The process ofbreeding (Japanese:育(そだ)てるraise or増(ふ)やすincrease) refers toraising and hatchingPokémon fromEggs with the goal of obtaining a Pokémon with a particular trait. People who specialize in Pokémon breeding are known asPokémon Breeders. The termbreeding (Japanese:増(ふ)えるincrease or繁殖(はんしょく)reproduction) can also refer to the process through which Pokémon produce offspring and increase in population itself.

In the core series games

How to breed

InGeneration II throughGeneration VI, two compatible Pokémon can breed when left at thePokémon Day Care. InGeneration VII andGeneration VIII, this is instead done by leaving two compatible Pokémon at thePokémon Nursery. InGeneration IX, having apicnic with two or more compatible Pokémon allows for them to breed (regardless of whether the Pokémon are in the player'sparty or other players' Pokémon visiting via theUnion Circle). Breeding is absent inGeneration I,Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!,Pokémon Legends: Arceus andPokémon Legends: Z-A.

Two Pokémon are compatible if they share at least oneEgg Group and are of oppositegenders. As an exception,Ditto is compatible with almost all Pokémon regardless of gender (which is the only way forgender unknown Pokémon to breed). Pokémon in theNo Eggs Discovered Egg Group cannot breed in any way whatsoever, and Ditto also cannot breed with another Ditto.

In Generation II only, if theDefenseIVs of two Pokémon are the same and theSpecial IVs are either the same or differ by 8, they cannot produce Eggs. Because of how IVs are passed down from parents, this condition suggests the Pokémon are related.

Locations

Pokémon Day Cares and Pokémon Nurseries can be found in the following locations:

Breeding rate

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Scarlet and Violet Egg generation mechanics chart,Datamined mechanics link

The chance of any two Pokémon producing an Egg is determined by their species (twoBulbasaur are the same species, while Bulbasaur andIvysaur are not) and theirOriginal Trainers.

InGeneration III or later, theDay-Care Man will describe the two Pokémon's compatibility when the player speaks to him. An Egg may be generated after every 256steps the player takes.

Species	Original Trainer	Quote	Chance for Egg
Same	Different	"The two seem to get along very well!" Man: "Those two seem to get along like a house on fire."ORAS Lad/Lady: "They really seem to like hanging out!"ORASSM	70%Standard 88%with Oval Charm
Same	Same	"The two seem to get along." Man: "Those two seem peaceable enough toward each other." /Lad: "The two seem to get along all right."ORAS Lady: "They seem to get along all right."SM	50%Standard 80%with Oval Charm
Different	Different
Different	Same	"The two don'treally seem to like each othervery much." Man: "But I have to say, those two don’t seem to like each other all that much." /Lad: "But they don’t seem to like each other very much..."ORAS Lady: "They don't seem to like each other very much, though."SM	20%Standard 40%with Oval Charm
Different Egg Groups, same gender, No Eggs Discovered Group, or both in Ditto Group		"The two prefer to play with other Pokémonmore thanwith each other." Man: "Those two would really rather play with other Pokémon, though, and not each other." /Lad: "Seems they’d rather play with other Pokémon—not so much with each other."ORAS Lady: "They don't seem to like playing together, though."SM	0%

The chances of finding an Egg are different in Generation II, and the compatibility can be checked by interacting with the Pokémon themselves instead of with the Day-Care Man. An Egg may be generated according to the probabilities below after depositing two compatible Pokémon or receiving an Egg and taking a random number of steps between 150 and 255, or after the previous check and taking a random number of steps between 1 and 256.^[1][2]

Receiving the Egg

When there are two compatible Pokémon in the Day Care or Nursery, the game will periodically decide whether the NPC standing outside the facility has found an Egg, with the chances depending on the compatibility of the two Pokémon as detailed in the section above.

If an Egg was produced, the NPC will move from their default position so that the player can know they have an Egg.

