Shiny Alolan Grimer in Sun and Moon Is Purple

Shiny Alolan Grimer is purple. A normal Alolan Grimer is green. Both keep the yellow lower lip that drips down the front, and a shiny one sparkles as it enters the battle. It isn't shiny-locked, and it's in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The best place to hunt one is the Outer Cape grass by the Recycling Plant in Malie City, where Grimer is 30% of encounters (Lv. 24–27 in Sun and Moon, Lv. 25–28 in the Ultra games). Use an SOS chain: from the 31st ally that answers, each new Grimer is shiny at about 1 in 315, or 1 in 273 with the Shiny Charm.

This page covers Pokémon Sun and Moon on Nintendo 3DS and 2DS, with a section for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Alolan Grimer isn't a version exclusive. Pokémon GO uses the same purple shiny, but nothing below is about GO.

Is the purple one shiny?

If it's an Alolan Grimer, yes. Compared side by side:

The mix-up is easy to make because the two forms have their colors the other way round. Kantonian Grimer is normally purple and green when shiny. Alolan Grimer is normally green and purple when shiny. The quick tell is the mouth: only the Alolan form has the bright yellow lower lip that drips down its front, and it stays yellow on the shiny. The pale, tooth-like crystals inside the mouth are also only on the Alolan form. The shiny's tongue turns grey instead of blue.

In Sun and Moon you can't run into a Kantonian Grimer in the grass. Every wild Grimer in Alola is the Alolan form, so a purple Grimer in a wild battle is a shiny. The sparkle when it appears and the red star on its summary screen confirm it.

Where to hunt it: Malie City Outer Cape

From Malie City on Ula'ula Island, take the road north past the library toward the Recycling Plant. The Outer Cape has three patches of tall grass, all using the same encounter table, and Grimer is 30% of each one. Nothing blocks the cape, so the hunt opens as soon as you first reach Malie City.

These rates are the same in Sun and Moon, day and night. Malie Garden, the park with the pagoda next door, has no Grimer at all, so don't hunt there. The other Route 1 grass outside the school has no Grimer either.

When an Alolan Grimer calls for help, the ally is always another Alolan Grimer. That's what makes it a clean chain: every ally is a fresh chance at a shiny Grimer. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Minccino replaces Gumshoos and Alolan Raticate, and the Grimer rate is still 30%.

Trainers' School or Malie?

Both work. The Trainers' School grass on Route 1 has Grimer at 20%, Lv. 6–8. Those Grimer don't know Minimize or Fling yet, which avoids two of the problems below, but they're easy to knock out by accident. The Outer Cape has the higher rate, 30%, and its Grimer are sturdier callers, but they know Minimize and, from Lv. 26, Fling.

Timing matters more than the spot. Wild battles only turn into SOS Battles after Ilima's trial. False Swipe (TM54) is in Iki Town once you've beaten Hala in the grand trial, and the Adrenaline Orb goes on sale after your third trial. If you want both before you start, the school is already a short walk away. If you're on Ula'ula anyway, use the cape.

How to set up the chain

1. Lead with a Pokémon that knows False Swipe, and bring a single-target move that knocks out a Grimer in one hit. Ground is Alolan Grimer's only weakness. Psychic moves don't affect it at all.
2. Walk in the Outer Cape grass, or the Trainers' School grass, until you find an Alolan Grimer.
3. Use False Swipe until its HP bar is red. A red-HP Grimer calls five times as often as a healthy one.
4. Use an Adrenaline Orb on the first turn. It doubles the call rate for the rest of the battle, and Poké Marts sell it for ₽300 once you've cleared three trials.
5. Each time an ally appears, knock it out unless it's shiny. Leave the first Grimer, the caller, alive.
6. Keep going until the counter passes 30 allies. From the 31st on, every ally rolls at the best odds.
7. When a shiny ally appears, knock out the other Grimer first. You can't throw a Poké Ball while two wild Pokémon are on the field. If you're worried the shiny will call again before you can catch it, put it to sleep or paralyze it first. Then catch it. Grimer's catch rate is 190, so even a full-HP one is easy to catch with an Ultra Ball.

Grimer's base call rate is 9, an average value. That means a 9% chance to call each turn at full HP, 27% in yellow HP, 45% in red HP, and 90% in red HP with an Adrenaline Orb. A call isn't always answered: the base answer rate is four times the call rate, and an unanswered call makes the next one three times as likely to be answered. A lead Pokémon with Intimidate, Unnerve or Pressure raises the answer rate by 20%. Synchronize on your lead gives each ally a 50% chance of having your lead's Nature.

Shiny odds in an SOS chain

*In Sun and Moon, until the counter rolls over after 255 allies. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, for the rest of the battle.

The chain counts allies that actually appeared, not calls that went unanswered. The original Grimer you walked into gets the normal odds for a wild encounter: 1 in 4,096, or about 1 in 1,365 with the Shiny Charm. The odds in the table are rounded; 13 rolls works out to about 1 in 315.5, and 15 rolls to about 1 in 273.5. Long chains also raise the guaranteed perfect IVs on each ally (1 from 5 allies, 2 from 10, 3 from 20, 4 from 30) and give a Hidden Ability chance of 5%, 10% and 15% from 10, 20 and 30 allies. For Alolan Grimer that's Power of Alchemy, which doesn't do anything outside Double Battles.

The shiny boost doesn't wait for 70 calls. It steps up at 11, 21 and 31 allies.

