Numel cannot appear shiny in Pokemon GO

With Pokemon GO's Lunar New Year event bringing a massive boost to the spawn rates of Fire-type Pokemon, many players are taking this chance to get their hands on some rare variants of their favourite Fire-types. Numel, the Numb Pokemon, has been a topic of interest among shiny hunters since its surprising lack of a shiny variant on its spotlight hour back in 2020.

Since then, players have always wondered if the Fire and Ground-type has received its shiny variant. The concept of Shiny Pokemon has been around since the second generation, but the term "Shiny Pokemon" did not become the official term until the fifth generation.

Before then, these types of Pokemon were known as "Shining Pokemon" in the trading card game. In the other forms of media, Shiny Pokemon were only referred to as "Pokemon of a different colour", such as Ash's Noctowl in the anime and the red Gyarados in Johto's Lake of Rage.

Players may see the Lunar New Year event as the most suitable time to hunt for a shiny Numel, with the theme typically revolving around Fire-type Pokemon. This year is no exception as various other Fire-type Pokemon like Slugma and Litleo have been prominent appearances in this event.

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Shiny Numel in Pokemon GO is yet to be released

Unfortunately, Numel and Camerupt cannot appear in their shiny variants in Pokemon GO. While this has been the case for a long time, various sources may lead players to believe otherwise.

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

While Numel and Camerupt cannot appear shiny themselves, there are still many Fire-type shiny Pokemon players can catch in the Lunar New Year event, such as the latest drop, shiny Litleo.

Using items that increase the general spawn rate of every Pokemon is an excellent way to cut down on shiny hunting time in Pokemon GO. Items like Lures and Incenses work by simply increasing general spawn rates.

Lures increase spawn rates around the Pokestops they are attached to, while Incenses increase the spawn rate of Pokemon around the player. These items can be bought from the store or received from gifts and spinning photo discs at Pokestops.

There are other ways to cut down on time significantly it takes to find a shiny Pokemon. The hidden nest mechanic in Pokemon GO is a great way to pinpoint the best possible place to hunt for Shiny Pokemon.

There is no way to check this in-game, but luckily Silph Road has developed an atlas of possible nesting locations that can be filtered depending on which Pokemon the player is looking for. This atlas can be found here.

While it is unfortunate for shiny hunters that Numel cannot be found in Pokemon GO, a vast catalog of Shiny Pokemon players can still catch. By combining both spawn rate increasing items and taking the time to visit one of the various nesting locations, players can greatly reduce the time it takes to find a shiny Pokemon.