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.