Wanna get Pokemon with perfect IVs? If that’s the case, then you need to learn how to breed Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet!
Since its inception in Generation 2, Pokemon breeding became a vital method that allows players to build a competitive team, either for the purpose of battling other players or defeating a region’s Elite Four and Champion with ease.
But whatever your reason might be, the breeding process in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is nothing like we’ve seen in the previous games.
To help you get started, we prepared the most detailed beginner-friendly guide that you can use to master the art of breeding Pokemon in Paldea.
How to Breed Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet?
If you’re familiar with the conventional breeding method in old Pokemon games, you might expect that it’s going to be a bit similar in Scarlet and Violet.
However, the devs came up with a completely different way to breed Pokemon in Generation 9, so they scrapped the Pokemon Day Care mechanic and replaced it with picnics.
Yes, you’ve heard it right. While it’s pretty weird to have two Pokemon do “the thing” on a picnic, it’s actually less-time consuming than leaving them in the Day Care.
Here’s how you can do it:
Step 1: Pick a Pokemon You Want to Breed
Ensure that your chosen Pokemon is a female so it will lay eggs containing your desired Pokemon. Let’s use this female Haxorus as an example.
If we breed this Pokemon, we’ll end up with eggs containing its basic form, Axew.
Step 2: Pick a Male Pokemon From the Same Egg Group as the Female Pokemon
There are currently 15 available egg groups in Pokemon, and our female Haxorus belongs to the Dragon and Monster groups. This means we need a Pokemon that belongs to either Dragon or Monster, so we’ll pick a male Garchomp.
Alternatively, you can get a Ditto to replace the male or female Pokemon, as the Ditto egg group is compatible with all egg groups (except Undiscovered) and genders, although it cannot breed its own kind.
Step 3: Put the Male and Female Pokemon in Your Party
These two compatible Pokemon will become parents to a bunch of eggs that you’re going to hatch later.
Step 4: Host a Picnic
Find a place spacious enough for your Pokemon to move around, preferably in places away from cities and towns.
You can host a picnic by selecting the Picnic option from the Main Menu.
Step 5: Wait and Check the Picnic Basket for Eggs
You don’t need to walk around waiting for the eggs to appear. Wait for a while and check the basket below the table for eggs.
You can increase the odds of finding eggs by eating sandwiches and meals that raise Egg Power.
The following are sandwiches and meals that improve Egg Power in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet:
- Dessert Sandwich
- Fruit Sandwich
- Marmalade Sandwich
- Peanut Butter Sandwich
- Sweet Sandwich
- Tropical Sandwich
- Tofu Sandwich
- Paella de Paldea (Go-For-Broke Grill)
- Potato Tortilla (Go-For-Broke Grill)
- Smoke Fillet with Herbs (Seafood Fresco)
- Four-Piece Sushi (Moon Set) (Sushi High Roller)
- Exclusive Four-Piece Sushi (Frost Set) (Sushi High Roller Sp)
- Exclusive Four-Piece Sushi (Hail Set) (Sushi High Roller Sp)
- Annin Tofu (Jade Palace Garden)
- Pickled Toedscool and Cucumber (Jade Palace Garden)
- Pepper Steak (Jade Palace Garden)
- Compote du Fils (Gastronome En Famille)
- Quiche de la Grand-mère (Gastronome En Famille)
- Salisbury Steak with Fried Fixings (Barato’s)
- Lemon Soda (Seabreeze Café)
- Quesadilla (Seabreeze Café)
- Five-Alarm Sandwich (Cafeteria)
- Egg Sandwich (Cafeteria)
- Homemade Umeboshi (Treasure Eatery)
- Soba Noodle Soup (Treasure Eatery)
- Dandan Noodles (Kofu Lounge)
- Hot and Sour Soup (Kofu Lounge)
- Cinnamon Churro (Smoochurro)
- Grilled Rice Balls (Chic Kebab)
- Strawberry Chocolate Crepe (Kanto Crepes)
- Chocolate Banana Crepe (Kanto Crepes)
- Mint Chocolate Ice Cream (Sugar-N-Ice)
- Strawberry Ice Cream (Sugar-N-Ice)
- Teriyaki Ice Cream (Sugar-N-Ice)
- Candy Pinap Berry (Candy Fruit Stand at Kitakami Hall)
- Academy Special (Blueberry Academy Cafeteria)
- Great Dessert Sandwich
- Great Fruit Sandwich
- Great Marmalade Sandwich
- Great Peanut Butter Sandwich
- Great Sweet Sandwich
- Jam Sandwich
- Ultra Dessert Sandwich
- Ultra Fruit Sandwich
- Ultra Jam Sandwich
- Ultra Marmalade Sandwich
- Ultra Peanut Butter Sandwich
- Ultra Pickle Sandwich
- Ultra Sweet Sandwich
Remember that the basket can only hold a max of 10 eggs, so you better check for eggs once every five to six minutes.
