Perfect IVs
Alright, now it is time to get into the good stuff. Just to be sure you understand, let’s go over what IVs are and how they work. Each Pokemon has six individual stats that make up how well they function in combat. Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed, and HP. These should be self-explanatory, but what isn’t is how these numbers come about. Of course, each breed of Pokemon will have different levels for each stat, but on top of this are IVs, or individual values. Each Pokemon stat has a number associated with it to determine how close to its full potential it will be. So, if a Pokemon has a perfect IV for HP then at max level, forgoing other modifiers like Nature, it will have the highest HP it can possibly have. This is why you want perfect IVs for your Pokemon, because they make it so it fully lives up to its potential, maxing out its stats as best it can.
Let’s set the stage here, you have a random Bulbasaur and a Ditto with three perfect IVs. To check how many of your current Pokemon’s IVs are perfect you’ll head to the Battle Resort, which is handy since that’s also where the Day Care is located. There is a man in the Pokemon Center who will check out your Bulbasaur and tell you which of his IVs are perfect (he’ll say they “can’t be beat” if they are). Let’s assume that you are starting with none. Your end goal is to have a Bulbasaur with six perfect IVs. To do this you’ll need to do a ton of breeding, as a lot of the parts to the process are random and outside of your control. However, you can easily influence things to nudge the odds into your favor. Let’s break down exactly what is going to happen when you leave these two Pokemon at the Day Care.
The six IVs from each Pokemon will be thrown into a pile together, resulting in twelve numbers with only three being the ones you actually desire. When the egg is created a random set of three IVs will be chosen and passed down meaning the odds of all three happening are rare. You can increase these by having either of the Pokemon hold the Destiny Knot, which will make it so that five stats are passed down to the new Pokemon. After enough breeding you end up with a Bulbasaur with two of the perfect IVs you are looking to pass down, you should now switch out the Bulbasaur at the Day Care with the new one, thus increasing the odds of passing down the perfect IVs. However, here is where you will need multiple Dittos with varying perfect IVs.
You finally have a Bulbasaur that gets the three stats, we’ll say they were HP, Attack, and Defense. Now what? Now you had better have some backup Dittos with the other stats you are looking to breed for. If you are really lucky you’ll have a Ditto with Special Defense, Special Attack, and Speed, allowing you to simply swap between the two, however you might have to stack a few times. Of course, if you were paying attention you would have noticed that even with the Destiny Knot you can only breed for five stats. Unfortunately that final, sixth stat is going to be randomly chosen for you and can never be bred for. A Pokemon with five perfect IVs will probably be where you stop breeding, so try to pick the five that work best for your play-style and go for those first. If you do end up with six perfect IVs then thank Arceus and move on.
Nature and the Rest
The only other major concern to have while breeding is the Nature of the Pokemon you want to have. Nature impacts two stats, dropping one while boosting the other. Again, this is where you’ll need to decide which stats work best for you and go for those. To figure out which Nature you want to go for, check out this chart from Bulbapedia:
The Nature of your bred Pokemon will be randomly assigned unless one of the parents is holding the Everstone. So, if you Bulbasaur or Ditto have the Nature that you want, simply have them hold it and you should end up with the proper Nature in the end.
There are also hidden abilities, which are modifiers to how your Pokemon functions. If you care about these then you’ll want to pay attention to the gender of your Pokemon, as the female is 60% likely to pass down their hidden ability. This doesn’t really come int play when using Dittos though, which will also allow the male to pass the ability along. If you care about the hidden ability of your Pokemon, just keep breeding using the same methods above until it is passed along.
That should be it. Follow this guide and you should end up with some fantastic Pokemon on your team. It is a pretty complicated process, so let us know in the comments if we messed anything up, or if there is a better way to handle things. Or let us know if you have any questions.
