t's also a great idea to only start advanced breeding in-game in the post-game (after you've beat the Elite Four the first time). It's actually pretty hard to do all this before you've beaten the Elite Four, and is downright difficult to IV breed before you've beaten the Elite Four. Just do yourself a favor and go ahead and beat them. Of course, that's not to say you can't start looking over this guide beforehand, just wait until post-game to actually start advanced breeding.
I will also note that the EV Training Guide and this guide go hand in hand; each are necessary to creating the coveted "perfect" Pokemon. While no Pokemon is undefeatable, you should probably get as close as possible, which is why it's an excellent idea to head on over here. It doesn't matter what order you read them in, but I might reference EV training from time to time. However, it you want that "perfect" Pokemon, you cannot start EV Training until you have bred for perfect IVs.
One last thing: this is a very in-depth guide and will not be understood overnight. I will try to put in tables and such, but you need to pay attention to each word that's stated so you understand what's happening.
And without further ado, we'll jump right in!
Chain Breeding
We'll start with something somewhat complicated: Chain Breeding. Chain Breeding is the act of breeding Pokemon A to get an egg move onto Pokemon B, than breeding Pokemon B with Pokemon C to get the desired egg move. The reason you do this is because Pokemon A cannot breed with Pokemon C, but Pokemon C wants an egg move Pokemon A has. You can also use this to get two different egg moves onto Pokemon C. Confused? Let's look at an example:
Say you wanted a Skitty with both Wish and Fake Tears. These moves are both egg moves. Now, no Pokemon learns both these moves and is in Skitty's egg group: so you have to chain breed. Here's what you do:
- First, get a male Togetic
that knows Wish (learned at level 29). - Breed it with a female Plusle
and produce a male Plusle with Wish as an egg move. - Now, level up that male Plusle to level 21 to learn Fake Tears. Be sure not to delete Wish for another move along the way, or else you'll have to go back to the beginning. (Also, it is recommended you keep the move you want to pass down at the bottom of your Pokemon's move roster, because the top-most moves are the ones that are forgotten if the Pokemon learns a new move while in the Day-Care.)
- Breed the male Plusle and a female Skitty
to produce a Skitty with Fake Tears and Wish.
Do you see how the Skitty got the two moves from both Togetic and Plusle? Pokemon that have two different egg groups are really good for this, as they can breed with many more Pokemon. Now let's look at another example.
Let's say that you wanted Charmander to learn Beat Up (Beat Up is an egg move). Now, no Pokemon both learn Beat Up and is in Charmander's egg group, so you're forced to chain breed.
This time, you just simply need a connection Pokemon that's in both egg groups (in this case, Charmander's egg group and Houndoom's egg group). You would use this when you have a Pokemon that you want to learn an egg move, but no one learns it in that Pokemon's egg group (like our bully that is a Charmander). So, you get that Pokemon in both egg groups and connect the two Pokemon. For example, here you would do this:
- Breed a male Houndoom
with Beat Up (learned at level 26) with a female Arbok 
until you get a male Ekans with Beat Up. - Breed that male Ekans
with Beat Up with a female Charmander 
.
And there you have it. A Charmander with Beat Up. Not overly difficult. Did you see how the Arbok really didn't contribute to the Charmander's movepool, but had to be in this chain anyways? Of course, as you want more than one egg move, these chains become extremely long. Just be careful and know what you're doing, and it shouldn't be extremely hard.
There's one more part of Chain Breeding: illegal move combinations. These are simply when a Pokemon can't learn two of it's two of it's egg moves. For example, Charmander can't learn AncientPower and Beat Up together, because no Pokemon learns these two moves, and there's no Pokemon that can connect these two moves together like Arbok did just now.
It's worth noting that all this chain breeding isn't needed in the Field egg group, where Smeargle is, simply because Smeargle can learn any move (through it's signature move Sketch). So that also means that there's no such thing as an illegal move combination in the Field egg group.
Masuda Method for Shiny Eggs
Now we're going to delve away from egg moves and focus more on shiny Pokemon. Which, if you know what they are, probably made you perk up a bit. Shiny Pokemon are merely Pokemon of a different color (such as a black Charizard). Shiny Pokemon are highly coveted, since there's such a small chance of finding one. Whether a Pokemon is shiny or not does not influence it's stats at all, so they are mainly shown off and such. Again, these Pokemon are extremely rare in the wild (the regular chance of a shiny Pokemon appearing in the wild are 1/8192, approximately 0.012%). Fortunately, Gamefreak director Junichi Masuda gave us a much easier way of obtaining these. Masuda, on his blog, told us that if Pokemon from different countries breed the odds of a shiny are increased.
