Breeding Guide

Breeding is the nursery system for turning compatible boxed Pokemon into eggs, then hatching those eggs into brand-new partners with their own level roll, possible inherited move, and special outcome chances.

The basic loop

Step	What you do	What happens
1	Pick two boxed parents	The nursery checks compatibility and what the hatch species would be
2	Preview the pairing	You see timers, odds, and possible move inheritance before paying anything
3	Start the pairing	You pay 15,000 coins, and you can optionally spend 1 Oval Stone for a boosted pairing
4	Wait for the pairing timer	The parents stay locked in the nursery until the egg is ready to collect
5	Collect the egg	Lucky hatch and double clutch are rolled at collection time
6	Incubate the egg	The active incubator counts down, and battles or catches can speed it up
7	Hatch the egg	You receive a new Pokemon, plus any inherited move the egg carried

Nursery limits

Limit	Current rule
Active pairing jobs	1 at a time
Active incubator eggs	1 at a time
Queued eggs	Allowed while the incubator is busy
Start cost	15,000 coins per pairing

What can go into breeding

A Pokemon has to be both species-eligible and account-eligible.

Requirement	What it means
Breedable species	The species must be allowed to breed and have valid egg-group data
Boxed only	Breeding uses boxed Pokemon, not party members
Not busy	The Pokemon cannot be in trade, on expedition, in auction flows, or already in breeding
Not event-locked	Special protected Pokemon cannot be placed in the nursery

Which species are usually blocked from breeding?

As a rule, babies, legendaries, mythicals, and species in the no-eggs group are blocked. If a species is missing required breeding data, the nursery will also refuse it.

Compatibility tiers

There are three successful pairing results.

Tier	How it happens	Pair time	Hatch time
Perfect Match	Same species, opposite genders, no Ditto	45 minutes	90 minutes
Strong Match	Different species, opposite genders, shared egg group, no Ditto	90 minutes	150 minutes
Adaptive Match	One parent is Ditto	120 minutes	180 minutes

Why pairings fail

The usual blockers are same-gender non-Ditto parents, no shared egg group, both parents being Ditto, selecting the exact same Pokemon twice, or trying to use a parent that is already tied up somewhere else.

Genderless species can still breed, but they need Ditto to bridge the pairing.

How hatch species are decided

The nursery first picks the family line, then resolves the hatch species for that line.

Situation	Line used
Normal pairing	The female parent's family line
Ditto pairing	The non-Ditto parent's family line
Special incense family	The normal hatch can switch to a baby species if the right incense is held

Supported incense baby lines

Family	Default hatch	Special baby hatch	Required incense
Marill / Azumarill	Marill	Azurill	Sea Incense or Wave Incense
Roselia / Roserade	Roselia	Budew	Rose Incense
Snorlax	Snorlax	Munchlax	Full Incense
Wobbuffet	Wobbuffet	Wynaut	Lax Incense
Mr. Mime	Mr. Mime	Mime Jr.	Odd Incense
Sudowoodo	Sudowoodo	Bonsly	Rock Incense
Chimecho	Chimecho	Chingling	Pure Incense
Chansey / Blissey	Chansey	Happiny	Luck Incense

Special outcome odds

Breeding tracks four major special outcome lanes: shiny hatch chance, Oval Stone boost, lucky hatch chance, and double clutch chance.

System	What it does	When it matters
Shiny hatch chance	Determines whether the hatched Pokemon comes out shiny	Rolled when the egg hatches
Oval Stone boost	Shorter timers and stronger bonus odds	Chosen when you start the pairing
Lucky hatch	Makes the egg hatch between level 2 and 5 instead of the normal level range	Rolled when the egg is collected
Double clutch	Makes one pairing produce two eggs instead of one	Rolled when the egg is collected

Shiny hatch rules

Breeding has its own shiny odds, but there is one important restriction: only species that are currently on the world-map encounter tables can hatch shiny. If the hatch species is not part of the current world-map encounter pool, its breeding shiny chance is treated as zero.

Pairing tier	Base breeding shiny chance
Perfect Match	1 in 1,365.33
Strong Match	1 in 2,048
Adaptive Match (Ditto)	1 in 2,730.67

Using an Oval Stone adds another small shiny bonus on top, but it still cannot bypass the world-map eligibility rule.

Oval Stone boost

Oval Stone is the nursery booster item.

Boost	Effect
Pair timer	Reduced to 75% of normal time
Hatch timer	Reduced to 85% of normal time
Shiny chance	Extra breeding shiny bonus
Inherited move chance	+15%
Lucky hatch chance	+5%
Double clutch chance	+3%

Lucky hatch and normal hatch levels

Outcome	Level result	Luck meter effect
Lucky hatch	Random level 2 to 5	Resets the luck meter to 0 when that egg hatches
Normal hatch	Random level 10 to 30	Adds 16 luck to the meter when that egg hatches

Lucky hatch and double clutch caps

System	Main influences	Hard cap
Lucky hatch	Compatibility tier, Oval Stone, seasonal spotlight, and the luck meter	45%
Double clutch	Compatibility tier, Oval Stone, seasonal spotlight, and the luck meter	35%

Luck meter

The nursery luck meter is an account-wide breeding meter that feeds lucky hatch and double clutch odds.

Rule	Current behavior
Range	0 to 100
Normal hatch	+16 luck
Lucky hatch	Resets to 0
Double clutch	Resets to 0 when the eggs are collected
Best record	Your highest meter value is tracked separately

Move inheritance

Breeding can pass down one move.

Priority	What the nursery looks for
1	True egg moves that the child species can inherit and that one of the parents already knows
2	Shared learnset moves the child species can normally learn and that one of the parents already knows

If the inheritance roll succeeds, the nursery prefers a true egg move first. The chosen move is locked in when the pairing starts, and a hatched Pokemon can receive one inherited move total.

Incubator and queue behavior

Eggs move through a simple flow.

Egg status	What it means
Queued	The egg exists, but the incubator is busy and its hatch timer has not started yet
Incubating	The egg is in the active incubator and counting down
Ready	The egg is ready to hatch
Hatched	The reward Pokemon has already been created

If you create extra eggs while the incubator is already occupied, they wait in queue until the active egg is hatched. The oldest queued egg is promoted next.

Activity acceleration

Only the active incubating egg can be sped up.

Activity	Time saved
Battle win	2 seconds
Pokemon catch	4 seconds

Queued eggs do not accelerate, and ready eggs do not need acceleration. The nursery journal also tracks how much time you have saved through play.

Seasonal Nursery Spotlight

The nursery rotates a seasonal spotlight based on the current season.

Spotlight effect	Bonus
Inherited move chance	+18%
Lucky hatch chance	+3%
Double clutch chance	+2%
Shiny chance	No seasonal shiny bonus

The spotlight can apply because of the child species, the featured egg group, or one of the parents lining up with the current seasonal nursery focus.

What breeding does not do

Breeding is intentionally focused.

System	Current status
IV inheritance	Not part of breeding right now
Nature inheritance	Not part of breeding right now
Ability inheritance	Not part of breeding right now
Held item inheritance	Not part of breeding right now
Radiant / Umbral / Aura inheritance	Not part of breeding right now

Best practical advice

• Use Perfect Match pairings when you can. They are the fastest and strongest baseline.
• Save Oval Stones for pairings where you actually care about the hatch result or inherited move odds.
• Keep the incubator busy. Breeding gets much better when you keep battles and catches flowing while an egg is active.
• Watch the seasonal nursery spotlight before committing a premium pairing.
• If you are shiny hunting through breeding, remember that only species currently on the live world map can actually hatch shiny.