Pokémon Unbound DexNav Guide
The DexNav is an upgraded Pokédex that lets you pick which wild Pokémon you run into — and it can find ones with hidden abilities, egg moves, held items and perfect IVs. This guide covers how to get it, how to use it, and how to make the most of it.
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What the DexNav Is and How to Get It
The DexNav is a key item that upgrades your Pokédex. Instead of bumping into random wild Pokémon, you open the DexNav, pick the one you want, and it points you to where one is hiding nearby.
To get it: catch or evolve at least 15 different Pokémon first. Then fly to the Blizzard City Pokémon Center and head east. Take the first turn north and keep walking. Go into the house just west of the Poké Mart, climb the stairs to the second floor, and open the closed doors. Talk to the female scientist inside — Professor Log’s sister — and she’ll upgrade your Pokédex with the DexNav.
⚙️ One setting first
Open the in-game settings and set the R button to DexNav scanning. You need this for registering Pokémon and for special encounters later.
How to Use It (Step by Step)
- Go to a wild area — any route, grass patch or cave — and open the DexNav from the start menu.
- Pick a Pokémon from the area’s list. Every Pokémon you could meet there shows up with an icon:
- Question mark — you haven’t met this one yet, and can’t search for it
- Grey icon — you’ve seen it but never caught it
- Full-colour icon — it’s yours
- Register it or scan it. Registering lets you press R to search for it any time. Scanning does a one-time search without registering — but if you walk too far away or press B, the signal breaks.
- Watch for the signs. When the Pokémon is close, you’ll see rustling grass, a dust cloud in caves, or bubbles in the water. Walk into it to start the encounter.
A few things to know: if you run into a different Pokémon before reaching the one you scanned, the signal is gone and you’ll have to scan again. You can only search for the exact form that’s registered — searching for a Winter Deerling won’t give you an Autumn one. And if a Pokémon needs a fishing rod you don’t have yet, the DexNav will just tell you to go get that rod first.
Search Levels Explained
Every Pokémon has its own search level, from 0 to 255. It goes up each time you meet that Pokémon. The higher it is, the more likely that Pokémon shows up when you search for it — so rare encounters get easier to find the more you hunt them.
Search level also unlocks extra information and better rewards:
| Search level | What unlocks |
|---|---|
| 2 | You can see the Pokémon’s first move |
| 3 | You can see its ability — and its held item, if your DexNav is upgraded |
| 5 | You can see its potential IVs |
| 10 | It can now have its hidden ability |
| 100+ | Egg move chance maxes out at 80% |
Higher search levels also raise the chance of perfect IVs — the yellow stars under a Pokémon’s name show how many perfect IVs the DexNav forced onto it. If you want a competitive-ready Pokémon, grinding its search level is one of the best things you can do.
What You Can Find (Held Items, Egg Moves, Hidden Abilities)
The DexNav isn’t just for finding Pokémon — it’s for finding good Pokémon. Here’s what it can turn up:
- Held items. Hovering over a Pokémon shows what it might be holding, split into a 50% chance item and a 5% chance item (not every Pokémon has two). You only get this info after upgrading the DexNav by finishing Mission #032: Hunter of the Swamp.
- Egg moves. The higher the search level, the better the chance the Pokémon knows an egg move — up to 80% at search level 100 or more.
- Hidden abilities. Once a Pokémon’s search level hits 10, it can show up with its hidden ability. Keep raising the level to make it more likely.
- Perfect IVs. Search level raises the chance of at least one perfect IV, and the DexNav shows you the potential IVs from level 5 up.
💡 Why this matters
Normally you’d breed for egg moves, hidden abilities and good IVs. With a high search level, the DexNav can hand you a battle-ready Pokémon straight from the wild — no breeding needed.
Shiny Hunting with the DexNav
Chaining is how you hunt shinies. Every time you catch or knock out the Pokémon you registered, your chain goes up by one. Keep the chain going and two things happen:
- Every 5 chain, the scanned Pokémon’s level goes up by 1 (up to +19 — the bonus resets every 100 encounters).
- On the 50th and 100th encounter of a chain, there’s a 1% chance the Pokémon is shiny.
Don’t break the chain. Running away from a battle with your chained Pokémon breaks it. So does finding a DexNav Pokémon and walking past it without interacting. Stay focused on one target.
Tips for Best Results
- Upgrade the DexNav early. Mission #032 (Hunter of the Swamp) unlocks held-item info — worth doing as soon as you can.
- Grind search levels on common Pokémon first. It’s faster, and the same rules apply when you move on to rare ones.
- Use Repels for special encounters. After registering a caught Gen VIII Pokémon (numbers 810–890, not Hisuian or regional forms), the DexNav can detect unusual Pokémon in valid areas. Repels help force these encounters faster — walk or swim around until it tells you something unusual is nearby.
- Scan, don’t wander. If the Pokémon isn’t nearby, the DexNav says so — move to a different area instead of running in circles.
- Check forms before you hunt. Only the registered form appears, so make sure you’re searching for the version you actually want.
