The main means of which a trainer catches Pokemon in Pokemon Sword and Shield is through the use of a Pokeball. Pokeballs come in various forms each with their special abilities, but the best and most sought after Pokeball is the Master Ball. The Master Ball has a 100% catch rate of any Pokemon it is used on, which makes it the best Pokeball to use in situations where a Pokemon is incredibly hard to catch.

In past Pokemon games, trainers were only able to obtain one Master Ball per game. Pokemon Sword and Shield breaks that tradition by allowing players one chance per day to obtain additional Master Balls at very low odds through the Loto ID function. While the initial odds are low, this guide will help players drastically improve their odds of receiving infinite Master Balls from Loto-ID.

What is Loto-ID in Pokemon Sword and Shield

Loto-ID is an in-game lottery-type game that is accessed from the PC in any Pokecenter. This function is often overlooked due to the implementation of being able to access your Pokeboxes from the pause screen. However, this mini-game of sorts is incredibly unique and can allow trainers to get their hands on otherwise very rare items, including Master Balls.

The Loto-ID will randomly generate a Pokemon Trainer ID number consisting of six numbers. A trainer ID number is unique to each trainer and will stick with a Pokemon once it is caught or hatched. You can see what your ID number is by viewing the summary of a Pokemon you have caught or hatched next to the summary section titled “ID No.”

Once the lottery generates an ID number it will check through all of your Pokeboxes to see if any of your Pokemon have a trainer ID number that matches the number generated. If a Pokemon has an ID number that matched 1 to 5 of the numbers generated, the player will win a prize. The prize orders go like this:

  • 1-digit: Moomoo Milk 2-digits: PP Up 3-digits: PP Max 4-digits: Rare Candy 5-digits: Master Ball

It is important to note that the Loto-ID can only be used once a day, so you will want to follow this guide before using the Loto-ID to ensure your odds of getting a Master Ball are the best possible.

How to increase Loto-ID odds in Pokemon Sword and Shield

If you did the math, the base odds of getting a Master Ball are 1/100,000 or a .001%. At one attempt per day, the Loto-ID could take up to 274 years before a trainer receives a Master Ball. Luckily, there is a super-quick, extremely-simple way to increase these odds drastically. Trade Pokemon.

When you trade Pokemon with someone you will then have a Pokemon with a different trainer ID than your own. The more Pokemon you obtain from trades that have unique trainer ID’s the more likely you are to win the Loto-ID. Finding unique trainers to trade with can sounds grueling at first, but it is actually incredibly simple with the Surprise Trade function.

Trainers can Surprise Trade Pokemon online with random trainers from around the globe, and will almost never trade with the same trainer twice. For every Pokemon a trainer receives through Surprise Trades the odds of obtaining a Master Ball from Loto-ID increase. But how does one obtain a large amount of Pokemon to trade away?

If you have been breeding for competitive or shiny Pokemon, chances are you already have a couple of boxes full of “trading fodder”. A great way to accumulate a large number of Pokemon is to breed for shiny or competitive Pokemon. An alternative method would be to stock up on Pokeballs and head to Route 1.

While trading away Route 1 Pokemon is not the most ethical, and in some cases it can be looked down on, it is still a viable method of accumulating Pokemon with different trainer IDs.

Breaking down Loto-ID odds in Pokemon Sword and Shield

So, what are the highest possible odds you can have of obtaining a Master Ball from the Loto-ID. If a trainer were able to fill their box with every Pokemon having a unique trainer ID, they would only be able to obtain 960 Pokemon. This would make the max odds of getting a Master Ball from Loto-ID 960/100,000 or .96%. Almost 1% is pretty good odds all things considered, however, how long would it take a trainer to trade 960 Pokemon.

Say you have already filled all of your boxes with Pokemon. Each Surprise Trade takes roughly 1 minute (sometimes more, sometimes less). This means it would take a trainer 960 minutes to trade all of their Pokemon via Surprise Trade, or 16 hours. That is not including the time it would take to catch or hatch 960 Pokemon. However, trainers could Surprise Trade Pokemon while catching/hatching them.

This is completely unreasonable as the reason for obtaining a Master Ball is to catch more Pokemon, but that is not possible if all of your boxes are full.

Still, a few boxes full of Pokemon with unique trainer IDs can greatly increase the odds of obtaining a Master Ball from Loto-ID. If a trainer has six boxes full of traded Pokemon that would increase the odds of getting a Master Ball to 180/100,000 or .18%. This would also only take a trainer 3 hours to trade 180 Pokemon.

Loto-ID once a day in Pokemon Sword and Shield

Loto-ID can be used once per day, but the prizes are not limited to one per trainer. A trainer can continually use the Loto-ID to get Master Balls once per day. However, the Loto-ID saves the game when used so trainers will not be able to reset their game for a different outcome.

Alternatively, there are some “illegal” time skip tricks that would allow trainers to skip to the next day instantly. However, this is greatly frowned upon as Game Freak has stated that players who are caught using time skips will be punished. The Loto-ID is meant to be an exciting way for trainers to test their luck with the chance to win a Master Ball, and this guide is meant to help a player get the best possible odds legally.

More: Pokémon Sword & Shield: How to Unlock the IV Checker

Pokemon Sword and Shield are available on the Nintendo Switch.