The Pokémon Peninsula > Pokémon Guides > PokéGuide: Beginners' Breeding Guide

Beginners' Breeding Guide (R/S/E/FR/LG)

by Toothache

So, you want to breed a Pokemon, give it a move that it doesn't learn by levelling up or TMs, or just want to increase your Pokedex? Well, look no further, this one stop guide will attempt to explain all. 

Catching suggestions
First thing I'd recommend for anyone who wants to get a more varied moveset for a Pokemon, is to catch a female of that Pokemon. Female Pokemon determine the type of Pokemon that is bred. So, if you want to breed an Igglybuff, for example, catching a female Jigglypuff will mean any egg bred with this female, will eventually be an Igglybuff. If you want a specific type of Pokemon with more varied moves, catch a female. 

Does that mean males are useless? No. Males are just as important as females, and here's why. The female determines the Pokemon type, but the males govern which moves are actually passed down to the Pokemon. So if you want to breed Drill Peck onto a Skarmory, for example, you would need to have a male with the move Drill Peck, not necessarily a Skarmory, but something in the same egg group (I'll explain egg groups further down the guide) as Skarmory. Breed that Pokemon with a female Skarmory, and voila! The baby Skarmory will be born with Drill Peck. If you know a Pokemon has a certain move, and you want to give that move to a similar Pokemon which doesn't learn it naturally, catch a male of that species. 

Advantages of breeding
Breeding moves onto a Pokemon has several advantages. First of all, you can gain more varieties of moves for the Pokemon, increasing the options of it's movesets, and often making your Pokemon more difficult to counter. Second of all, while levelling up, you can have more powerful moves than it's level would normally allow, meaning a Pokemon will be slightly easier to raise. 

Disadvantages of breeding
Well, not many at all. It will take time to level up the Pokemon, as well as the parents if you are after specific moves which are learned at higher levels than they were caught at. Certain Pokemon cannot breed at all, the legendary Pokemon. Some are limited to only breeding with Ditto. Certain Pokemon always male, so they are limited. Not every move is possible to breed over, only those in the egg moves list for each Pokemon is possible to breed. 

Overall, breeding is worth the time and effort you spend to raise the Pokemon. 

Egg Groups.
The Pokemon are split into egg groups, which means that they can only breed with those Pokemon in the same egg group. Most individual Pokemon exist in two groups. For example, Abra and their evolutions belong to the Human-Shaped Pokemon Egg Group, which means they can breed with other Pokemon in the Human-Shaped Egg Group, and only those Pokemon. 
Egg Groups names:
Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Field, Flying, Genderless, Human Shaped, Monster, Unbreedable, Grass, Mineral, Amorphous, Water 1, Water 2, Water 3. Check the Egg Groups guide to see which Pokemon exist in each egg group. 

TMs and breeding
Now, in your game, you will usually pick up 1 TM of each type (1 to 50), except for those that you can buy. Just purchase as many of those as you think you'll need. For the rest of TMs, you are given or find one of each type only per game. Did you know, that by breeding, you can pass on TMs from one Pokemon to another? Yes! That way, you can make your TM last, and if you want two or more Pokemon using the same TM, then it is actually possible (but it may take several breeding events to actually pass the TMs along. This is called a breeding chain). Because most Pokemon exist in two egg groups, it is usually possible to breed a TM from a very different type to it's own, by following a breeding chain. 

Abilities and Breeding
Each Pokemon also has a special ability, like Early Bird and Color Change. This does not change between breeding types, and as such you cannot breed an ability from one Pokemon to another. So, no you can't have a Sableye with Wonder Guard (immune to all attacks except indirect attacks), for example. 

Nature and breeding
Each Pokemon has a nature, which affects its statistics. A nature increases one stat by 10%, while reducing another by 10%. Natures are not passed on by breeding, and are completely random. So, it is not possible to breed directly a nature from one Pokemon to another. If you want a baby Pokemon with a specific nature, you'll have to keep breeding and hope it gets the one you want. It's a time consuming process, but it may be worth the extra effort. 

