For the first time in a Pokémon game, breeding is a little bit different in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. With no Daycare Center in the Paldea region, budding Pokémon breeders will need to find a new place to help get their IV-perfect Pokémon.
In this guide, we cover every aspect of how you breed Pokémon in Gen 9's new Pokémon game.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - How Do You Breed Pokémon?
Where do I breed Pokémon?
There are no Daycare equivalents in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, but now breeding is a whole lot easier, as you can breed Pokémon whenever you set up a picnic.
As long as you have two Pokémon (one male, one female) in the same Egg Group (or one breedable Pokémon and a Ditto), there's a chance that the two Pokémon will breed and create an egg.
How do I increase my chances of breeding?
Sandwiches and food have multiple purposes in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet and provide stat boosts and improved catch rates, but they also help increase the breeding rate of your Pokémon.
There are multiple food shops across Paldea, and all of them sell at least some kind of food that will give your Pokémon Egg Power. Examples include the Tropical Sandwich, Four-Piece Sushi (Moon Set), Smoked Fillet with Herbs, and Compote du Fils.
You can also make a sandwich yourself that gives Egg Power, if you have the ingredients! All Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Marmalade Sandwiches, and Fruit Sandwiches are just a few examples of recipes that give you Egg Power.
How do I breed Pokémon?
It's really easy! All you need to do is set up a Picnic on a flat surface anywhere in the wild. To make things even easier, just have the two Pokémon in your party that you want to breed.
Then, all you have to do is wait! You can do whatever you want — play with your Pokémon, bathe them, or change the decorations. Just make sure you check the basket at the end of the table every so often.
When your Pokémon have made an egg, you'll be told when you examine the basket! You can then take it out of the basket. Keep doing this until you have all of the eggs you want.
All eggs are transferred to your Boxes, so if you want to hatch them, make sure you take them out.
How do I hatch an egg?
Hatching eggs is exactly the same as in previous Pokémon games and is based on the distance walked. But in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, we have new ways to travel thanks to Koraidon and Miraidon.
All you have to do is keep running, gliding, and swimming around on your transport Pokémon. You'll be forced to stop when your egg is ready to hatch, and you'll get a little animation revealing what Pokémon you've bred!
Where do I find Ditto?
One of the quickest ways to breed is to have a Ditto as one of your breeding Pokémon. Ditto always mimic the other parent Pokémon, which means you're guaranteed to get (for example) a Girafarig Egg if you breed a Girafarig with a Ditto.
Ditto are found in West Province (Area Two) and West Province (Area Three), although they disguise themselves as other Pokémon! Skip to our Ditto guide for tips on how to spot them.
We're still working on these Pokémon Scarlet & Violet walkthrough guides and adding information in the days and weeks after launch. Let us know if you're finding these helpful so far.
Comments 18
Yes, but WHEN is the EARLIEST that you can start breeding?
What are the prerequisites?
There are always many guides on the Internet about HOW to do things in games, but they often don't say WHEN.
@JonLeung The game is opened up to you after you complete the tutorial portion (basically when the Treasure Hunt starts). You are able to start making picnics around then, so you should be able to start breeding around that time too.
Does Zorua display the name as well like this? I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet!
@Vertigoat Not from what I've seen, Ditto neither. I think it might just be randomized in certain areas.
I don't get how this works, is it a movement thing, like before with the steps, or do you have to keep making sandwhiches and stuff to make eggs ? I got one, but can't seem to get anymore. This takes a lot longer than the daycare did.
@Zeroshiki- actually, they do, Ditto/Zorua/Zoroark all show up as the names when you lock onto them in the overworld while they are disguised.
If you haven't seen a Ditto/Zorua/Zoroark, the name will show up as ???, so if you've already seen or caught a Pokémon, and it's lock on name either doesn't display, or displays as one of the aforementioned three disguised Pokémon, you know what you're in for.
@FizzieSpider That hasn't worked for me so far, I keep getting surprised. Maybe my game is bugged, I've had a few other issues, as well.
