How I caught all three shiny Tatsugiri with a single sandwich
Featuring a trio of very specific Pokémon to counter Memento
Tatsugiri was one of my favorite new Pokémon dating back to my first playthrough of Scarlet and Violet, so when I previewed the Tatsugiri mass outbreak event last week I knew I’d try to catch all three of its forms. What I didn’t know is I’d be able to catch ‘em all within the same 30 minute shiny sandwich I cooked up!
One of the biggest points made in response to that last article was the absence of Memento mention. Memento is a status move that lowers opponent attack and special attack by two stages that Tatsugiri can learn. This wouldn’t be such a big deal, if it also didn’t cause the user to faint. There’s a chance you could catch Tatsugiri in a Quick Ball or before it ever uses Memento, of course.
Tatsugiri only know Memento between levels 34 and 51, which means it’ll only be a factor in certain areas of Paldea and not the DLC sections. I wasn’t sure on the exact range when I caught my shinies though, and I wanted to take care with a shiny Pokémon on the line!
(Of course you can also disable auto-save and save before encounters to be safe.)
I cooked up a shiny water-type sandwich using two Salty Herba Mystica and one cucumber and brought a trio of specific Pokémon to ensure I didn’t lose any shiny Tatsugiri to Memento.
First up was my Prankster Grimmsnarl, which stocked both Fake Out and Taunt. My Curly Tatsugiri was below level 30 so I didn’t take the chance of knocking it out using Fake Out with a Grimmsnarl around level 70. The Droopy and Stretchy Tatsugiri I caught in Kitakami and Terarium were close to Grimmsnarl’s level however, so I did lead with Fake Out just to get some chip damage in and make life easier. Grimmsnarl then used Taunt, blocking Tatsugiri from using Memento for three turns.
Immediately after that, I switched into my waiting Breloom. This spot can be one of many Pokémon — the important part is False Swipe to get Tatsugiri’s HP down to 1. My Breloom is level 100, and was able to do that job in one turn each time. I could’ve used Spore here with Breloom in the last Taunt turn, but decided to play it safe and immediately switch to Gholdengo.
Gholdengo’s Good as Gold ability prevents status moves from working on it, which means Memento simply fails and Tatsugiri doesn’t faint if it clicks it. (Clear Body will prevent the stat drops but not the fainting.) From here I just threw Luxury Balls until I caught all three shiny Tatsugiri variants!
I was prepared to heal Gholdengo with potions if need be, but secured each capture before facing real danger of it being knocked out.
I was prepared to heal Gholdengo with potions if need be, but secured each capture before facing real danger of it being knocked out.
Here’s the process spelled out quicker:
Step 1: Fake Out (if there’s no OHKO chance) and Taunt with Grimmsnarl
Step 2: False Swipe with Breloom to get Tatsugiri to 1 HP before Taunt wears off
Step 3: Switch to Gholdengo and catch your shiny in a Poké Ball of choice!
One piece of advice for locating the shinies fast: Tatsugiri outbreaks on land felt much easier to scan through than the ones in water. The event causes several outbreaks in each region, and I’d recommend targeting ones with flat, mono-colored land so you’ll see shiny Tatsugiri easily. Pressing R to quickly auto-battle the non-shiny Tatsugiri and cause new spawns is also definitely the move — auto-battling Pokémon will refuse to defeat shinies, giving an extra signal if you’ve found one.
After collecting all three Tatsugiri I then went ahead and joined an online raid to add Mighty Dondozo to the mix.
I brought Miraidon to the raid, but two allied Bellibolt were the real MVPs with their Reflect and Acid Spray setting me up perfectly. I couldn’t manage a solo raid victory with Miraidon or Annihilape, but the right Acid Spray/Parabolic Charge Bellibolt might be able to do it.
I won’t guarantee following this plan will result in success as fast as I enjoyed. I probably got lucky with spawn rates, and do have the Shiny Charm which combines with the sandwich power to further boost encounter rates. Comment below if you’re able to find your favorite shiny Tatsugiri and happy hunting — you’ve got until Thursday, August 8, at 7:59 p.m. Eastern time.