Chain-Breeding and the Lack of a Witty Title

This is a fairly simple concept. Chain-Breeding is the process of getting a Pokemon to learn an Egg Move that is outside of its Egg Group. The following example was taken from http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Chain_breeding.

Suppose you would like an Eevee to know Wish. Wish is an Egg Move for Eevee, who belongs to the Field Egg Group. You would have to breed it with another Field Pokemon in order to get Eevee to learn it. The problem lies in that no Field Pokemon can naturally learn Wish. So we need a dual-Egg Group Pokemon, one that is Field and one that shares an Egg Group with a Pokemon that learns the move naturally. Togetic learns Wish naturally, and he belongs to the Flying and Fairy Egg Groups. Pikachu belongs to the Field and Fairy Egg Groups, and Wish is an Egg Move for him. So we breed a male Togetic with Wish and a female Pikachu, until we get a male Pikachu with Wish. Then, we breed the male Pikachu with a female Eevee(or evolution of Eevee) and the result will be an Eevee that knows Wish.



This is a chart of all the Egg Groups that are shared in Pokemon. If there is a straight line between 2 Egg Groups, there is at least a single Pokemon that is a part of both Egg Groups, and if not, there is not. Make note of the key in the top right corner. I based this off a similar chart that can be found here; http://pokemondb.net/mechanics/breeding. It was designed to cover up through Generation IV, and I just updated it to cover Generation V as well.

Chain-Breeding can also be used, not only for egg moves, but for IV-breeding as well. My friend Koga had an Eevee with a max Sp. Defense IV, and he wanted a Tentacool with that IV. Using the method described in the IV entry, he carried the IV from Eevee(Field) to a Seedot(Field/Plant), to a Paras(Plant/Bug), to a Skorupi(Bug/Water 3), and then to a female Tentacool(Water 3). He'll carry that IV down and breed Egg Moves into it from there. One thing he could do is teach a Mantine(Water 1) Aqua Ring and Confuse Ray, breed those into a Corsola(Water 1/Water 3), teach the Corsola Mirror Coat, and then breed with the female Tentacool(Water 3) while it holds the Power Band. The end result would be a Tentacool with Confuse Ray, Aqua Ring, and Mirror Coat that also has a max Sp. Defense IV...and a really weird family tree.

So that is the gist of chain-breeding, and you may just find it to be necessary at times(especially when you don't want the tainted blood of Smeargle flowing through the veins of your Pokemon). Thanks to Koga for allowing me to make use of his example of IV breeding. If you have any questions or feel I've forgotten anything, just leave a comment!

Brock out.

Misdreavus, the Screech Pokemon

Ah, such a calm-looking spirit. But she carries a deadly secret...

Perish Song
Destiny Bond
Hex
Will-o-Wisp

EVs: 252 Defense, 128 Sp. Defense, 128 Speed

This ghost knows that there is no victory without sacrifice. How does she come about? Well....

1) Breed a female Misdreavus that knows Perish Song and Hex with a male Cofagrigus that knows Destiny Bond, Hex, and Will-o-Wisp. The result should be a male Misdreavus with those last 3 moves.
2) Level up the result to Lv46 and teach it Perish Song.
3) Breed those two Misdreavus together. Aim for a Timid or Bold Nature.

This guy was made for sacrifice. He is set to die. But he is guaranteed to bring down the enemy. Perish Song makes both all people on the field die in 3 turns. But most people switch out before then, which nullifies the power. Destiny Bond will bring down whoever is on the field when you die if you use it that turn. Because of Mismagius's high Speed stat, he'll likely be able to get both attacks off. Especially if you have it hold the Focus Sash. But he also has excellent Sp. Defense, so that is not even necessary, really, if you don't mind his sub-par Defense stat(hence the EV spread). The Will-o-Wisp and Hex are there for the event this is your last pokemon, though it should never be that way, really.

So if ever you come across an enemy in that has used Double Team one time too many, or raised its defenses far too high, you can send in this guy to kill him. It's bound to come in handy at times. Questions or suggestions?

Brock out.

Sandile, the Desert Croc Pokemon

This little guy can pull off a very devious strategy I thought up, and he is potentially the greatest thing posted to this blog yet. It is to be used in Double Battles. The moveset is as follows;

Fire Fang
Thunder Fang
Earthquake
Retaliate

To get this scaly killing machine, do the following;

1) Breed a female Sandile with a male Arcanine that knows Thunder Fang and Fire Fang(there are other viable fathers, whatever you choose is fine as long as it knows those two moves).
2) Teach the spawn Retaliate and Earthquake via their respective TMs. Aim for an Adamant Nature and the Moxie Ability.

Now that you know about EVs, from now on I'll be suggesting what EVs to raise.
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Speed

This guy was created for Double Battles, and I've recently tested this guy and he is truly a god. With his help, I beat the Double Train's boss in 4 turns. The key is in the Earthquake/Retaliate/Moxie. Hold a Ground Gem, it helps get things moving. Use Earthquake to start. You want to kill both targets and your ally, if you do that, your Attack will go up 3 stages because of Moxie. Your ally just died, so next turn you may wish to use Retaliate, which will have double power for the "unfortunate" demise of your ally, and will be powered up by the extra Attack gained from Moxie. Or you may want to use Earthquake again, killing your next ally and hopefully some enemies. The Fire Fang helps to cover weaknesses. Thunder Fang is there to help fight off any pesky Flying types that like to avoid Earthquake.

I have a video of my fight against Subway Boss Emmet here, and you can then see the power that this Krookodile holds, as well as the a good team to back him up. You can see that the best teammates for this Krookodile are ones with high Speed, so that they get to attack before they are sacrificed for a more powerful Krookodile. Arcanine(he is the one posted previously by the way) used Sunny Day so that Krookodile's Water weakness went away and it powered up his Fire Fang as well. Cinncino used Thunder Wave in the event that the Garbodor was faster than Krookdile. Zoroark though he did not get to participate, was actually going to use Flamethrower on Durant  if it killed Krookodile, and given Durant's Sp. Defense and Zoroark's Sp. Attack, it would have died in that scenario too.