Pokémon Sword I could get 6 eggs in 5 minutes I’m struggling to get more than 2 at all now. 😩
@JonLeung It states what you need to perform the action, so once you have access to those things, that is your 'when'.
In this case: once you have picnics and either two of the Pokémon you wish to breed or one and a Ditto.
@MrPerson0 Thank you for an actual answer! It didn't take long for me to see for myself (I've since nearly completed two of the quest lines) but it is nice to have a simple question answered.
@Ogbert, I was asking that day when I was figuring out whether or not I'd be able to work with my brother to breed starters on the first day of release (I am OCD like that, I always want my starters to have that particular hatch date).
That's why the correct answer would have been what @MrPerson0 said - after the "Treasure Hunt" presentation, and after the three quest lines start, which is approximately ONE HOUR into playtime. That is the WHEN. That is the EARLIEST. That is what I was asking, those kinds of specifics.
Your answer of "once you have picnics" didn't tell me anything about when I would have picnics. What you said was literally "when you can, you can" which at the time would not have been helpful at all.
@JonLeung it’s open world, the entire point is you can run around and spend hours doing whatever you want. You might not get picnics after an hour. Even if it weren’t open it can just take longer to get there if you’re a slower player. There is no set time. I played many hours before bothering with picnics.
So the answer still is “when you unlock picnics” and then the only question left is “how do I unlock picnics” which would be a different question to the one this article is answering.
You might as well be asking ‘how long is a piece of string’.
@Ogbert Fine, should I have reworded it to be "what event(s) allow the "Picnic" option to become available in the first place?"? Would that have been better?
I feel like that should have already been implied when I asked "when". Come on, it's really a rather simple question. And especially baffling that so many guides neglect to mention this! The whole point is that I was in a hurry to get to hatching eggs, but might not have been able to play much that first day, so I wanted to know when I could do it as soon as I could, or what I could do to make a beeline towards making it available, but everyone was only saying how to do the picnics, assuming it was already available to anyone reading the guide.
@Zeroshiki- I haven't started breeding yet, but those are my thoughts as well. It seems like it would be monumentally easier and faster to just fire two Pokémon in daycare and bike up and down a route until the person turns around like in the previous entries. None of this having to do activities or slowly walking around the camp manually checking for eggs. Chain breeding for IVs is gonna be more of a grind that it already was.
@TheBigK I still haven't figured it out, either. I hate when they change things that really didn't need to be changed, the daycare was so much easier. It definitely takes longer, too, so I might just skip shiny hunting altogether this gen and go back to SWSH for it.
Personally, I miss the old couple at the Breeding Centre, but I absolutely love picnics with my Pokepals. At first glance the new breeding system may seem like a real marathon, but it can be made DRASTICALLY more efficient, as follows...
Travel to the Western Pokecentre in Cascarrafa. Cross the City Plaza to the North-Northeastern Side- staying on the Middle Tier - and you should see a Building with a Blue and Yellow sign, with Red Potted Flowers on the 2nd Floor. A person outside will be ready to "Welcome!" you!
This is the Kofu Lounge, and at this swanky venue they serve a dish called 'Hot and Sour Soup' which gives Lv. 2 'Egg Power'.
This buff increases the chances of Breeding (per second, you could say), as well as reducing the time it takes for an Egg to hatch (don't waste your money, breed as many pairs as you want with the buff, and just put in extra riding time to hatch).
Dishes and Sandwiches last for 30 minutes, so buy the Soup ($3,200) and head back across the City and out the Western side. Set up a Picnic with your 2 Parent Pokemon.
By the time the 30 minutes is up, you should have around 2 Boxes full of Eggs (or more if you're lucky). Sleazy Pleasy.
@FatWormBlowsASparky not for me I waited a while and got 3
@Kuriburh
Ah, yeah lol that was back when I didn’t know about sandwiches. I still prefer riding about to just browsing my phone while I wait tho. I’ve hatched a shiny Pineco and Froakie while completing my dex. 😃
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