Shine bright like a diamond
One of the most sought-after features in the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet games are shiny Pokémon. These unique and highly elusive versions of the normal Generation 9 Pokémon change up their colors significantly. One of the best ways to acquire them is through the use of the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Sparkling Power sandwich recipes.
How Sparkling Power and sandwiches work in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Sparkling Power is one of the many buffs you can get through the new picnic system in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. During picnic sequences, players can make sandwiches using various ingredients to eat with their Pokémon.
Depending on the ingredients used in the sandwiches, it can boost the type of Pokémon players encounter, the size of them, and even if they are more likely to have shiny forms. That last bit is what Sparkling Power does.
There are three possible levels of Sparkling Power, each further increasing the the chances of encountering a shiny Pokémon. Here are the odds for each level, excluding additional assistance like the Shiny Charm:
- Sparkling Power Lv. 1: 1/2048 chances of encountering a shiny
- Sparkling Power Lv. 2: 1/1365 chances
- Sparkling Power Lv. 3: 1/1024
As you can see, the optimal solution would be to make the Sparkling Power Lv. 3 sandwiches. These offer the best possible chance of finding a shiny Pokémon using this method without any additional help.
Best Scarlet & Violet Sparkling Power sandwich recipes
There are a few different Sparkling Power sandwich recipes in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. It generally depends on which shiny Pokémon type you wish to find in the wild. Unfortunately, there isn’t a catch-all recipe that will grant you shiny Pokémon for every typing all at once.
Instead, if you want a particular Pokémon like a shiny Charcadet, for instance, you’ll want to use a Fire Pokémon-based recipe. Thankfully, you can at least use the same base formula for sandwiches and change one or two ingredients depending on the typing you want.
Here’s the base Sparkling Power Lv. 3 shiny sandwich recipe, courtesy of Silent Destroyer on Twitter:
- 1 cucumber
- 1 pickle
- 3 of the same typing ingredients
- 2 Herba Mystica items
Now, there are a few things to note about this recipe. First off, the trio of ingredients for the third requirement will change depending on the typing you want.
Here are all of the recommended selections for all 18 typings in the game:
- Normal types: 3 tofu
- Fire: 3 red peppers
- Water: 3 cucumbers
- Electric: 3 yellow peppers
- Grass: 3 lettuces
- Ice: 3 Klawf sticks
- Fighting: 3 pickles
- Poison: 3 green peppers
- Ground: 3 ham
- Flying: 3 prosciutto
- Psychic: 3 onions
- Bug: 3 cherry tomatoes
- Rock: 3 bacon slices
- Ghost: 3 red onions
- Dragon: 3 avocado slices
- Dark: 3 smoked fillets
- Steel: 3 hamburgers
- Fairy: 3 tomatoes
Herba Mystica problem, explained
The other problem with making the shiny sandwiches is the Herba Mystica items. You need two of them each time you use this recipe to hunt for shiny Pokémon. That said, there are five of them as follows: bitter, spicy, sweet, salty, and sour.
The problem is that some Pokémon typings don’t mix well with certain Herba Mystica. In general, if you want to have no problem whatsoever with your recipes, avoid mixing these two Herba Mystica ingredients together:
- Never mix together a sweet and sour Herba Mystica
- Never use two sweet herbs if you are hunting for these typings: Dragon, Fairy, Fighting, Bug, Water, and Normal
- Be sure not to use two sour herbs if you are hunting for these typings: Dragon, Fairy, Ghost, Bug, Ice, and Normal
In these situations, you might think you are better off avoiding sour and sweet herbs in general, which is true. However, acquiring these Herba Mystica ingredients are easier said than done, so that may not always be an option.
Where to get Herba Mystica
The issue with Herba Mystica is that they are only available in 5-star and 6-star Tera Raid Battles. These are among the most challenging raid battles you’ll find in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Unfortunately, you don’t have access to them until you progress far enough in the games, either.
For the 5-star battles, you’ll need to complete the main story for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. If you want access to the more challenging 6-star battles, you’ll need to also complete the postgame storyline.
Complete either of these types of raid battles and you will have the chance of obtaining Herba Mystica. Unfortunately, this isn’t guaranteed each time you do complete them. There is only a slim chance of them being rewards for these battles.
Anyone who wishes to use the Sparkling Power shiny sandwich recipes method should be prepared to grind these raid battles repeatedly for as many Herba Mystica as possible. Because of this, I recommend finding a group of friends to run them as quick as possible with to make the situation easier.
