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Guides · Destiny Knot strategy

Breeding for perfect IVs

Get from 0 perfect IVs to a 5×31 hatchable line in one afternoon. The strategy: stack Destiny Knot, Power items, and Everstone across two parents and chain Eggs in the picnic system.

The four items you need

  • Destiny Knot — passes 5 IVs from parents to offspring (instead of 3). Bought from Delibird Presents shop in Levincia (or won as gift).
  • Power item matching the stat you want guaranteed (Power Anklet for Spe, etc.) — costs 16 BP each at the BP shop.
  • Everstone — passes the parent's nature 100% of the time. Found on wild Geodude or via the in-game Auction House.
  • Mirror Herb (SV-specific) — passes Egg Moves directly without needing to chain breed. From Delibird Presents.

The optimal IV breeding strategy

  1. Start with a 6×31 Ditto if possible (trade from the GTS, or as a gift from breeders). Otherwise, breed two Ditto pairs to combine IVs over a few generations.
  2. Catch a target species with at least 3×31 IVs. Use 6-star Tera raids (5 guaranteed perfect IVs!) or breed up from a wild catch.
  3. Pair Ditto (6×31) + target (3×31) in a picnic. Give Ditto the Destiny Knot, the target species the Power item matching its weakest stat.
  4. Pick up eggs every 10-15 minutes (real time). Each egg has 5 random IVs from the 12-IV pool of the two parents + 1 guaranteed IV from the Power item.
  5. Hatch eggs, IV-check each one using our IV calculator. Keep any 5×31 hatchling that has the IVs you need. Replace the target parent with the new 5×31 to chain-breed up to 6×31.

The picnic system

In Scarlet/Violet, breeding happens via picnics — there's no day-care. Set up a picnic with two compatible Pokémon (same Egg Group, opposite genders, OR with Ditto). Place a sandwich with Egg Power: Lv 3 (3 Sweet Herba Mystica + base ingredients). Eggs appear in the basket every 10-15 minutes. With Egg Power Lv 3, you can pull 10-15 eggs per picnic session.

Nature control with Everstone

Whichever parent holds Everstone passes its nature to the offspring with 100% probability. If you want a Jolly hatchling, give a Jolly parent the Everstone. You can still hold Destiny Knot on the other parent simultaneously — Everstone + Destiny Knot is the standard pairing.

Egg moves via Mirror Herb (the Gen 9 shortcut)

Want your Pokémon to know an Egg Move? In old gens you had to chain breed. In SV, just:

  1. Find a Pokémon (any species in the same Egg Group) that knows the move you want.
  2. Give your target Pokémon the Mirror Herb.
  3. Bring both to a picnic.
  4. Open the picnic menu — your target now knows the egg move.

This means you can teach an existing Pokémon Egg Moves without breeding. Best change to the breeding system in years.

Probability tables — use the calc

For exact "what % chance of 5×31 from these parents" calculations, use our breeding calculator. It accepts both parents' IV configurations and item choices, and outputs the per-egg probability distribution.

Hidden Ability breeding

HA inheritance: if the female (or non-Ditto) parent has Hidden Ability, the offspring has a 60% chance of also having HA. With Ditto + HA father, also 60%. Without an HA parent in the pair, no eggs will be HA. Catch an HA target first (Tera raids, Mass Outbreaks with Sparkling Power) before starting the perfect-IV grind.