Advanced IV Breeding

A while ago I posted the basics of IVs and how to breed for them. However, I feel I didn't make it clear enough how to get the most out of the Egg, so this post is to clarify a few things about IV Breeding.

It is possible to breed for 3 max IVs, and it's what I recently started doing. As previously stated, IVs are semi-dependent on the parents' IVs. 1 comes from the male parent, 1 comes from the female parent, 1 comes from either the male or female parent, and the other 3 are completely up to chance. As breeders, we focus on those first 3 IVs that we have some control over.

Above we have an example I made to illustrate breeding 3 IVs and an Egg Move into a Pokemon, in the form of a family tree. This takes several steps as you can see, so if you don't have patience, you may as well stop reading right now. I've gotten what I wanted as early as Egg #16, or as late as Egg #48, and that can take about a full day.

The example is to get a Solosis that knows Confuse Ray and has max IVs in HP, Sp. Attack, and Sp. Defense, making it a good Special-Tank-style Pokemon. I'll list the steps of the example by number.

(1) Breed a female Litwick with a male Gastly that has a max HP IV. The Gastly must be holding the Power Weight so that the HP IV will carry down to the Egg. Hatch Eggs until you get a female Litwick with the max HP IV.
(2) Breed the new female Litwick with a male Castform that has a max Sp. Attack IV. Either have the Litwick hold the Power Weight, or have the Castform hold the Power Lens, it doesn't matter. Hatch Eggs until you get a male Litwick with both the max HP IV and the max Sp. Attack IV.
(3) Level the male Litwick up to lv 10 to teach it Confuse Ray.
(4) Breed a female Solosis with the male Gastly from Step 1, once again having the Gastly hold the Power Weight to carry down the max HP IV. Hatch until you get a female Solosis with a max HP IV.
(5) Breed the new female Solosis with a male Frillish that has a max Sp. Defense IV. Either have the Solosis hold the Power Weight, or have the Frillish hold the Power Band, it doesn't matter. Hatch Eggs until you get a female Solosis with both the max HP IV and the max Sp. Defense IV.
(6) Breed the male Litwick from Step 3 with the female Solosis from the end of Step 5. Either have the Litwick hold the Power Lens, or have the Solosis hold the Power Band, it doesn't matter. Hatch Eggs until you get a Solosis(gender doesn't matter) that has the max HP IV, the max Sp. Attack IV, and the max Sp. Defense IV. It will also know Confuse Ray. If that Solosis has a good Nature and the right Ability, keep it and you're done. If the Solosis does not have a good Nature and/or lacks the correct Ability and is male, see Step 7a(this is what the picture illustrates). If the Solosis does not have a good Nature and/or lacks the correct Ability and is female, see Step 7b.
(7a) Breed this male Solosis with its mother, having the male Solosis holding the Power Lens to carry down its max Sp. Attack IV. Hatch Eggs until you get a Solosis that has the Nature and Ability you desire.
(7b) Breed this female Solosis with its father(the Litwick), having the female Solosis hold the Power Band to carry down its max Sp. Defense IV. Hatch Eggs until you get a Solosis with the Nature and Ability you desire. NOTE: You may need to take the Litwick out of the Daycare Center and reteach it Confuse Ray if it has forgotten it already, though I am not certain if this is necessary.

Like I said, this takes patience. And now to summarize that in general terms. Basically, you breed for a female of the Pokemon you want in the end, with 2 IVs. Then you breed a male of the Pokemon that has the Egg move you want, with 2 IVs, 1 of the IVs its shares with the female, and the other is the 3rd IV you want in the end that the female doesn't have. You teach this male the move that will be an Egg move for the female, and breed the two until you get one with the 3 IVs you're breeding for. If it has a good Nature and a good Ability, you're done. If it's male, breed it with its mother, having it hold the Power item for the max IV the mother doesn't have. If its female, breed it with its father, having it hold the Power item for the max IV the father doesn't have.

