Part 2: Breeding Tools

Now that we have a better understanding of Pokemon natures and IVs, it is time to look at ways in which we can manipulate these to our advantage. There are several tools in the game, Pokemon and items, that will be useful to us. Here is a quick summary of what we might need:

Part 2: Breeding Tools

• False Swipe 
• Sleep Powder/Hypnosis/Spore
• Elgyem
• Smoke Ball
• Magikarp
• Ditto
• Magby
• Everstone
• Power Items
• Incense's
• Parent Pokemon
• Foreign Pokemon

This guide is aimed not only to look at IV breeding but at breeding as a whole. Therefore, an Incense won't have much effect on a Pokemon's IV's but it will have an effect on which Pokemon comes out the egg. 

Part 2(a) False Swipe

False Swipe is the greatest move for catching Pokemon. This TM can be obtained in Reversal Mountain by showing the Scientist towards the cave exit to Undella Town all the Pokemon on the habitat list. Once complete, receive the TM from the scientist and give that move to a high leveled Pokemon. In my case I have given it to my level 70 Samurrot. This will help us catch some very useful Pokemon much more efficiently as I will explain below. 

Part 2(b) Sleep Powder, Hypnosis or Spore

Another handy move is a sleep inducing attack. The reason I would suggest using this attack is that some Pokemon can be a pain to catch and when Pokemon are asleep they have their highest catch rate. Unfortunately, Spore, being the better of the three, with 100% accuracy, can only be learned by a few Pokemon. These are:

• Amoonguss
• Foongus
• Breloom
• Shroomish
• Paras
• Parasect

If you have or can get one of these I would recommend it. You could also sketch the move if you have access to a Smeargle or as a secondary option, catch a Pokemon with Compoundeyes ability. The Pokemon with this ability are:

• Butterfree
• Venonat
• Galvantula
• Joltik
• Nincada

This ability means that sleep powder will have an accuracy of 97.5% which isn't perfect but it will rarely miss. Now, lets utilize those moves and look at the first Pokemon that will help us on our way to becoming breeding experts. 

Part 2(c) Elgyem

The Pokemon Elgyem is a great starting point for Gen V Pokemon breeders. The reason for this is that one of Elgyem's abilities is Synchronize. Synchronize gives a 50% chance of the encountered pokemon having the same nature as the Pokemon with the ability. Pokemon such as Abra and Ralts in previous generations have had this ability too but, in-game, Elgyem is the easiest one to find. 

Our first goal is to collect one Elgyem with the ability Synchronize for each of the 20 natures that I mentioned in the previous post. I know there are 25 natures but as I stated, 5 of those natures are useless to us. The down side is that Elgyem also has an ability Telepathy which is of no use to us, meaning that this process may take a little longer. I have currently caught 40 Elgyem and I think 15 of them were of use. That didn't necessarily mean only 15 had Synchronize but some had a duplicate nature. As of right now I am going for round two and hoping that I get the complete set of Elgyem. 

The best method I have found for this is to take a high leveled Pokemon to the top of Celestial tower and look for Elgyem there. Elgyem has a 40% encounter rate at the top of the tower and by using a powerful Pokemon with false swipe (I'm using my level 70 Samurrot) it makes them very easy to catch. Elgyem don't really need sleep inducing as at one HP I haven't failed to catch any with the first Poke Ball. 

As an alternative, if you have Abra's or Ralts with sychronize from previous games or even Elgyem's from Black and White, you can send them over to Black 2 and White 2, saving you a lot of time.

Part 2(d) Smoke Ball

This is a useful item that we can use with our Elgyem's. The Smoke ball can be found in Opelucid City. Simply equip Elgyem with the smoke ball and it will be able to flee from any wild Pokemon encounter. This will be very useful in the next step as you will find out.