As always, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Brock out.

Putting in an Effort

Before I begin, I want to say that this section has nothing to do with Breeding whatsoever, but it is a good thing to know when it comes to training a pokemon.

You may have heard about Effort Values, or EVs, somewhere before. EVs are another factor that determines how strong your pokemon will be in the end. Unlike IVs, which are randomly determined strictly from birth, you actually have full control over what EVs you're pokemon will have.

All pokemon are able to get 510 total EVs. For every 4 EVs in one stat, that stat will get an extra point. Because 4 is not evenly distributed into 510, 2 EVs will go unused, so only 508 of the 510 EVs really count. Also, it should be noted that each stat can only get a maximum of 255 EVs into(again, not evenly divisable by 4, so really only 252 count).

How does one get EVS you ask? If you shut up and have some patience, I'll tell you. You get EVs through the use of Vitamins, Wings, the Power items, and battling. All pokemon give out a certain amount of EVs to one or two stats, from 1 to 3 EVs in a single stat. A good way to find out what pokemon give what EVs is here; http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/

Vitamins will give +10 EVs to their respective stats with each Vitamin, and you can use up to 10 of a single Vitamin for a single stat, meaning at lv 1, you can have +100 EVs already on one of your pokemon's stats. You can buy Vitamins for $9800 at the Pokemalls in any region.

Wings are similar to Vitamins. There are 2 differences, however. A Wing will give just +1 EV to its stat. You can also use a limitless number of Wings on a pokemon, however. So if you had 510 Wings, you could have a pokemon fully-EV trained at lv 1, without using Vitamins. Wings are also the only way to EV train a pokemon at lv 100. Wings can only be found on the bridges of Unova(not including Skyarrow or Tubeline).

The Power items that I mentioned in the IV post, will give you +4 EV points in its respective stat at the end of a battle, along with the EVs given by defeating the pokemon itself. For example, if you send in your pokemon holding a Power Belt to fight a Durant, and you win, you will get +2 Defense EVs for killing the Durant, and you will also get +4 Defense EVs for holding the Power Belt. Same scenario, but you're fighting a Victrebell, you would get +3 Attack EVs for killing the Victrebell, and +4 Defense EVs for holding the Power Belt. The Macho Brace is similar to the Power items. It doubles the EVs the holder receives from a battle. Though inferior, it is found free of charge on your journey, so you can make use of it if you haven't gotten the BP for the Power items. You'll find it in Nimbasa City in Generation V, and in Generation IV a trainer will give it to you if you show him a set of Pokemon he is looking for.

Then there is the magical "Pokerus" virus. Nearly impossible to obtain, but if you do get it, cherish it. A pokemon with the Pokerus virus will get DOUBLE EVs through battle. Using the above example, you kill a Durant while holding the Power Belt, and you have Pokerus; you will get +4 Defense EVs for killing the Durant, and +8 for holding the Power Belt, a total of +12 Defense EVs from a single battle.

I'll go into the rules of Pokerus more. You get Pokerus from doing wild battles...and you have a very small chance to get it(just less than the odds of finding a wild shiny pokemon, if that gives you an idea). That's the hard part. Once you get it though, it's easy to keep. Pokerus is cured after midnight comes around, and a little mark will appear on your pokemon's summary saying it used to have Pokerus. This pokemon will still recieve the benefits of Pokerus, but will be unable to spread it to other pokemon. However, a pokemon in the PC will keep Pokerus in its full, so always make sure you have a spare in you PC. To spread Pokerus, you just battle, and there is a 50-50 shot of the Pokerus spreading to other pokemon in your party. If the Pokerus spreads, it will spread to the pokemon before and after itself in the line up.

The Exp. Share is the last tool. Most know it for splitting experience between 2 Pokemon, but most are not aware that it also gives the holder the base EV gain from that Pokemon. For example, if you go into battle with a Machoke against a Basculin, and you have a Bagon in your party holding the Exp. Share. The Machoke will get the 2 Speed EVs for killing it, and the Bagon will also get 2 Speed EVs, 4 if the Bagon has Pokerus. You don't get as many EVs as if the Bagon had held a Power item and been in the fight himself, but you do save the time and trouble from switching out.

Some FAQs now;

Q: How does one keep track of their EVs, Oh-Mighty Masterbreeder?
A: Firstly, thank you, that is high-praise indeed. The only way to keep track of your EVs is with a pencil and paper, I'm afraid. There is a person ingame, however, that will tell you if you've maxed out your EVs or not. You can find her in Opelucid City(I can't recal where in Sinnoh, however). She'll say something along the lines of "Your pokemon put in a great effort". But she'll only tell you if you maxed out or not.

Q: What generation does this apply to?
A: I'm not answering unless I hear some praise.

Q: What generation does EV training apply to, oh Lord of Breed?
A: That's better. It applies going back to the original Gold and Silver games, if not to the very beginning. Wings were not introduced until Generation V, however, and Power items are an addition from Generation IV.

Q: Are there any ways to lower my Pokemon's EVs once he's gotten them, Prince of the Egg?
A: Oh stop it, you're making me blush. The only way to lower EVs is through the use of certain berries. They are the Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tamato Berries. Each removes 10 EVs in their respective stat. You can use these Berries to fix any mistakes you may have made while EV Training. In Generation V, these are only found in the Dream World. They are found in the wild in Generations III and IV.