• InGeneration II, the Day-Care Man will appear in the Day Care's yard.
• InGeneration III, the Day-Care Man will step out of line with the fence.
• InDiamond, Pearl, andPlatinum, the Day-Care Man will face the road instead of facing down.
• InHeartGold and SoulSilver, the Day-Care Man will face left or right instead of down and call the player over thePokégear.
• InGeneration V, the Day-Care Man will call out to the player when they are passing by on the road below, unless the player's party is full.
• InGeneration VI, the Day-Care Man will face the road instead of in towards the Day Care.
• InGeneration VII andGeneration VIII, the Pokémon Nursery lady will fold her arms, with her right hand under her chin.

The NPC will hand the player anEgg if the player replies that they want it. If the player replies they do not want the Egg, the NPC will permanently keep it. Prior to Generation VII, the player will only be given the Egg if they have an empty slot in theirparty for it to fill; if the player says they want the Egg but does not have a spare slot, the Day-Care Man will keep it until the player next speaks to him, at which point he will offer it again. In Generation VII and Generation VIII, the player no longer needs an empty slot in the party to accept an Egg, with any Eggs accepted with a full party being automatically sent to aBox.

InGeneration IX, Eggs will appear duringpicnics in the basket in front of the picnic table while any two compatible Pokémon are in the picnic (including both the player'sparty and any other players' Pokémon also present via theUnion Circle). When an Egg is collected from the basket, it is automatically sent to a Box. More than one Egg can be found in the basket at once.

What will hatch

After taking enough steps, the Egg will hatch into alevel 5 (Generation II andIII) or level 1 (Generation IV onward) first-stage Pokémon of the female species's (or non-Ditto parent's) evolutionarychain.

Parents		Offspring
Same species breeding
Krookodile♂	Krookodile♀	Sandile
Ditto breeding
Dragapult	Ditto	Dreepy
SameEvolution family breeding
Armarouge♂	Ceruledge♀	Charcadet
SameEgg Group breeding
Infernape♂	Medicham♀	Meditite
Field/Human-Like	Human-Like	Human-Like
No Eggs Discovered Egg Group breeding
		None
Great Tusk	Iron Treads	None
No Eggs Discovered	No Eggs Discovered	N/A
DifferentEgg Group breeding
		None
Torterra♂	Staraptor♀	None
Monster/Grass	Flying	N/A
Samegender breeding
		None
Empoleon♀	Empoleon♀	None
Water 1/Field	Water 1/Field	N/A

Gender-counterpart species

There are two pairs of Pokémon families where the male and female are different species. In these cases, an Egg produced has an even chance to hatch into either the male or female variant. The pairs are the following:

Parents		Offspring
Poison Pin Pokémon
Nidoran♀	Any compatible Pokémon	Nidoran♀
		Nidoran♂
Nidoran♂, Nidorino, orNidoking	Ditto	Nidoran♀*
		Nidoran♂
Firefly Pokémon
Illumise	Any compatible Pokémon	Volbeat
		Illumise
Volbeat	Ditto	Volbeat
		Illumise*

Incense breeding

Prior toGeneration IX, there were several Pokémon which could produce two different kinds of Eggs, with ababy Pokémon being produced only if a parent of the Eggheld a specificincense when it was produced. Starting in Generation IX, these Pokémon will always produce the baby Pokémon regardless of held item.

Parents		Item	Offspring
Marill and Azumarill
		Sea Incense
		No item
Marill	Azumarill	Azurill
		Marill
Wobbuffet
		Lax Incense
		No item
Wobbuffet		Wynaut
		Wobbuffet
Roselia and Roserade
		Rose Incense
		No item
Roselia	Roserade	Budew
		Roselia
Chimecho
		Pure Incense
		No item
Chimecho		Chingling
		Chimecho
Sudowoodo
		Rock Incense
		No item
Sudowoodo		Bonsly
		Sudowoodo
Mr. Mime and Mr. Rime
		Odd Incense
		No item
Mr. Mime	Mr. Rime	Mime Jr.
		Mr. Mime
Chansey and Blissey
		Luck Incense
		No item
Chansey	Blissey	Happiny
		Chansey
Mantine
		Wave Incense
		No item
Mantine		Mantyke
		Mantine
Snorlax
		Full Incense
		No item
Snorlax		Munchlax
		Snorlax

Regional forms

If a Pokémon hasregional forms, then its offspring will always hatch into the form native to that region. However, if a parent of a foreign form is holding anEverstone and is from the same evolutionary line as the offspring, then the offspring will hatch into that parent's form.

