Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny Locked Pokemon – Who Can’t Be Shiny?

For those who have been cracking into Pokemon Sword and Shield, you might be running through the game and trying to complete your collection of adorable monsters. What better way to truly show off your collector’s status than to pick up a bunch of Shiny Pokemon?

The good news is that pretty much every Pokemon can be shiny this generation aside from a few key exceptions. Here’s a list of the Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny locked Pokemon which can’t earn that cool aesthetic blessing.

Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny Locked Pokemon – Who Can’t Be Shiny?

As we’ve said, pretty much any addition in Sword and Shield can be Shiny apart from a few notable exceptions. We’ve listed them out below for your reference so that there’s no ambiguity:

• Starter Pokemon
• Zacian, Zamazenta, Eternatus
• NPC trades
• Wild Area Pokemon that can’t be caught

In terms of the Starter Pokemon, we mean that you can’t encounter Shiny versions of them. You’re very welcome to breed your own later, but there’s no other way to get a Shiny Sobble, Grookey, or a Scorbunny.

This honestly isn’t surprising, but with some rumors of people having Shiny starters off the bat floating around, we thought it best to clear up any misconceptions. With that being said, obviously the logic doesn’t apply to the likes of Zacian, Zamazenta and Eternatus so it’s going to be a hard No on that front, unfortunately.

Getting Shinies from in-game trades would have been a hell of a thing to gamble on, but as often as Sword and Shield turned the regular Game Freak formula on its head, that’s probably one step too far.

Now that you know the specific Pokemon Sword and Shield Shiny locked Pokemon, you can ensure that you don’t get your hopes up or spend ages trying to restart the game in the hopes of getting a Shiny Sobble. If you need a hand with anything else in the latest Pokemon games, why don’t you check out some guides that we’ve put together?

• How to get Mew in Pokemon Sword and Shield 
• Pokemon Sword and Shield Curry Guide: Berry Tips, Rankings 
• Pokemon Sword and Shield Curry Recipes