So essentially now if you breed a German Onix and a Onix you just caught (assuming you're not also playing with a German game version), the odds of hatching a shiny Pokemon are increased six times to about 1/1366 (or, in any of the 4th Generation games, the odds are increased four-fold to 1/2048). That's still a frightening number, but loads better than the regular chance of getting a shiny. Some things to keep in mind:
- If you breed two Pokemon you caught/bred yourself, than the chance of hatching a shiny is still 1/8192. No matter what.
- If the Pokemon you use are both foreign but from the same language (such as two Japanese Seel), than the chance is still 1/8192.
- In 4th Generation games, you can still use the Masuda method but you cannot pass down natures using the Everstone. This is fixed in Black and White.
- Foreign Pokemon obtained in-game are not technically foreign, such as the German Magikarp in DPPt. Though they are a different language, they weren't actually obtained in a foreign game cartridge.
That's mostly it. Obviously, a foreign Ditto is extremely helpful if you just want a shiny. Also, you can still pass down IV's and such when using this method, but you get the added bonus of a possible shiny. Finally, there is no other way to get a shiny Pokemon while breeding other than those stated (getting one by pure luck or using the Masuda method), unless you're playing Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum, in which case you can use the Poke Radar (which involves a process known as "Chaining," to be covered in a separate guide later on). There is one other way that involves questionable techniques to manipulate the random number generator in the game (called "RNG-ing") to hatch or encounter shiny Pokemon — this will not be covered on this site; you'll have to find information on it elsewhere, sorry.
Magma Armor and Flame Body
Like other abilities that have effects outside of battle, Magma Armor and Flame Body help with breeding. If a Pokemon with either of these abilities is at the front of your party, then the steps taken to hatch an egg are cut in half. Instead of you searching for a Pokemon with Flame Body, I'll just tell you a few of the Pokemon that have Flame Body accessible to you.
Volcarona — Besides being great in beating the Elite Four and Cynthia and such (which you might know from this site's walkthrough), Volcarona is found at the bottom of Relic Castle. Volcarona will always be found with Flame Body.
Larvesta — Like its evolution, Larvesta has Flame Body. This can be hatched from an egg given to you on Route 18 (right next to Nuvema Town).
Magby (and its evolutions) — If you have Pokemon White, Magby can be found in the White Forest when Vincent is there. Magby has a 100% chance of having Flame Body.
Litwick (and its evolutions) — Litwick has only a 50% chance of having Flame Body. It is found in Celestial Tower, and is common on the lower floors.
As a side note, there are no Pokemon with Magma Armor readily accessible to you. Now, before you get your hopes up too much, no, if you have two Pokemon with Flame Body in your party, the time it takes to hatch an egg will not be reduced a fourth. If you have 5 different Pokemon with Flame Body and one egg, than the egg still takes half it's usual time to hatch.
IV Breeding
Introduction to IVs
Here we get complicated. You can't just skim through this section and understand, if that's what you've been doing. A fair warning. This is the part where it's important you have to have beaten the Elite Four (because then Ditto becomes catchable in the Giant Chasm). Well, let's get started!
IV's are essentially a Pokemon's genes. They are determined when a Pokemon is caught or hatched, and cannot be changed through any means after it's been caught/hatched. But the important question: What do IV's actually do? Well, they influence stats, and in that regard are much like EVs (however, they are gotten onto your Pokemon much differently). Every single Pokemon you have has between 0 and 31 IVs in each of its six stats. You can only see your Pokemon's IV's full effect at level 100. So at level 100, one IV equals one stat point (it will be proportionate to your Pokemon's level prior to level 100, so a level 50 Pokemon with 30 IV's will have roughly +15 in that stat).
Let's look at a quick example before we move on:
 Serperior (0 IVs) | Serperior (31 IVs) | |
|---|---|---|
| HP | 261 | 292 |
| Attack | 218 | 249 |
| Defense | 195 | 226 |
| Sp. Atk | 155 | 186 |
| Sp. Defense | 195 | 226 |
| Speed | 294 | 325 |
First, a few things about this table. These Serperior all both level 100, they both have 252 Speed and Attack EVs (with 4 HP EVs), and they both have a neutral nature. Now, one has 0 IVs in each stat and the other has 31 IVs in each stat. Hopefully you can tell which is which (if you can't, the first one has 0 and the second has 31). Now, you may think it's not a huge deal, but really, one Speed point can determine whether or not you go first, which can decide a battle. So now you know what IVs are.