Q: What are some good locations for EV breeding, oh magnificant King of the Egg?
A: Come up with your own praise, geez. It all depends on what you're trying to raise. I'll list here;

HP: Stunfisk are garenteed to be found in the dark spots in the water of Iccurus City, he is worth +2 HP EVs. If you have the Victini event, you can kill Victini for +3 HP EVs, exit the room, and go back in to do it all over again.
Attack: Patrat and Lillipup are also garenteed to be found on Route 1, giving +1 Attack EV each, and all the pokemon outside Dragonspiral Tower, in the thick grass, give +2 Attack EVs(except for Mienfoo, who gives +1 Attack). NOTE: In Winter, Vannilish can appear, who give Sp. Attack, not Attack.
Defense: Durant are found fairly often in Victory Road, and they give +2 Defense EVs. Roggenrola that are found fairly often in the Wellspring Cave give +1 Defense EV each. There is no place garenteed to let you encounter a Defense EV pokemon.
Sp. Attack: Liwick and Elgyem are garenteed to be found in the Celestial Tower, and each give out +1 Sp. Attack EV.
Sp. Defense: Frillish are garenteed to be found in the waters of Driftveil City, and give out +1 Sp. Defense EV.
Speed: Basculin are garenteed to be found in a lot of water, but I'm gonna list just Route 3. They give +2 Speed EVs.

So any other questions or comments?

Brock Out.

Vullaby, the Diapered Pokemon

The baby bird of all pokemon, so young she wears a diaper! Well, as we all know, babies make you hate life. So let me show you how this baby will make your opponent hate life! The moveset is the following;

Swagger
Psych Up
Punishment
Roost

It's a little risky, but it has an excellent payoff. You use Swagger on the enemy 3 times, maximizing his attack and confusing him at the same time. Psych Up will copy that stat change, maximizing your Attack as well. Punishment will have a base power of 180 after the enemy has 6 increased stat changes. The STAB makes that 270, tack on a Life Orb, it becomes 351. Having the maximized Attack boost will turn that into 1404 power. To date, that is the highest power I've encountered(granted, it's a bit under 9000, but still pretty good). Roost is good for healing, especially since it will get rid of all 3 of your weaknesses and replace them w/ 2 others, good for tricking your opponent.

But how does one get this nasty behemoth of a baby? Follow the process!

1) Teach a male Unfezant Swagger and Psych Up through their respective TMs, and Roost through level up.
2) Breed that male Unfezant with a female Vullaby/Mandibuzz(they only come in female brand anyhow) with Big Pecks, and the Nature should be one that lowers Sp. Attack(Adamant, Impish, or Careful).
3) Level up the offspring to lv 28 to teach it Punishment.

It's easy as that, and just that great. The only thing you really have to worry about is being killed by pumping up the foe's Attack so much, but between the Confusion, Mandibuzz's overall defensiveness, and Roost, you should stay alive. Questions, comments?

A special thanks to Max, he thought up the initial Swagger/Psych Up strategy, I just added Punishment and STAB and such to make it better.

Brock out.

Skarmory, the Armor Bird Pokemon

OK, my appologies for the inactivity, I've been testing some of the theorhetical builds I previously posted(so far, they all work beautifully). Anyway, I've recently been toying with Skarmory, and I discovered a clever little plan for this guy. NOTE: This requires Generation IV.

Stealth Rock
Spikes
Roar
Steel Wing

He likes to lay traps! At the start of a match, set out Stealth Rock, and 3 layers of Spikes. Then you keep Roaring at the enemy if you are still alive. By doing this, the enemy continues to take damage from being forced to switch out. Steel Wing is for when you reach the final pokemon on the opposing team. But with this plan, you can make the opposing pokemon lose up to 75% of its HP just by switching out!

So let's see how you can acquire this iron-plated aviator;

1) In Generation IV, use TMs to teach a male Skarmory Roar and Stealth Rock.
2) Raise that Skarmory to lv 34, teaching it Steel Wing and Spikes.
3) Raise a female Skarmory to lv 28 to teach it Spikes.
4) Breed these two in order to make Skarmory eggs with the desired moveset. The Ability should be Sturdy, and the Nature should be something that lowers Sp. Attack, Impish Careful or Jolly are good choices.
NOTE: Once you get Stealth Rock on Skarmory, you can do the breeding in Generation V.

I know, you're thinking "Couldn't I just use the TMs, and lv it up, and not do the breeding? Why go through all that extra work?"

Well you're right. But don't you want to share with your friends? Are you REALLY that selfish? You sicken me.

But yes, that's my idea for a trapper Skarmory, It has been tested and it works beautifully. Comments/questions, anyone?

Brock out.

Individual Values: Everyone is Unique

You may have been battling in the Battle Tower with, for example, your Golbat, and the enemy may happen to be using a Golbat as well. You are the same level, an you attack with Bite. It does decent damage, let's say it takes a quarter of your health away. The enemy Golbat then uses Bite on you as well. You lose half of your health. What happened here? "Individual Values" happened.

Individual Values, or IVs for short, determine how powerful a pokemon will be, and they cannot be changed. All pokemon have 6 IVs, one for each stat, and each IV ranges from 0-31. Once they are hatched from the egg, the IVs are set in stone. This is stepping into something I am not fully knowledgable on, and many websites make things vague or too much to swallow. I will tell what I know to be true, and please contribute if you know something I have not listed.

Let's start with an example to show you how much IVs can affect a pokemon. This example is taken from "gamespot.com";

For this set, a Hardy Heracross has an IV of 0 in every stat.

HP: 270
Atk: 255
Def: 155
Spa: 85
SpDef: 195
Spe: 175

Now to show you what a Hardy Heracross looks like with every IV at 31.

HP: 301
Atk: 286
Def: 186
Spa: 116
SpDef: 226
Spe: 206

You can see the difference in the stats of those Heracross. That's due to their difference in IVs. Natures play a role in IVs, but as you can see from the example, there's more to it than just that, since those Heracross had the same Nature.

