A Guide To Chaining - XY Version

Storm Eagle

Banned deucer.
Hello there, Storm_Eagle coming in, for a guide to chaining. This will be my very first guide, so I will try to put as much information as I can on this, and will do my best! Please post constructive criticism, and help me flush out any errors I might have. Also ask questions, too! It'll add to my FAQ!

I. FAQ
II. Chain Fishing
II-A. Chain Fishing Prerequisites
II-B. Chain Fishing Guide
III. PokeRadar Chaining
III-A. PokeRadar Chaining Prerequisites
III-B1. PokeRadar Chaining Guide
III-B2. Changes from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
IV. Credits

Every section will be separated by (---) and will start with a Bullet.

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  • I. FAQ
Q. What is chaining?
A. Chaining is the process of encountering multiple wild pokemon in a row.
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Q. Why is chaining useful?
A. Chaining can help EV train pokemon, help you catch multiple pokemon for natures (example: synchronize leader), or the most notable, can help you catch the elusive Shiny Pokemon.
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Q. Where can I chain?
A. In tall grass (not the Friend Safari), or in bodies of water.
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Q. How long does it usually take to chain?
A. Approximately 1-3 hours.
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Q. Is it possible to chain in a cave, or in the Friend Safari?
A. No.

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  • II. Chain Fishing
Chain Fishing consists of fishing multiple times in a row, getting as many bites as you can. Press A at the second you see a "!" mark above your character's head! Hook as many Pokemon as you can! The chain can break in two ways: You will either get your timing wrong, and you will pull your hook out too fast (Pokemon never got to bite), or pull it out too slow (Pokemon bit, and got away). This is the more simple way to chain. If you're shiny hunting, you won't know when you're going to get the shiny.

  • II-A. Chain Fishing Prerequisites
This is what you need, in order to start chain fishing:
  1. An Old, Good, or Super Rod. Links to where you get the rods shown below.
  2. A Pokemon with Surf.
  3. Have to have beaten Gym Leader Korrina, and gotten the Rumble Badge (Mega Ring not required).
  4. A Pokemon with Suction Cups or Sticky Hold. Pokemon MUST be in front of party. Links to where you get these Pokemon shown below.
  5. Smoke Ball is recommended if your Sticky Hold/Suction Cups Pokemon are low level. Found at the Lost Hotel. If you don't want to get the Smoke Ball, you can alternatively just make the Sticky Hold/Suction Cups lead faint.
  6. Synchronize Pokemon, if you want to use the Pokemon that you caught competitively (not recommended, since your shiny will be random).
  7. High amount of Poke Balls.
Links: http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/oldrod.shtml
http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/goodrod.shtml
http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/superrod.shtml
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sticky_Hold_(Ability)
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Suction_Cups_(Ability)

If you're hunting for shinies, use Inkay/Malamar. They get Hypnosis.

  • II-B. Chain Fishing Guide
Like I said before, Chain Fishing is incredibly simple. You MUST be surfing, in order to chain fish. You cannot move during the chain fishing process or your chain is broke. You have a higher chance (even higher with Suction Cups/Sticky Hold) of hooking a Pokemon (chance is around 99.5%) when near a narrow strip of water. Usually a narrow strip of water, in my definition, is a dead-end spot, surrounded with rocks, land, etc., and if you go the opposite way, the water strip expands, unless it's a river (Route 21 river is a perfect example). You can also get this benefit in lakes, if you fish at the corner of lakes. Oceans also have this benefit too, if you can find a spot like above. The most notable ocean fishing spot would be Ambrette Town/Route 8.

So once you start chaining, you just press A right when the "!" appears (you'll also get a sound notification), and if you did it correctly, a battle will start. Run away from the Pokemon. Repeat these steps until you get a shiny, or, have achieved your other goal.

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  • III. PokeRadar Chaining
Unlike Chain Fishing, this was around in Gen IV (not HGSS). This is also the more difficult, but more rewarding type of chaining. In this type of chaining, you can more quickly EV train, and you can tell if what you're encountering will be Shiny or not. This type of chaining is less randomized, therefore you can only chain one Pokemon, and potentially get a Shiny form of that Pokemon. This form of chaining can also be done in Yellow and Purple Flowers, as well.

  • III-A. PokeRadar Chaining Prerequisites
What you need, in order to start PokeRadar Chaining:
  1. Must have beaten the Champion.
  2. Synchronize leader highly recommended. MUST BE FAINTED IN FRONT OF PARTY.
  3. High amount of Poke Balls.
  4. High level Pokemon, with moves that can OHKO the chaining target at least 40 times. You need 40 PP worth of damaging moves, that can OHKO the target. Put it right behind the fainted Synchronize leader.
  5. The PokeRadar, which after beating the Champion, can be found at Professor Sycamore's Lab, by one of his assistants.
  6. Patience and time.
  7. A quiet place to chain is recommended. Being distracted can more easily break your PokeRadar Chain, than a Fishing Chain.
  8. Pokemon with Hypnosis/Spore is recommended (Hypnosis, if the chain target is Grass Type).
  9. THE VOLUME MUST BE ON.
  10. LOTS OF MONEY.
  11. LOTS OF REPELS (around 300 will be enough).
  • III-B1. PokeRadar Chaining Guide
If you're a beginner, or don't want to waste a lot of time, try chaining at the Pokemon Village or Route 5. A place with unusually large patches of grass will be extremely helpful in chaining. Make sure that the ONLY selected (the only key item selectable by pressing Y) is the PokeRadar. A few patches of grass/flowers will shake. Go to any of them, if this is right after you just started a chain. If you find your target Pokemon, then keep reading, if you haven't, then walk 50 steps, and repeat until you do.

