What makes a Pokemon run away when chaining with DexNav in ORAS?

Question

This is the second-most infuriating thing I have ever had to deal with in all of Pokemon.

• First off, I am not talking about running, biking, walking, jumping, etc. near a patch of grass. Not anything that makes the DexNav say "You were spotted!"
• I am talking about when your target randomly disappears and it #$%*&@! says "It ran away!" and the chain breaks. WHAT GIVES!? I don't know what the problem is! I've had three streaks of Zorua flee from me today, two were good (the first one was the second encounter LOL but the other two were 40+ and 60+, respectively).

Is there anything I can do to stop that?

(The absolute most infuriating thing is also in this game, and I'm referring to shiny hunting in water and in caves. Don't try that at home, kids!)

Comments

Are you going into grass near any NPCs? If so, they could be part of the issue.

Sometimes the Pokemon will run away if you're taking too long to capture it or taking too long to approach it to capture it.

Make sure that you're not staying in the menu too long because the Pokemon can get away during the time spend in your menu.

I don't usually chain much for Pokemon, so if what I say isn't the most helpful I hope that someone who chains often can be of assistance.

I wish the best of luck with your chain of Zorua.

Answer 1

Well, it is not uncommon for the target to just randomly disappear. The most logical reason would be NPC's around - however, if you're sure there are no NPCs around, then it may just be the mechanics of DexNav.

According to this source (under Approaching), it states that Pokemon can disappear for no apparent reason when the player is approaching the Pokemon, thus allowing it to warp to another spot. It is good to note that the mechanics of DexNav is based around a radar system - and because of this if the Pokemon is outside the radar (not necessarily the problem) or it's warped to the center of the radar (where you are standing), the Pokemon will run away.

In other words, where the Pokemon warps afterwards in chaining with DexNav is all due to randomness (a random spot within the radar). If you are standing in the desired spot where the Pokemon wanted to warp to, you are preventing it from moving there thus allowing it to run away - and this may be the no apparent reason you are looking at.

Also, a long duration from using the menu or anything acting as a "pausing" during the chain will have the Pokemon run away.

Since you also mentioned shiny hunting at the end of your question, a similar question was asked and it states DexNav shiny hunting usually reaches your 50% mark anywhere between 120-160 steps, but there will always be a chance of failure, regardless of how far you proceed (so this is a very tedious, patient task). Doing it in water and in caves is definitely a pain since random water and cave encounters break it.

Nonetheless, hope I helped! :)

Comments

So the short answer is I probably took too long? I don't think I did but it's better than nothing.

Do you know how every fifth encounter gets faster on water and in caves? Is there less time available on grass patches, too? It did happen to be one of those every fifth encounters. I always assumed it was not present.

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Well, taking to long is one thing but I did also mention that you may be standing in the spot that the Pokemon wanted to warp to as well. That can make the Pokemon disappear for no reason and I'm sure this happened to me.