Breeding for IVs;

The parents of an egg pass down IVs to their children. These children have the potential to take these IVs and improve them in their own IVs. So if you breed the children and then breed their children, and continuously breed children, getting better and better IVs each time.
NOTE: When passing down IVs, you should know that each parent passes down 1 IV, and then one of the parents will pass down a second IV. The remaining 3 IVs the child will have are chosen at random, and are not dependent upon a parent. In HG/SS and beyond, if a parent is holding one of the "Power Items" that can be purchased in the Frontier/Subway, the IV that that item represents will be passed down to the child. If both parents are holding a Power Item, only one of those stats is garenteed to pass down.

So that is how to alter IVs in the egg. It will prove to be very useful. You can find out your pokemon's best IV by talking to the man in the Battle Tower in Generation IV, or the Subway in Generation V. The Stat Judge, as he is called, will tell you a pokemon's "overall potential" and its highest IV stat.

"Overall Potential" is the total amount of IVs a pokemon has, ranging from 0-186. But he will not give you a number, but rather a ranking, and each ranking has its range of IVs. They are as follows;

"Decent": 0-90
"Above Average": 91-120
"Relatively Superior": 121-150
"Outstanding": 151-186

The Stat Judge will do the same for your highest IV stat. He'll tell you a stat, then a description of it, and these descriptions also represent values. They are as follows;

"Rather Decent": 0-15
"Very Good": 16-25
"Fantastic": 26-30
"Can't Be Better": 31(perfection!)

The characteristic on your Pokemon's description page is a representation of your Pokemon's highest IV. The chart above tells you what each characteristic indicates. I found the information from  http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Characteristic and made my own chart because I couldn't just copy-paste their's.

Brock out.

Swablu, the Cotton Bird Pokemon

Look, in the sky! It's a bird, it's a cloud, it's a soon-to-be dragon! It's all of the above! It's... Swablu!!!!! And look at that moveset!

Steel Wing
Dragon Pulse
Pluck
Rest

To get this elegant dragon, follow this process;

1) Breed a male Skarmory that knows Steel Wing with a female Swablu/Altaria.
2) Once you get a male Swablu from that, raise it to lv 50 to teach it Dragon Pulse, and use the TMs for Rest and Pluck. Raise a female Swablu to lv 50 and teach it Dragon Pulse as well(lv 62 if you let it turn into an Altaria). NOTE: In Generation IV, you can use a TM to teach Dragon Pulse.
3) Breed those two Swablus/Altarias to get the baby Swablus with this moveset. A neutral nature would be best.

Why does this moveset work for this pokemon? Let's explore that, shall we?

First, Altaria's ability is Natural Cure, meaning when it is switched out, it is cured of all status problems, including sleep. So if you have him use Rest, he'll go back to full health, then you can switch him out and he'll be at full health without the Sleep condition. His Attack and Sp. Attack are even, so we can safely put a mix of Physical and Special attacks. Steel Wing covers his Ice and Rock weaknesses, while Dragon Pulse covers his Dragon weakness. Pluck is just a nice move to take care of any potential berry the opponent may use, you may choose to switch it out for Sky Attack when it's lv 71, but that cannot be learned through the egg.

It's a nice moveset for a decent pokemon. Thoughts and ideas are welcome of course.

Brock out.

Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokemon

Have you been looking for a powerhouse-style build? This may be the one for you! Note that this build can only be done in Generation V games.

Stone Edge
Drill Run
Ice Fang
Crunch

First, let's see how to get him:

1) Raise a female Rhyhorn to lv 45 so it learns Drill Run(if you evolve him at lv 42, he won't learn Drill Run until lv 47).
2) Teach that Rhyhorn Stone Edge with the TM(if you do not have the TM, you can level Rhyhorn up to lv 52 and he'll learn it naturally).
3) Have a male Smeargle learn Stone Edge, Drill Run, Ice Fang, and Crunch via Sketch.
4) Breed the male Smeargle and female Rhyhorn to make eggs with this moveset. A Careful or Sassy nature would be best in order to compensate for his low Sp. Defense stat.

This build is designed to inflict mass damage, and on a wide range of types. This build is super-effective against 13 types, much like the Electivire build I posted earlier. Rhyperior, the final evolution of Rhyhorn, is a Rock/Ground pokemon. It just so happens that Stone Edge and Drill Run are both powerful Rock and Ground attacks, that get the same-type-advantage-bonus(STAB) and also have a high-critical hit ratio. These will be his most powerful attacks. Crunch lowers the enemy's Defense, and Ice Fang helps to fight off more weaknesses. Rhyperior's impressive Attack stat only makes it better.

This build can do some massive damage to a wide-range of types. I am always open to suggestions on my builds, so don't be shy!

Brock out.

Faster than the Speed of Breed

This section will discuss how to speed up the breeding process. Let's start with getting an egg.

First of all, recall the basic rules of breeding as explained in the first post, what pokemon can breed with others and which cannot. Now when you talk to the Day-Care Man, he'll say how well your pokemon are getting along with each other;

1) "They seem to get along very well" - fastest egg production rate
2) "They seem to get along" - average egg production rate
3) "They don't seem to like each other" - slowest egg production rate
4) "They prefer to play with other pokemon" - no egg production, pokemon are not compatible

The way(s) to achieve the fastest egg production:

1) Two pokemon of the same species with different ID numbers.

The way(s) to achieve average egg production:

1) Two pokemon of the same species with the same ID number.
2) Two pokemon of different species with different ID numbers.

The way(s) to achieve the slowest egg production:

1) Two pokemon of different species with the same ID number.

So that's how to get the eggs. I highly recommend migrating a Ditto and male Smeargle from a game, so you can use them to breed and still have a decent egg production rate.

The fastest ways to hatch an egg once you have it, just follow these guidelines:

1) Have a pokemon with Flame Body or Magma Armor for its ability in your party, it halves the hatch time
2) Ride your Bicycle, it makes you go twice as fast, there for halving the hatch time(again!)
3) Use a nice straight area to hatch your pokemon, it makes things easier. In Unova games, the Skyarrow Bridge is best. In Sinnoh, the right-most edge of the dirt road by the Day-Care Center is best. For Johto, the middle path of Goldenrod is your best bet.

