Breeding an Adamant Azumarill: IVs, nature, ability and egg moves

The counter. Talk to the woman at the Day Care on Route 117 and choose Breed. Pick two parents from your party or your boxes. The window shows what the Egg will get before you confirm: the IVs it is sure to have, its nature and its moves. Both parents leave for good when you breed. The Egg goes to your party, or to the first free box.

Who can breed. The two parents need an egg group in common and opposite genders. Each Pokédex entry shows its egg groups and egg moves. Ditto breeds with almost anything, but not with another Ditto. Legendary and mythical Pokémon, Pokémon from the Undiscovered group, and Pokémon you received as a gift cannot breed (your starter can). The Egg is the first stage of the mother's species, or of the other parent's when one is Ditto. A few baby Pokémon also need an incense (see the FAQ).

IVs. The Egg takes three IVs from its parents. The other three are the average of the two parents, rounded down. So when both parents have 31 in a stat, the Egg has 31 there too, every time.

A Power item fixes one of the three: the Egg gets the holder's IV for that stat. Power Weight passes HP, Power Bracer Attack, Power Belt Defense, Power Lens Sp. Atk, Power Band Sp. Def and Power Anklet Speed. Power items are used up by the breed.

Nature. A parent holding an Everstone passes its nature every time. If both hold one, a coin decides whose. Without one, the nature is random. The Everstone comes back to your bag.

Ability. The Egg's ability is a coin flip between its species' two abilities, whatever the parents have. A Marill Egg has an even chance of Huge Power or Thick Fat.

Moves. The Egg knows its species' starting moves, plus any of its egg moves that either parent knows, plus level-up moves that both parents know.

Held items. Parents may hold only Power items, an Everstone or an incense. Take anything else off first. The two parents cannot hold the same item, except two Everstones. The Day Care lady sells all of these: the six Power items at ¥10,000 each, the Everstone at ¥5,000 and the incenses at ¥9,600.

Gender. You can pay to choose the Egg's gender. The price shows on each button before you confirm.

Hatching. Put the Egg in an incubator on the menu bar. The Daycare Man outside gives you your first incubator, and you get another for each region's Pokémon League you win. A party member with Flame Body or Magma Armor, such as Slugma, halves the time. Marill Eggs are among the quickest to hatch.

Limits. One catch per route, permadeath and randomizer runs cannot breed, and there is a daily limit on breeds.

An Adamant Azumarill with Huge Power and 31 in HP, Attack and Defense. Belly Drum maxes its Attack, and Aqua Jet hits first. It learns Aqua Tail and Superpower by level. Sp. Atk does not matter, so no Power Lens.

Marill has Aqua Jet and Belly Drum as egg moves. No Marill learns them on its own, so a male of another species has to bring them in.

• Aqua Jet: a male Seel from Seafoam Islands. It learns Aqua Jet at level 12, so a wild one may have forgotten it. The Move Relearner in Fallarbor Town teaches it back for a Heart Scale.
• Belly Drum: a male Poliwhirl at level 56, or a Poliwag you keep from evolving until 48. In Hoenn, a male Linoone (level 43) passes Belly Drum to a Spheal Egg first, and that male Spheal passes it to Marill.

Female Marill times male Seel gives a Marill with Aqua Jet. That Marill, female again, times a male Poliwhirl gives a Marill with both moves.

Each step breeds two parents that share all their 31s but one, with a Power item on each parent for its extra 31. The Egg then has one 31 more than either parent.

1. Set up. Get your first incubator from the Daycare Man on Route 117. Catch a Slugma on Route 113 and keep it in your party.
2. Catch the bases. Put an Adamant Synchronize lead first (see the catching guide) and catch Marill in the Route 117 grass, next to the Day Care, or on any Hoenn water. Check the IVs on each Summary. You need seven: four with 31 Attack, two with 31 HP and one with 31 Defense, with both genders among them.
3. Moves. Give one 31-Attack female a Power Bracer and breed her with the Seel, then her daughter (Power Bracer again) with the Poliwhirl. Pay for a female each time. The result has 31 Attack and both egg moves, and takes that base's place.
4. Attack and HP. Attack-31 times HP-31, with a Power Bracer and a Power Weight. Do it twice, once with the Marill from step 3, so one of the two Eggs knows the moves. From here on, pay for the gender the next step needs.
5. Attack and Defense. Attack-31 times Defense-31, with a Power Bracer and a Power Belt.
6. Three 31s. Attack/HP times Attack/Defense, with a Power Weight and a Power Belt, using the Attack/HP that knows the moves.
7. The nature. The last Adamant Attack-31 base holds an Everstone, the other Attack/HP holds a Power Weight. The Egg is Adamant with 31 Attack and HP.
8. The last Egg. The Adamant Attack/HP holds the Everstone, the Attack/HP/Defense holds a Power Belt. The Egg is Adamant with 31 in HP, Attack and Defense, Aqua Jet and Belly Drum.

That is about twelve Power items, or ¥120,000, plus any gender fees. Half the time the last Egg has Thick Fat, and only a new last breed changes that, so start with spare bases.

Do I get my parents back? No. Both leave for good when you breed.

My Egg hatched with Thick Fat. What did I do wrong? Nothing. The ability is a coin flip on every Egg, and no item changes it.

Can a Pokémon I caught in Kanto breed in Hoenn? Yes. Your boxes are the same in every region, and the Day Care takes Pokémon from your boxes.

How many 31s should I aim for? Each extra 31 roughly doubles the work. Two or three good 31s and the right nature make a fine Pokémon. A Pokémon with 31 in every stat and a nature needs 63 bases and 62 breeds.

The Day Care lady refuses the pair. Check that neither holds anything but a Power item, an Everstone or an incense, that they do not hold the same item, and that they share an egg group.

Why is my Egg a Marill and not an Azurill? A Marill or Azumarill parent makes an Azurill Egg only while one parent holds a Sea Incense.