Parents		Offspring
InPaldea
Wooper♂	Wooper♀	PaldeanWooper
PaldeanWooper♂	Quagsire♀ Everstone	Wooper
Quagsire♂ Everstone	Ditto	Wooper
Psyduck♂ Everstone	Wooper♀	PaldeanWooper

Other

There is one special case, where a Pokémon can produce offspring that cannot evolve into it exclusively, and they are not gender counterparts.

Parents		Offspring
Ditto breeding
Manaphy	Ditto	Phione
Phione	Ditto	Phione

Hatching Eggs

Main article:Pokémon Egg

The time it takes for an Egg to hatch depends on its species's required number ofEgg cycles.Magikarp have the fewest Egg cycles, meaning they hatch the fastest. Some baby Pokémon in theNo Eggs Discovered Egg Group, such asCleffa,Pichu, andIgglybuff, hatch quickly as well. Besides these, most Pokémon take considerable time to hatch. Most Fossil Pokémon such asArchen andAnorith takes slightly long time to hatch. Rare and powerful Pokémon, such asDratini,Bagon,Axew,Indeedee,Beldum,Larvitar,Chansey, and more, start with a high number of Egg cycles and take a long time to hatch. MostLegendary Pokémon have a very high number of Egg cycles, although it is impossible to get these Pokémon from an Egg in-game.

"Time" is actually determined by Egg cycle completion, which is determined by in-game steps or biking. An Egg cycle is a counted number of steps that activates breeding-related programs in the game. One Egg cycle lasts 256 steps inGenerationsII andIII, 255 steps inGeneration IV, 257 steps in GenerationsV toVII, and 128 steps in later generations. When the game reaches the end of an Egg cycle, it does a few things: the step counter for the cycle is reset to zero, the game randomly decides if an Egg is to be found at the Day Care (if compatible Pokémon are present in the Day Care at the time), and all (or only a few) Eggs currently in theplayer'sparty have their Egg cycle count reduced by one. If the Egg cycle count for an Egg reaches zero after being reduced (in Generation II and from Generation V onward) or is zero when it would be reduced (in Generations III and IV), the Egg will begin to hatch. Prior to Generation V and inScarlet and Violet, if an Egg hatches, the game will not subtract an Egg cycle count from the rest of the Eggs after it in the party, ensuring that no two Eggs can hatch at the same time. From Generation V to VIII, if more than one Egg reaches zero at the same time, the first Egg hatches immediately while the rest hatch in order each time the player takes another step. InPokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the player doesn't need to take an extra step as the text box with the "Oh?" message will immediately appear which means that the rest of the Eggs hatch in order sequentially.

In Generations III and IV, the Egg cycle's step counter can be reset by receiving an Egg from the Day-Care Man or the Manaphy Egg from the Mystery Gift delivery man in thePoké Mart. When an Egg is received from one of these people, the game resets the Egg cycle step counter to one in the third generation and to zero in the fourth generation.

As an example, inPokémon X and Y, aMisdreavus Egg starts with 25 Egg cycles, meaning it requires from 6,169 to 6,425 steps to hatch, depending on where the Egg cycle step counter is when the Egg is picked up. After each Egg cycle is completed, the Egg's Egg cycle count will drop by one, first to 24, then 23, then 22, and so on until the Egg cycle count hits zero, at which point the Egg will hatch into Misdreavus.

There are ways to speed up the time required to hatch an Egg. Riding aBicycle reduces the time required simply by making it faster to complete steps. FromPokémon Emerald onward, if a Pokémon withFlame Body,Magma Armor, orSteam Engine is in a player's party, Egg cycles are reduced by two instead of one at the end of an Egg cycle, effectively halving the steps needed to hatch the Egg. In the Misdreavus example, the Egg would start at 25, and withSlugma in the party, the Egg would drop 2 Egg cycle counts after each Egg cycle, to 23 then 21 then 19 and so on, until it finally drops from 1 to 0 and hatches. Having multiple Pokémon with the Ability or one with each will not increase the Egg cycle reduction. Starting from Generation V, Hatching Powers can also be used (either fromPass Powers orO-Powers) to shorten the length of an Egg cycle, making Eggs hatch 1.25, 1.5, or 2× faster depending on the strength of the power used. InPokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Secret Pals in the player'sSecret Base can also use the skill "Take care of an Egg" to reduce an Egg's Egg cycle count by half of its base Egg cycles.

