This page describes how to breed Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (BDSP).

Pokémon breeding can be very simple or very complicated depending on what you want. Let’s start with the basics: breeding lets you create more of the same Pokémon. Handy if you want to share your starter Pokémon or version-exclusive Pokémon with other people. Besides that, it can be used to create truly exceptional Pokémon.

How it Works¶

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(1 of 2) The Pokémon Nursery in Solaceon Town.

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The Pokémon Nursery in Solaceon Town. (left), You can leave two Pokémon here and they may breed if the conditions are right. (right)

Breeding can be done once you reach the Pokémon Nursery found in Solaceon Town, a short distance east from Mt. Coronet. When you speak to the nursery worker inside, you can leave up to two Pokémon in the nursery’s care, at the cost of 500 Poké Dollars per Pokémon.

These two Pokémon will breed if the following critera are met:

1. Both Pokémon are capable of breeding. This might seem obvious, but some Pokémon cannot breed, full stop. This includes nearly all Legendary Pokémon, as well as baby Pokémon (like Riolu).

2. One of the Pokémon is male and the other is female. There is a valuable loophole: Ditto, the Pokémon, can be substituted for any male or female Pokémon. However, you cannot breed two Ditto together.

3. The two Pokémon belong to compatible egg groups. This one’s a bit harder to figure out. Every Pokémon belongs to one or more egg groups–and they can only breed with Pokémon from the same group(s). Eg. Piplup is in the “Water 1” and “Ground” groups.

Pokémon Eggs¶

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(1 of 2) The old man will face right when an egg is available.

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The old man will face right when an egg is available. (left), The egg will be placed in your party if there’s space; otherwise, it’ll go in a box. (right)

After dropping off your Pokémon, run/bike around for a while. Eventually, the old man outside the nursery will look in a different direction. Speak to him and he’ll ask if you want to receive a Pokémon Egg. Answer “yes”, unless you’ve changed your mind.

To increase the rate of getting eggs, you can breed two Pokémon of the same species and/or Pokémon with different trainer ID numbers. You can also obtain the Oval Charm during the postgame, by defeating Morimoto at Route 213, in the swimming pool.

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(1 of 2) Keep the egg in your party and run around/ride your bicycle and it’ll eventually hatch.

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Keep the egg in your party and run around/ride your bicycle and it’ll eventually hatch. (left), The newly hatched Pokémon will be Level 1 and in its unevolved form. (right)

Once you’ve got an egg, simply keep it in your party and travel around. After a certain number of steps–the number of which depends on the Pokémon species–the egg will hatch.

Inheritance¶

The Pokémon that hatches from the egg will have the following properties:

1. It will be the same species as the female, but unevolved (or the male, if you bred it with a Ditto). Note that some Pokémon may require a specific Incense item to be held, in order to hatch the unevolved form.

2. By default, it will have a completely random Nature, just like a Pokémon met in the wild. However, if one of the parents is holding an Everstone item, the child will inherit that parent’s Nature 100% of the time.

3. There’s a 60% chance it will have the female’s Ability (or the male’s, if you bred it with a Ditto). This is also true for Hidden Abilities. The other 40% of the time, it will have one of its standard Abilities (with a 20/20 split if it has two).

4. Certain moves that the parents have, which the child cannot learn by leveling up, may be inherited–these are called Egg Moves. Moves currently shared by both parents may be inherited as well.

5. A total of 3 IVs will be inherited from the parents. Which stats and which parent to inherit from are randomly assigned. If one of the parents is holding a Destiny Knot item, a total of 5 IVs will be inherited instead! The remaining IV(s) will be random.

6. Lastly, the child will inherit the Poké Ball that the parents were caught with. If the parents have different balls, the chance will be split 50/50. If Ditto is a parent, it will be in the non-Ditto parent’s ball. Master and Cherish Balls will not pass down.

What is not passed down by breeding:

1. Shininess (but any hatched Pokémon has the potential to be shiny).

2. TMs learned by the parents.

3. The parents’ EVs.

4. The parents’ Hyper Trained IVs.