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Pokemon Egg Breeding Intro
CA: If you want to get started with competitive Pokemon battling,
Shiny hunting, or
collecting Pokemon in rare Poke Ball types in the
Pokemon video games, it's likely that you're going to need to learn about
Pokemon breeding at some point.
CA: There are a few different mechanics that you will need to learn about, and they all affect the Pokemon that will hatch from an Egg in different ways.
CA: Many of them are related to how Pokemon Battles are calculated, so it makes sense to learn about them for that purpose as well.
CA: This guide assumes that you're brand-new to both battles and breeding, and so the terminology and jargon will be explained as each mechanic is introduced.
CA: If you are more familiar with Pokemon mechanics and want to get started a bit faster, scroll to the Essential Tools part of the guide and continue from there.
CA: There are a few different mechanics that you will need to learn about, and they all affect the Pokemon that will hatch from an Egg in different ways.
CA: Many of them are related to how Pokemon Battles are calculated, so it makes sense to learn about them for that purpose as well.
CA: This guide assumes that you're brand-new to both battles and breeding, and so the terminology and jargon will be explained as each mechanic is introduced.
CA: If you are more familiar with Pokemon mechanics and want to get started a bit faster, scroll to the Essential Tools part of the guide and continue from there.
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Pokemon Mechanic Basics
CA: Pokemon have lots of different numbers attached to them, but let's break it down into two main categories to start with: Species Stats and Personal Stats.
CA: For this guide, "Species Stats" will refer to different traits of a given Pokemon that are determined by its species that cannot be changed.
CA: Likewise, "Personal Stats" will refer to traits that can differ from individual to individual.
CA: Species Stats include Type, Base Stats, which Abilities an individual may have, and which Moves it is able to learn.
CA: Personal Stats include Level, Nature, Individual Values (IVs), and Effort Values (EVs).
CA: Each of the six main Stats used in battle (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed) are calculated using the Pokemon's Level, Base Stats, Nature, IVs, and EVs.
CA: Since this formula involves both Species Stats and Personal Stats, it's important to know which parts you can affect and how to do so.
CA: When deciding which Pokemon to use for battle, you're likely making calculations based on several of these already!
CA: A Pokemon's Type, Ability, and Stats are the most visible and easy to understand parts of the Summary Screen, but what about the parts that are more hidden?
CA: That's what we'll discuss in the next section: Individual Values and Effort Values.
CA: For this guide, "Species Stats" will refer to different traits of a given Pokemon that are determined by its species that cannot be changed.
CA: Likewise, "Personal Stats" will refer to traits that can differ from individual to individual.
CA: Species Stats include Type, Base Stats, which Abilities an individual may have, and which Moves it is able to learn.
CA: Personal Stats include Level, Nature, Individual Values (IVs), and Effort Values (EVs).
CA: Each of the six main Stats used in battle (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed) are calculated using the Pokemon's Level, Base Stats, Nature, IVs, and EVs.
CA: Since this formula involves both Species Stats and Personal Stats, it's important to know which parts you can affect and how to do so.
CA: When deciding which Pokemon to use for battle, you're likely making calculations based on several of these already!
CA: A Pokemon's Type, Ability, and Stats are the most visible and easy to understand parts of the Summary Screen, but what about the parts that are more hidden?
CA: That's what we'll discuss in the next section: Individual Values and Effort Values.
A "Target" Pokemon to breed out with the following checklist:
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Essential Tools
CA: Now that we know the mechanics of Stat calculation and which parts we can affect, it's time to go over the essential toolkit.
CA: Ditto is a Pokemon that can breed with any Pokemon in any Egg Group that is able to produce Eggs.
CA: As such, it's vital to have a lot of them with good IVs in different Stats.
CA: If you can get a Ditto with 6 Perfect IVs, then every offspring of that Ditto is guaranteed to have at least 3 Perfect IVs.
CA: There are communities dedicated to cloning, generating, and giving away 6 IV Ditto, but finding these is left as an exercise for the reader, as I don't want to directly encourage hacking Pokemon.
CA: Easier to find in-game is the Items that you will need: a Destiny Knot, an Everstone, and a Mirror Herb.
CA: Each of these Items affect the offspring of the Pokemon when held by one of the parents.
CA: The Destiny Knot ensures that a total of 5 of the parents' IVs are inherited by the offspring instead of the usual 3, which means that if you have high-IV parents, then those offspring will be more likely to inherit those good IVs.
CA: It doesn't matter which parent is holding the Destiny Knot during breeding since the IVs that are inherited come from both parents; the Destiny Knot just ensures that 5 of the offspring's IVs are inherited rather than randomly generated.
CA: The Everstone passes on the Nature of the parent holding the Item during breeding, so make sure that the parent with the desired Nature is holding the Everstone during the process.
CA: Finally, the Mirror Herb is used in a bit of an edge case: If Pokemon A is holding a Mirror Herb and has empty Move slots while Pokemon B knows one or more Moves that Pokemon A can learn as Egg Moves, then Pokemon A's empty Move slots will be filled with those Egg Moves, whether or not Pokemon A and B share an Egg Group.
CA: This is meant to be a workaround to teach an existing Pokemon Egg Moves without having to start from scratch, but it's also very useful to get Egg Moves onto the non-Ditto parent.
CA: If you use the Mirror Herb to teach a Pokemon some Egg Moves, then those Moves will be completely forgotten if you swap them out later on, so you would need to redo the Mirror Herb process.
CA: However, if the Pokemon hatched with those Egg Moves, then you can relearn them without using the Mirror Herb process.
