Breeding and Hatching are integral parts of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon. However, the system has many intricacies, which can be quite difficult to understand.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about breeding and hatching eggs in Pokémon USAM, including useful tips and tricks and strategies for getting the most out of this mechanic.
For more help on Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, you can check out our Items Guide, Everstone Guide, and Heart Scales Farming Guide.
How Breeding Works in Pokemon Sun and Moon
Before you can breed in Pokemon Sun and Moon, you must gain access to the Paniola Ranch. This is a Wild West-style ranch located on Akala Island. Battle through the trainers and complete the story events until you find the Pokemon Nursery. This is where your Pokemon will breed.
Speak to the manager at the counter and you can leave two Pokemon in their care. Note, that you can only leave Pokemon from your main squad, not from your Pokedex. The manager will also give you your first egg, which will hatch into an Eevee.
To breed a Pokemon pair, you need to select a male Pokemon and a female Pokemon to leave at the Nursery. Only Pokemon with the same Egg Group can breed with each other. Also, you need to keep in mind that the Pokemon pair must like each other for this process to work. if they don’t, they will still produce an egg but it will take much longer.
How to get an egg
Now comes the waiting game because breeding will take time in Pokemon Sun and Moon. The Pokemon pair still have to…do the deed, if you know what I mean. The game measures time in terms of how many steps your character takes in the world, not by how much time passes in real life or in-game. So pick a large swathe of land, summon a Pokemon to ride, and get walking. You must go as far as until the game screens change. If you’re still on the ranch screen, then this won’t work.
The manager at the counter generally gives you a hint on how long it will take to produce an egg. Check back after a while to see if the Pokemon have produced an egg. The pair will continue to make eggs as long as they are at the Nursery.
How to hatch an egg fast
To hatch an egg, you must once again walk a certain number of steps while having the egg in your inventory. Each Pokémon has a set number of steps (the steps usually range from 1,000 to 10,000 steps) after which they will hatch from the egg. The Pokémon that hatches will depend on the parents and the gender of the parents.
You can run around on your Taurus or run circles in a barn to quickly hatch eggs. Lastly, it is best to remember that in regions such as Alolan, the child will be normal if the female is normal and holds an Everstone.
Not having the Everstone or the female Pokemon being Alolan will generally result in the offspring being Alolan. Pokémon with Magma Armor or Flame Body Abilities decrease the number of steps to half.
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon best breeding techniques
Hidden abilities possessed by the parent Pokémon also get passed on to their offspring along with the genome. Remember that the offspring will only attain hidden abilities if the female parent or ditto has hidden abilities.
Also, remember that level-up moves learned by parents can be passed down to their children in addition to the TM moves. If there are more than five moves, moves from the father take priority over moves from the mother.
Nature can be random from one of the 25 in the game. However, possessing an Everstone ensures that the nature of that particular parent will be passed down to the child.
Apart from this, if the parent possesses a Power Item, then the Individual Value of that parent will be passed down rather than the default way, which makes the inherited IV random.
Offspring also inherit similar balls as their parent. If you have a ditto, then the ball of the other partner will be inherited. Remember that Master balls and cherish balls will not be inherited by the children under any circumstance.
There is also another technique known as Chain Breeding, in which you breed one Pokémon with the second one and then breed the second one with the third one.
The main purpose of this technique is to breed two Pokémon that cannot breed directly.
That way the egg produced by the third Pokémon can learn a move only A can do. Skitty, Togetic, and Plusle can produce an egg using this technique.
