How to breed and get eggs in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

It’s mostly the same as before

Pokemon breeding has been a major mechanic of the series since Generation 2, and Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is no exception. Typically, you bring two compatible Pokemon to a daycare, and after waiting long enough you’ll find an egg. That said, there are no daycares in Scarlet & Violet, so you may be confused how breeding works here.

Fortunately, breeding Pokemon is potentially even simpler than before. Under this new system, it’s easy to get several baby Pokemon of your choice in a handful of minutes. Here’s what you need to do.

How to get Pokemon eggs

To breed Pokemon, you will need to make a picnic for your party. Picnics are unlocked shortly after the tutorial is finished in the academy, so keep progressing the story if you’re missing it. While your Pokemon run free during a picnic, you’ll see a basket beside the table that pops up. If you wait long enough, Pokemon eggs will appear in the basket if there are compatible Pokemon in your party.

Pokemon Eggs don’t require any input from you to appear. Just let the game idle and you can come back to a basket full of eggs after long enough. For best results, you’ll want to make a sandwich with the “Egg Power” trait. This will greatly increase the speed at which you get and hatch eggs, so don’t be shy about using this. Sandwich ingredients are cheap!

Once you have your eggs, hatching them is almost identical to older games. Keep them in your party and run around until you see a prompt that your egg is starting to hatch. This will work on your mount but keep your feet on the ground for best results. You wouldn’t want a egg to hatch while you are midair anyway.

How to get the Pokemon egg you want

Many of the complex mechanics of Pokemon breed making their return to Scarlet & Violet. This means you will need two Pokemon of the same egg group together. While advanced players can manipulate the game to get powerful baby Pokemon with specific egg moves, there is a simple trick players can use if they only want to clone a specific Pokemon.

Ditto is compatible with every Pokemon capable of breeding. Regardless of the gender of your target Pokemon, you’ll always get eggs of Ditto’s partner. In other words, if you just want copies of your starter, make a picnic with that monster and Ditto together and let the game run with Egg Power enabled. If you’re like me, you’ll need to Surprise Trade monsters after accidentally creating too many!