CA: It's just a little more convenient to not have to jump through those hoops each time you want to experiement with a different moveset.
CA: Ditto is a Pokemon that can breed with any Pokemon in any Egg Group that is able to produce Eggs.
CA: As such, it's vital to have a lot of them with good IVs in different Stats.
CA: If you can get a Ditto with 6 Perfect IVs, then every offspring of that Ditto is guaranteed to have at least 3 Perfect IVs.
CA: There are communities dedicated to cloning, generating, and giving away 6 IV Ditto, but finding these is left as an exercise for the reader, as I don't want to directly encourage hacking Pokemon.
CA: Easier to find in-game is the Items that you will need: a Destiny Knot, an Everstone, and a Mirror Herb.
CA: Each of these Items affect the offspring of the Pokemon when held by one of the parents.
CA: The Destiny Knot ensures that a total of 5 of the parents' IVs are inherited by the offspring instead of the usual 3, which means that if you have high-IV parents, then those offspring will be more likely to inherit those good IVs.
CA: It doesn't matter which parent is holding the Destiny Knot during breeding since the IVs that are inherited come from both parents; the Destiny Knot just ensures that 5 of the offspring's IVs are inherited rather than randomly generated.
CA: The Everstone passes on the Nature of the parent holding the Item during breeding, so make sure that the parent with the desired Nature is holding the Everstone during the process.
CA: Finally, the Mirror Herb is used in a bit of an edge case: If Pokemon A is holding a Mirror Herb and has empty Move slots while Pokemon B knows one or more Moves that Pokemon A can learn as Egg Moves, then Pokemon A's empty Move slots will be filled with those Egg Moves, whether or not Pokemon A and B share an Egg Group.
CA: This is meant to be a workaround to teach an existing Pokemon Egg Moves without having to start from scratch, but it's also very useful to get Egg Moves onto the non-Ditto parent.
CA: If you use the Mirror Herb to teach a Pokemon some Egg Moves, then those Moves will be completely forgotten if you swap them out later on, so you would need to redo the Mirror Herb process.
CA: However, if the Pokemon hatched with those Egg Moves, then you can relearn them without using the Mirror Herb process.
CA: It's just a little more convenient to not have to jump through those hoops each time you want to experiement with a different moveset.
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Optional Tools
CA: These parts of the toolkit are less essential, but they really help speed up the process.
CA: First, you'll want a Pokemon with the Pokemon with the Ability Flame Body, Magma Armor, or Steam Engine to be in your Party while you're hatching Eggs.
CA: Having a Pokemon with one of these Abilities essentially halves how long it takes an Egg to hatch, which is incredibly helpful if you're batch hatching all at once.
CA: Note that having more than one Pokemon with the above Abilities doesn't add any further benefit; it's most efficient to have just the one and hatch 5 Eggs at a given time.
CA: Next, having a Ditto or Male Pokemon in the same Egg Group as the Target Pokemon can help with decreasing how long it takes to get the desired Nature.
CA: Since species is determined by the Female or non-Ditto parent, if you don't have a Pokemon of the desired species with the Nature that you want, then you can pass on the desired Nature through the Male parent by having them hold an Everstone.
CA: If neither parent is holding an Everstone, then the Nature of the offspring is randomly determined with biases to the parents' Natures, which can take a while to produce the Nature that you want.
CA: If you already have, say, a Ditto for every Nature, then all you would have to do is breed out one offspring with the Ditto parent holding the Everstone to have at least one Target species Pokemon having the desired Nature.
CA: Finally, if you're hoping to have your Target Pokemon in a specific Poke Ball, you need to have at least one member of that species already in the Target Poke Ball.
CA: The Poke Ball type is always inherited from the Female or Non-Ditto parent, but if both parents are the same species, then the offspring have a 50% chance of inheriting the Poke Ball type from either parent.
CA: This quirk is only useful in certain edge cases, such as passing on the Poke Ball from one species' Form to another, but it's helpful to keep in mind if you're breeding out Aprimon.
CA: First, you'll want a Pokemon with the Pokemon with the Ability Flame Body, Magma Armor, or Steam Engine to be in your Party while you're hatching Eggs.
CA: Having a Pokemon with one of these Abilities essentially halves how long it takes an Egg to hatch, which is incredibly helpful if you're batch hatching all at once.
CA: Note that having more than one Pokemon with the above Abilities doesn't add any further benefit; it's most efficient to have just the one and hatch 5 Eggs at a given time.
CA: Next, having a Ditto or Male Pokemon in the same Egg Group as the Target Pokemon can help with decreasing how long it takes to get the desired Nature.
CA: Since species is determined by the Female or non-Ditto parent, if you don't have a Pokemon of the desired species with the Nature that you want, then you can pass on the desired Nature through the Male parent by having them hold an Everstone.
CA: If neither parent is holding an Everstone, then the Nature of the offspring is randomly determined with biases to the parents' Natures, which can take a while to produce the Nature that you want.
CA: If you already have, say, a Ditto for every Nature, then all you would have to do is breed out one offspring with the Ditto parent holding the Everstone to have at least one Target species Pokemon having the desired Nature.
CA: Finally, if you're hoping to have your Target Pokemon in a specific Poke Ball, you need to have at least one member of that species already in the Target Poke Ball.
CA: The Poke Ball type is always inherited from the Female or Non-Ditto parent, but if both parents are the same species, then the offspring have a 50% chance of inheriting the Poke Ball type from either parent.
CA: This quirk is only useful in certain edge cases, such as passing on the Poke Ball from one species' Form to another, but it's helpful to keep in mind if you're breeding out Aprimon.
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Breeding Loop
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