Passing moves down

Themoves obtained by a Pokémon when hatching are as follows:

• By default, the baby Pokémon will start with any moves that it learns at level 1. (InGeneration II andGeneration III, they will know all moves that are level 5 and below in their learnset.)
• If both parents know a move that the baby can learn via leveling up, the Pokémon will inherit that move.
• Prior to Generation VI, if the father knows any moves that areTMs orHMs in that game (and inCrystal, moves that are taught by aMove Tutor) that the baby is also compatible with, it will inherit the move. If a Pokémon species that isgender unknown (such asMagnemite) breeds with Ditto, the resultant baby will inherit any compatible TM or HM moves that the non-Ditto parent knows.
• If the father or, starting in Generation VI, the mother knows any specificEgg Moves that the baby can learn, the baby will inherit the move.
• FromPokémon Emerald onward, if either parent is holding aLight Ball, a bred Pichu will knowVolt Tackle. Volt Tackle cannot be passed down as a normal Egg Move.

If this would result in the baby possessing more than four moves, the moves take priority in the order listed: Volt Tackle, mother's Egg Moves, father's Egg Moves, TM and HM moves, inherited level-up moves, baby's default moveset. The moves passed down will be ordered on the baby Pokémon by the priority listed above.

Starting inGeneration VI, theMove Reminder can teach any Pokémon hatched in a Generation VI or later game any move that it knew when it hatched, if it has forgotten it. Moves that can be taught this way due to inheriting them appear at the top of the Move Reminder's list. However, even if a Pokémon meets the requirements for more than four inherited moves, only the moves it knew when it hatched can be taught by the Move Reminder.

Starting inGeneration IX, a Pokémon with an empty move slot holding aMirror Herb during apicnic can inherit compatible Egg Moves from other Pokémon in the picnic, regardless of Egg Groups, without the need for hatching a new Pokémon.

Inheriting stats

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Generation 7 and swap breeding

A Pokémon'sindividual values are also passed down. This is determined differently between generations.

Generation II

In Generation II games, the baby inherits itsstats from the parent of the opposite gender, unless one parent is Ditto, in which case it inherits the stats from Ditto. The DefenseDV (equivalent toIVs from Generation III onward) is passed, and also either the SpecialDV or the SpecialDV plus or minus 8 (plus for values in the 0-7 range; minus for values in the 8-15 range); the SpecialDV has a 50% chance of remaining the same. Attack and SpeedDVs are determined entirely at random, whereas HP is determined by theDVs of the other four stats, using the same formula for wild Pokémon. The probability of a Pokémon having the sameDVs as its opposite-gender parent is therefore 1/512.

If the DefenseDVs of two partners are the same, and the SpecialDVs are either the same or differ by 8, the two Pokémon are incompatible. This is due to the high likelihood of a family relation, hence the inability to breed.

Generation III

InPokémon Ruby, Sapphire,FireRed and LeafGreen, exactly three of the baby's IVs are inherited from its parents (e.g. if one parent contributes two IVs, its mate will contribute the third). The other three are determined at random, though it is possible that some of these may coincide with those of its parents without actually being inherited.

InPokémon Emerald, the process is similar but more complicated. First, a random IV is passed from one of the parents to the baby. Afterwards, a random IV of any stat (other than HP) is passed from either parent to the baby; if it is the same stat (not necessarily the same IV value, depending on whether or not the same parent passed it on), it will override it. Finally, another random IV of any stat other than HP and Defense is passed from one of the parents to the baby; this IV will override any of the previous two if it is from the same stat. The remaining stats (a number ranging from 3 to 5) are determined at random, again with the possibility of one or more IVs coinciding with those of the parents.

Generation IV

Inheriting IVs inPokémon Diamond and Pearl andPokémon Platinum is determined in the same way as inPokémon Emerald.