Use these tips to get what you want faster!

Brock out.

Natu, the Tiny Bird Pokemon

This is a must-have addition to any team. Here's the moveset;

Faint Attack
U-Turn
Wish
Future Sight

Why this moveset? Think about it. Future Sight attacks the enemy 2 turns in the future w/ a powerful Psychic-type attack. Wish heals whatever pokemon you have out one turn later. U-Turn makes you switch out after your attack. If you use the moves in that order, you will attack the enemy twice in one turn and heal a pokemon, all at once. If you have a pokemon you can't afford to let die, switch it out for this guy and start the attack sequence in order to heal the damaged pokemon. Faint Attack is there for the event that Xatu is left alone to fight.

To get this beast, you gotta follow the process as follows;

1) Breed a male Murkrow that has Faint Attack with a female Natu/Xatu
2) Raise the male offspring to lv 42 and have it learn Wish and Future Sight. Also teach it U-Turn via the TM.
3) Breed that male Natu/Xatu with a female Natu/Xatu that knows Wish and Future Sight.
4) The offspring should have the desired moveset. The best nature would be a neutral one, or maybe one that lowers Speed if you're feeling risky.
But that's a good build to have as a support pokemon. Even if the opponent switches out for a Dark-type when they see you've used Future Sight, don't worry, because U-Turn is super-effective against Dark-type pokemon, so you will do damage regardless of what they do. As always, comments and ideas are welcome.

Brock Out.

Duskull, the Requiem Pokemon

I thought up this build at work today, and have not yet tested it, however, in theory, it is unstoppable. This must be done in Generation IV. The move set it will have from the egg should be:

Disable
Grudge
Torment
Night Shade

We will rid Night Shade for the move Spite, which it learns from a Move Tutor in Generation IV.

First, the process;

1) Breed a male Bannete that knows Grudge and Torment with a female Duskull.
2) Raise the male offspring a few levels to make it learn Disable.
3) Breed that male Duskull with a female Duskull that knows Disable.
4) The pokemon that hatches should be a Duskull that knows Grudge, Torment, and Disable. Take it to a Move Tutor to teach it Spite in exchange for a few Shards.

I know the first thought on your mind. "This thing cannot deal any damage with these moves! Do we have to hold an intervention for you?"

First of all, yes, because I'm addicted to BEING AWESOME!!! I just can't get enough of it.

And secondly, look at all these moves on a Dusknoir, Duskull's final evolution. Disable will stop the foe from using one of its attacks. Then use Torment, and the enemy will not be able to use the same attack twice in a row. Then continue to use Spite. Spite reduces the PP of the last move the target used by 4. Include the Pressure ability Dusknoir has, and it just cost the enemy 6 PP to use a single attack. That means you can deplete your average attack in 3 turns. And when you are near death, you Grudge, and that will deplete the PP of the move that knocked you out.

Now the theories as to why this will work(I have not yet tested it, will confirm later). Dusknoir has extremely high Defense and Sp. Defense stats, so it can withstand most any attacks. It only has 2 weaknesses, making it even better for Defense. And Struggle, though it can still damage him despite being a Normal-type attack, will still be subject to Torment, so it will only be able to attack every other turn.

So any thoughts or ideas? They are always welcome.

A thanks to Misty for informing me on the rules of Struggle!

Brock out.

Nature vs. Nurture? The Truth Revealed

I've mentioned Natures without explaining what it is they really are. Natures affect how your stats turn out as you raise a pokemon. There are many Natures, and each one will boost one stat and lower another, except for the 5 neutral Natures, that neither raise nor lower any stat. A handy little chart to help you decide Natures.

But what do the stats mean? Why should one stat be more important than another? Allow me to show you.

Attack: This stat determines how powerful your Physical-based attacks will be.

Defense: This stat will determine how much damage you take from a Physical-based attack.

Sp. Attack: This stat determines how powerful your Special-based attacks will be.

Sp. Defense: This stat determines how much damage you take from a Special-based attack.

Speed: This stat determines when you will attack in battle, the highest speed attacks first, the lowest attacks last(except for attacks that bypass this, such as Quick Attack or Dragon Tail).

Some attacks will go around the rules of these stats, however. Psyshock is a Special-based Attack, but will attack the enemy at its Defense stat rather than it's Sp. Defense stat. Bullet Punch will make the user attack first. Dragon Tail will make the user attack last. There are many other attacks like these that bypass the laws of stats. There are certain abilities that do this as well, for example, Stall makes you attack last.

Different pokemon work better with different Natures. The Vulpix I recently put up, for example, it uses only Special-based attacks, meaning its Attack stat will go unused. So for this pokemon, we'd want a Nature that lowers your Attack and raises something useful. We look look at the pretty chart, and see that the Attack-lowering Natures are Bold, Timid, Modest, and Calm.

The Growlithe I put up is a little more tricky. He uses both a Special-based attack and a Physical-based attack. Lowering Defense or Sp. Defense wouldn't be smart ever, really. Nobody likes low Speed. The stats of Arcanine are fairly well-balanced, so we don't really want to lower any of them. So we would want a neutral Nature. So we see in the chart that the neutral Natures are Hardy, Docile, Serious, Bashful, and Quirky.

Let's look at Sableye. This pokemon will have the Stall ability, meaning he will go last. This means his Speed stat is pretty much pointless. So why not get a Nature that lowers Speed and raises something else? We look at the chart and see the Natures we'd want are Brave, Relaxed, Quiet, and Sassy.

Also, if the female pokemon in breeding(or the ditto substituting for the female) is holding the Everstone item, there is a 50% chance that that pokemon's Nature will carry through to the baby. A good technique to get a Ditto with a nice Nature, I have a Calm one, and let it hold the Everstone when it's appropriate(like for the Vulpix for example).

