Pokemon Sun and Moon has been out for a few months now, giving experienced trainers more than enough time to begin sifting through the post-game. However, a lot of the post-game requires your Pokemon to be in tip-top shape, which means breeding, EV training and of course, having a lot of in-game money. If you’re still dragging your heels on paying for the newly updated Pokemon Bank, you should have plenty of time on your hands to get your Alolan team in fighting shape.

Fortunately, we’re here to help grease the wheels with some tips on how to speed up the breeding process, how to get a lot of money quickly and how to do EV training smarter (not harder), as well as a few different ways you can catch those elusive shiny Pokémon. We’re sure you’re raring to go, so let’s jump right in.

How to hatch your eggs faster

Whether you’re trying to open up the IV Judge in the Battle Tree, trying to breed a Pokémon with a good nature for competitive battling or just breeding lots of your starter Pokémon so you can make someone’s day through Wonder Trading, you’re going to be spending a lot of time with an egg in your party. But what if we told you that there was a way to speed up that egg hatching process?

To do so, find a Pokemon with the Flame Body or Magma Armor ability. We recommend catching a Magby or a Magmar in Wela Volcano Park for the easiest access, though you could also evolve a Fletchinder from the Fletchlings you can catch in the park as well. In addition to their in-combat effects, having a Pokemon with one of these two abilities in your party will halve the amount of cycles it takes to hatch an egg.

Once you’ve got an egg and a Pokemon with one of those two abilities in your party, IGN reports that you can also use the Tauros Charge ride Pokemon to quickly hatch an egg in your party, by utilizing the ride Pokemon’s charge ability on a long straightaway. They recommend using either Route 6 or Heahea City on Akala Island, but you can also run around in circles outside the Pokemon Nursery.









Maximize your chances of breeding a shiny Pokemon

Look, we get it, you’ve got a sickness in your heart that only shiny Pokemon can cure. However, it’s really difficult to get those elusive off-color critters. Luckily for you, Junichi Masuda, GameFreak’s director, has made it easier to breed shiny Pokemon provided you have Pokemon from two different localizations of the game.

Because of how the game is programmed, having two Pokemon of differing regions (for example, North America and Japan) your odds of the resulting Pokemon being shiny are about 1/683. That’s the same as if you’d reached a chain of 70 in SOS Battles while using the Shiny Charm (detailed below). This is known as the Masuda method, or “international marriage” in Japanese.

The easiest way to check what region your Pokemon are from is to look in the upper right hand corner of your top screen when checking them in your box. Pokemon from a different region will have a tag there indicating what region they’re from (JPN for Japan, GER for Germany, SPA for Spain, etc).

Yes, the black and white polka dots on Shiny Decidueye are awesome, but bear in mind that a 1-in-683 chance is still VERY slim, even using the Masuda method. Source: Imgur

Since Ditto can breed with any Pokemon (please don’t think too hard about the logistics of that), your best bet would be to get a foreign Ditto and breed to your heart’s content. Fair warning, though: Unless you’ve got friends across the world or are comfortable coordinating with someone over the internet, you’ll be stuck Wonder Trading to make it happen. But for shiny Pokemon, no task is too great.

Pokemon Sun and Moon Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks: Get more money by finding the Amulet Coin

If you’re like us, money wasn’t really much of an issue in Pokemon Sun and Moon once you found a haircut you liked and dressed your trainer like a total nerd (not hard to do considering a headwear option is a Trilby Hat). However, if you’re all about making those fat stacks of Pokemon Dollars, IGN has some tips. You can find an item called the Amulet Coin behind a red truck in the Paniola Ranch next to the Pokemon Nursery. It’s a held item that doubles the amount of money you get from trainer battles, provided the Pokemon holding it participates in the battle.

The limited edition Munchlax on his way to help you shake down your elders for their pocket money. Source: Pokémon

For an extra boost, you can also use Mystery Gift Munchlax’s move Happy Hour to double your prize earnings for a net multiplier of four times. IGN suggests using this against Madam and Gentlemen-type trainers, who will shell out a whopping 12,000 Pokédollars per fight if you use both.

The new SOS Battle mechanic is your friend

Although we recently covered the basics of EVs in our late game team builder guide, there was one aspect of it that we didn’t go into. You can supercharge your Pokemon’s EV growth by exploiting the newly introduced SOS Battle system.

Remember how after you beat Captain Ilima’s trial on Melemele Island, even wild Pokemon began calling for help in battles? Remember how it makes catching a weakened Pokemon a total pain in the behind and can drag out fights for an eternity when you’re a little under-leveled? Yeah, they’re not fun, but there’s a silver lining. According to Bulbapedia, as you allow a Pokemon to summon more and more allies in battle, they’ll have a higher chance of calling in Pokemon with hidden abilities and perfect IVs. Once you’ve had a chain of 70, you’ll even maximize the chance to find a shiny Pokemon.

If you’re on the hunt for some apex (or shiny) Pokemon, expect to build some pretty ridiculous SOS chains. It’ll be time-consuming, but with a chance to get Pokemon with four perfect IVs? Hachi machi! Source: Bulbapedia

Additionally, the EVs received from a KO-ed Pokemon who’s called for help are doubled, and this effect stacks with the EV-enhancing items you can buy from the Battle Royale Dome. These items will give you an additional eight EVs when you knock out a Pokemon. So, when combined with the doubling effect of SOS Battles, it will give you a whopping 18 EVs per KO (assuming you’re using, say, the strength EV-enhancing item in battle with a Pokemon that already gives a strength EV). That means that instead of needing to KO 252 of that Pokemon, you’ll only need to KO 14, which is much more doable. To maximize your chances of getting SOS Pokemon, use an Adrenaline Orb in battle, which you can buy from any PokeMart for 300 Pokemon Dollars.

How to get a shiny starters

Okay, okay. We all know why you’re still here. Yes, you can get a shiny starter, it’s true. And who wouldn’t want to explore Alola with a shiny Popplio, Litten or Rowlet? Just remember the base odds of getting a shiny Pokemon is 1-in-4,096 and this method will take you around 3.5 minutes each time you soft reset. The embedded video explains how to do the whole process, and we’ll give you paraphrased version below that.

Save your game after Tapu Koko rescues you and Nebby from the collapsing bridge at the start of the game. It’s imperative that you save the game before heading back into town since it’s your last chance before receiving your starter. After saving, talk to Lillie, who will take you back to Iki Town. You’ll have to sit through the whole cutscene and pick your starter, but note that you won’t be able to see whether your starter is shiny while you’re on the platform. Once you choose your starter and it chooses you, you’ll be taken to the nickname screen where you’ll finally be able to check whether your starter is shiny or not. If not, reload your save and try again.

Frankly, we can’t say we recommend doing this based on sheer person-hours it might take. But shiny Decidueye also has black and white polka dot wings so… do what you have to do.