FromHeartGold and SoulSilver onward, the baby will inherit three IVs, each from a different stat and from a random parent. In addition, if either parent holds anPower item, the baby will instead receive the IV of the corresponding stat from that parent, then inherit two other random IVs each from a random parent; if both parents hold a Power item, the baby will inherit the corresponding stat to their held item from one of those parents at random. For example, if a parent is holding the Power Anklet, the baby will inherit theSpeed IV from that parent, and it will also inherit two other different IVs from its parents, such as Attack and Special Defense. As another example, if one parent holds a Power Anklet and the other parent holds a Power Weight, the baby will inherit either the Speed IV from the first parent or theHP IV from the second parent, and it will also inherit two different IVs from its parents other than Speed or HP (whichever was successfully inherited will be the one not chosen).

Generation V

Inheriting IVs in Generation V is determined in the same way as inHeartGold and SoulSilver.

Generation VI

FromPokémon X and Y onward, if at least one parent holds aDestiny Knot, the baby will inherit five IVs instead of three.

This can be combined with aPower item to ensure that one desired IV is always inherited; however, the offspring will still inherit only a total of five IVs from its parents (the Power item simply guarantees which IV will be transferred for one of the five that the Destiny Knot allows).

Inheriting Natures

InPokémon Emerald, if the mother (in a male-female pair) orDitto (in a pair that includes Ditto) is holding anEverstone, the baby has a 50% chance of inheriting that Pokémon'sNature.

InPokémon Diamond, Pearl, andPlatinum, inheriting Natures remains the same as in Emerald, except that passing on Natures via anEverstone will not work if the Pokémon have different original languages.

InPokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, whichever Pokémon is holding an Everstone will have a chance of passing down its Nature, regardless of gender, or whether it is breeding with a Ditto.

InPokémon Black and White, inheriting Natures remains the same as in HeartGold and SoulSilver, except that passing on Natures via an Everstone will now work even if the Pokémon are from different original languages.

FromBlack 2 and White 2 onward, if one parent holds an Everstone, its Nature will always be passed down. If both parents are holding an Everstone, a parent's Nature will still always be passed down, but which parent's Nature is passed down is randomly determined.

FromPokémon Sword and Shield onward, a Pokémon that is given amint retains its original Nature and will still pass that Nature down when breeding with an Everstone. However, the mint's stat changes are never inherited and the offspring will default to their Nature's stat boosts.

Inheriting Abilities

In GenerationsIII andIV, Abilities could not be inherited by breeding—an Egg would simply randomly be born with one of its possible Abilities. FromGeneration V onward, parents have a chance to pass down their Ability slot in certain circumstances.

When breeding a female Pokémon with a male Pokémon, only the female Pokémon's Ability is relevant; when breeding a Pokémon with Ditto, only the non-Ditto Pokémon's Ability is relevant. If a parent's Ability is altered viaAbility Patch orAbility Capsule, the new Ability slot is taken into account for breeding.

Rockruff with theAbilityOwn Tempo (which evolves intoLycanroc's Dusk Form) is treated as a separate form, so breeding it uses form inheritance rather than Ability inheritance mechanics.

Regular Abilities

Pokémon with two possible non-Hidden Abilities have a different Ability in slots 1 and 2, while Pokémon with only one possible non-Hidden Ability have the same Ability in both slots.

InBlack 2 and White 2, if a female Pokémon is bred with a male Pokémon (but not when bred with Ditto), there is a 80% chance that its offspring will have the Ability in the same slot as the mother (regardless of whether it is a Hidden Ability or not). Pokémon bred withDitto cannot pass their Abilities down. (InPokémon Black and White, non-Hidden Abilities cannot be passed down.)

ForGeneration VI onward, if the female Pokémon has a non-Hidden Ability, there is a 80% chance that its offspring will have the Ability in the same slot as the mother (regardless of whether it was bred with a male Pokémon or Ditto).

Hidden Abilities

InPokémon Black and White, if a female Pokémon has itsHidden Ability and is bred with a male Pokémon (but not when bred with Ditto), there is a 60% chance that its offspring will have its Hidden Ability; inBlack 2 and White 2, there is instead an 80% chance the offspring will have its Hidden Ability. (Male andgender-unknown Pokémon cannot pass their Ability down in these games.)

