Can Bellsprout be shiny in Pokemon GO?

The next rotation of Pokemon GO's weekly Spotlight Hour is almost here. This week, players can anticipate encountering Bellsprout, one of the franchise's original Grass-types. Bellsprout holds nostalgic value for fans since it is one of the earliest Pokemon introduced and also because it is associated with James from Team Rocket.

With any new Spotlight Hour event that comes to the mobile game, there are bound to be many trainers who participate with the intention of filling out their Pokedex or collecting mass amounts of Bellsprout candies. However, there is a certain segment of trainers who aim to get their hands on something a bit more hard to come by.

Shiny Pokemon are some of Pokemon GO's most valuable variants. Because of this, a lot of players aim to take full advantage of these spawn rate-boosting events to try and get their hands on a few shinies. However, Niantic is notoriously picky when it comes to the creatures that can be found in these forms.

Thankfully, it has been confirmed that players will be able to find Bellsprout in its shiny variant in Pokemon GO during the upcoming Spotlight Hour event. As such, players should prepare for the hunt if they intend to find one.

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Tips for finding Shiny Bellsprout in Pokemon GO

Bellsprout as it appears in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Despite what some players may think, Spotlight Hours do not increase the likelihood of a Shiny Pokemon spawning. Despite this, the best time to hunt for a Shiny Bellsprout would still be during the upcoming event. The sheer amount of Bellsprout that will spawn in the given hour will give you more chances of finding a Shiny Bellsprout, thus indirectly increasing its spawn rate by decreasing the time it would take for one to hypothetically spawn.

To summarize this point, the best way to find a Shiny Bellsprout would be to flood the general spawn rate of an area to spawn as many Bellsprout as possible. Thankfully, this is incredibly easy to do in Pokemon GO. The weather is one of the factors affecting spawn rate, and Bellsprout has a higher chance of spawning in areas experiencing sunny and cloudy weather conditions.

Once you find an optimal area to hunt in, the next step is to use Lure Modules in as many Pokestop locations as you can find. These items attach themselves to Pokestops to increase the general spawn rate around these areas. They can be purchased from the shop or found by spinning photo disks.

Finally, you will need to activate an Incense. These items work very similarly to Lure Modules in the sense that they attach to a point to increase the spawn rate around the said point. However, unlike Lure Modules, rather than being attached to a location, they attach to your avatar and increase the general spawn rate around you for as long as they remain active.

As such, the best way to shiny hunt for a Bellsprout in Pokemon GO is to set up a patrol route in an area experiencing optimal weather conditions. Although it may not be the most fun way to play Pokemon GO, it is the optimal way to shiny hunt in the mobile game.