short chaining tests, or stalking well before 40.
For the tests, I decided to stalk at 20, 30 and also 40, since we get perfect IVs as a reward for reaching each chain number.
Tests were in half hour intervals. For each test, I kept track of how many max repels were used plus the chain numbers and elapsed time. I felt these would be good data points for quantitative comparisons of effort between reaching 40 versus stalking earlier.
My secondary goal was to catch 9 shiny Eevee in the Trophy Garden, enough for the complete set. Eevee is my favorite pokemon and I was going to run these tests anyway, so why not try!
Detailed raw data logs follow this table which summarizes the test results. After the summary, I suggest you read through them for a couple lessons learned.
Effort to obtain first shiny when stalking at 20, 30 and 40
After these tests I left the Trophy Garden for RT 207 by Oreburgh to chain Geodude and had to choose between stalking early or going for 40.
I choose to attempt 40 and after about 70 minutes and 7 max repels caught back to back shiny geodude on 40 and 41, then caught a shiny on 42, then another on a second closest tile. I decided to run the chain up freely so the next shiny was on chain 46, but then it finally broke on 48.
The result of my choice to run up to 40 was 5 shinies. Three held everstone.
Next I will stalk Swablu at 40.
Sometimes short chaining pays off, but I still prefer attempting 40. Most times it proved faster and cheaper, compared to short chaining and stalking at 20 or 30. Anyone can get lucky with an early shiny. It takes more to succeed consistently. It is worth the effort to learn how to use the PokeRadar properly. Get the best odds the game offers. Build your confidence and go for it!
All of the shinies mentioned in this article are for trade. To get one (free) just post to Pojo’s Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl Forum and let me know what you’d like. As always, comments and feedback are also welcome!
ShineyAltaria (Shiney)
Detailed Raw Chain Logs
DAY 1 goal is start stalking at 30 TEST Fail
I found Eevee 7 times (5% encounter rate) with 3 no-start chain failures – the 4 other chains broke with the highest at 28. I never got a chain to 30 today. rip.
DAY 2 goal is start at 20 instead of 30
20 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 1 Success = shiny#1, shiny#2
Try 1
498 max repels to start
1/2 hour = 474 left
2nd 1/2 hour = 449 left
3rd 1/2 hour = shiny in 20 minutes 436 max repels, chain continues, timid sync worked also
so shiny #1 = after 80 minutes and 63 max repels
thumb spaz so went to 26, shiny #2 chain 27 max repels = 402 sync worked but chain broke since i forgot to switch Fearow back in lead – the lv 10 timid sync Ralts was in lead instead and a lv 17 Staravia showed up. Lesson: Don’t make the mistake I just did.
TRY 2 wanted to start at 30 broke at 29 TEST Fail
TRY 3 wanted to start at 20 broke at 19 TEST Fail
TRY 4
20 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 2 Success = shiny #3
495 max repels to start
1/2 hour = 470 left
2nd 1/2 hour = 442 left
3rd 1/2 hour = mild shiny#3 in 3 minutes 441 max repels, started going for 30 chain broke on 28
426 max repels left
There is some agreement that if you are only after one shiny then short chain and stalk early rather than go to 40. When stalking early at 30, my first shiny took 80 minutes and 63 max repels. This is about twice as long as it would take to chain to 40 and 10 times the number of repels I would use.
Next shiny was 1 hour 50 minutes, 62 max repels used – again this is multiples of just going for 40. In Try 4, it took 93 minutes for the first shiny (shiny eevee #3) and I used 44 max repels.
DAY 3
20 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 3 Success = shiny #4
Try 1
505 max repels to start
1/2 hour = 503 left got shiny eevee #4 Gentle in only 6 minutes but it broke the chain 500 max repels left. This time stalking early paid off.
30 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 4 Success = shiny #5
Try 2
500 max repels to start
1/2 hour = 470 left
2nd 1/2 hour = 454 left
3rd 1/2 hour = 429 left
4th 1/2 hour = 404 left decided to run chain up yo 30
5th = right after start got shiny eevve #5 on 31 397 max repels chain broke on 36
In only a 1/2 hour I got shiny eevee #4, and after only 2 max repels.
Chained up to 30 but it took just over 2 more hours (124 minutes) for shiny eevee #5 and 103 max repels.
DAY 4
30 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 5 Fail
Try 1
500 max repels to start – used 3 to get to chain 30 – 497 left
1/2 hour = thumb spaz at end of half hour breaks it
Surprised by shiny staravia chain 0
30 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 6 Success = shiny#6, #7, #8
Try 2
700 max repels to start
1/2 hour = 678 left
2nd 1/2 hour (45 minutes) = shiny eevee #6 after only 2 more max repels chain continues, shiny eevee #7 at end of half hour (58 minutes) 660 max repels left chain continues
3rd 1/2 hour = 641 max repels left
4th half hour = 620 left tile went off under my feet chain now 33 continues
5th half hour = 595
6th half hour = 573
7th half hour = 549
8th half hour = after a few minutes shiny eevee #8 chain continues 539 left at end tile under feet goes off chain is now 35 and continues
9th half hour = 517 max repels left
10th half hour 493 left
11th half hour 467 left – chain breaks didn’t see tile clearly next to /under me
Lesson: Most of my breaks happen with tiles under my feet or next to me that I have trouble seeing. If you also have this happen, try chaining when there are no clouds or visibility issues whenever possible. I find the hours before dark and sunrise are usually good, with afternoon the most challenging.
So shiny eevee #6 was after @ 45 minutes and 14 max repels, shiny eevee #7 was at the end of the hour, then just after 4 hours for shiny eevee #8 and by then I used 171 max repels.
DAY 5
TRY 1
30 streak stalk – eevee trophy garden TEST 7 Success shiny eevee #9
535 max repels to start
shiny eevee #9 after 45 minutes chain 31 490 repels chain continues but broke on 35
My secondary goal of getting 9 shiny Eevee is done, so I’ll switch to Porygon for a change.
TRY 2 – Put Porygon in the garden
20 streak stalk – porygon trophy garden TEST 8 Fail no shiny after 3 hours
486 max repels to start
1/2 hour = 459 left
2nd 1/2 hour = 432 left
3rd 1/2 hour = 407 left
4th 1/2 hour = 382 tile under foot went off chain is 21 and continues
5th half hour = 355
6th half hour = 325 tile under foot went off chain is 22 and continued
ran up the chain to 34 (trying for 40) but then it broke.
DAY 6 trying for 40 – porygon or eevee Test 9 Success Porygon#1
Try 1-4
broke 2 chains up to 37 on porygon
broke 2 eevee chains up to 31
TRY 5 Caught shiny porygon on chain 39 in a hour. Chain broke. Used 18 max repels to 39.
DAY 7 trying for 40 – porygon Test 10 Success Porygon#2, #3
TRY 1
701 max repels to start –
chained porygon to 40 finally (67 minutes) – have 697 max repels left
shiny patch right away chain for 41, then chain 42 is a back to back shiny – chain continues
688 max repels left – trying to move off a tile under my feet i broke the chain after just a few minutes.
Lesson: we must walk off that type tile in the direction we are facing, so if we are not facing the correct way already OR we’re next to multiple adjacent shakers, then there is a high chance of the chain breaking.
Also on this day, got shiny eevee #10 on chain 8, and a shiny Roselia on chain 0. Yes, zero
Shiney
