Pokemon Breeding Guide

Breeding Pokemon, first introduced in Generation 2, allows you to obtain Pokemon eggs, hatch them and raise them from the ground up. There are many advantages to breeding, all of which I will discuss below.

Breeding Pokemon 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 DP, Solaceon Town.)

To breed two Pokemon and produce an egg, you will need a male and female Pokemon in 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 Pokemon, but not both - Ditto is the only Pokemon able to breed with genderless Pokemon like Magneton, or gender-exclusive Pokemon like Hitmonlee, even if two are the same species.)

The following Pokemon cannot breed, regardless:

All Baby Pokemon, or Pokemon first obtained as eggs: Happiny*, Riolu, Munchlax*, Chingling*, Budew*, Mime Jr.*, Bonsly*, Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Togepi, Smoochum, Elekid, Magby, Azurill* and Wynaut*.

All Legendary Pokemon: 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 Pokemon: Unown, Ditto****

*To produce this Pokemon, a certain kind of incense must be held by the non-Ditto parent, otherwise you produce the Pokemon next up in the chain. (Those baby Pokemon also cannot breed; you will need one higher up in the chain at minimum to produce them.)

**Despite that they have genders, these Pokemon 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 a 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 I mentioned. And Unown can't breed, period.

All eggs also have a shiny value, so the chance of having a shiny egg in Generation 3 onward will be 1 in 8192 also.

There are four values passed down to the baby by the parents: Species, Moves, DVs, and Nature. I will discuss them all in detail below.

The baby will always end up being the lowest evolved form of the female Pokemon (or non-Ditto Pokemon, 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.)

The moves passed down from parents to offspring are determined as follows:
-All hatched Pokemon 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 levelling 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 Psypoke or Serebii.

Both parents play a part in passing down DVs to the baby. Each parent passes down 3 DVs at random. The stats for the DVs are picked completely at random, and if a stat is picked a second time, the old DV value picked will be overwritten by the new DV value picked. The first DV passed down by each parent can be anything. The second DV passed down by each parent cannot be HP. The third DV passed down by each parent cannot be HP or Defense. A total of six DV values will be passed down, but values may be overwritten (as I stated above). All DV values for the baby that were not pre-assigned by parents passing down DVs will be chosen at

If the female Pokemon (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.

Guide by GizoidΩ/Bass