Some FAQs(that I assume are frequently asked even though I'm making them up on the spot);

Q: Why do we have 2 IVs on each Pokemon, when we breed for 3 IVs in the end?
A: This is to increase the chances of getting what we want sooner. We put in one of the same IVs on both the male and the female(in the example the common IV is HP) so that if HP comes down, regardless of which parent it will be max. We use the Power item to carry down one of the IVs that is unique to a parent(in the example we can have the male Litwick hold the Power Lens to ensure the Sp. Attack stat is carried down). Then we just need patience while we wait for the other max IV in the gene pool to pass down.

Q: Why do we have the first egg with all 3 max IVs breed with a parent?
A: This is again to speed it all up. If you breed a Pokemon with all 3 max IVs you want with a Pokemon that has 2 of the 3 max IVs you want, then you have 2 common IVs between them, increasing the chances of them being carried down. Have the 3-max IV Pokemon hold the Power item for the IV the other one doesn't have, and wait for the Egg you need. Also, if the 3-max IV Pokemon is male, it can increase the rate you get Eggs, because they will be the same species(as explained in the post "Faster Than the Speed of Breed").

Q: What if I am breeding a genderless Pokemon, like Staryu or Beldum?
A: It will take longer for sure, as such Pokemon can only breed with Ditto. You can breed and just hope the IVs show up, though it isn't super-likely they will. However, I advise catching an absurd amount of Dittos and praying to Arceus that they have max IVs, as that is the only way to get the IVs you need. I myself have a few Dittos that cover all IVs between them, except for Defense. That Defense IV Ditto eludes me. Koga told me he has one but he isn't sharing. Kill Koga if you see him. And bring me his Ditto of course.

Okay then, that is how to breed for 3 max IVs in a single Pokemon. It's a long process, but you get some powerful Pokemon in the end. And even if you get a Pokemon with 3 max IVs that doesn't have the right Nature or Ability for it, if it's male you can still send it down to other Pokemon so don't be super-quick to get rid of it. Comments and questions are always welcome.

Brock out.

Munna, the Dream Eater Pokemon

Isn't it cute? So full of flowers and other happy things. It's so peaceful. In fact, this one doesn't even attack.

Calm Mind
Double Team
Baton Pass
Yawn

EVs: 252 Defense, 200 Sp. Defense, 58 HP

Nothing ingenious here, it's just a Baton Passer. Yawn to put the enemy to sleep, Calm Mind to up your Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense, Double Team to up your Evasion, then Baton Pass to switch it all to another Pokemon that could use it more. Musharna has impressive Wall stats and can get away with doing this sort of thing.

How to get it? Well...

(1) Raise a male Watchog to lv 39 to teach it Baton Pass. Teach it Double Team via its respective TM.
(2) Breed it with a female Musharna to get a Munna egg with those 2 moves. Aim for a Nature that lowers either Attack, Sp. Attack, or Speed(you won't be using any of these stats), preferably one that raises Defense or Sp. Defense as well.
(3) Teach the baby Munna Calm Mind via its respective TM.
(4) Raise the Munna to lv 7 to teach it Yawn. Then you can use the Moon Stone to evolve it whenever.

That's it really. You should probably have it hold the Leftovers item so it can recover from whatever damage it takes while the enemy is not Asleep. When battling, start using Double Team before Calm Mind, so that your enemy will have a hard time hitting you once they wake up, so Leftovers can do its work. This build would do wonders to Baton Pass to the Whimsicott that was posted a while ago. All the stats that this Musharna raises are good for compensating for weaknesses in the Whimsicott.

Comments/questions are always welcome. I know I am abandoning Musharna's solid Sp. Attack stat in this build, but I think it is worth it in this case. It can provide a solid stat boost to any Pokemon.

Brock out.

Shroomish, the Mushroom Pokemon

This is the one time it is okay to do shrooms, everyone.

