Can Rockruff be shiny in Pokemon GO? (October 2022)

As Pokemon GO's Season of Light continues, trainers have likely had opportunities to encounter the Alolan Pokemon Rockruff. The Rock-type creature possesses two intriguing evolutions based on the time of day, but some players have questions about another aspect of Rockruff. Specifically, is there a shiny form available for capture?

Though the current Halloween event likely won't have players encountering Rockruff often, it does possess an available shiny form in Pokemon GO. The variant was introduced with the Pokemon itself on March 1, 2022 during the Welcome to Alola event. Though difficult depending on the state of the event calendar, it's still entirely possible for trainers to obtain a Shiny Rockruff.

As the event schedule continues, trainers participating in Pokemon GO's Season of Light will need to focus on specific methods to get shiny Rockruff.

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How to obtain Shiny Rockruff in Pokemon GO

Rockruff's shiny form takes on a blue coloration in Pokemon GO (Image via Niantic)

In Pokemon GO, trainers can encounter Shiny Rockruff in Raid Battles, as a PvP reward on occasion, and by hatching it from an egg. At present, arguably the best way to obtain a shiny Rockruff would be through hatching of 10km eggs, which can be received by spinning Pokestop discs. These possess purple spots to denote the required distance that needs to be traveled before hatching.

Currently, Rockruff is not listed as a Raid Boss, likely due to many Ghost-types inhabiting raids because of the Halloween festivities. Furthermore, Rockruff hasn't re-appeared as a PvP Battle League reward since the Interlude Season between Seasons 10 and 11 of GO Battle League. This leaves hatching shiny Rockruff as the best bet until it re-emerges as a Raid Boss or PvP reward.

Hatching a Shiny Rockruff in Pokemon GO

1. Head out to your nearby Pokestops and spin their photo discs. Doing so won't guarantee a 10km egg, so you may need to spin stops multiple times to acquire the necessary egg. According to metrics provided by The Silph Road, 10km eggs appear roughly 20.6% of the time after a Pokestop or gym disc is spun.
2. Once you've received a 10km egg, place it in an Incubator of any type. Blue and Super variants will cut down on the travel distance needed to hatch the egg.
3. Travel the necessary distance to hatch your egg in-game. This can be done while traveling with the app open or by using the Adventure Sync feature to keep track of your movements outside of the app. You can check the remaining distance you need to cover by opening up the Eggs tab via the Pokemon roster menu.
4. After reaching the necessary distance, the egg will hatch. However, it isn't guaranteed that it will contain a Rockruff, and even less likely that the Pokemon will hatch in its shiny form. According to The Silph Road, it has a 16.5% chance to hatch from a 10km egg. Additionally, Rockruff has a roughly 1.56% chance of hatching as a shiny.

Given this data, Pokemon GO trainers will need to hatch as many 10km eggs as possible in order to maximize their chances to obtain shiny Rockruff. It won't be easy, and players will have to travel plenty of distance, but determined trainers may just get lucky.

Alternatively, if Rockruff re-appears as a Raid Boss, be sure to battle and defeat it as much as possible. Future PvP seasons may also bring it back as a capture reward for defeating opponents once you've reached a certain rank.

These possibilities have yet to be confirmed by Niantic, but Pokemon GO's content is always shifting. It may only be a matter of time before Rockruff returns to prominence.