Breeding 101 Recap

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The last 6 weeks have been a one stop place for your weekly dose of Breeding. Breeding 101 has been a corner stone of the Pokémon Podcast. We are sad that we have to wrap it up for now. Here is the whole list of articles if you missed a week... or if you are new to the site. 
Don't worry, Breeding 101 won't be done forever, we still have many surprises to come with Breeding our friendly little Pocket Monsters. :)
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Breeding 101: Hidden Power

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Gather around the campfire children, today is the final installment in this wonderful series I like to call Breeding 101.  You are already armed with everything you need to breed competitive Pokémon.  You know how to breed for moves, Individual Values, and nature.  You can speed up hatching time with some handy Pokémon, and you know how to figure out your Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses.  But nothing can prepare you for the gelatinous hell-beast we in the breeding business like to call Hidden Power.

This week's installment comes to you with a very large disclaimer: No matter what you do, Hidden Power is going to be random.  No matter how much influence you have over your Pokémon's stats in the form of Power Items, you never truly have any sort of control over it.  So if you want to leave our digital band of heroes, I can't say as I blame you.  For those who are strong of heart, venture forth.  We shall slay this beast!

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Breeding 101: Natures

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Pokémon have distinct personalities.  Some are sassy, others are quite serious, and some are just plain rash.  To the untrained eye, these seem like mere personality traits, but to us, the Pokémon breeders, they mean so much more.  A Pokémon's nature determines which of its stats get a slight boost, and which take a slight decrease.  It also determines what flavor of Pokéblock and berry your Pokémon enjoy, but we will not be covering that in this article as it is not particularly pertinent to breeding.  If you want to know more about berries and flavors I suggest you take a look at Serebii's nature guide for that information.

Naughty by Nature

Every Pokémon in Generation IV has a Nature Value which can be found on its Summary screen.  Nature Values, or natures, adjust your Pokémon's stats by ten percent for two individual statistics.  There are exceptions to this in the form of Neutral Natures, which do not modify any stat.
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Breeding 101: Individual Values (The Final Conflict)

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Today is the day when things start coming together.  We have been on a magical journey, you and I.  From backpacking through the Alps to swimming the Nile while dragging a tugboat behind us via a rope in our teeth.  But nothing is more important than today's adventure.  This is the glue that will hold together everything we have been working toward.  Individual Value inheritance will give you a bit of control over your Pokémon's strongest stats.  Get on your trailblazing gear Pokémon breeders; today we enter the wilderness as children, and come back as children with more information on Pokémon breeding!

Inheriting IVs

When breeding, you are able to pass a maximum of three IVs down to your baby Pokémon.  That means that no matter how amazing your parent Pokémon are, in the best case scenario your baby has three IVs generated at random.  Here is a run-down on how IVs are inherited when breeding:

  1. The baby's IVs are randomly generated for all 6 statistics (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed).  From here the baby will inherit IVs from its parents, which will overwrite some of these random values.
  2. One random IV value is inherited from either parent.
  3. A second random IV value is inherited from either parent.  This value will not be the HP IV.
  4. A third random IV is inherited from either parent.  This value will not be the HP or Defense IV.
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Breeding 101: Individual Values (Part I)

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I have a lab coat on.  You might be asking yourself, "has this man gone insane?"  Perhaps, but I prefer to define myself as "sanity impaired" or "lusty for science."  The reason for the coat is because today we discuss Individual Values, or IVs; the Pokémon equivalent of genetic inheritance.  Individual Values, or IVs, will help you get the competitive edge in battle.  Plus, lab coats are sexy.  Just look at Bill Nye.

This week I am only going to cover what Individual Values are, and how to determine your Pokémon's IVs.  We will get into IV inheritance and how to actually breed for better IVs next week.
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Breeding 101: Expanding on the Basics

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Pokémon breeding is like a sandwich.  Right now we have two pieces of bread and some meat.  You can eat this sandwich as is, but I assure you that some lettuce and tomato will make this thing taste about 50 times better.  Today we add some lettuce to our sandwich.

Warm Eggs = Happy Eggs

Every Pokémon takes a different number of steps to hatch from its egg.  For example, the Lapras from last week would take approximately 10455 steps to hatch.  A baby Cubone on the other hand will hatch in approximately 5355 steps.  You can find out how many steps it takes to hatch your Pokémon by searching for your Pokémon on Bulbapedia.  It will list cycles and steps in the breeding section of the information card on the page.
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Breeding 101: Setting the Mood

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Tonight is going to be perfect. Fresh out of the shower you don your favorite silk robe and slink downstairs to light a fire. The smell of scented candles fills the room as you pop open a bottle of wine. You put in your mom's favorite Barry White CD and the mood is set. It is time for some Pokémon breeding. If you have ever caught two wild Pokémon of the same species, you have probably noticed that they have wildly varying stats, natures, and characteristics; even if caught at the same level. Your brand new Lapras might have a perfect Defense stat, but with below average HP and Special Defense, you are missing out on the full potential of your Pokémon. This is where the magic of breeding can help you!
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