Pokémon Scarlet And Violet: How to Breed Pokémon

Since the dawn of Pokémon, breeding has been a fundamental mechanic in the Pokémon formula. Breeding allows you to get a competitive edge over your opponents by cherry-picking abilities to create the strongest Pokémon. Its been a straightforward process for the first few generations of Pokémon; however, with the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet comes new changes to the pre-existing formula.

Story Highlights

You can breed Pokémon by having a picnic with two Pokémon of either gender in your party.
Alternatively, you can use a Ditto with another Pokémon to breed it.
You can find Ditto in the West Province (Area Two) and West Province (Area Three) sections of the map.

Breeding Changes In Pokémon Scarlet And Violet

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Picnics – [Image Provided By: eXputer]

In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the basic method of Breeding is the same. You still need two Pokémon or a Ditto to breed (remember that the Egg Pokémon will be of the same species as the mother or non-Ditto Pokémon). However, unlike previous generations, you don’t need to visit a specific building to start breeding.

Instead, in order to breed Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, you first need to head out into the wild and find a place where the game allows you to set up a picnic table.

After that, all you have to do is wait. You can kill time by making a sandwich or just standing around. Be sure to check the basket on the picnic table every now and then to see if any Pokémon has laid an egg. The basket can carry a maximum of 10 eggs, so don’t waste your time trying to get more. Eggs normally fill up a slot in your party roster; however, if your party is full, they’ll immediately be transferred to your Boxes.

The new system seems like an upgrade to the original. It allows you to set up a picnic anywhere and be able to breed for as long as you want; however, it also makes the system very RNG dependent. This makes it very tedious to get eggs as you have to wait for a very long time to get eggs. Thankfully, there is a way to improve your odds of finding an egg in your picnic basket.

If you eat food like Peanut Butter, Marmalade, Tropical, and Fruit Sandwiches, you get the Egg Power buff. The Egg Power buff increases the chance of your Pokémon giving you eggs. This is extremely important and useful if you want to breed a lot of Pokémon in a short period of time.

Another drawback of the new system is that there is lesser control over who breeds with who. If you happen to have a party full of both male and female Pokémon that share the same Egg Group, you’re going to be bombarded with Eggs on your next picnic.

How To find Ditto In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Since Ditto is an extremely helpful Pokémon in terms of breeding, you need to have one in your party. To do that, you first need to catch a Ditto. Sadly, Ditto is particularly difficult to find Pokémon since it can disguise itself as other wild Pokémon. However, there are a few ways to maximize your chances of finding a Ditto/

Where To Look

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Ditto Location – [Image Provided By: eXputer]

You can find Ditto in the West Province (Area Two) and West Province (Area Three) sections of the map. The best place to look for Ditto is around the tower in Porto Marinada. Dittos will disguise themselves as nearby Pokémon like:

Brambleghast
Deerling
Eevee
Flaaffy
Grimer
Jigglypuff
Meowth
Murkrow
Pawmo
Skiddoo
Tandemaus
Vigoroth

Tricks To catching Ditto

To tell apart Ditto and other Pokémon, you’re going to have to employ some tricks. Ditto’s disguise only falls apart on the first turn of a battle when it takes the form of the Pokémon you first played so it’s unreasonable to fight each Pokémon in your path until you come across a DItto. Instead, try following these tips:

Press ZL And Lock On

When you’re near wild Pokémon, pressing ZL locks you onto the Pokémon you’re looking at. If you have the Pokémon registered in your Pokédex, you will also see the Pokémon’s name above its head. If you have a Meowth registered in your Pokédex and you look at it with ZL, the game will identify the Pokémon as a Meowth. However, if the Pokémon is a Ditto, it will show up as “??? instead, “???” also shows up for Zorua, so we’ll learn to tell them apart too.

Learn Pokémon Behavior

In Pokémon: Legends of Arceus, different species of Pokémon react differently to the player. Some creatures may try to run away, some may observe the player, and others may try to attack. These behaviors are present in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet as well.

If you can learn how a Pokémon species is supposed to behave, you can tell when someone is acting wrong. If you encounter a Pokémon that is normally aggressive but isn’t, there’s a chance that you found a Ditto.

Telling Apart Ditto and Zorua

Since both Ditto and Zorua can disguise themselves, it can be hard to tell them apart. So it’s best to learn how they’re both supposed to interact with the player. Ditto will keenly observe the player while Zoroa will try and run away. Pair this with the first tip, and you can easily identify every “???” named Pokémon around you.

How to Breed Pokémon

The process of Pokémon breeding has undergone many changes in recent years and has come far from the original method of joining stats, natures, and abilities together to create an ultimate competitive team.

The Original Method of Breeding Pokémon

Pokémon Leaf Green Daycare – [Image Provided By: eXputer]

In the past, we could breed Pokémon by leaving two Pokémon of opposite genders at a Pokémon Day Care or Nursery. As long as the Pokémon were of the same egg group, you could breed them. An Egg Group is a classification of different Pokémon based on their appearance and characteristics. If two Pokémon are of the same egg group, they are compatible together.

Here’s a list of all Egg Groups

Monster Group: Pokémon in this group are saurian/kaiju-like in appearance and nature.
Bug Group: Pokémon in this group are insectoid (buglike) in appearance.
Flying Group: Pokémon in this group are avian (birdlike) in appearance.
Field Group: The largest group, Pokémon here, are terrestrial in nature.
Fairy Group: Pokémon in this group are petite and considered very cute.
Grass Group: Pokémon in this group are plantlike in appearance
Human-Like Group: Pokémon in this group are fully bipedal.
Water 1 Group: Pokémon in this group are amphibious in nature.
Water 2 Group: Pokémon in this group are piscine (fishlike) in appearance.
Water 3 Group: Pokémon in this group resemble aquatic invertebrates.
Mineral Group: Pokémon in this group are inorganic in nature.
Amorphous Group: Pokémon in this group are amorphous, having no definite form.
Dragon Group: Pokémon in this group are draconic in appearance.
No Eggs Discovered Group: Pokémon in this group are unable to breed.

Alternatively, players could also use a Ditto for breeding a Pokémon of any type to create a duplicate of it essentially. This feature is exclusive to Dittos as they possess the ability to shapeshift, unlike Pokémon like Zoroark, which are able to create illusions. Leaving a Ditto, as well as the Pokémon you want to breed in a Pokémon Day Care or Nursery, has the same effect. However, there are fewer possible abilities the child may possess.

Dittos fall under their own unique egg group:

Ditto Group: As the name implies, Ditto is the only Pokémon in this group and is capable of breeding with all other Pokémon (regardless of gender) aside from those in the No Eggs Discovered and Ditto groups.

After leaving the two Pokémon together, after a while, they’ll leave an Egg. The Egg takes up one slot in your inventory and will hatch after the player has walked a certain number of steps. You can hatch the Pokémon faster if a Pokémon in your party has the Flame Body ability

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