Breeding and Eggs
How compatibility, Egg Groups, inherited moves, IVs, Natures and Abilities work when you breed Pokémon.
Breeding lets two compatible Pokémon produce an Egg, which hatches into a baby with some of its parents' traits. It started in Pokémon Gold and Silver, and it is how many players make Pokémon with chosen Natures, moves and IVs.
Who can breed
Two Pokémon can breed if they share at least one Egg Group and are of opposite genders. There are 15 Egg Groups, including a Ditto group and a "No Eggs Discovered" group. Pokémon in that last group, such as most legendaries, cannot breed at all. Ditto can breed with almost any Pokémon, including those with unknown gender, but not with another Ditto.
Breeding does not exist in Generation I, Pokémon: Let's Go, Pokémon Legends: Arceus or Pokémon Legends: Z-A. In Generations II to VI you leave Pokémon at the Day Care, in Generations VII and VIII at the Pokémon Nursery, and in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you have a picnic.
What hatches
The Egg hatches into the first stage of the mother's evolutionary line (or the non-Ditto parent's line). It hatches at level 5 in Generations II and III, and at level 1 from Generation IV onward. A Pokémon that has regional forms hatches as the form native to the game's region, unless a parent of a foreign form holds an Everstone.
How long an Egg takes depends on its species' number of Egg cycles. Magikarp need the fewest, while rare or powerful species like Dratini, Larvitar, Bagon and Beldum need many. A Pokémon with Flame Body, Magma Armor or Steam Engine in your party halves the time.
Moves
A baby starts with the moves it learns at level 1. It can also inherit:
- Egg Moves from the father or, since Generation VI, the mother. - Level-up moves that both parents know. - In older games, TM moves known by the father.
If a parent holds a Light Ball, a bred Pichu knows Volt Tackle. In Scarlet and Violet, a Pokémon holding a Mirror Herb with a free move slot can copy Egg Moves during a picnic.
IVs, Natures and Abilities
Normally three IVs are inherited from the parents. If a parent holds a Destiny Knot (Generation VI onwards), five are inherited. A Power item (such as the Power Anklet for Speed) guarantees that one particular IV is passed on.
Since Black 2 and White 2 (Generation V), if either parent holds an Everstone, the baby always gets that parent's Nature. Abilities can be passed on too: there is an 80% chance that a mother with an ordinary Ability passes it down, and a 60% chance for a Hidden Ability. Eggs that do not inherit an Ability get a random ordinary one.
Poké Balls and shinies
In recent games a baby can be born in the same kind of Poké Ball as a parent, and the details depend on the generation. Shininess is not inherited, but it can be made more likely: the Masuda method (parents with different language origins) and the Shiny Charm each add extra shiny chances.
Fun details
Nidorina and Nidoqueen cannot breed, even though the rest of the family can, because Japanese media had already set that before breeding existed. Pokémon that belong to two Egg Groups link otherwise unrelated species together, a trick called chain breeding. Manaphy and Phione are the only Legendary or Mythical Pokémon that can breed.