The Shiny Charm is optional. The Game Director at the GAME FREAK office in Heahea City gives it to you once you've caught 300 Pokémon in the Alola Pokédex, and it adds two rolls to every encounter. See the Pokédex guide for that. Without it, each ally after the 30th is already about thirteen times as likely to be shiny as a Grimer you find by walking around.

Why the chain stops

• It has a status condition. A wild Pokémon that's asleep, paralyzed, burned or frozen won't try to call, and you can't use a Full Heal on a wild Pokémon. Don't use moves or abilities that can cause those conditions on the caller, such as Scald, Static or Flame Body. If it happens anyway, start a new chain. Poison can't stick to a Poison type, so poisoning moves aren't a problem.
• It ran out of PP. After it uses up its moves, the caller uses Struggle and can knock itself out with the recoil. A Lv. 24–25 Grimer has 65 PP across Disable, Acid Spray, Poison Fang and Minimize. Plan to restart before then, or give it a Leppa Berry with Trick or Bestow.
• It knows Fling. Alolan Grimer learn Fling at Lv. 26, so Outer Cape Grimer at Lv. 26–27 (26–28 in the Ultra games) know it. Fling throws the Grimer's own held item, so a Leppa Berry you gave it is gone after one throw. If you plan to use a Leppa, keep a Lv. 24–25 caller. Fling with no held item just fails, which still costs PP.
• It used Minimize. Every Outer Cape Grimer knows Minimize, which raises its evasion. That only matters if you need to hit the caller again. Lower its HP before it gets a few boosts.
• It's holding Black Sludge. 5% of wild Alolan Grimer hold Black Sludge, which heals a Poison type every turn and pulls it back out of the red. Use Knock Off or Thief on it, or start over with a different Grimer.
• Your move hit both of them. Earthquake, Bulldoze and other spread moves hit the caller too. Use a single-target move on the ally.
• It's mid-Dig or similar. A wild Pokémon in the hidden turn of a two-turn move won't call that turn.
• The 255 rollover. In Sun and Moon, the counter goes back to zero after 255 allies, and the bonuses start over. You don't have to end the battle: the counter climbs again as usual, so allies 256–286 are back at the lower odds until it passes 30 again.

A Steel-type lead takes no damage from Acid Spray and Poison Fang and can't be poisoned, which makes long chains easier on your own HP.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

The hunt works the same way in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, at the same Outer Cape grass with Grimer at 30%. There are two differences:

• A wild Pokémon only calls for help once per battle unless you've used an Adrenaline Orb. Use one on the first turn of every chain.
• The counter stops at 255 instead of resetting, so the bonuses stay for the rest of the battle.

The Outer Cape Grimer are Lv. 25–28 instead of 24–27, so fewer of them are below the Fling level. Alolan Grimer is #057 in the Ultra games' Alola Pokédex instead of #050. For everything else that changed, see Pokémon Sun vs Ultra Sun.

Shiny Alolan Muk and breeding

A shiny Alolan Grimer evolves into a shiny Alolan Muk at Lv. 38. There's no wild Alolan Muk to hunt in Sun and Moon. The Muk at the Recycling Plant belongs to a Janitor, so evolving your Grimer is the way to get one.

The other option is breeding with the Masuda method, where the two parents come from games in different languages. That's about 1 in 683 per egg, or 1 in 512 with the Shiny Charm. Leave an Alolan Grimer at the Pokémon Nursery on Paniola Ranch, either with Ditto or as the female, and the eggs hatch into Alolan Grimer. Per Pokémon, a chain of 31 or more has better odds. Whether it's faster for you depends on how quickly your chain runs, since failed calls, PP and long battle animations all take time, while eggs only need walking.

Alolan Grimer is #050 in the Sun and Moon Alola Pokédex, listed with Alolan Muk at #051 in the Alola Pokédex list. It's a Poison/Dark type with Poison Touch or Gluttony, and Power of Alchemy as its Hidden Ability.

FAQ

Is a purple Alolan Grimer shiny?

Yes. Normal Alolan Grimer is green and the shiny is purple. Both have the yellow lower lip. A purple Grimer with no yellow lower lip is a normal Kantonian Grimer, which doesn't appear in the wild in Alola.

Where is the best place to shiny hunt Alolan Grimer?

The Outer Cape grass by the Recycling Plant in Malie City has the highest rate: Grimer is 30% of encounters at Lv. 24–27 (25–28 in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon). The Trainers' School grass on Route 1 (20%, Lv. 6–8) also works. Malie Garden has no Grimer.

What are the shiny odds at 31 SOS calls?

From the 31st ally on, each one gets 13 shiny rolls, about 1 in 315. With the Shiny Charm it gets 15 rolls, about 1 in 273. In Sun and Moon this lasts until the counter rolls over after 255 allies.

Why won't my Alolan Grimer call for help?

Check that you've cleared Ilima's trial, that it isn't asleep, paralyzed, burned or frozen, and in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon that you've used an Adrenaline Orb. Its call rate is only 9% at full HP, so lower it to red HP with False Swipe.

Does the chain reset after 255?

In Sun and Moon, yes: the bonuses go back to the start after 255 allies. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the counter stops at 255 and the bonuses stay.

Does a shiny Alolan Grimer evolve into a shiny Muk?

Yes. It evolves into a shiny Alolan Muk at Lv. 38.

Is Alolan Grimer version exclusive?

No. It's in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, in the same places.