Part 2(e) Ditto

Unfortunately, even after that great haul of Elgyem's you just brought back with you, the catching hasn't ended. Don't be demoralized though, this part is a little easier....well kind of. The goal here is to take each Elgyem you caught to the Giant Chasm and hunt for a Ditto. This is because Ditto can breed with all Pokemon apart from those who fall into the non-egg group category, which are mainly legendary and baby Pokemon and itself of course. Ditto's cannot be bred for more Ditto's. There are two ways you can do this next part. The first is to catch one ditto for each of the 20 natures and worry about the IVs later with Parent Pokemon; or you can catch six ditto for every nature with at least one perfect IV stat across the six stats (HP,Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed). To make it clear, the second option would look like this:

Ditto 1: Adamant nature with 31 IVs in HP

Ditto 2: Adamant nature with 31 IVs in Attack

Ditto 3: Adamant nature with 31 IVs in Defense

Ditto 4: Adamant nature with 31 IVs in Special Attack

Ditto 5: Adamant nature with 31 IVs in Special Defense

Ditto 6: Adamant nature with 31 IVs in Speed

This would then need to be repeated for the other 19 natures. The reason for this will be explained fully later and makes perfect sense when you wish to pass on the correct nature and good IVs to your baby Pokemon. Of course, you may catch one Ditto with two perfect IVs and therefore only need five ditto's in total for that nature. This definitely sounds long and boring but with our Elgyem's upfront and their synchronize ability, it makes each Ditto you encounter have a 50% chance of having the same nature as your Elgyem. This will help speed up the process. On the plus side, even if synchronize fails and you get a ditto with the wrong nature but with the correct IV's, you've already collected one ditto for that other nature.

However, long and boring this might seem, there is a positive side. Once you have collected all those Ditto, you will always have them and you won't need to worry about catching more Pokemon later on as you would if you followed the first method. 

Part 2(e) Magikarp

Yes, magikarp has a key roll to play in Pokemon breeding surprisingly. Its use is to make catching those Ditto a far easier task. Magikarp can be bought from a man on Marvelous Bridge and here is what you do with it:

1.  Enter a pokemon battle against a wild Ditto with Elgyem;
2. Switch to Magikarp on the first turn;
3. Ditto will transform into Magikarp, only knowing splash;
4. Switch out to your false swipe Pokemon;
5. Attack with false swipe as ditto splashes around;
6. Switch out to your sleep inducing Pokemon if you wish 
7. Cause ditto to fall asleep; and then
8. Throw those Poke Balls!

Its as easy as that. Magikarp has the highest catch rate, so when Ditto transform into such a pathetic pokemon, it becomes as pathetically easy to catch.

Part 2(f) Magby

If you followed part two of the Ditto route, then its all down hill from here. Magby is a simple pokemon we need due to its ability flame body. Other Pokemon such as Slugma and Larvesta have this ability but I mentioned Magby because it can be caught in Virbank early on and you may just need to look in your box to realize that you have already caught this Pokemon. When the Pokemon with this ability is at the front of your party it cuts in half the steps needed to take in order to hatch a pokemon egg. Its as simple as that.

Part 2(g) Everstone

In Black and White 2, this item can be picked up in Driftveil City or, if you're lucky, you might find one on a member of the Geodude or Roggenrola family. What the Everstone does is ensure that the Egg Pokemon receives the nature of the parent pokemon who is holding it in the day care. So all those ditto you caught come into use. One Jolly nature Ditto enters the day care holding the Everstone along with a Charizard as the other parent. Each hatched egg is 100% guaranteed to have the nature of that Ditto. So every egg will be a Jolly nature Charmander in this case. So to make breeding simpler for yourself, be sure to pick up an Everstone!

Part 2(h) Power Items

These items are NOT essential, but are very useful if you are willing to spend the time getting them. There is one power item for each Pokemon stat.  These power items guarantee the passing of one IV from the holding parent. Here is a list of the Items:

• Power Weight - HP
• Power Bracer - Attack
• Power Belt - Defense
• Power Lens - Special Attack
• Power Band - Special Defense
• Power Anklet - Speed

As you can see from the list, I have included which stat each power item will pass on. The only trouble is getting these items. The Power Lens and Band can be found in game. One is Team Plazma's ship and the other is in a house West on Route 13. The other four must be purchased from either the Gear Station or the Pokemon World Tournament for Battle Points. These items do make breeding for IVs much easier but as I said, breeding can be done without these items. If you're not interested in IVs then you don't need to worry about these items at all.