FromGeneration VI onward, if a female Pokémon, or any Pokémon bred with Ditto, has aHidden Ability, there is a 60% chance that its offspring will have its Hidden Ability.

If an Egg does not inherit a Hidden Ability from a parent, it can only be born with a non-Hidden Ability.

Inheriting forms

In most cases, if a hatched species has multipleforms (not dependent on in-battle conditions), it will inherit the form of the mother or non-Ditto parent.Burmy will always hatch with the same cloak as its mother, and if bred betweenMothim and Ditto, it will always hatch with a Plant Cloak.Rockruff with theAbilityOwn Tempo, which evolves intoLycanroc's Dusk Form, is treated as a separate form that is inherited by its offspring.Oricorio, which changes its form usingnectar, can also pass down its form by breeding.

There are a few exceptions to this inheritance pattern:

• Rotom will always hatch into its normal form, but this form can be changed afterwards.
• InNintendo 3DS games,Vivillon's pattern depends on the set geographic area of the system at the time the save file it originated from was created, regardless of its parent's pattern. InPokémon Scarlet and Violet, hatchedScatterbug will only evolve into Fancy Pattern Vivillon, regardless of its parent's pattern.
  • The form that Scatterbug will evolve into is predetermined when the Egg is first obtained, not when hatched or evolved.
• Furfrou, whose trims are temporary, will always hatch in its Natural Form.
• Sinistea will always hatch in its Phony Form, regardless of its parent's form.
• Poltchageist will always hatch in its Counterfeit Form, regardless of its parent's form.

Species withregional forms will hatch into whichever form is native to the region they are bred in. However, if a parent of a foreign form and the same evolutionary line is holding anEverstone, the offspring will be of that parent's form instead. If both parents meet this criteria, the mother's form takes priority.

TheGigantamax Factor and theAlpha, Jumbo, and Minimarks cannot be passed down by breeding.

Pokémon such asDunsparce,Wurmple, andTandemaus, where the species or form they will evolve into is predetermined when they are first generated, do not follow form inheritance rules. The forms or species of the parents have no influence on thepersonality value or encryption constant of the offspring.

Inheriting Poké Balls

FromGeneration III* throughV, all Eggs are obtained in standard red-and-whitePoké Balls, regardless of the type of ball either parent was obtained in. In later generations, this is still used as the default ball if another type of ball is not inherited.

Generation II throughV
Parents		Offspring
Great Ball♂	Ultra Ball♀	AlwaysPoké Ball

InGeneration VI, thePoké Ball of the female Pokémon is always passed down to its offspring (even when bred with Ditto); male andgender-unknown Pokémon have no effect on their offspring's Poké Ball in this generation.

Generation VI
Male and female parents
Parents		Offspring
Great Ball♂	Ultra Ball♀	Ultra Ball
Ditto and a female parent
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Ultra Ball♀	Ultra Ball
Ditto and a male parent
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Ultra Ball♂	AlwaysPoké Ball
Ditto &Gender unknown Parents
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Premier Ball	AlwaysPoké Ball

FromGeneration VII onward, usually offspring will have the same Poké Ball as the female Pokémon, or the non-Ditto Pokémon when breeding with Ditto. However, if a male and female Pokémon of the samespecies are bred (regardless of form), the offspring has an equal chance of inheriting either parent's Poké Ball.

Generation VII throughIX
Male and female parents Different species
Parents		Offspring
Great Ball♂	Ultra Ball♀	Ultra Ball
Male and female parents Same species
Parents		Offspring
Moon Ball♂	Ultra Ball♀	50%Moon Ball 50%Ultra Ball
Ditto and a female parent
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Ultra Ball♀	Ultra Ball
Ditto and a male parent
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Great Ball♂	Great Ball
Ditto &Gender unknown Parents
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Premier Ball	Premier Ball

TheMaster Ball,Cherish Ball, andStrange Ball cannot be inherited via breeding. Any offspring that would inherit one of these balls will be in a standard Poké Ball instead.