In a real-world situation, you will end up with relatively random IVs, so you could have something like 6/21/14/30/18/20 for one Pokemon's IVs and 18/5/2/31/20/21 for another's. You'll often times see IVs listed with slashes: the accepted order is always HP/Attack/Defense/SpAtk/SpDef/Speed. Remember that if you happen to see people talking about their IVs in shorthand like that!
Ditto
The IVs your Pokemon has can only be (somewhat) controlled through breeding, and not in any legitimate way can you make a wild Pokemon have certain IVs. So now we have to breed to obtain perfect IVs. You should immediately be looking at Ditto, due to it's versatility (if not, don't worry, you'll learn). Wild Ditto are again found in the Giant Chasm, in the foresty area, and there is a 1 in 6 chance (in the wild) that they have a perfect IV in one stat (and that's true for all Pokemon). You should read the sentence and immediately be leaving to the Giant Chasm to catch an army of 36 Dittos. Why 36? Well, you want six Dittos, each with one stat that has 31 IVs. And six times six is 36. It may or may not take you more Dittos than this to get a set of perfect IV Dittos, since it is randomly generated and all.
How can you tell if your Ditto has a perfect IV in one stat? Well, since Ditto's base stats are all equal (47), then it's a bit easier. So this following table will show the numbers your Ditto needs to have to have a perfect 31 IVs, and will also apply to any and all stats that Ditto might have.
| Level | Ditto has 31 IVs if stat equals... | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP | Negative Nature | Neutral Nature | Positive Nature | |
 L53 | 130 | 64 | 72 | 79 |
| L55 | 134 | 66 | 74 | 81 |
| * L55 Ditto's stats are also for 30 IVs. Be careful! | ||||
| L63 | 153 | 76 | 85 | 93 |
| L65 | 157 | 78 | 87 | 95 |
If, when you catch a Ditto, it has one of the stats listed above based on its level and its nature, that means you have a Ditto with a perfect IV in that stat! (Note: Level 55 Dittos caught in the normal grass have the same stat for 31 IVs as they do for 30 IVs, so you should verify they are correct by using a Rare Candy or two and double-checking with an IV calculator, or just stick with the level 63 or 65 ones.)
These Ditto can be found in the Giant Chasm, with the lower-level ones in the normal grass and the higher-level ones in the thick grass. The thick grass ones are recommended because there is no ambiguity when it comes to their IVs, as opposed to problems with level 55 Dittos. Remember again that these numbers apply to all stats (except HP, which is listed up there), so it shouldn't to be long before you have an army of perfect Dittos.
Synchronizers
Quickly, we will cover the ability Synchronize. Synchronize, besides it's in-battle effect, make wild Pokemon have a 50% chance of having the nature that the Synchronizer has. So if you have a Timid Elgyem with Synchronize, then any wild Dittos that you encounter have a 50% chance of having Timid as their nature. A list of Synchronizers available in Black/White:
Munna - found in the Dreamyard, this pink flowery blob has a 50% chance of having the ability Forewarn. Of course, you'll know if the Munna has Forewarn, as it'll tell what your strongest move is. If it doesn't, it has Synchronize, and is worth your time.
Musharna - found in the rustling grass in the Dreamyard, but there's only a 5% chance of it appearing even if you find the rustling grass, so it's not worth your time. The level 50 Musharna you can find on Fridays has Telepathy instead of Synchronize, so while it's a somewhat good addition to your team, it has no place in this guide.
Elgyem - found in the Celestial Tower from the third floor up. It's most common on the fifth floor, where it has a 50% chance of appearing. It can also have the ability Telepathy, and unless you can paralyze/burn/poison Elgyem, you can't tell the difference between the two abilities. This makes the best Synchronizer to catch, since you can paralyze it with Thunder Wave and if you get paralyzed back, it has Synchronize. Catch them up the stairs by the nurse so she can heal your Pokemon after it has been paralyzed.
Beheeyem - found on Route 14, with a 10% chance of appearing. However, the levels are much higher (48 and 50 in the wild, and 58 and 60 in the thick grass), which will help to catch a Ditto of your choice when you need to use a Max Repel. Just remember that Beheeyem too can either have Telepathy or Synchronize, and it might be hard to tell the difference.
There are also Abra and Ralts in the White Forest that have this ability, but since they're so hard to get, I won't go into any more detail. Just remember the Synchronizer has to be in the first slot of your party (and you can always, say, catch a Munna, breed until you get the desired nature, then use that Munna to catch wild Ditto). It CAN be knocked out while in the first slot and still trigger Synchronize, so keep that in mind if you want to use a Magikarp or something to catch Dittos with. If you're asking why this is helpful, go reread the Natures section of the other breeding guide.
