Mega Dimensions Donuts – The Complete Guide

by Doc – Owner, Founder, Hungry

This information would not be possible without the incredible efforts by Austin John Plays and Papa Jefe. They both deserve your viewership and a subscription. Austin John researched the core mechanics, while Papa Jefe went absolutely insane and recorded over 1,000 donuts to figure out the exact probabilities and mechanics of Rainbow Donuts. These gentlemen are impressive on a scale rarely seen.

I’ve been watching a truckload of Austin John Plays and Papa Jefe videos and reading a ton of Discord and Reddit comments compiling information on how donuts work in the Legends: Z-A Mega Dimensions DLC, and to my knowledge this is the most accurate information we have thus far on how donuts work. This page will be updated as new information comes out, and it most likely will.

We’ll assume you know how to talk to Ansha and make them, what berries are, and that you’ve beaten the final boss of Mega Dimensions so you can use up to eight berries thanks to all that “butter” you obtained.

Quick Reference

Goal	Best Berry	Target Effects
Shiny Hunting	8x Hyper Tanga	Sparkling 3 + Alpha 2
Berry Farming	8x Hyper Kasib	Berries 3 + Big Haul 2 or 3
Using Leftover Berries	Rainbow Recipes	Not How It Works, Really
Catching Pokemon	Fresh stat berries	Catch Power 3
Battle Zones	Spicy/Bitter Rainbow	Offensive + Defensive Powers

Donut Stats

To get into wormholes, you need donuts (which makes two consecutive Pokemon games where carbohydrate-based foods serve as core game mechanics). You presumably know what donuts are and how to make them, assuming you’ve played the first ten minutes of Mega Dimensions.

Every donut has four stats, each determined by the berries you use:

Calories
Stars
Level Boost
Extra Effects

1. Calories (Time in Hyperspace)

Calories determine how long you can stay in a Hyperspace Wild Zone. Higher-star zones burn calories faster, so you’ll need more calories for difficult areas.

Calorie Burn Rates by Star Level:

Star Level	Calories/Second	Example Duration
1-Star	1.0	2000 cal = 33 min
2-Star	1.6	2000 cal = 20 min
3-Star	3.5	2000 cal = 9.5 min
4-Star	Higher	~4.5 min
5-Star	Highest	Shortest duration

The pause screen doesn’t count against your calories. If you know which part of Lumiose you’re in the hyperspace version of, pull up a map! Serebii’s map is the gold standard. And don’t be afraid to save scum a bit if you’ve wasted a lot of time.

2. Stars (Donut Quality)

Stars represent the overall quality of your donut, determined by the quality of berries used. The star rating is calculated by averaging the stars of all berries used, rounded down.

Higher-star donuts provide better catch rates
Using a lower-star donut in a higher-star zone gives a slight catching disadvantage
You can save in wormholes so long as a Pokemon hasn’t seen you, so save scum a bit to make sure you get your catch

Example: A 4-star donut in a 5-star zone gives ~6.28% catch rate vs ~7.68% with a matching 5-star donut (for difficult Pokemon like Metagross). I’ve not found this to be a particularly large difference, so don’t sweat it if you’re not there to catch tons of Pokemon.

3. Level Boost

Self-explanatory if you played the game. Each berry contributes to a level boost that applies to your Pokemon when entering Hyperspace, capped out at 200 even if your donut is a higher level boost than that. I’ve found legendaries are a useful way to kind of equalize the difference of up to about 15 levels, but you still need to invest the high level berries to get enough boost.

4. Effects

IMPORTANT: Extra effects are ALWAYS RANDOM. You can’t guarantee specific effects – you can only influence the probability by maximizing specific taste qualities (up to a point – see below for more details). This isn’t like sandwiches from Scarlet and Violet, they’re not deterministic this time around.

Each berry influences five taste qualities: Spicy (red), Sour (yellow), Bitter (blue), Sweet (pink), and Fresh (green). The combined taste profile of your donut determines which effects can appear.

