In order to breed pokémon you must leave two pokémon in the daycare. In normal cases one must be male and the other female. With genderless pokémon you need to leave the genderless pokémon and a Ditto. Ditto can also breed with male and female pokémon. Beside these common rules there are also a few other rules to keep in mind:
These are the things you need to remember well when you breed pokémon.
1) The male pokémon can pass on moves.
2) The female decides the pokémon that will hatch from the egg.
However if you breed a male or genderless pokémon with Ditto then they decide what will hatch.
3) Legendaries can't breed. Not even if they are male or female.
An exception to this rule is Manaphy who will give you a phione egg.
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Not every pokémnon can breed with just every pokémon. Each pokémon is part of a certain egg group. A pokémon can only breed with a pokémon from the same egg group. Several pokémon are part of two egg groups. Which makes it able to pass on certain egg moves from one egg group to a pokémon in another egg group. Ditto is the only pokémon that even though part of the genderless group can breed with any other egg group.
In pokémon Gold/Silver where pokémon breeding was introduced the pre evolution pokémon were also introduced. A few generations later in pokémon Ruby/Sapphire more pre evolution pokémon could be obtained when breeding with incenses. With these incenses you can get the pre evolution form from a pokémon when given to the right pokémon. Here is a list of which pokémon can be gotten this way and how:
 Pichu |
 Pikachu Raichu |
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 Cleffa |
 Clefairy Clefable |
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 Igglybuff |
 Jigglypuff Wigglytuff |
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 Tyrogue |
 Hitmonlee Hitmonchan Hitmontop |
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 Smoochum |
 Jynx |
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 Elekid |
 Electabuzz Electivire |
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 Magby |
 Magmar Magmortar |
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 Azurill |
 Sea Incense |
 Marill Azumarril |
 Wynaut |
 Lax Incense |
 Wobbuffet |
 Budew |
 Rose Incense |
 Roselia Roserade |
 Chingling |
 Pure Incense |
 Chimecho |
 Bonsly |
 Rock Incense |
 Sudowoodo |
 Mime Jr. |
 Odd Incense |
 Mr. Mime |
 Happiny |
 Luck Incense |
 Chansey Blissey |
 Munchlax |
 Full Incense |
 Snorlax |
 Mantyke |
 Sea Incense |
 Mantine |
 Phione |
 Manaphy |
Now we can go onto the more advanced parts of pokémon breeding.
Fast hatching:
You don't need an item for this. However you do need a pokémon with a certain ability. These abilities are Magma Armor and Flame Body. There is only need for 1 ability though. If you have a pokémon with one of these abilities as your lead pokémon then the steps it takes to hatch an egg gets halved.
Everstone:
The everstone is an item that stops your pokémon from evolving. However it also has a purpose when used for breeding. If the female pokémon is holding the everstone there is a 50% chance that the egg pokémon will have the same nature. The everstone can also be given to Ditto. It will have the same effect then. If you put a female pokémon and Ditto together in the daycare then Ditto should hold the everstone. Otherwise this trick doesn't work then.
Power Items:
As you can read in the Advance League: Effort Value Individual Value guide the power items can pass on the Individual Value when given to a parent pokémon. If you don't know what IV is then i suggest you read the guide first.
It doesn't matter whether the male, female or genderless pokémon is holding a power item. However if both parents are holding a certain power item then only one will be passed on for sure. The IV stat from the other pokémon holding the power item has a 50% chance of being given to the egg pokémon.
There are 6 power items. Which means one for each stat.
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HP/Power Weight |  |
Speed/Power Anklet |
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Attack/Power Bracer |  |
Special Attack/Power Lens |
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Defense/Power Belt | 
| Special Defense/Power Band |
Dream World/Special Abilities:
With the arrival of Pokémon Black and White almost every pokémon has gotten a special ability. These abilities can't be found in the game. Except for Darmanitan's Zen Mode. Every pokémon that can be found in the Pokémon Dream World has a special ability if the pokémon has one. For example a Sableye from the dream world will always have Prankster because that is it's special ability. A Rotom however will always have Levitate because it doesn't have a special ability.
These abilities can also be passed onto other pokémon by breeding. Once again the female pokémon is the key to doing this. If a female pokémon has the special ability there is a 50% chance the ability will be passed on.
Masuda Method:
Last but not least is the Masuda Method. This has nothing to do with competitive battling but is still an important part of breeding. As it allows you to drastically increase the chances of getting a shiny pokémon out of an egg. Normally the chances to get a shiny pokémon is 1/8192. However if you breed one of your pokémon with a foreign pokémon then those chances become 1/2048. That is a pretty major difference but still a pretty big number. Best way to do this is to obtain a foreign Ditto of course.
Just like with most tricks there are also some extra rules. As such the everstone trick doesn't work when doing this. Whether the foreign pokémon is female or your pokémon is female there are no chances of the nature to be passed on. However the power items will work normally.
In case you are wondering why this method is called this way. The person Junichi Masuda, who helps developing (pokémon) games, is the one that mentioned this method. Therefore it is called the Masuda Method.
This is all you can learn about pokémon breeding. With the other guides found on this site you will know the basics and the advanced things about pokémon. Only part that is left is to put it all in practice. After all in the end experience is what you learn the most from.