Spore
Focus Punch
Seed Bomb
Wake-Up Slap

EVs: 252 Attack, 128 Defense, 128 Sp. Defense(the important one is Attack, spread the rest as you please)

This is a build to utilize Breloom's astounding Attack stat of 130. Spore is a move that has 100 Accuracy and can put an enemy to Sleep. This lets you use Focus Punch, a powerful move that only lands if you are not hit by the enemy in that same turn. With STAB, it comes out to be 225 power. Wake-Up Slap gets a STAB, and if the enemy is Asleep, its power doubles, bringing its power to 180. Seed Bomb is there for a Grass STAB should you be fighting a Ghost-type, it will have 120 power. A good item to hold would be the Focus Sash.

How do we get this one? Well I'll tell you right now, it is a pain in the Arceus. But should be worth it.

A GENERATION IV GAME IS REQUIRED FOR THIS POKEMON!

(1) Raise a male Jigglypuff in a Gen IV game to lv 37 to teach it Wake-Up Slap.
(2) Teach that same Jigglypuff Focus Punch via its TM, still in Gen IV.
(3) Breed that Jigglypuff with a female Breloom to get a Shroomish with Focus Punch and Wake-Up Slap, and an Adamant Nature(or at least one that lowers Sp. Attack). Ability does not particularly matter in this case. DO NOT EVOLVE IT IN THE GEN IV GAME.
(4) Migrate the Shroomish Egg to a Gen V game, and level it up to lv 45 to teach it Spore(it will learn Seed Bomb along the way at lv 37). YOU CANNOT EVOLVE THE SHROOMISH UNTIL IT LEARNS SPORE.

I told you it was a pain in the ass. Especially if you breed for IVs. If you breed for IVs, try to get a Ditto with a max Attack IV, and breed a male Shroomish with Wake-Up Slap and Focus Punch with that Ditto.

Another thing worth noting is Dream World Breloom. It can have the Technician Ability, which increases a move with 60 base power or less by 50%. This would bring Wake-Up Slap to a power of 270, and given Breloom's Attack stat, that is a scary thing to face. If you are a greedy person who wants everything including IVs, moves, Nature, and a DW Ability, this is actually still possible, but a few things change. I'll just list the process here now. Skip over it if you are not greedy for such power.

(1) Breed a male Jigglypuff in Gen IV with a max Attack IV. This is easiest to accomplish in HG/SS due to the breeding mechanics mentioned in the IV section of this blog.
(2) Raise it to lv 37 to teach it Wake-Up Slap, still in Gen IV.
(3) Teach it Focus Punch through its TM, still in Gen IV.
(4) Migrate this Jigglypuff(male, max Attack IV, Focus Punch and Wake-Up Slap) to a Gen V game.
(5) Have a female Dream World Shroomish/Breloom.
(6) Have the male Jigglypuff you migrated hold the Power Bracer, and breed it with the female DW Shroomish/Breloom. If the Breloom has the Adamant Nature, have it hold the Everstone while it breeds to up the odds of the Egg having that Nature.
(7) The Egg will have a 60% chance of being hatched with the DW Ability(for Shroomish it reads Quick Feet, but when it evolves it will be Technician), and a 50% chance to have the Adamant Nature if you were lucky enough to have that at your disposal. This comes out to 30% of the Eggs coming out with the Attack IV, moves, Nature, and DW Ability. If not, you only have a 2.4% chance of getting one with the Adamant Nature(or 9.6% if aiming for any Sp. Attack-lowering Nature, and 21.6% if you include the neutral Natures). Not to crush your hopes and dreams or anything.
(8) Without evolving it, level the Shroomish up to lv 45 to teach it Spore and Seed Bomb.
(9) Thank Arceus you're finally done.

A fair warning, this build does not perform well against Flying, Bug, Poison, or Ghost-types, nor Pokemon with Vital Spirit or Early Bird as their Abilities. I do not advise leading with this Pokemon.

If you have any comments or questions, let me know! This is a link to how to get a DW Shroomish:

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Dream_Park_(Dream_World_area)

Brock out.