Taste Effects Breakdown:

Taste	Possible Effects
Spicy	Offensive battle boosts – powers up moves of certain types, physical/special move buffs
Bitter	Defensive battle boosts – damage reduction from certain types, increased defenses
Fresh	Catch rate boosts (type-specific or all types), Encounter Power (reduces respawn time only, does NOT increase spawns)
Sour	Item Power (berries, coins, treasure, evolution items, Poke Balls), Big Haul, Mega Evolution meter effects
Sweet	Sparkling Power (shiny odds), Alpha Power, Teensy/Humongo Power (size)

Papa Jefe confirmed that Sparkling Power types are a flat 1-in-19 chance each (including All Types), and Item Power types are a flat 1-in-6 chance each. Sparkling Power All Types is just as common as any specific type.

The Magic Number: 420 (ayy lmao)

Through extensive testing, Austin John Plays discovered that 420 points in a single taste quality is the threshold needed to reliably achieve Level 3 effects with a secondary Level 2 effect.

You don’t need to maximize (750+) a taste quality – 420 is sufficient
This allows you to use medium-rarity berries more efficiently
Extra calories beyond 420 can come from secondary flavors
Getting two Level 3 effects may require a 5-star donut, more research is needed

However, Papa Jefe’s data shows that higher flavor scores do provide meaningfully better results. His 760 sour donuts (8x Hyper Kasib) rolled Item Power Level 3 almost 30% more often than 720 sour donuts. So if you have the berries and want the best results, maxing out flavor score is worth it. (This disparity might need more research, in my opinion.)

Rainbow Donuts: Like Regular Donuts, But Rainbows Make Them Better… Somehow

How to Make Rainbow Donuts

Rainbow donuts are created when two or more flavor scores in a donut recipe match exactly. The rolls are still random – there’s no guaranteed recipes like Scarlet and Violet sandwiches. But if the numbers are identical, you get a rainbow donut.

Are Rainbow Donuts Better?

Short answer: They’re better than non-rainbow donuts with similar flavor scores, but they don’t beat maxed-out single-flavor donuts. It’s a tradeoff.

Papa Jefe’s data:

Sparkling Power appearance: 8x Tanga donuts got Sparkling Power 98.51% of the time vs Rainbow donuts at 72.77%
Sparkling Power Level 3: 8x Tanga donuts hit Level 3 75% of the time vs Rainbow donuts at only 20%
Alpha Power: 8x Tanga donuts rolled Alpha Power ~32% of the time vs Rainbow donuts at ~24%
Sparkling + Alpha together: 8x Tanga donuts hit both 30% of the time vs Rainbow donuts at only 11%

The rainbow bonus: Where rainbow donuts shine is when compared to non-rainbow donuts in the same flavor range (~420). A 420 rainbow donut significantly outperforms a 420 non-rainbow donut for getting Level 2 and Level 3 effects. The bonus makes your secondary power much more likely to be Level 2 or 3 instead of Level 1. In other words, they optimize your donut effects, so long as you’re not using the highest level berries. But they’re not going to do better than donuts with a higher flavor score.

When to Use Rainbow Donuts

Rainbow donuts are best for using up your non-Tanga, non-Kasib berries. (We’ll explain in a second that Tanga and Kasib berries are the best berries for shiny hunting and berry farming.) Instead of making mediocre single-flavor donuts with your leftover berries, make rainbow donuts and get a better chance at useful effects.

Papa Jefe’s recommendation: Don’t spend time resetting at Ansha for the perfect donut. Use your less valuable berries to make rainbow donuts, get into 4-star portals and build up your stockpiles of Tangas and Kasibs. In a 30-minute test using rainbow recipes without any resets, he spent 64 berries and got back 100 berries (including 13 Tangas and 7 Kasibs).

Doc note: Austin John Plays, by resetting Ansha for fifteen minutes and going for Item Power: Berries 3 and Big Haul 2, was able to get 80 berries in a single medium hyperspace zone, which conflicts with Jefe’s recommendation not to bother resetting. This is likely something that the community will have to iron out in the coming months.

