Introduction to Competitive Breeding
Now many of you probably know how to breed, and now are wondering what's competitive breeding? Not to worry I will explain.
Normally most of you would breed to trade the baby of a Pokemon to a friend or simply to just have another one. Though since Wifi has came out, many of us are flared to become competitive players. Breeding is one of the most essential ways to have a good Pokemon.
When competitive breeding, you have to remember to breed for these followings things. Most of you new competitive battlers who won't understand these terms should read on in this guide as I will be explaining each term. Be sure to breed for: Natures, Egg Moves (if desired), Gender (if desired), Abilities, and most importantly IVs.
What are Natures?
Natures are important to remember when breeding competitively. Now what are they? I still haven't got that have I? Natures can raise and decrease a stat. Depending on the nature, it may or may not benefit your Pokemon. Please look at the nature chart below. I uploaded it to Photobucket, but the original picture belonged to GameFAQS so I give them the credit.
Notice how on the Adamant nature, it raises the attack stat but decreases the special attack at the same time? This is what a nature does. Neutral natures cancel each other out therefore there is no stat increase nor a decrease. All stats will then be neutral.
This is important to remember when creating a competitive Pokemon. Let me use one of my team's Pokemon as an example. I will be explaining why I chose to do what I did. Nature will be bolded.
Garchomp@Salac Berry
Jolly
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Sand Veil
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Substitute
Swords Dance
What it does: Standard Subchomp
As you can see, I've put my Chomp in a Jolly nature. Refer to the chart to see what it does. Notice how it raises my speed but decreases my special attack? this is beneficial for my Garchomp because Garchomp isn't much of a special attacker if you've compared his attack stat to his special attack stat. You can view Pokemon's max stats on Serebii
Now that we know that Garchomp is a better attacker than special attacker why not just decrease the stat that would be pointless? It would be very stupid to decrease his defense stat rather than his special attack for instance. Defense still would come in handy, so no sense in hindering that stat. Just get rid of the pointless special attack stat since Chomp is going to be a full out physical attacker.
Jolly is my personal preference for Garchomp, but Adamant could have been the other. I chose Jolly because a max speed stat of 333 is very convenient and can outspeed many other Pokemon. Adamant would only be good for Garchomp if assisted with some speed, namely the Choice Scarf. My Garchomp would raise his attack via Swords Dance so no need for the max attack of 394. I hope that all this has made sense.
When would you need to use a neutral nature?
You would need to use a neutral nature when you do not want to decrease any stat in particular. Though at most times, people don't really use neutral natures as it is a waste. There is always a useless stat somewhere. So one word of advice, do not use neutral natures. Neutral natures are highlighted in yellow on the chart.
Conclusion of Natures
Hopefully you've learned something about natures, if not feel free to pm me and ask me more about this topic. Natures are very necessary when it comes to playing competively, as it can boost up a stat that is very important to that Pokemon's success. Though there are a variety of ways you can use a Pokemon, so don't always boost the stat that is the highest as some Pokemon have other potentials rather than using that Pokemon for that stat, such as walling off a Pokemon.
Example:
Infernape@Life Orb
Naive
EVs: 144 Attack, 252 Speed, 114 Special Attack
Flamethrower
Close Combat
Nasty Plot
Hidden Power (Electric)
What it does: Mixed Ape
I shifted Infernape into a nature that hinders a defensive stat, but that is because Infernape is strong in both attack stats and is quite capable of dealing massive damage to two types of walls now. Normally, if you ran a special attacking Infernape, Blissey would wall you like mad. If you ran a physical attacking Infernape, you would be walled somewhat by a Skarmory. Now that Infernape has decent attack stats, he can easily wipe out those two Pokemon without much fear of being walled.
Close Combat KOs Blissey (as Blissey's defensive stat is less than mediocre)
Flamethrower KOs Skarmory (as Skarmory's special defense stat is quite low)
No more fear of special and physical walls. This strategy can work on different Pokemon that are fast and have at least decent attacking stats.
How to breed for Natures
Now this is where the breeding part of natures comes in. How do you breed for natures you ask? That is quite an easy task really. Though before you can start doing this, you must go through a long that seems endless task of collecting Dittos of every nature. Now how do I get them easier? just chain Ditto out in the grass by Canalave City. Once you have gotten all the Dittos, you can start breeding for your own Pokemon that will be used in Wifi.
First off, all you have to do is go get some Everstones, which you can find underground quite easily and equip them onto the Ditto. Why? because when Ditto equips this, it has a 50% chance of passing its nature down to the offspring. Of course, Ditto can act as both male and female in the relationship (a bit disturbing <_< hermaphrodite) thus you would think it doesn't matter who I breed with right? Wrong. You shouldn't breed with a female, because the males are supposed to be carrying down Egg moves, and Ditto passing over the nature. So when you are getting the parent, make sure that it is a male type. As mentioned earlier, Ditto can pass down its nature with a 50% chance of success. Once you receive an egg, you will either receive a random nature or the same nature that Ditto has. If you don't get the desired nature, pick up the next egg and check.
How to breed for Egg moves
Checking for egg moves is quite simple. Once the egg hatches, just check the moveset. Do any moves look familar from that of the parent? Yes I would presume, though not all moves can be passed down. Take a look at Serebii to see what moves are egg moves through the Pokedex.
Note that earlier in the guide that only males can pass down egg moves.
How to breed for good IVs
Will edit this section later. Any crew members are free to post in this section if they want.