IVs and breeding.
The Individual Values of the parents actually influence the IVs of the child, to some degree. 3 of the 6 stats are based on the parent's IVs, the rest are chosen at random. So, for example, a male Volbeat may give it's HP and Sp Attack IV, and a female Illumise could give it's Speed IV. Each parent will contribute at least one IV, though. 

Sometimes, the same IV value is chosen, meaning only 2 IVs from the parents influence the child. This only happens however, if the IV value is the same on both parents. If the Volbeat and Illumise both had 14 IV in Attack, and both of their Attack stats were chosen, then the child will have 14 IV in Attack. One other stat is chosen from the parents, not two others (cos 2 of the 3 slots are taken from the Attack value of both parents).

If you are lucky to get a Pokemon with 31 IV (the highest obtainable) in one stat, you can potentially breed children with 31 IV in the same stat. Yes, that means after a lot of breeding (and a whole load of good luck!), it is possible to breed a child with 31 IV in 3 of it's 6 stats. Good luck :-)

Azurill and Wynaut
Azurill and Wynaut are special cases when it comes to breeding. They do not appear when a Marill or Azumarill, or Wobbuffet parent, is bred normally. 

How do I get one, I hear you ask? Well, it's not actually too hard. To get an Azurill child, one of the parents must be holding the Sea Incense item. Otherwise, a Marill will be the child. To get a Wynaut child, one of the parents must be holding the Lax Incense item, else you will just breed a baby Wobbuffet.

FAQs:
Q: What's so good about Ditto?
A: Ditto can breed with any Pokemon that isn't a legendary or a baby. Gender does not matter. Even for genderless Pokemon like Starmie or Metagross, a Ditto can breed and still produce a baby. Ditto even breeds with male Pokemon, so if you want another of those super-rare Pokemon that always seem to be male (the starters, Eevee, Hitmon family), breeding with Ditto still is possible. 
Note that no egg moves are passed on this way (since Transform is not an egg move), and Ditto does not determine the Pokemon in the egg, only the Pokemon it breeds with does. 

Q: What's so good about Smeargle?
A: Smeargle is unique in that it can learn every single move in the game, by using it's signature move, Sketch. When facing an opponent Pokemon, Smeargle uses Sketch, and then Sketch is replaced by the last move a Pokemon used. Even unique moves like Luster Purge and Doom Desire can be gained this way. 
Smeargle is most commonly used to gain Heal Bell from Miltank, because this was the only way a Chansey could be bred with Heal Bell. Now that Skitty and Delcatty can learn Heal Bell naturally, Heal Bell can be bred directly to Chansey. 
Still, that does not dismiss the usefulness of Smeargle. By being able to learn all the moves in the game, Smeargle can succeed in being a notable chain breeder, passing on several moves at once. Complex breeding chains can often be cut down by having Smeargle Sketch the desired moves, and often certain chains only start with Smeargle. 

Q: My Pokemon is male, can I get another?
A: Only by breeding with Ditto.

Q: I can't get my Ditto and my Rayquaza to breed.
A: That's because legendary Pokemon cannot breed, even with Ditto.

Q: Where do I go to breed?
A: Gold/Silver/Crystal players can find their Daycare Centre in Route 34, just outside Goldenrod City. Ruby/Sapphire players can find their Daycare Centre in Route 117, between Verdanturf and Mauville. Fire Red and Leaf Green players will have to wait until they get to Island 4 of the Sevii Islands. Leave both Pokemon that you want to breed in the Daycare Centre, then come back in a while. You should find an egg (which you need to make space for in your squad). 

Q: I have an egg. How do I make it hatch?
A: Walk. No, really. To make an egg hatch, you need to walk several hundreds of steps in game before it hatches. If you are breeding a baby Pokemon, they take the shortest number of steps to hatch, where as some of the more powerful Pokemon like Larvitar take the longest to hatch. Just be patient, and it will hatch eventually. I personally use the Mach Bike (in R/S) to speed things up.