Best Berries for Each Purpose

Your best donut recipes are going to be just stacking a bunch of berries that produce the function you want to perform. So if you’re shiny hunting, you’ll stack tons of the listed berries below. If you’re berry farming, a ton of Kasibs. It’s straightforward.

For Shiny Hunting (Sweet)

Hyper Tanga Berry – Highest sweet value of all berries (the king)
Hyper Hobin Berry – 85 sweet + 85 fresh (excellent combo, and useful for rainbow donuts too)
Hyper Chika/Aka Berries – Good sweet with fresh secondary

Aim for Sparkling Power 3 + Alpha Power 2 for ideal shiny hunting. 8x Hyper Tanga is definitively the best if you have them.

For Berry Farming (Sour)

Hyper Kasib Berry – Highest sour (95 points) of all berries

Aim for Item Power: Berries 3 + Big Haul 2/3 for maximum berry drops. 8x Hyper Kasib at 760 sour is definitively the best.

Note: Papa Jefe’s data showed that over 500+ pure sour donuts, every time Big Haul rolled, Item Power also rolled. It’s possible there’s a requirement for Item Power to coincide with Big Haul when Big Haul is selected.

How to Reroll Donuts

Set a backup save – Fast travel anywhere OR heal at a Pokemon Center. Either action creates a backup save point.
Go to Hotel Z and craft your donut.
Check the effects – If they’re not what you want, proceed to reset.
Close the game completely (return to home screen).
Reopen the game and on the title screen, press Up + X + B simultaneously.
Select “Start from Backup Data” and confirm.
Repeat – You’ll spawn at your last Pokemon Center. Fast travel to Hotel Z and try again.

Shiny Hunting Strategy

Craft the donut – Sweet-focused with Sparkling Power 3 (type-specific or all types) + Alpha Power 2, see above for the recommended berries
Find your wormhole – Match the type to your Sparkling Power, and reset your day if you’re not finding it
Set a backup save before entering
Enter and fast travel repeatedly – Press Plus → A → A to respawn Pokemon by repeatedly fast traveling to the spawn point you’re in (sometimes you’ll spawn in and immediately be spotted by a Pokemon, causing you to be unable to fast travel – tough luck, pal)
Check both spawn points – Shinies are preserved between fast travels
Catch and continue – Don’t spam A too fast or you’ll accidentally exit, the “box” for leaving through the wormhole extends to you even if you are facing away from the wormhole when you fast travel back

Important Notes:

Sparkling Power 3 guarantees the “Catch a Shiny Pokemon” quest when entering, which forces a Pokemon to be shiny, so consider Sparkling 3 to be equivalent to a shiny Pokemon
Sparkling Power All Types is a 1-in-19 roll just like any other type – it’s not rarer for any one type
Lower-star zones last longer with the same calorie donut, so consider going for low star zones
After a successful hunt, heal at a Pokemon Center immediately to save your progress

Berry Farming Strategy

To maximize berry drops in Hyperspace:

Target combo: Item Power: Berries 3 + Big Haul 2 (or 3)
Use 8 Hyper Kasib Berries for maximum sour (760 points)
Reroll until you get both effects – typically takes 15-20 minutes

Berry Drops by Effect:

Effect	Small/Large Ball Drops
Item Power: Berries 3 only	Small: 2-3 / Large: 4-5
Berries 3 + Big Haul 2	Small: 5-6 / Large: 7-8

Result: Big Haul roughly doubles your berry drops per zone! Medium-sized zones are optimal – large zones may run out of time before collecting everything. I personally use medium because I never find the Gold Poke Ball at the end of the large zone.

Effect Limitations

Some effects are mutually exclusive or rare:

You cannot get two different Item Powers on the same donut
You cannot get two different Sparkling Powers for different types
Getting Sparkling 3 + Alpha 3 together is very difficult (may require 5-star donut, needs more testing)
Humongo Power ≠ Alpha Power – Humongo only affects size, not Alpha status
Encounter Power only reduces respawn time – it does NOT increase the number of spawns

Mega Dimensions Donuts – The Complete Guide

Quick Reference