This isn't directly related to breeding, but if the Pokemon leading your party has the ability Synchronize, a wild Pokemon you encounter has a 50% chance of having the same Nature as the Pokemon with Synchronize. This can be useful if you are searching for a certain Pokemon with certain Natures.

There are a lot of things to look at when deciding your Nature. Your moveset, the Pokemon's Base Stats, and so forth. So just study the Pokemon you'll be breeding and figure out what you think will be the best approach.

In the Battle Park/Frontier/Subway, you can purchase items called "Power ---". Each of these help your pokemon grow stronger in that particular stat on lv up. The Power Anklet, for example, will help your pokemon to level up with more Speed boost. Similar items are the Vitamins availible for purchase at the regional malls, or the Park/Frontier/Subway. These items are one-time use, but will make your pokemon stronger in their given stats, and as a nice bonus, will make your pokemon a little happier.

Through breeding for a desired Nature and using the Vitamins and Power items, you can breed pokemon with unimaginable stat increases. Have you ever seen a Crobat get +11 Speed in one level up? I have.

Brock out.

Vulpix, the Fox Pokemon

There are 2 ways I've found to make a Vulpix work, I'll take it one at a time. First, the offensive build.

Energy Ball
Inferno
Extrasensory
Hex

As a Fire-type, Vulpix can fight off all his weaknesses with a Grass-attack, hence the Energy Ball. Inferno, though it lacks accuracy, will always Burn the foe, which means Hex will do double damage to the foe. Extrasensory can make the enemy flinch, which is nice. Between all these moves, this guy will be super-effective against 11 of the 17 types. To get this build, you need to follow this process;

1) Teach a male Smeargle Energy Ball, Inferno, Extrasensory, and Hex.
2) Get a female Vulpix to learn Hex(if you catch them at the Abundant Shrine in Generation IV games, chances are they'll already know Inferno)
3) Breed the male Smeargle and the female Vulpix to get the offspring with these 4 moves as its starting moveset. A good nature would be one to lower Attack.

I know you're probably concerned about the low accuracy of Inferno. While it is low, remember that 50 means it will still hit half the time. Considering it will Burn the target if it hits(recall Burn causes the enemy to lose HP over time and also cuts their Attack stat in half), do excellent damage, and allow your Hex to be stronger(recall Hex has excellent accuracy), it is worth the risk.

But for those of you still concerned with the accuracy because you don't take risks, here's a more defensive build;

Hypnosis
Hex
Disable
Ember

I know, Ember is not strong. Well, it will be replaced with the Dream Eater TM once it is evolved via the Fire Stone. This build is set at immobilizing your target by disabling its attacks and putting it to sleep. Its damaging attacks are best used when the foe is sleeping.

The breeding process is the same for the other Vulpix, except that the Smeargle only needs to know Disable, Hynosis, and Hex, and the Vulpix does not need to know Inferno.

Either build is acceptable, it all depends on your playing style. Comments and ideas on either build are welcome as always.

Brock out.

Growlithe, the Puppy Pokemon

This fiery little guy will melt your heart, as well as your face. It comes out of the egg with these moves;

Sunny Day
Flare Blitz
Morning Sun
Roar

Sunny Day is the key to this build. It makes Morning Sun heal you for 66% instead of 50%, it powers up Flare Blitz by 50%, and makes Solarbeam(a move it learns via TM as an Arcanine) a one-turn move rather than having to charge before use. On that note, I want to point out how great pure Fire type pokemon are. They are only weak against Water, Rock, and Ground, and those 3 types are all weak against Grass, and nearly all Fire pokemon can learn Solarbeam. Just worth noting.

Anyway, here's the breeding process;

1) Breed a male Espeon(must have Morning Sun) with a female Growlithe.
2) Continue breeding until you get a male Growlithe, then raise that Growlithe to lv 56 to teach it Flare Blitz.
3) Teach that Growlithe Sunny Day through the TM.
4) Breed that male Growlithe with a female Growlithe.
5) The result will be a lv 1 Growlithe with the above moveset. Try for a neutral nature. Either ability is acceptable, I perfer Intimidate, but Flash Fire has its benefits as well.
*A Smeargle knowing those 3 attacks can work just as well.

Now evolve that little guy with a Fire Stone, and he'll be an Arcanine. Teach him Solarbeam with a TM.

You're probably concerned about the recoil that Flare Blitz has. I understand, recoils suck. But you have to see the benefits. This is a physical Fire attack. Arcanine's Attack is better than its Sp. Attack. Flare Blitz is physical, has top accuracy, and 120 Power. Throw in the same-type advantage bonus(STAB) and the benefit of Sunny Day, Flare Blitz's power becomes 270, even more if you give it a Charcoal as its Hold Item. And Morning Sun will undo any recoil damage you need.

As I always am, your ideas are welcome.

Brock Out.

The Cheaters of the Breeding World

There are 2 pokemon that exist in the game that made breeding much easier.

First, there is Ditto. Ditto is a pokemon that can breed with any pokemon that can breed at all. It breeds with male or female pokemon. This is useful if you are in need of a different gender of a certain pokemon for breeding reasons(for example, you need a female Gastly but you only have a male). Or if you are giving a friend a pokemon, this is the easy way to do it.

Then there is Smeargle. Smeargle is a member of the "Field" egg group, so he can only breed with Field pokemon. Now the thing about Smeargle is that it can learn any move in existance. This means it can breed any combination of egg moves into a pokemon if the Smeargle is the male. Smeargle learns the move Sketch, and you can learn moves through doing Double Battles with the pokemon that has the move you desire to teach your Smeargle. For example, if you want Smeargle to learn Mean Look, you would send it into a Double Battle with a pokemon that knows Mean Look. After that pokemon uses Mean Look, have Smeargle use Sketch on that pokemon. Smeargle will now know Mean Look until you decide to erase it.

