Like most modern Pokemon games, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl allow players to breed their Pokemon to further customize their innate attributes, abilities, and moves.
As a companion piece to our Pokemon Sword And Shield breeding guide, we have prepared a separate version specific to Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. This includes details for where to find the daycare, important items for breeding, inheriting moves, and the Masuda Method.
Where Is The Nursery?
Breeding Pokemon is done through a facility called the Nursery in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl. There is only one Nursery available for the player to use, which is located in Solaceon Town. The earliest that players can find and start using the Nursery is after defeating the second Gym leader in Eterna City, and making their way towards Veilstone City for the third.
The Nursery can take up to two Pokemon at a time, which will be used to generate Pokemon Eggs. It will cost P$500 to deposit one Pokemon, P$1000 for two. To deposit Pokemon, players must enter the Nursery and speak to the woman inside. Eggs can be collected from the Nursery Man outside of the facility after a period of time has passed.
Breeding 101
Once you have found the Nursery, the next step is to decide which Pokemon to breed. There are a few important things to note when making your selection:
- The two Pokemon chosen must be a male and a female in order to produce eggs. Players may also substitute one of the Pokemon for a Ditto, which can breed with any Pokemon regardless of gender.
- Two Pokemon can only breed if they belong to the same Egg Group. Egg Groups of different Pokemon species are unfortunately not very clearly explained in the game, but these details are available on many Pokemon wikis.
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- If the two Pokemon cannot breed, the Nursery Man outside of the facility will let you know by saying “They don’t seem to like playing together” if asked how everything is going.
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- Pokemon of the same species will always have the same Egg Group. The Nursery Man will describe their relationship as “The two seem to get along” Ditto is an exception to the Egg Group rule, since it can breed with any Pokemon.
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- Pokemon of different species can breed if they belong in the same Egg Group, but the chance of finding an egg will be a bit lower. The Nursery Man will describe their relationship as “The two don’t really seem to like each other very much”
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- Traded Pokemon have a higher chance of yielding an egg if bred with Pokemon from your game. The Nursery Man will describe their relationship as “The two seem to get along”
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- It is ideal to breed two Pokemon of the same species, but from different trainers, in order to generate the most eggs. The Nursery Man will describe their relationship as “The two seem to get along really well”
- Pokemon eggs will always hatch into the same species as the female parent. Ditto is an exception, as the egg will always be the same species as the non-Ditto parent.
- The hatched Pokemon be in the same type of ball as its female parent (e.g. Ultra Ball). Ditto is an exception, ball type will be inherited from the non-Ditto parent.
- The hatched Pokemon has a higher chance of sharing the same ability as its female parent (including hidden abilities). Ditto is an exception, inherited ability is likely to be the same as its non-Ditto parent.
If an Egg is available for collection, the Nursery Man outside the Daycare will be facing to the right. The Egg can then be collected just by talking to him. Once the Egg is in your party, you will have to walk/bike a certain number of steps before it hatches. Different Pokemon require a different number of steps to hatch.
The fastest way to hatch eggs in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is to get on the bike and ride around in a circle on one spot. This will increase the amount of steps walked/biked extremely quickly, and this can be tracked by using the Step Counter feature on the Poketch.
Important Pokemon For Breeding
Below are some key Pokemon that are useful for the breeding process.
- Ditto: Can breed with any Pokemon except itself, making it highly useful for breeding single gendered or ungendered Pokemon.
- Any Pokemon with the Flame Body ability: Flame Body halves the number of steps required to hatch eggs (does not stack with multiples)
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- Unfortunately, Magby is the only Pokemon with Flame Body that is readily available early on in the games, and it is exclusive to Pokemon Shining Pearl.
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- Players who own Pokemon Brilliant Diamond will have to wait until the postgame, where Slugma can be found on Stark Mountain, or trade with a friend for a Magby.
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- The most efficient way to hatch eggs is to have one Flame Body Pokemon, and five eggs in your party.
Important Items For Breeding
Below are some important items that may make breeding easier.
- Oval Charm: Increases the chance of finding an egg at the daycare (Defeat Morimoto in Hotel Grand Lake)
- Everstone: Ensures the child Pokemon shares the same nature as the parent holding it (Can be found by mining in the Grand Underground, on Wild Geodude/Graveller, or by trading with Mindy at Snowpoint City)
- Destiny Knot: Ensures the child Pokemon inherits 5 IVs from its parents instead of 3 if held by one of them (North of Route 224, Found randomly by adding a Pokemon with the Pickup ability in the party.)
- Effort Items: Ensures that the child Pokemon inherits a specific IV from the parent holding it (Buy from the Battle Tower BP shop)
- Incense Items: Held item required to breed baby versions of some Pokemon.
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- Rose Incense (Budew, found on Route 212)
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- Sea Incense (Azurill, found on Route 204)
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- Wave Incense (Mantyke, found on Route 210)
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- Rock Incense (Bonsly, found at Fuego Ironworks)
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- Odd Incense (Mime.Jr, found in Solaceon Ruins)
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- Lax Incense (Wynaut, found in Route 225)
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- Full Incense (Munchlax, found in Veilstone City)
- Light Ball: If held by a Pikachu/Raichu, baby Pichus will know the move Volt Tacke (held by wild Pikachu)
Inheriting Moves
After breeding, the newly hatched Pokemon may inherit the moves known by its parent according to the following rules:
- Any moves it learns at Level 1.
- Any moves it learns by level up, as long as both parents currently know them.
- Any TMs known by the parents.
Masuda Method
The Masuda Method is a way to increase the chance of Shiny Pokemon hatching from eggs. The Masuda Method is a technique attributed to Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda, who was the first to hint at its existence on his blog during the release of the original Pokemon Diamond & Pearl.
By breeding Pokemon with parents from games of different languages (marked by a language tag on the status screen), the chance of hatching a Shiny Pokemon increases by 600% from (1 in 4096) to (1 in 682.7).
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