Master,Cherish, &Strange Ball
Same Species Parents
Parents		Offspring*
Strange Ball♂	Ultra Ball♀	50%Poké Ball 50%Ultra Ball
Different species parents Male has un-inheritable Ball
Parents		Offspring
Strange Ball♂	Ultra Ball♀	Ultra Ball
Different species parents Female has un-inheritable Ball
Parents		Offspring
Ultra Ball♂	Strange Ball♀	AlwaysPoké Ball
Ditto & Non-Ditto Parents
Parents		Offspring
Quick Ball	Strange Ball	AlwaysPoké Ball

Breeding for Shininess

Generation II

InGeneration II, due to Shininess being determined byDVs (equivalent toIVs from Generation III onward) and the fact thatDVs are passed down through breeding, it is possible for an Egg bred from a Shiny Pokémon to have a chance as high as 1/64 of being Shiny itself, but only if the offspring is of the opposite gender as the Shiny parent. This is not possible in any later generations due to Shininess no longer being related toDVs.

Generation III

InGeneration III, a bred Pokémon always has the same chance of being Shiny as any Pokémon met in the wild.

Generation IV

Starting in Generation IV, if the two parents have different languages of origin, the Pokémon in Eggs they produce are more likely to be Shiny due to theMasuda method. The game does this by generating up to four additional personality values if the Pokémon is not Shiny, meaning that the Pokémon is approximately five times as likely to be Shiny (approximately 5/8192 or 1/1639).

Generation V

Starting in Generation V, theMasuda method now generates five additional personality values, meaning that the Pokémon is approximately six times as likely to be Shiny (approximately 6/8192 or 1/1366).

InPokémon Black 2 and White 2, theShiny Charm was introduced, which increases the player's chance of encountering or hatching Shiny Pokémon while in the player's Bag. If the player has the Shiny Charm when an Egg is generated, the game generates two additional personality values if the Pokémon is not Shiny, meaning that the Pokémon is approximately three times as likely to be Shiny (approximately 3/8192 or 1/2731).

The Shiny Charm and Masuda method can both apply at the same time. If they both do, their rerolls stack, resulting in seven additional personality values being generated, meaning that the Pokémon is approximately eight times as likely to be Shiny (approximately 8/8192 or 1/1024).

Generation VI

The overall Shiny rate has been increased to 1/4096. As a result, while the number of rerolls remains the same, the probability of hatching a Shiny Pokémon when using the Masuda method or Shiny Charm has also increased.

• The Masuda method alone generates five additional personality values (approximately 6/4096 or 1/683 chance of a Shiny Pokémon).
• The Shiny Charm alone generates two additional personality values (approximately 3/4096 or 1/1365 chance of a Shiny Pokémon).
• The Masuda method and Shiny Charm together generate up to seven additional personality values (approximately 8/4096 or 1/512 chance of a Shiny Pokémon).

Generation VIII

In Generation VIII, the Masuda method now generates six additional personality values, which would make it more likely to hatch a Shiny Pokémon; however, due to abug, while breeding the original roll is skipped if any bonus rolls are applied. As a result, the Masuda method has the same probability of producing Shiny Pokémon as it does in Generation VII (both with and without the Shiny Charm); while the Shiny Charm alone actually has a lower chance of producing a Shiny Pokémon than it does in Generation VII or wild encounters do with the Shiny Charm alone.^[3][4]

• The Masuda method alone generates a total of six personality values (approximately 6/4096 or 1/683 chance of a Shiny Pokémon).
• The Shiny Charm alone generates a total of two personality values (approximately 2/4096 or 1/2048 chance of a Shiny Pokémon).
• The Masuda method and Shiny Charm together generate a total of eight personality values (approximately 8/4096 or 1/512 chance of a Shiny Pokémon).

Generation IX

ThePokémon Egg Shiny Roll bug from Generation VIII (which affects the effectiveness of the Shiny Charm while breeding) still applies.

The Sparkling Power provided bysandwiches does not affect the chances of an Egg being Shiny.

In the spin-off games

Pokémon Breeder mini

Main article:Pokémon Breeder mini

This section is astub. You canhelp Bulbapedia byexpanding it.