All eggs you received while hosting a picnic will be automatically transferred to your boxes.
Step 6: Move the Eggs to Your Party
Now that you have a lot of eggs, it’s time to make them hatch. Move a set of five eggs to your party and get a Pokemon with a Flame Body ability.
Flame Body ability reduces the steps you need to take when hatching eggs in your party by as much as 50%. You can hatch lots of eggs faster this way.
Here are the Pokemon with Flame Body in Scarlet and Violet:
- Rolycoly
- Carkol
- Coalossal
- Fletchling
- Fletchinder
- Talonflame
- Larvesta
- Volcarona
- Charcadet
Step 7: Move Around Until an Egg Hatches
Use Koraidon or Miraidon to move around until you’ve taken enough steps for an egg to hatch.
Congratulations, you just completed a breeding process in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet!
Advanced Breeding Tips in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Passing Down IVs
To pass down IVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll need a parent Pokemon to hold an item called Destiny Knot.
Destiny Knot will allow the parent Pokemon to pass down 5 of their IVs to their children. These IVs will be random, so it’s better if both parent Pokemon have almost perfect IVs.
You can capture Pokemon with at least five perfect IVs from 6-Star Tera Raids. The best Pokemon to get for these raids would be a Ditto, as you can breed it with any female Pokemon.
Passing Down Nature
When breeding a Pokemon with certain Nature, you can have a parent Pokemon with your desired Nature hold an Everstone.
For example, if you have a Pokemon with a Modest nature hold an Everstone, its children will have a 50% chance of getting a Modest nature as well.
Checking the IVs of Your Pokemon
To know the IVs of your Pokemon, you need to unlock the Judge feature after beating the game’s main story.
To use the Judge feature in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, go to Boxes and press the + button twice.
Each base stat will have a specific IV Rating attached to it. Perfect IVs (31) have a rating of Best.
Here is a list of all IV Ratings with their corresponding values:
| IV Rating | Value |
|---|---|
| Best | 31 |
| Fantastic | 30 |
| Very Good | 26-29 |
| Pretty Good | 16-25 |
| Decent | 1-15 |
| No Good | 0 |
Breeding Shiny Pokemon
Shiny hunting via breeding remains the same in Scarlet and Violet. You can increase the chances of hatching shinies by using the Masuda method, or breeding Pokemon parents of different languages.
You can even further stack the odds by getting a Shiny Charm once you completed the Paldea Pokedex.
Learning Egg Moves
To learn egg moves in Scarlet and Violet, you’ll need a specific Pokemon that knows your target egg move.
There’s no need to hatch eggs for this one, since egg moves are now transferrable from one Pokemon to another by hosting a picnic and having the receiving Pokemon hold a Mirror Herb. You can buy this item at Cascarrafa’s Delibird Presents.
Just have a Pokemon with the target egg move mingle with the receiving Pokemon and once you close the picnic, the receiving Pokemon should have the egg move.
Conclusion
With the knowledge of how to breed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you can now build your dream Pokemon team and challenge everyone to an epic battle!
While the breeding process for these games is quite unorthodox, waiting for eggs is now a less taxing activity, so you can focus more on EV training and determining the movesets for your Pokemon.
Before you start breeding, don’t forget two important items: the Destiny Knot and Everstone! You can purchase them anytime at the Delibird Presents at Mesagoza.
Did you enjoy reading this guide? For more Pokemon-related contents, check out our guide articles here at Pokemoncoders:
- How to Get Hidden Ability in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
- How to Get False Swipe TM in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
- How to Evolve Charcadet in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
- Want a Shiny Gimmighoul? Here’s the Only Way to Find One
