Key Takeaway
To get Spiritomb, you’ll need to obtain an Odd Keystone and place it on the Hallowed Tower on Route 209. Then, you need to either talk to 32 human players or 32 unique NPCs in the Grand Underground. After this, interact with the Hallowed Tower to spawn a Spiritomb.
There are few Pokémon that require as much effort to get as Spiritomb. It’s always tedious to find this Ghost and Dark-type pocket monster in every game where it makes an appearance. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl are no exceptions.
Table Of Contents
How to Get an Odd Keystone
As usual for a Spiritomb hunt, you need an Odd Keystone. There are two guaranteed ways to find one. The first is to talk to the Blackbelt on Route 208, near the honey tree southeast of the area. This method can be done much sooner than the other guaranteed way to get an Odd Keystone.
The second way is to surf in the pond of Twinleaf Town and interact with a tree on the west side of the water. The Odd Keystone is a hidden item, so you can’t see it.
Since you can only reach it by using surf, you have to get surf as TM95 by speaking to Cynthia’s grandmother in Celestic Town. This can only be done by progressing through the main story. You also need the Relic Badge to use surf outside of battle, which requires you to defeat Fantina in Hearthome City.
There is a repeatable way to get Odd Keystones, however, they are only available in the Grand Underground. By mining in underground walls, there’s a small chance that you can find an Odd Keystone this way. Just don’t hold your breath.
Once you’ve obtained an Odd Keystone, you need to place it on the Hallowed Tower, which is on Route 209. But that’s the easy part. Now comes the tedium.
How to Get Spiritomb to Appear at the Hallowed Tower
You need to talk to either 32 human players or 32 unique NPCs in the Grand Underground (or a mix of both). To find human players in the Grand Underground, you need to have a Nintendo Switch Online membership. This is because the game will only let you connect to the internet for multiplayer purposes if you have this service.
If you only use the human player method, you can talk to the same person 32 times, but you must enter a cave room or Secret Base between each conversation. Otherwise, the game will only count these interactions as one exchange of dialogue.
With that said, you don’t need a Nintendo Switch Online membership to find unique NPCs in the Grand Underground—you just need patience. Also, both methods can be done the moment you get the Explorer Kit from the elderly man in Eterna City.
How to Find Unique NPCs in the Grand Underground
There are criteria that need to be met for the game to count your NPC interactions toward your Spiritomb goal. Here’s a quick breakdown of the things you need to keep in mind:
- Each NPC only counts once, so you need to find 32 different NPCs
- NPCs will spawn and respawn under mostly random criteria every time you enter and leave a cave room
- There are set NPCs you can repeatedly find in each Grand Underground section
- You can find different NPCs besides the ones bound to a given section, but the odds are low
- There are designated spawn points for all NPCs
It will take you hours to find 32 unique NPCs. Thankfully, there are some tricks to doing so efficiently. Your best bet is to pick one specific Grand Underground section and find where the NPC spawn locations are.
Afterward, repeatedly enter and leave cave rooms to force potential new NPCs to spawn. This lets you find new NPCs that you haven’t spoken to before in a faster manner than running around aimlessly. It’s recommended to make a list to keep track of who you’ve spoken to.
What the Dialogue at the Hallowed Tower Means for Finding Spiritomb
Interacting with the Hallowed Tower gives you a rough idea of how many more NPCs or human players you need to talk to before Spiritomb appears. Here’s what each line of dialogue means:
- It appears to have been built many years ago (0 to 7 NPCs/players have been spoken to)
- Its stones appear to have shifted… (8 to 14 NPCs/players have been spoken to)
- …Is that crying coming from inside the tower? (15 to 21 NPCs/players have been spoken to)
- Is the tower shaking ever so slightly? (22 to 28 NPCs/players have been spoken to)
- There is some sort of presence… It appears ready to emerge! (29 to 31 NPCs/players have been spoken to)
- Yulaaah! (32 or more NPCs/players have been spoken to—and Spiritomb will spawn)
It should be mentioned that you can get more than one Spiritomb in a single playthrough. However, you need multiple Odd Keystones and need to repeat the entire process every time.
Tips for Getting a Shiny Spiritomb
If you really want a shiny Spiritomb, you can abuse some simple mechanics. When you’ve met all the criteria to spawn it, save your game right before you interact with the Hallowed Tower.
If you spawn a Spiritomb and it’s not shiny, close your game. Re-open the game and then interact with the Hallowed Tower again. Keep doing this until a shiny Spiritomb spawns. Keep in mind that the shiny encounter rate is 1 in 4096. This means that there’s only a 0.00024% chance that you’ll find a shiny one.
