Top 5 rarest shinies in Pokemon GO in 2021

Given all of the limited events and raids in Pokemon GO, there are loads of shiny Pokemon that become unbelievably rare.

Shiny hunting is a different beast in Pokemon GO compared to the main series games. While searching for shiny Pokemon on a console can take much time and effort, it requires much walking on top of that in Pokemon GO.

Trainers also have to be very aware of what events are occurring and at what times. Things like Spotlight Hours only offer 60 min to look for shinies. If any trainers have these five Pokemon, they are indeed quite fortunate.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.

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Which shiny Pokemon were the most difficult to hunt for?

#5 - Alolan Vulpix

Image via The Pokemon Company

On the third anniversary of Pokemon GO, Niantic gave trainers a present in the form of some Alolan forms being released. Shiny hunting for these forms was a task not fit for the faint of heart, though.

Players had to get 7KM eggs, walk until they hatched, and hope that it would spawn a shiny Alolan Vulpix. Fortunately for them, this Pokemon was released back into the wild after a while.

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#4 - Alolan Marowak

Image via Niantic

In the main series games (Sun and Moon in particular), Alolan Marowak is rather easy to get. Simply catch Cubone, and raise it to level 28 at night. This mechanic isn’t present in Pokemon GO, though. The only way for trainers to catch Alolan Marowak is through raids. Shiny hunters would have to hope that a month comes along where this Pokemon is a raid boss, and then keep battling them until they found a shiny.

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#3 - Detective Pikachu

There are two reasons why this Pokemon is extremely rare. The first is that it was only from a limited event, that event of course, being the release of the Detective Pikachu film. The second reason is that catching Detective Pikachu was done the same way Smeargle was caught.

This means that players would have to take pictures in AR+ mode with their phone to get a chase of Detective Pikachu photobombing the picture. After this is done, it will spawn in the wild to catch. Trainers who really wanted a shot at catching Detective Pikachu might have to hope for a sequel.

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#2 - Clefairy

Image via The Pokemon Company

During one of the Pokemon GO fests, this shiny was accidentally released. Niantic didn’t want Clefairy to be shiny at the time. This, however, didn’t stop dedicated shiny hunters from going after this rarity the moment they found out it was available. There is no telling when this Pokemon will be shiny again. So, as of now, trainers with this shiny have the only ones in existence.

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#1 - Abra

The chances of catching this shiny are cosmically low. First of all, this Pokemon was released accidentally, just like Clefairy was. On top of that, even if a trainer was fortunate enough to come across a shiny Abra, they still have to be lucky enough to catch it.

Similar to the main series games, Abra teleports away soon after it starts to battle. This means that trainers usually have one opportunity to toss a PokeBall and pray for success. There were likely trainers who got shiny Abra encounters but didn’t get the RNG to successfully catch it.