Pokémon Breeding
Guide by Gizoid/BassBreeding Pokémon - first introduced in Generation 2 - allows you to obtain Pokémon eggs, hatch them, and raise them from the ground up. There are many advantages to breeding, all of which will be discussed here.
Breeding Pokémon is accomplished at the Daycare Center. (In GSC, it is on Route 34, South of Goldenrod City; in RSE, route 117 West of Mauville City; in FRLG, Four Island; in DPPt, Solaceon Town.)
To breed two Pokémon and produce an egg, you will need a male and female Pokémon of the same egg group. They do not have to be the same species, only in the same egg group. (You may also substitute Ditto for either Pokémon, but not both - Ditto is the only Pokémon able to breed with genderless Pokémon like Magneton, or gender-exclusive Pokémon like Hitmonlee.)
The following Pokémon cannot breed, regardless:
All Baby Pokémon, or Pokémon first obtained as eggs: Happiny*, Riolu, Munchlax*, Chingling*, Budew*, Mime Jr.*, Bonsly*, Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Togepi, Smoochum, Elekid, Magby, Azurill* and Wynaut*.
All Legendary Pokémon: Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo, Mew, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh, Celebi, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Latios**, Latias**, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, Heatran**, Regigigas, Cresselia**, Giratina, Manaphy***, Phione***, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus.
And, two other Pokémon: Unown, Ditto****
*To produce this Pokémon, a certain kind of incense must be held by the non-Ditto parent; otherwise you produce the Pokémon next up in the chain. (Those baby Pokémon also cannot breed; you will need one higher up in the chain at minimum to produce them.)
**Despite that they have genders, these Pokémon cannot breed (even if you breed two opposite-gender Heatran, or the two Eon twins).
***There is an exception here. If you breed either Manaphy or Phione with Ditto, you will produce a Phione, regardless.
****By this, I mean that Ditto cannot breed with another Ditto. It can breed with anything else, except for the above groups mentioned. And Unown can't breed, period.
In Generation 3 and onwards, all eggs have the same chances of being shiny as always. One or both of the parents being shiny will NOT increase the chances of having a shiny egg.
There are four values passed down to the baby by the parents: Species, Moves, IVs, and Nature. I will discuss them all in detail below.
Species
The baby will always end up being the lowest evolved form of the female Pokémon (or non-Ditto Pokémon, if Ditto is being used) at level 5, or in DP, at level 1. (The gender value is calculated as normal, so the gender of the baby is random.)
Egg Moves
The moves passed down from parents to offspring are determined as follows:
- All hatched Pokémon will start with moves they naturally learn by level 5 (or 1, in the case of DP).
- All future overwritten moves will push the old ones up, in the following order:
- If the father knows a move that the baby can learn via TM or HM, that move will be passed on.
- If both father and mother know a move that the baby can learn naturally via leveling up, that move will be passed on.
- If the father knows a move in a special set of moves known as "egg-exclusive moves", usually shortened to just "egg moves", that move will be passed on. This list of moves can usually be found on sites such as Serebii.
IVs
Both parents play a part in passing down IVs to the baby. Three random IVs of the parents will be passed down. The stats for the IVs are picked completely at random, and if a stat is picked a second time, the old IV picked will be overwritten by the new IV picked. The first IV passed down can be anything. The second IV passed down cannot be HP. The third IV passed down cannot be HP or Defense. A total of three IVs will be passed down, but values may be overwritten (as I stated above). All IVs for the baby that were not pre-assigned by passed down IVs will be created at random.
Natures
If the female Pokémon (or Ditto, if Ditto is being used) is holding an Everstone, the chance of the Everstone holder's nature being passed down to the egg is 1 in 2.