Now I have a problem with Smeargles. They annoy me. I'm not a racist or anything in the real world, but I do not enjoy my pokemon being tainted with the blood of a Smeargle, even if it doesn't truly do anything. It's just the knowledge that this horrible Picasso-wannabe is a part of my pokemon. So I tend to dilute the Smeargle blood by breeding the offspring with its mother, or a Ditto if I'll get the same result.

Incest is better than tainted blood.

Brock Out.

Gastly, the Gas Pokemon

I have no idea how this is physically possible, but my egg build for this pokemon is as follows;

Lick
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
Thunder Punch

Yes. The big ball of gas can punch things. It makes total sense. When it evolves at lv 25, teach it Shadow Punch over Lick. But first, the breeding process;

1) Breed a male Dusknoir(with the moveset Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and whatever) with a female Gastly/Haunter/Gengar.
2) Breed for a desired nature.

Actually, due to Gengar's low Attack stat, you'll likely not want these moves other than to edit it a tad bit. One good idea could be;

Skill Swap
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
Shadow Punch

For Skill Swap, you'll need to be in Generation IV. I know what you're thinking. "Brock, those attacks are all still physical! What have you been drinking?"

Firstly, grain alcohol, it's cheap and gets you totally wasted, and has made me unappealing to the opposite sex. Kids, don't drink grain alcohol.

And note the Skill Swap ability. It lets you swap Abilities with whoever you use it with. A fun thing to do would be to enter double battles with a Golurk, and swap their abilities. Golurk will have Levitate, giving it its 4th immunity, which is just fun, but more importantly, Gengar will have the Iron Fist ability, which means its punching attacks are 30% stronger. And Gengar will be able to compensate its new Ground-weakness with the Ice Punch. A similar outcome for a Hitmonchan over a Golurk.

Of course, Gastly, like many Ghost types, are able to be used in a variety of ways, and this is just one of them. What is YOUR build?

Brock out.

Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokemon

This little guy is cute, and now you can make him deadly! I note now that this breeding must be done in Generation IV games. We will be breeding for the Seren Grace ability.

Serene Grace is an ability that doubles the chance of added effects happening in your attacks. Water Pulse would have a 40% chance to Confuse the enemy rather than a 20% chance, Poison Jab would have a 60% to Poison the enemy rather tha a 30% chance, and so forth.

The moves the final product will hatch with are as follows:

Water Pulse
Shock Wave
Wish
Ancient Power

First, the process to get they cute little guys, it's actually fairly easy;

1) Teach a male Togetic Water Pulse and Shock Wave through their respective TMs, and level it up to lv 33 to teach it Ancient Power and Wish.
2) Raise a female Togetic to lv 33 so that it knows Ancient Power and Wish.
3) Breed the male Togetic and the female Togetic.
4) Continue breeding until you get a Togepi with the Srene Grace ability. The best Natures would be something to lower Attack.

You're probably thinking "Brock, that's not a very powerful moveset! What have you been smoking?"

Well first of all, I've been smoking dope, which is why I have no eyes. Kids, don't smoke dope.

And I see the low power of these moves, but I can explain. Water Pulse is the only Water attack a Togepi/Togetic/Togekiss can learn, and it confuses. With Serene Grace, it will confuse the enemy almost half of the time. Wish and Ancient Power are the best moves a Togepi/Togetic learns, as Wish can heal anyone on your team, really, and Ancient Power is the only Rock attack it can learn. Shock Wave is a nice attack that never misses, and is the only Electric attack it can know other than Thunder Wave. These moves let you have a lot of variation in your pokemon moveset. You will no doubt change a few things here and there, because it is a less-powerful build than others.

Another question you may have is "Why do I have to use Togetics to breed? Won't Togepis work just as well and I won't have to worry about happiness?"

Sadly, no. Togepis, along with many "baby pokemon", are in the "No Eggs" group. However, Togetics and Togekisses are in the Field and Flying groups. You can't use Togekisses because they cannot learn Wish or Ancient Power unless they already know it from being a Togetic. Think of it like "babies can't have babies" and it makes some sense.

No matter how you vary the Togepi once it is hatched, you should teach it Air Slash when it becomes a Togekiss, because it will have a 60% chance to make the enemy Flinch if your Togekiss has Serene Grace.

This is a build that was designed to let you change the build to your desire, if that makes sense. Some sample builds that grow from that one;

1) The Never-Miss Togekiss
Shock Wave
Aerial Ace
Magical Leaf
Aura Sphere
*for this build, the Hustle ability is a better option than Seren Grace

2) The "Can't Touch This" Togekiss
Air Slash
Water Pulse
Thunder Wave
Attract

Or you could simply use this Togetic to breed these moves into other pokemon. A warning, however; if you migrate this Togepi to Generation V games and try to breed there, Water Pulse and Shock Wave will not carry through, as they are no longer TM moves in those games.

As always, your thoughts and ideas will be heard.

Brock Out.

Genders in the Pokemon Universe

In the Pokemon Universe, there are 3 genders of pokemon. The Males, the Females, and the Genderless pokemon. Let's go a little into these before I give more of my own builds.

Firstly, Genderless pokemon can only get eggs through breeding with a Ditto. This means that breeding for egg moves is impossible, and in fact, breeding anything into them is futile.

The Females decide the gender of the pokemon that will come from the egg. The Females also allow you to breed moves the pokemon would eventually learn into the egg, but only if the Male you are breeding with also knows the move.

The Males have the power to decide what moves the offspring will hatch with. They control egg moves, TMs, and contribute equally in the eventually-learned moves.

If a Male breeds with a Ditto, any TMs and egg moves that pokemon has will carry through. If a Female breeds with a Ditto, prepare to have a basic pokemon.

The Males have much more power in breeding than the Females. Generally, I want my final pokemon in my breeding to be Male, so that if I want, I can carry the moves through to other pokemon, or breed with a Ditto if I just want to help a friend. So I treat Female pokemon the same way I treat Female humans;

"Use 'em, and Lose 'em."

Brock Out.