Part 2(i) Incense's

Pokemon Incense's have nothing to do with breeding for IV's but if, like some, you are just interested in breeding for baby forms of Pokemon, then these will be key to your success. Fortunately, all these items can be found in Driftveil City Market by talking to the ex-Team Plasma member. These Incense's are to be held by females of the species. So for example, a female Mr. Mime holding the odd incense in the day care with a male Mr. Mime or Ditto will produce Mime Jr. Here is a list of which Pokemon hold which Incense:

• Mr. Mime with Odd Incense = Mime Jr. 
• Snorlax with Full Incense = Munchlax
• Wobbuffet with Lax Incense = Wynaut
• Chansey or Blissey with Luck Incense = Happiny
• Chimecho with Pure Incense = Chingling
• Sudowoodo with Rock Incense = Bonsly
• Roselia or Roserade with Rose Incense = Budew
• Marill or Azumarill with Sea Incense = Azurill
• Mantine with Wave Incense = Mantyke

Part 2(j) Parent Pokemon

If you are just breeding for the sake of breeding then all you need to know is you must put one female and one male from compatible egg groups into the day care in order for them to produce an egg. You may also use Ditto, but note that the offspring will always be the same as either the female Pokemon or the species that is not Ditto. 

Regarding those who are looking to breed for IVs, that becomes a different story. If you took the easy route for the Ditto's and only caught one for every nature then the first step is to go out and find parent Pokemon that have good IVs. For example, if I was to breed an Eevee, with the intention of evolving it into Jolteon, I would need at least one Eevee with 31 IVs in Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Manipulating IV's by breeding is much harder if we aim for 4 stats with 31 IVs so for now we will stick with 3. In the next part when I go into full details of breeding I will explain why this is the case. As for now, just note that, where you do not have all those Ditto, you will need to go out and hunt for parent Pokemon to compensate for the IVs. If you did catch all those Ditto, however, then you only need to go and catch one Eevee, regardless of IVs.

Part 2(k) Foreign Pokemon
Many of you might be breeding for Shiny Pokemon and for that we will need a foreign Pokemon. In order to get this Pokemon you must trade over the GTS. I would advise trading for a foreign Ditto because that will allow you to breed for any shiny Pokemon.

Once this shiny Pokemon is obtained, place it in the day care along with a compatible Pokemon and begin breeding. The odds of the Pokemon being shiny are 1/1366 when using this Masuda Method. Good luck with this method if you are trying it. I have recently traded for a foreign Zorua and intend to breed a Shiny one at some stage.

That is it for this Part. You now know all the tools that will be useful to you in order to make breeding go much smoother. Be sure to gather these Tools before you begin the next part of this guide.

Part 1: Understanding the Basics

Welcome to my simple, step-by-step Pokemon breeding guide. There are many ways to reach breeding goals and some people will do it differently but I can guarantee that if you need any help breeding quality Pokemon with strong IVs then this might just be the guide you're looking for.

*Note - This guide will be focused on breeding Pokemon in Black 2 and White 2. This method can be used for Gen IV but in some scenario's the outcome's may be harder or not as accurate*

Part 1 - Understanding the Basics
Before we can even consider the first in-game step to take to become a breeding expert it is important to understand why Natures and IVs are so valuable to us. Every caught or hatched Pokemon will have one of 25 different natures and a spread of permanent IVs. To keep this simple and so there is no head scratching before we begin I will first talk about natures and then IVs.

Part 1(A): Natures
The first point to remember is that natures effect one or two Pokemon stats out of a possible 5. These five are its Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Each nature will increase one stat by 10% of the Pokemon's base stat but it will also decrease one stat by 10% of the Pokemon's base stat. The reason for their being 25 natures is that there are 25 different combinations of increasing and decreasing these stats. The list below gives details of these natures:

Adamant - Attack is increased and Special Attack is decreased
Bashful
Bold - Defense is increased and Attack is decreased
Brave - Attack is increased and Speed is decreased
Calm - Special Defense is increased and Attack is decreased
Careful - Special Defence is increased and Special Attack is decreased
Docile
Gentle - Special Defence is increased and Defence is decreased
Hardy
Hasty - Speed is increased and Defense is decreased
Impish - Defence is increased and Special Attack is decreased
Jolly - Speed is increased and Special Attack is decreased
Lax - Defense is increased and Special Defense is decreased
Lonely - Attack is increased and Defense is decreased
Mild - Special Attack is increased and Defense is decreased.
Modest - Special Attack is increased and Attack is decreased
Naive - Speed is increased and Special Defence is decreased
Naughty - Attack is increased and Special Defence is decreased
Quiet - Special Attack is increased and Speed is decreased
Quirky
Rash - Special Attack is increased and Special Defense is decreased
Relaxed - Defense is increased and Speed is decreased
Sassy - Special Defence is increased and Speed is decreased
Serious -
Timid - Speed is incresed and Attack is decreased

