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.