Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to catch Ditto

Whether you're wanting to breed Pokémon, hatch a shiny, or you're simply looking to complete your Pokédex, you're going to want to catch Ditto. Unlike other Pokémon, Ditto has the ability to transform into any other Pokémon in the game. However, he isn't the easiest Pokémon to find considering that he only shows up in one location of the Galar region. Here's where to find Ditto in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Where to find Ditto

Ditto is only found in one location: the strip of land across from the Lake of Outrage in the Wild Area. However, the only way to get to it is by riding your bike over the water, so you'll need to have gotten far enough in the game to do that. Additionally, the Pokémon in this area tend to range from level 50 to level 58 so you might not be able to catch a Ditto for quiet a while.

Ditto is very easy to miss. It only spawns 20% of the time and even then the much larger Pokémon that also appear in this area can easily distract you from seeing one. You'll be looking for a super small purple blob that can't see over the grass. Fortunately, it appears in all types of weather. Once you engage it in battle you simply fight and catch it the way you would with any other Pokémon.

Breeding and shiny hunting

One of the reasons Ditto is so sought after is that, thanks to its shape-shifting abilities, it can breed with any other Pokémon in the Pokémon Nursery. For instance, if you dropped it off with your starter, whether it be Grookey, Sobble, or Scorbunny, you'd eventually get an egg from the Nursery that would hatch into that starter.

Many people use Ditto to try and hatch a shiny Pokémon using the Masuda Method. Each Pokémon has a language assigned to it, this is the language that the player has listed on the game. When you get a Pokémon in a trade that has a different language from your own assigned to it you should be especially happy. The chances of you hatching a shiny Pokémon go up from 1/4096 to 1/682.7 when you breed two Pokémon from different languages together. If you happen to have the Shiny Charm and are using the Masuda Method, your odds go up to 1/512.

If you're in the Lake of Outrage area and look for a trade partner online, you might just be able to trade your Ditto for a Ditto from another trainer. If you're lucky, it will be a foreign Ditto. I got lucky and was able to find someone from Japan willing to trade Dittos on my first try.

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There you go, now you know where to find Ditto. It isn't the easiest Pokémon to find, but once you know where to look you're more likely to catch one. Good luck with your Pokémon catching endeavors and if you're attempting to hatch shiny Pokémon I wish you the best of luck!