How To breed Pokemon and Hatch Eggs (Breeding Mechanics Guide) in Pokémon Scarlet And Violet

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Do you want to know how to breed Pokemon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet? This mechanic has been around for a long time in the series and has become a means of creating powerful Pokémon that you can take into battle.

If you plan on breeding Pokémon and hatching eggs, you will also want to know how to evolve Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. After all, not all Pokémon evolve simply by leveling them up.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have entirely removed the Daycare system, so even veterans of the series are confused about how to breed and hatch Pokemon eggs now. Fortunately, we have prepared a complete guide on breeding mechanics for you so you can start stacking up on Pokemon eggs without any hassle.

How To Get Eggs In Pokemon Scarlet And Violet

By removing the Daycare center, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet aim to innovate the breeding and the eggs collecting mechanism in the games. Hence, you don’t need to visit a particular place at a specific time to get eggs. Instead, you can breed Pokemon to collect and hatch eggs anytime in the open world by setting up a simple Picnic camp.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet aim to simplify breeding and make it less expensive with the help of these picnic camps, essentially making the entire Paldean region your breeding ground. 

How to breed in Pokemon Scarlet And Violet?

Even though you can now quickly breed Pokémon and collect eggs by setting up a Picnic, there’s one thing you need to keep in mind. During the Picnic, you can only breed Pokemon of different genders that belong to the same egg group.  

That said, let’s go through the steps you need to follow to set up a Picnic and start breeding Pokemon: 

  1. Get two Pokemons in your party that meet the breeding criteria described above, i:e belonging to the same egg group but different genders.
  2. Press X to bring up the main menu.
  3. Select the 3rd option in the Main Menu that says “Picnic”.
  4. Wait until the Pokemon finish breeding and the eggs appear in the Picnic basket.
  5. Collect the eggs from the Picnic basket.
  6. Walk around until the eggs you have collected hatch.

How to get Multiple Eggs During The Picnic

When we discuss the breeding criteria, we say that the compatible Pokemon should be of opposite genders and belong to the same egg group. There is one exception to this rule, which is having a Ditto in your party. Dittos can breed with any Pokemon in your party regardless of its gender, except for another Ditto.

Therefore, if you want to obtain multiple eggs simultaneously, you must set up a Picnic camp that involves all the Pokemon in your party and give Ditto a chance to breed with them. Bear in mind though that the maximum Eggs that you’re allowed to stack up in the Picnic basket are 10, so be sure to keep an eye out for the number of Eggs, in case you max out.

How To Increase Your Chances Of Getting An Egg

Despite the fact that breeding has become more intuitive and accessible in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you are never guaranteed egg formation each time. You might spend several evenings at your Picnic camp without actually getting any eggs from it. A workaround for this can be using specific stat boosts to increase your chances of getting eggs through Pokemon Breeding.

The particular stat you want to boost is called “Egg Power”. Simply look for any recipes that grant the Egg Power effect, and it will significantly increase your egg-collecting chances during the Picnic. Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Marmalade Sandwiches are just some sandwich recipes that give egg power.

You can access the Egg Power effect by stocking up on sandwiches, like the Great Peanut Butter Sandwich or Dessert Sandwich, before setting up your Picnic Camp. These food items contain the Egg Power effect, generously enhancing your egg-collecting abilities. Just make sure that you have the ingredients required to make these meals.

How to hatch eggs in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

If you want to hatch eggs in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, it is based on the number of steps you walk. Each egg requires a different number of steps to hatch. You can easily speed up this process by having a Pokémon on your team with either the Flame Body or Steam Engine ability. This trait cuts the number of steps required to hatch an egg in half.

The following Pokémon have abilities that can help hatch eggs more quickly:

  • Slugma
  • Magcargo
  • Litwick
  • Lampent
  • Chandelure
  • Larvesta
  • Volcarona
  • Fletchinder
  • Talonflame
  • Carkol
  • Coalossal
  • Charcadet
  • Moltres
  • Heatran

On top of that, you can ride around on Koraidon or Miraidon to make the walking process go faster. Keep this up until the egg you are holding hatches. Keep in mind that it is fastest to fill as many slots up with eggs as you can so you can hatch multiple eggs at once.

Typically, whenever you breed two Pokemon and hatch the egg, the newborn Pokemon belongs to the same species as the mother, unless you use Ditto for breeding. In the case of Ditto, the Pokemon hatched is the same as the other parent who isn’t Ditto. Hence, always bear in mind the gender of the breeding Pokemon if you’re looking to hatch a particular species.

Another feature that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have altered is inheriting Egg Moves. It is a special move that can be learned by the child Pokemon if either of the breeding Pokemon already knows it. However, with the updated features in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, a Pokemon can learn Egg Moves even by possessing an item called Mirror Herb, without needing to breed.

How to pass down natures and individual values

If you want to pass down the nature of a specific Pokémon to its offspring, you will need an Everstone. Whichever Pokémon is holding the Everstone will pass down its nature to the Pokémon in the egg.

This same method can be done with individual values but it requires a different item. To pass down values to the offspring, you will need to equip a Pokémon with the Destiny Knot at the time of breeding. Keep in mind that you can also pass down a hidden ability of a parent Pokémon.

Now that you know how to breed Pokemon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you can go forth and hatch many eggs to create powerful Pokémon. If you want to become an expert Pokemon Trainer of Paldea, you can check out more Pokemon Scarlet and Violet guides on our page!

Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Breeding Mechanics Guide FAQ

Can you breed Pokemon with same gender?

You typically need a male and female to breed. However, Ditto can breed with any Pokémon regardless of its gender.

Can you breed two Dittos?

No. A Ditto can’t breed with other Ditto. 

About the Author

Si Yan

Si Yan is an editor on Videogamer.com, researching interesting topics, working with a team for content creation and then editing onto site. Game wise Si Yan loves Pokémon and Super Mario.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

  • Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
  • Genre(s): RPG
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