Now, defeat the target Pokemon. The battle will end, and you will see more patches of grass shake. NEVER RUN FROM THE POKEMON, UNLESS YOUR CHAIN IS BROKE (explained below).

You'll see different patches, and hear different noises, with every reset. These patches are explained below:

  1. Silent and barely noticeably shaking patches will always break your chain. If you run into these, a message pops up, saying "There doesn't seem to be any Pokemon here...", and your chain is broke. Commonly known as Decoy Patches.
  2. Slightly quiet, and patches that shake a little bit will usually break your chain. A Pokemon other than the target will appear, and the chain is broken.
  3. Medium patches, with average noise and shake, will have a 50/50 chance of keeping and breaking your chain.
  4. Loud patches that shake a lot (and very fast!) will have a 90/10 chance of keeping and breaking your chain.
  5. Very loud patches that violently shake will usually have a 99-100% chance of keeping your chain.
  6. Sparkly patches that have a distinct "PING" noise will ALWAYS KEEP YOUR CHAIN, AND HAVE A SHINY POKEMON IN THEM!!!! GO TO THESE!!!
Medium patches are the most common, and silent (Decoy)/very loud patches are the rarest (technically the Shiny Patches are the rarest, but I'm just saying).

What also matters is the distance. The patches explained above are equivalent to a distance of FOUR patches away from you.

hwzlVdE.png


Blue is the character.
Red are the patches that you should avoid at all costs; these have a very high chance (approximately 50% chance) of breaking your chain.
Yellow patches are usually okay, but have a slightly higher (like 5% chance) chance of breaking your chain than Green patches.
Green patches are patches that have the normal chance, explained above with the patch shaking, of breaking and continuing your chain. Enter these patches before the Red and Yellow ones. All patches further and further away are Green. Patches of grass usually shake no more than 5 rows or columns away from you.

In a sense, try to enter patches 4 or more rows or columns away from you. The most common misconception is to enter patches 4 or more patches away from you (for example, 2 up, and 2 right, would end up in the red!).

So, to recap, the patches with the highest chance of keeping your chain would be a very loud, violently shaking patch, 4 or more rows or columns away from you. As another recap, to tell if your chain is broke, you have to confirm this:
  1. The music of the chaining ended.
  2. A pokemon which isn't your target appeared.
Also, avoid straying too far away from the chaining site (make sure that the patches that shook do NOT exit the screen) or your chain will break.
Once you get to the 40th chain, STOP entering patches, and walk 50 steps, reset, repeat these steps until you find a Shiny Patch. Congratulations on your first shiny via PokeRadar! Or congratulations on achieving your other goals.

Side note: Chaining Flabebe will chain different flowers, depending on the patch.

  • III-B2. Changes from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Okay, there are a number of changes from the earlier version of the PokeRadar.
  1. Adjacent patches (2 patches right next to each other) will not raise the chance of breaking your chain anymore (confirmed).
  2. Edge patches (patches near the edge of the entire grass field) will no longer raise the chance of breaking your chain (confirmed, however, there is a 1% chance that patches may not shake at all, therefore breaking the chain).
  3. You don't need to match the initial patch of grass that started the entire chain anymore (confirmed).
  4. Only one shiny pokemon per chain (unconfirmed; still testing).
  5. Decoy Patches are added (explained above).
  6. When starting a chain, the louder and more violently a patch shakes means that the patch will have a rare Pokemon from that route, and vice versa. (confirmed)
  7. Pokemon caught at chains 1-19 are normal. Pokemon caught at chains 20-39 are guaranteed 1IV. Pokemon caught at chains 40-59 are guaranteed 2IV. Pokemon caught at chains 60 and above are guaranteed 3IV. (confirmed)
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  • IV. Credits
Thanks to Theorymon for recommending me to post here.
Thanks to Bulbapedia for supplying the links to help my guide.
Thanks to Serebii for supplying the links to help my guide.
 
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Storm Eagle was last seen:

Jul 11, 2015
Damn, his activity is dead.

So I'm assuming, this is incomplete.
 
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"You MUST be surfing, in order to chain fish". Is that true? I could swear I got a shiny Staryu by fishing while standing next to water.
 
anto said:
vzxt was working on this last time I heard, any progress?
Click to expand...
I'm working on DexNav chianing which is a different feature exclusive to ORAS... Now that I see this some principles of the chaining are the same and might use this as inspiration since I have covered almost everything in my guide except for the chaining mechanics.

Took a break from writing due to the holidays will resume next week.
 
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