Power Items
Now, before we go any further, let me address a rather big question you probably have. You might ask, why would you want a Ditto with a perfect IV in a stat? Why, because there are ways for IVs to be passed down. In fact, three IVs will be passed down from both parents. Not three IVs from just one parent; be careful. They are randomly picked between the parent's twelve IVs. And then the offspring's other three IVs are randomly generated. This may sound like a lot of work, but never fear! Remember those items you used in EV Training to double a Pokemon's EVs? Power Items? Ring a bell? You can find them in the Battle Subway for 16 BP each. Power Items can affect which IVs are passed down. So if a parent were to hold a Power Anklet, then their Speed IV will be passed down to the baby. Do you see why you went to that trouble with the Dittos now? Here's a quick list of Power Items and the stat they influence.
| Power Item | EV bonus | |
|---|---|---|
 | Power Weight | Passes holder's HP IV |
 | Power Bracer | Passes holder's Attack IV |
 | Power Belt | Passes holder's Defense IV |
 | Power Lens | Passes holder's Sp. Atk IV |
 | Power Band | Passes holder's Sp. Def IV |
 | Power Anklet | Passes holder's Speed IV |
The table is self-explanatory. Again, these are found in the Battle Subway for 16 BP. Anyways, if you think you're special and you've decided that you're going to give both parents different Power Items, then good for you. But you may not like the end result.
If one parent has a Power Band and the other a Power Belt, then the baby will have a 50% chance to inherit either a Sp. Defense IV or a Defense IV from the two parents. That is, you cannot inherit both. The game randomly chooses one, then randomly chooses two different stats for the baby to inherit. So, in this case, the baby will not inherit both Defense and Sp. Defense, but it will inherit one of them.
How to tell your baby's IVs
Well, simply level it up through a few Rare Candies, (there are a few in-game, and you can find a lot by catching Lillipup with Pickup, keeping it unevolved, raising it to level 50 and walking around and collecting Rare Candies), and enter it into a IV calculator. Don't forget to save before using the Rare Candies, so if your Pokemon doesn't have the IVs you want, you can just soft-reset. The IV calculator can be more specific if you visit the Battle Subway and insert the information that the guy will tell you (he's in the main part of that Battle Subway, and will tell you he's judging your Pokemon's potential). As a side note, if the man in the Battle Subway says, "It's flawless! A thing of perfection!" while talking about, say, Speed, then you know you have a perfect Speed IV. And if your baby has two or more perfect IVs, he will go ahead and tell you all the stats that have perfect IVs. Not hard, right?
Going through the process
A bit confused where to start? Don't worry. We'll go through it together. Let's say you want a Excadrill with 31 IVs in both Attack and Speed, and a nature of choice. Well, first you would get yourself a Drilbur. Breed it with any random Ditto until you have the nature you want. Call upon your massive army of Dittos and find one with 31 Attack IVs. Attach a Power Bracer, and then proceed to breed with this new Drilbur (that should have an Everstone attached to pass down the nature) until you have a Drilbur with the nature you want and 31 Attack IVs. Then, breed this new Drilbur (that should again be holding an Everstone) with another Ditto (remember, you have a massive army that will someday take over the earth) that has 31 Speed IVs, and is holding a Power Anklet. Breed until you have a Drilbur with 31 IVs in both Attack and Speed and the nature you want. Now, there's a 1 in 5.5 chance that you get this Attack IV, a 1 in 1 chance you get the Speed IV, and a 1 in 2 chance you get the nature you want. That's only 11 eggs (not counting the previous Drilburs, which shouldn't take too long anyways), which with Flame Body isn't horribly long.
So, to put that in perspective a bit:
- Get a Drilbur and breed until you have desired nature.
- Breed that Drilbur holding an Everstone with a Ditto (with 31 Attack IVs) holding a Power Bracer. Do so until you get a Drilbur with 31 Attack IVs and desired nature.
- Breed that Drilbur you just got with a Ditto (with 31 Speed IVs) holding a Power Anklet. Breed until you get the desired Drilbur.
- Yes, I really just restated what I've already said, but this is just review to make sure you understand.
Conclusion
Now is a good time to skim over and make sure all this information absorbed. It's not fun to discover you've been IV breeding wrong when you're an hour or two into it, trust me. Well, either go check out theEV Training Guide, or just go ahead and get started! Just remember that if you want that perfect Pokemon and you have to IVs you want, don't just start leveling up. The EV Training guide explains that more, but that'll essentially lose all the progress you just made. Well, thanks for reading!
This awesome advanced breeding guide was written by Chris V.!
