At first, the only way to get your hands on a new Pokémon was to go out into the tall grass, do battle, and catch one in a Pokéball. That, or you could link up with a friend and trade. As the series has gone on, the methods for getting new Pokémon have increased. One of the newer methods popular enough to continue on through the generations, all the way up to Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, is Pokémon breeding. This fun new system is useful for casual players, but is essential if you want to breed the most powerful Pokémon in the game.
Breeding Pokémon isn’t new, and the basics are fairly easy to grasp. It isn’t something that will happen without your input, though, so you will need to learn a few steps to get the process going. If you want to take advantage of this system, things can get pretty complex. However far you want to get into it, we’ll tell you all you need to know about how to breed Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
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How to start breeding Pokémon
While it may not sound like the place you’d go to until after the breeding process was completed, the place you need to go to get started producing new Pokémon offspring is the Pokémon Nursery. You will find the nursery in Solaceon Town, which is located between Route 209 and Route 210. Simply enter the building and talk to the Pokémon Nursery Lady to drop off two Pokémon. These need to be one of each Pokémon gender, one male and one female, in order to have a chance to breed and create an egg. The egg will hatch into the same Pokémon that the female of the pair used in the breeding process is.
Not any two Pokémon, regardless of whether they’re male and female, can breed. For one, the two-parent Pokémon must also both come from the same Egg Group. There are 15 total Egg Groups consisting of:
- Grass
- Bug
- Flying
- Human-like
- Monster
- Fairy
- Dragon
- Mineral
- Field
- Amorphous
- Water 1
- Water 2
- Water 3
- Undiscovered
- Ditto
Ditto is the odd group out here since, aside from Undiscovered, it can breed with any other Egg Group. It is also worth noting that some Pokémon, just like with types, can belong to multiple Egg Groups. So if one Pokémon is in the Field and the Human-like Egg Group, it will be able to breed with any Pokémon from either of those Egg Groups.
Once you’ve selected which two Pokémon you will leave in the nursery to breed, you will have to wait a bit before an egg is actually produced. You could simply leave, do some other things, and check back in later, but there is a way you can keep closer tabs on when to come back.
Inside the Pokémon Nursery is a male NPC you should speak to who will give you the Egg Monitor Poketech App that lets you check on the status of the Pokémon you’ve left in the nursery. When it tells you it’s ready, just head back and talk to the Pokémon Nursery Lady and she will give you a brand new Pokémon egg. Once it hatches, you will have a brand new Pokémon for your party.
How to get and hatch eggs
Leaving a pair of compatible Pokémon in the Pokémon Nursery is the first and most common way you can get an egg. There’s also the Pokémon Nursery Man standing outside who, when facing the road, will have an egg he will simply give to you if you speak to him. Whichever way you get it, once you have an egg, just like in Pokémon Go, you will need to walk while it’s in your party in order to get it to hatch. How many steps you need to take will vary from egg to egg depending on what Pokémon it will be, but there are ways to speed up the hatching process.
First, steps in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl don’t actually have to be steps, but distance traveled on your bike. Find yourself a nice, long stretch of land, preferably with no wild Pokémon on it, and start doing laps. There’s even a nice path between Route 209, going through Solaceon Town, and Route 210 you can go up and down without fear of getting into battle. Or, you can just find a small space and ride in circles if you like.
To really cut down on time, though, you will want a Pokémon with either Magma Armor or Flame Body in your party with the egg. Having a Pokémon with either of these will cut the time it takes, or distance you need to travel rather, for the egg to hatch in half. A Camerupt, Ponyta, Magcargo, and Magmar can all get these moves.
Best items for breeding
When breeding Pokémon, there are three important items you will want to make sure you utilize in order to get the most out of your efforts. These are the Oval Charm, Everstone, and Destiny Knot.
The Oval Charm is the simplest, so let’s start there. Simply having this charm equipped on your bag increases the chances of eggs being found at the Pokémon Nursery. This will make your entire breeding process, at least up until you need to hatch the egg, go much faster. To get the Oval Charm you need to beat the Elite Four and become the Pokémon League Champion, opening up access to Route 213. On this route, go to the Hotel Grand Lake and find the trainer named Morimoto swimming in the outdoor pool. Beat him in a battle and he’ll hand over an Oval Charm.
The Everstone has two primary uses. The first is that any Pokémon holding it won’t evolve, but when a Pokémon is holding it while breeding it will guarantee that the Nature of the Pokémon holding it will be passed on to the offspring. For high-level players, getting a Pokémon with the right Nature is key, making this an invaluable item to have while breeding. There are two ways you can get your hands on an Everstone. The first is by getting lucky while digging in the Grand Underground.
The other way to get an Everstone is to go to Snowpoint City, which is where you fight the seventh gym leader in the main game. Go into a small house in the northeast of the city and talk to a woman inside while you have a Medicham. She will ask if you want to trade it for her Haunter, which you should agree to. This Haunter will always be holding an Everstone.
Finally, there’s the Destiny Knot. This is another must-have item for trainers breeding their Pokémon for maximum potential. Any Pokémon used in breeding that is holding this item will pass down five out of their six IVs to their baby Pokémon. So, if you’re looking to pass on all the strongest traits to create the ultimate Pokémon, you can save yourself a ton of time and headaches by grabbing a Destiny Knot.
You will get a Destiny Knot by going to Route 224, which only becomes available after defeating the Elite Four and gaining access to Victory Road and having the National Pokédex. Once inside, travel north until you reach the water and then head east. Eventually, you will come across two trainers near a tree. Fight or avoid them to go up the stairs beside them and pick up the Destiny Knot.
Advanced breeding tips
Here are a few basic tips to make the most of the breeding system if you’re looking to use it to make the absolute best possible Pokémon.
- Unlock the Judge function by beating the Elite Four and talking to a man in the Battle Tower so you can check Pokémon IVs.
- Get high-level Dittos and give them the Destiny Knot.
- Swap out the Pokémon you’re breeding with as the children get better IVs.
- Check to see if any Pokémon you want have special requirements for breeding.
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