As shown, 5 natures will have no effect as they increase one stat but also decrease that stat too. Therefore these natures are useless to us and I would recommend disregarding these when focusing on breeding. The other 20 natures indicate which stat they increase and which they decrease by 10%. Different natures are beneficial to different kinds of Pokemon. For example, A Gyarados would benefit from an Adamant or a Jolly Nature as these play to Gyarados' strengths of good Attack and Speed. On the other hand Jolteon would benefit from a Timid nature as its base Stats favor Speed and Special attack so it doesn't matter about the decrease in Attack. It is very handy to know your Pokemon as a breeder but don't worry, there's no need to revise all the Pokemon's stats. Instead I would suggest going to www.smogon.com and searching for the Pokemon you are looking for in the search bar. This will bring up a page for that Pokemon showing its base stats and from that you can decide which natures would benefit which Pokemon.

Hopefully you're all with me so far and can see why we must take natures into consideration when breeding strong pokemon.

Part 1(B): Pokemon IVs
Now on to the tricky part! When you catch a Pokemon or hatch a Pokemon it will be given a set of individual values or IVs for short. These IVs are what many refer to as a Pokemon's genetics. Once the Pokemon is born there is no way to change them without cheating. As legitimate breeders, that is not the route we will go down.

It is important to note that each of the six Pokemon stats (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed) will each be given an IV but also note that IVs are not limitless. A Pokemon will not be born with 100 IVs in attack and 900 IVs in Speed. Instead these values spread from 0-31. What is even more problematic is that we can't check a Pokemon's exact IVs just by looking at the summary screen. So without making this too complicated, I will let you know of the best in-game way to check for IVs.

1 - Check the summary screen of your Pokemon. Under the Nature and caught/hatched location it will give a little phrase and this briefly indicates the Pokemon's highest IV (as shown in the examples below). I'm not going to go over this in massive depths because as breeders we are only interested in getting those 31 IV's in our selected stats. Therefore any other phrase then the ones here will not help us. Here are the phrases that may indicate a 31 IV in which Stat:

HP - Often doses off
Attack - Likes to thrash about
Defense - Capable of taking hits
Special Attack - Mischeavious
Special Defense - Somewhat vein
Speed - Alert to sounds

Those phrases are only rough guesses. What they actually indicate is that the IV in that stat either ends in a 1 or a 6. So as an example:
My newly hatched Eevee has the phrase "Alert to sounds" and what I can take from this is that
a) Its highest IV is in its Speed stat; and
b) that IV either ends in a 1 or a 6

2 - Luckily its not a guessing game because of the very useful boy in Gear station in Black and White 2. The boy in Gear Station can actually tell you which stats your Pokemon has 31 IVs in. He offers to examine your Pokemon and then lists the Pokemon's stat with the highest IV and follows it up with another phrase (hooray for phrases!). The phrase we are looking for is "It can't be better in that regard". 

With both those methods in mind, this is how we use them. In this example I will use two Eevee's:
Eevee A has the IV's 7/12/17/3/25/31 (HP/Atk/Def/Sp.A/Sp.D/Speed)
Eevee B has the IV's 12/25/2/6/10/26

As i have highlighted, both the speed IV's end in a 1 or a 6 and therefore both Eevee's would have the phrase on the summary page "Alert to sounds". The only difference is that when we take them to the boy in Gear station, only Eevee A will receive the phrase "It can't be better in that regard". So Eevee A would be our winner and Eevee B would be boxed or released.

Important - Please note that the initial phrases which indicate a potential 31 IVs in a stat cannot cover more than one stat. Therefore, when you take the Eevee with the phrase "Alert to sounds" to the boy in gear station he may say its Attack and Speed "Can't be better in that regard". So your IV spread could look something like this:

Eevee A - 9/31/24/8/20/31 

There we have it for this part. Hopefully your heads aren't hurting too much and I've given you a greater understanding of the importance of Natures and IV's. Each Pokemon benefits greatly from a beneficial natures and 31 IVs in its stats. I will go into greater depth about how to breed for IVs later on in the guide but for now it is just to outline why they are important. What I will look at next are the basic tools in order to help your breeding be more efficient.