Reproduction is more important than ever to get the strongest Pokémon in scarlet and purple.
However, the daycare cannot be found, so the way to do it is now a bit different.
Instead, you’ll need to master the picnic, including giving your Pokémon the right ingredients in their sandwiches to encourage those eggs.
What hasn’t changed, however, is that breeding is still the best way to get competitive tier Pokemon with Perfect IVsgood abilitiespositive naturesand special egg movements. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to make sure your newly hatched Pokemon are as strong as possible.
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How to Breed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Pokémon breeding in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet can now be done anywhere and anytime, thanks to the picnic system. Each time you have a picnic with two compatible Pokémon there is a chance that they will produce eggs.
There are a few simple rules to this:
- Compatible means a male Pokemon and a female Pokemon in the same egg group.
- If the Pokémon are of different species, the Pokémon hatched from the Egg will be of the same species as the mother.
- However, any Pokémon, regardless of gender or species, can breed with a Ditto, so they are very useful Pokémon to have.
To collect eggs at a picnic, take a look at the basket on the ground near the picnic table.
The basket seems to accumulate eggs while you spend time in picnic mode, even if you stay still, so leave the Switch alone and go do something else if you want.
However, there are ways to speed things up and therefore increase the number of eggs you get. This involves buying ingredients from the various food shops around Paldea.
What sandwich ingredients will increase the Egg Power level?
In order to produce more eggs during picnics, you will need to increase your egg power by using sandwiches. High egg power means eggs will spawn more frequently in the basket near the table.
In the basic menu, the Jam Sandwich will increase your Egg Power.
You can also make a sandwich with Egg Power in creative mode. Many ingredients increase the potency of eggs, including strawberry, banana, apple, watercress, basil, kiwi, and pineapple. For seasonings, you can use jam, whipped cream, olive oil, marmalade and vinegar.
Using more than one of these is usually necessary to ensure the increase in egg potency rather than any other effect. Using several will allow you to get a lot of Eggs very quickly, so stock up!
We now know the basics – how do we influence key things like IVs, moves, abilities, and natures, as well as other factors like the ball it spawns in? Let’s go through all of this one by one.
How to Pass IVs While Breeding in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Breeding is one of the primary ways to ensure your Pokemon have the absolute best stats possible. This is especially important if you want them to hold up in competitions.
IV breeding also seems to work the same in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet as it did in previous games. Hatched Pokémon seem to inherit three randomly selected IVs from the two parent Pokémon, and have three completely randomly set IVs.
However, there are ways to increase the amount of IVs coming from the parent Pokemon.
The first of them uses the power elements: Power Weight, Power Bracer, Power Belt, Power Lends, Power Band and Power Anklet. These should pass the IVs for HP, Attack, Defense, Sp. Atk, sp. Defense and Speed respectively.
This is great if you want to pass a specific stat from parent to child. Power Items can be found in Delibird Gifts, under the General Merchandise menu – costing 10,000 Pokédollars each. (If you need easy money, our explanation of how to make Pokémon Scarlet and Violet money can help.) If they don’t appear, try coming back when you have more Gym badges.
The second method of transmitting IVs is the Destiny Knot. This can be obtained from Delibird Presents in Mesagoza – it costs 20,000 Pokédollars – although you may need several Gym badges first.
It appears that if a parent Pokémon holds the Destiny Knot, five IVs will be taken from both parents, instead of three. While it’s still random, it means there’s a higher chance that the child Pokemon will get good stats if the parents are also strong.
How to pass Egg Moves by spawning in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Egg moves are moves a Pokemon can only learn by breeding – sort of. There’s actually a new twist on this in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that we’ll get to in a second!
Egg moves can be passed on when either parent Pokemon knows a particular move that the child Pokemon wouldn’t normally know, but can learn from this method.
Usually a father Pokemon of a different species will be used that knows the move, with the mother Pokemon determining the species of the child Pokemon. In this way, unusual movements can be transmitted.
Chains can also be developed with certain moves and Pokemon if you look closely at move pools and egg groups.
However, as I mentioned, there is an extra twist added in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. During a picnic, if a Pokemon is holding the Mirror Grass and has a free slot in its move list, it can learn certain egg moves from other Pokemon in the picnic. Confusingly, there is no actual egg required!
This makes getting Egg Moves much easier. For example, I was able to move Eevee the Curse just by having a picnic with Eevee and a Sandygast and waiting a few minutes.
Mirror Grass can be purchased from Delibird Presents for 30,000 Pokédollars, in the Battle Items menu. If it doesn’t appear, try to come back when you have more Gym badges.
How to Pass Abilities by Breeding in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
It seems that passing abilities works the same way as in other recent Pokemon games.
If a Pokémon can have more than one talent, it’s more likely to hatch with the same one the parent Pokémon had. However, it could still hatch with the other ability, it’s just less likely.
If the mother Pokemon has a hidden ability, it can also be passed down to the hatched Pokemon. It also appears that the Pokemon father can pass on hidden abilities if raised with a Ditto.
Our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough can guide you through the game, including The First Day of School, Victory Road, Starfall Street, Path of Legends, and when you’re ready, The Way Home, and the final boss. Elsewhere, we can help you with the Normal Gym test secret items menu, version differences, the best Scarlet and Violet starter, and learning to fly, swim, climb, and dash. As for individual Pokemon, we can help with Gimmighoul, Ditto, Bellibolt, Pawmot, Scovillain, Frigibax, Sinistea, Brambleghast, Farigiraf, Dudunsparce, Lycanrock, Armarouge, and Ceruledge forms.
How to pass natures by breeding in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Natures seem to be randomly selected for Pokemon children. However, if you give the parent Pokemon an Everstone to hold, chances are the hatched Pokemon will have the same Nature. This works for both male and female parent Pokemon.
Everstones can be purchased from Delibird Presents for 3,000 Pokédollars each, although you may need to have Gym badges under your belt for them to appear.
How to pass Poké Balls by breeding in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet appear to work like other previous Pokémon games, meaning hatched Pokémon will come in the same Poké Ball as the parent Pokémon. If the parent Pokemon comes in different balls, it will be a random chance that will be passed down.
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