You will need:

• PokeFinder
• Visual C++ Redistributable
• Access to a SysBot running Sword/Shield (recommended), or a friend running a custom firmware Switch console.

Instructions:

1. WINDOWS ONLY - Download Visual C++ Redistributable then run the installer files until fully complete.
2. Download the latest version of PokeFinder for Windows, then extract all the contents into a clean, empty folder.
3. Use google to locate a Discord server that runs a Sword/Shield SysBot, or a friend with a Switch console running CFW.

SysBot (or CFW in general) is used to identify your current raid seed, this is the most efficent method and so will be the recommended and used method throughout this guide.

After opening the Gen 8 Raid section in PokeFinder, a larger window will open. This is where you can set search parameters and calculate target frames. We’ll refer to this window as the “main” window throughout the guide.

Feature Overview:

• Left Side - Enter search conditions, select a specific raid, and input seed and # of advances.
• Center - Specify raid details, such as species, raid type (common/rare), and difficulty (star level).
• Right Side - Search filter details, filter for high IV, specific nature, and/or shiny target frames.
• Top - Profile management, enter your 5 digit IDs & trainer information from your save file here.
• Bottom - Search result output, any result that matches your filters will be displayed here.

Upon opening PokeFinder, prior to opening the main Window, a smaller window is available on screen to select the type of RNG abuse you wish to do. There are small tabs across the top of this window, one of them is labeled Gen 8 Tools.

In the Gen 8 Tools dropdown menu, select Den Map, this will open a sub window containing a map of each of the wild areas. Here you can select any Den and find it's rough location on the map, indicated by the red circle icon on the map display.

Matching your in-game Raid Den with the Den ID of PokeFinder can be a long or confusing process, so we can take advantage of this feature to more easily narrow down the Den ID we need. This will be visualized later on in the guide.

Showing a Pokemon caught from a Max Raid Battle to a SysBot will produce a "Raid seed", (as pictured in Figure 2), this is what PokeFinder uses to predict upcoming advancements.

Step-by-step:

1. Throw a Wishing Piece into the den you wish to seed check.
2. Capture the Pokemon from the raid, DO NOT SAVE AFTER THIS POINT.
3. Navigate to the server that contains the SysBot, enter the channel for inputting commands.
4. Initiate a seedcheck trade (command syntax may vary between hosts).
5. Wait for the bot to message you a trade code, then meet with it in-game.
6. Show the bot the caught Pokemon and wait for it to message you a den seed.
7. Reset the game, you should now be back at the active den and also have your den seed.

There are methods to aquire your seed without the use of SysBot or Custom Firmware at all, but this is an unnecessarily lengthy process that will not be covered in this guide. Visit the Smogon Raid RNG Guide to find out more.

In the above image (Figure 3), the seed aquired from the SysBot seed check has been entered into the Seed field in PokeFinder, the search range has been set to 10,000, and the search filters are set to look for any frame that produces a Shiny Pokemon.

At the bottom of the window various result has been produced, the earliest frame that will produce a shiny Pokemon will occur in 1708 advances. Depending on the chosen species, raid type and star count, the internal details (such as IVs and Nature) will be different.

Setting Correct Filters:

• Using the Gen 8 Tools -> Den Map feature of PokeFinder, locate the den you are currently standing at in-game, take note of the ID after doing so.
• Select the Den ID in the dropdown list inside the main PokeFinder window, then set the correct beam type (Common = RED | Rare = PURPLE).
• Set the filters on the right to search for your desired Pokemon, in Figure 3 we are only filtering for any shiny Pokemon. You can be more specific if you wish.
• Paste the seed produced by the SysBot into the Seed field, set your search range (10,000 recommended), then click Search.

Before anything else, you will need to pick the Den or Pokemon you wish to RNG abuse in. This is best achieved using an online resource, such as the Serebii.net Raid Encounter Tables

Navigate to the location of your desired Raid Den in game, defeat the raid if there is a Pokemon inside, then throw in a Wishing Piece, this will save the game. You will now need to match the in-game den with the corrisponding Den ID in PokeFinder. An example of how to do this can be seen in the above image.

Finding the Den ID:

1. Open the Den Map found in the Gen 8 Tools dropdown menu of PokeFinder.
2. Select the map that corrisponds to the map which contains your desired Pokemon (Wild Area | IoA | CT).
3. Select different Den IDs until you find one in the rough location of where you are standing in-game.
4. Select the Den ID in the PokeFinder main window and confirm the species match on PokeFinder and in-game.

Now you will need to obtain the correct type of raid, if your Pokemon only appears in a Rare (purple neam) raid, you will need to reset the den until a Rare raid appears from throwing in a Wishing Piece. This can be done one of two ways:

• Run back and fourth between raids, throwing in Wishing Pieces until your raid is of the desired rarity.
• Throw a Wishing Piece into your desired den, then press the Home button once the beam appears. If it is not your desired rarity, restart the game.

Event Distributions are also red, so you will need to use the first method if you are hunting for an event distribution den.

If your den is from a promotional event distribution, select Event in the Location dropdown menu on the left, then select the exact distribution in the dropdown directly below. You do not need to track your Raid Den location for event distributions.

Target frame found! in Figure 5 we can see that a Shiny, Adamant natured Bewear has been found in 78 advancements, and that the den we are searching in has a common (RED) beam. It is now time to begin advancing towards the target.

Frames are advanced by 1 per day that has passed, which means we will need to advance 78 days to hit our target shiny frame. We can trick the game into thinking a day has passed using the date skipping exploit.

How to date skip:

Date-skipping on retail hardware is a manual process that requires some initial setup, there are two methods you can use, the faster method requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription or multiple consoles/games, while the slower method does not.

Use one of the below methods to advance towards your target frame, try to keep track of the rough amount of advancements you have done so far. You can use SysBot to check your current seed once you are closer to your target frame.

Note - If you wish to manipulate the species inside the den you must save 3 advancements (or date skips) away from your target! The first 2 days are locked onto a specific species and the third one is decided at random.

At this stage you should be exactly 3 frames/advances/days away from your target (today(0), second day(1), third day(2), target day(3)), from here you can manipulate the species on the "target day".

In the above image, we saved 3 frames away from the target and advanced the seed 3 times, but the species is incorrect, this problem can be corrected by doing the following:

Species Manipulation Tutorial:

1. First, save the game once you are confident that you are 3 frames away from your target den.
2. Advance 3 days, then enter the raid to confirm that it is what you expect (check if shiny, capture if specific stats and non shiny).
3. Reset the game and re-enter the overworld, you should now be stood back at your raid den, 3 advanced away from the target.
4. Advance 3 days, you should now see that the species has changed, repeat this step until your desired species appears.
5. Save once you hit your desired species if you wish to share the raid with others!

If you're unsure whether you've hit the correct frame or species, especially when targeting a shiny Pokémon, you can enter the raid and intentionally lose. This allows you to verify that the Pokémon matches your expectations before saving the game.