Elekid, the Electric Pokemon

Who doesn't like Electric-type Pokemon? They only have one weakness, Ground. The moves my Elekids come out of the egg with are as follows:

Cross Chop
Ice Punch
Fire Punch
Thunder Punch

The process to get these little bags of volts is a tad more complex than it was for the Cottonees. Observe:

1) Breed a male Hitmonchan(whose moveset should include Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch) with a female Machop. Breed for a male Machop.
2) Raise that male Machop to lv 43 and teach it Cross Chop(or lv 44 if you let that Machop evolve). It's moveset should now be Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, and Cross Chop.
3) Now you will breed that male Machop/Machoke/Machamp with a female Electabuzz that knows Thunder Punch.
4) The offspring should be an Elekid with the proper moveset.

I should note that you can breed for a Machop with the same moveset if you breed that male Machop with a female Machop that knows Cross Chop.

For the raising of this Elekid, do not level it up at all until you are positive it is at maximum happiness. At level 2, if it is at full happiness, it will turn into an Electabuzz. Once it is an Electabuzz, you can trade it while it holds the Electrizer to turn it into an Electivire. This will allow you to get the most out of your Electivire.

Once it is an Electivire, use the TM for Earthquake and forget Fire Punch. The final moveset will be:

Thunder Punch
Cross Chop
Ice Punch
Earthquake

Why this moveset? Because it is a varied moveset to take down lots of types. With this moveset, it can fight off 13 different types, all but 4. And one of those 13 weaknesses it can fight off is Ground, its only weakness. Not really much else to say, I think it speaks for itself.

That is my Elekid build, and how to change it for its evolution. If you find you do not like Earthquake over Fire Punch, you can relearn it at the Move Relearner. As always, open to comments and ideas.

Brock out.

Cottonee, the Cotton Puff Pokemon

I recently bred Cottonees because of an ability that only they and the Cloud Legendaries have; Prankster.

Prankster is an ability that allows you to attack first as long as it is a Status Attack, that is, an attack that does not directly do damage to the reciever, such as Leech Seed, Double Team, or Confuse Ray.

The Cottonees come out of the egg with the following moveset;

Giga Drain
Grasswhistle
Cotton Guard
Dream Eater

And now the Process to get these beauties on YOUR game!

1) Breed a female Cottonee with a male Sunkern that knows the move "Grasswhistle". Breed for a male Cottonee.
2) Raise that male Cottonee to lv 37, so that it learns Giga Drain and Cotton Guard, and teach it Dream Eater through the TM. This Cottonee should now have the required moveset, however, it has missed out on the superior stat increases a Whimsicott would have.
3) You'll need to repeat step 2 with a female Cottonee, unless the female Cottonee you previously used already has Giga Drain and Cotton Guard. If that is the case, let's move on.
4) Breed the male Cottonee(whose moves should be Grasswhistle, Giga Drain, Cotton Guard, and Dream Eater) with the female Cottonee(whose moves should include Giga Drain and Cotton Guard).
5) Continue breeding until you get a male Cottonee with the Prankster ability and a Nature you perfer, something that lowers your Attack stat is perfect, since it will not be used.
6) Evolve by using a Sun Stone to get a lv 1 Whimsicott that will be able to grow to its full potential.

Why should a Cottonee have this moveset? Because it makes for an excellent Defense pokemon. Allow me to explain.

Because of Prankster, you can put the enemy to sleep with Grasswhistle before he can hit you, which is very important because Grass pokemon are overall the worst type due to their weaknesses. Sleeping pokemon cannot atack you. After the enemy is asleep, use Cotton Guard twice, your Defense stat will then be maxed out, at 400%. Dream Eater is a powerful attack that can be used to drain HP from your enemy, however, it can only be used while the enemy is asleep. Giga Drain is just like Dream Eater, except the enemy does not need to be asleep. "Why should I have both Giga Drain an Dream Eater if they do the same thing?" you ask? In Generation V, an ability was introduced, called Sap Sipper, and  it prevents damage by Grass-type attacks. Dark-type pokemon are fully immune to Psychic-type attacks. There is no Dark-type Pokemon with the Sap Sipper ability, so you will always be able to damage your opponent.

So this is my build for a Cottonee. Grass-type pokemon are scarcely good because of their weaknesses and low move-type variety, but this is one that can last in battle. I am open to your thoughts on Cottonee breeding of course.

Brock out.

Intro to Breeding 101

I'm Brock "the Rock" Obama, and my job will be to teach YOU how to breed the ultimate pokemon!

First some basics, so I do not overwhelm you.

1) Not all pokemon can breed together. All pokemon are divided in "Egg Groups", and only pokemon that share an egg group can breed. A good site to find which pokemon are compatible is this one: http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/

2) Most pokemon have a few moves that they can learn only if the father has it in his moveset, and this is the key to breeding a pokemon with an excellent moveset.

3) If both parents know a move, and the offspring can learn the move, then the offspring will exit the egg knowing that move. This turns out to be a key technique for breeding, because pokemon get better stat increases when they evolve, but will sometimes not know these moves until later. This helps get the most out of your pokemon.

4) If the father knows a TM or HM move, and the offspring can know it, then the offspring will hatch from the egg knowing that move. This was much more useful in Generation IV games, when TMs were one-use only, but it is still nice to have in Generation V.

5) When hatching eggs, be sure to have a pokemon with the ability "Flame Body" or "Magma Armor" in your party. This will make the hatch-time halved, so you can get what you want faster.

I'll go into more later, but for now that's all I'll say for the rules of breeding. Trust me, it can get more complicated than that.

So enjoy reading "Masterbreeding in my Room"! Comments will be allowed of course, so you'll be able to contribute your thoughts into the builds I put up here. I know I'm not perfect(though I'm pretty close), so I'll keep an open mind. No pokemon is intended to have just a single build. Certain builds are better than others.

Also, a disclaimer. I've thought all of thes builds up myself unless I state otherwise in that post, but I am not certain by any means that I am the first to create the builds.