In animation

Inanimation, Pokémon breeding refers to an entire line of work practiced byPokémon Breeders, such asBrock andReggie. Little has been shown and discussed about the literal breeding ofPokémon to produceEggs, but it is assumed to be a part of a Breeder's work.

Pokémon breeding in animation focuses heavily on raising happy and healthy Pokémon and keeping them in top condition bygrooming them well and feeding them nutritiousfood. When preparing Pokémon food, Breeders will carefully select ingredients to ensure that the Pokémon will consume all it needs to grow stronger and healthier.

Breeders are shown to have knowledge on how to treat Pokémonillnesses and injuries by administeringPotions and other medicine. Some Breeders will use amortar and pestle to crush and grind herbs to produceherbal medicine. They also know whichBerries can be used to cure Pokémon fromstatus conditions.

It has been shown thatPokémon Professors get theirfirst partner Pokémon from Breeders who specifically raise and breed them, likeOld Man Swamp fromA Mudkip Mission. There are also a few farm-like facilities that produce Pokémon Eggs of various species. BothAsh andMay have obtained Eggs from such locations.

InFollowing A Maiden's Voyage!,Johanna stated thatDawn would need to learn about breeding in order to become aTop Coordinator. This is becausePokémon Coordinators must care for their Pokémon's appearance and well being, something which requires them to know how to produce nutritious snacks in the form ofPokéblocks andPoffins, as well as to regularly groom them.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Gold's special skill, as described byProfessor Oak, is Pokémon hatching and is known as the "Hatcher" (孵す者Hatcher). He has the ability to draw out the largest potential of a baby Pokémon, having lived with Pokémon his whole life.Togebo andPibu are testaments to that title, and share similar traits with him.

Trivia

• Except for Pokémon species in theNo Eggs Discovered group or withgender unknown, all other known Pokémon species can be indirectly or directly related to each other via their shared Egg Groups, even if no breeding withDitto is involved.
• Nidorina andNidoqueen cannot breed, despite the fact that theNidoran♂ line andNidoran♀ can. This is because Nidorina and Nidoqueen's inability to lay Eggs was established by Japanese media before breeding became a game mechanic.^[5][6] As such, Nidoran♀ is the only Pokémon that loses the ability to breed upon evolving.
• Although allLegendary Pokémon,Mythical Pokémon, andUltra Beasts exceptManaphy andPhione cannot breed in thecore series games,Eggs containingArticuno,Zapdos, andMoltres can be hatched inPokémon Snap, and a babyLugia appears inPokémon the Series: Gold and Silver. Likewise, Manaphy can be hatched from a special Egg transferred fromPokémon Ranger in the Generation IV games.
• When a Pokémon hatches from an Egg during bothGeneration II andGeneration III, it is atlevel 5. However, many Pokémon from the wild can be found between levels 2 and 4, which is below the level of newly hatched Pokémon. This oddity has since been addressed fromGeneration IV onwards, where all hatched Pokémon start at level 1.
  • An additional consequence of this is that level 1 Pokémon cannot be obtained legally until Generation IV.
• FromBlack 2 and White 2 onward, theEverstone can be used to guarantee certain combinations of Pokémon species andNatures, since manyin-game traded Pokémon have fixed Natures. For example,Onix with the Impish Nature can be bred from theSteelix obtained inCyllage City.
• ThePokémon Mansion journals (which predate Generation II's introduction of breeding) describe Mew giving birth as opposed to producing an Egg. This was not changed inPokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, but inPokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the journal instead says "We obtained a new Pokémon from Mew." It is unclear as to whether this is meant literally or metaphorically.
• Due to a bug inPokémon Sword and Shield,GalarianStunfisk is not considered aregional form for the purposes of regional form inheritance.^[7]

In other languages

External links

• Legendary Pokémon's advanced breeding information
• Smogon's detailed guide on breeding and Egg-hatching
• The Ultimate Pokémon Center's Generation II breeding guide (archived)
• Smogon's guide on Egg RNG in Generation VII

References

Related articles

• Chain breeding
• Pokémon Egg

This game mechanic article is part ofProject Games, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on thePokémon games.

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