Breeding on TalonMC

Pasture blocks, Ditto, Destiny Knot, Everstone and egg moves, plus a step by step route to a competitive Pokemon on TalonMC.

Breeding is how you turn a caught Pokemon into a competitive one. Catching gives you whatever the game rolled; breeding lets you choose. It is slow, deliberate, and the single biggest gap between a casual team and a ranked one.

Before you start: server rules

TalonMC applies server-side breeding restrictions that differ from the base mod. These are tuned over time, so check the current in-game rules before planning a long project rather than assuming last season's setup still works.

The pasture block

Breeding happens in a pasture block. Place two compatible Pokemon in it and they produce eggs over time. Compatibility comes down to egg groups: two Pokemon must share at least one egg group and be opposite genders, with the offspring hatching as the base form of the mother's line.

Claim the land your pasture sits on. A pasture holding a long breeding project is exactly what you do not want to lose, and claims are free protection.

Ditto

Ditto breeds with almost every breedable species regardless of egg group or gender, which makes it the most valuable breeding partner in the game. A good Ditto with strong IVs of its own will carry every project you run. Most experienced players keep several with different natures and IV spreads.

The two items that matter

• Destiny Knot passes down five IVs from the parents instead of the default three. Effectively mandatory for any serious project.
• Everstone passes the holder's nature to the offspring and blocks the holder from evolving. Put it on the parent with the nature you want.

Use both at once by giving one item to each parent. That is the standard setup.

Egg moves

Egg moves are moves a species cannot learn by levelling but can inherit from a parent. If the father knows an egg move the offspring can learn, it passes down. This is how you get coverage the level-up learnset does not offer, and it is often the difference between a Pokemon being usable and outclassed. Check what a species learns on our move list.

Step by step

1. Decide the spread first. Which nature, which IVs you actually need, which ability. A physical attacker does not need Special Attack, so a 5IV with the right zero often beats a 6IV.
2. Get a Ditto with good IVs in the stats you care about, or a same-species parent that has them.
3. Lock the nature with an Everstone on the parent carrying it.
4. Add the Destiny Knot to the other parent so five IVs pass down.
5. Add egg moves by making sure the male parent knows them before you start.
6. Hatch, check, replace. When an egg produces a better parent than one you are using, swap it in.
7. Repeat. Expect many eggs, not a handful.

The stat systems behind this are in IVs, EVs, natures and breeding. Check abilities before committing, because a hidden ability can change which parent you need.