Can You Breed Ditto In Pokemon Games?

Can you breed Ditto? The seemingly innocuous Pokémon, with any other Pokémon to create multiple progenies of the desired Pokémon? The answer is yes, but with conditions.

The cute pink blob of a Pokémon Ditto is unique for its ability to morph into any Pokémon by replicating its entire cellular structure. It also is distinct for not having any evolved form. Ditto’s role in the Pokémon series is impactful. It appears in many episodes throughout the franchise and plays a pivotal role in Pokémon Detective Pikachu’s movie.

A genderless Pokémon in its original form, it can transform into other Pokémon and breed with them. Let us first understand how our Pokémon’s reproduced:

How Do Pokémon Breed?

Pokémon Breeding is the process of generating and hatching an Egg to obtain a new Pokémon. Breeding includes upkeep and maintenance of Pokemon too. This feature to breed Pokemon is absent in some versions of Pokemon like Pokémon: Let’s go, Pikachu!, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! and Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

At the Pokémon Daycare, breeding takes place. If you leave two compatible Pokémon with the daycare attendant, they will hatch into an egg, provided the following conditions are met :

• They are not legendary, baby, Unown, Nidorina, or Nidoqueen Pokémon.
• They are male and female who like each other.
• They’re both from the same egg group.
• One of them is Ditto (with some exceptions).

Egg Groups in Pokémon

Egg Groups are classifications that decide which Pokémon can interbreed. Along with breeding, the notion was introduced in Generation II. A Pokémon can belong to one or both Egg Groups. Pokémon cannot breed outside their respective egg groups. Here is the list of the egg groups in the series:

• Amorphous
• Bug
• Dragon
• Ditto
• Human-like
• Field
• Flying
• Grass
• Mineral
• Monster
• Water 1
• Water 2
• Water 3
• Fairy
• Undiscovered

Can You Breed Ditto with Other Pokemon?

Ditto is one-of-kind Pokémon. It may breed with almost any Pokémon, regardless of gender (or lack thereof), and the resulting egg will always belong to the breeding partner. Typically, players will require two Pokémon of the same species to breed, but Ditto can act as a partner for any species thanks to its remarkable shapeshifting ability.

For example, Ditto can mate with a male Primeape. It’ll be a Mankey baby. The same won’t happen if the mate is a female Primeape instead. Because Magnemite is genderless, a Pokémon like Magneton must breed with Ditto to get it.

How Can You Breed Ditto With Another Pokémon?

This is how you can breed a Pokémon with a Ditto in ‘Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.’ Except for legendary and mythical Pokémon, this may be done by holding some unique items.

• Take a Ditto to the Nursery in Solaceon Town after you have one, and leave Ditto and whichever Pokemon you wish to breed within the daycare.

These items come to aid when it comes to breeding :

• Everstone: Whichever Pokemon with Ditto holds the Everstone, the egg will hatch with the traits of the Pokemon as mentioned above.
• Destiny Knot: On holding a Destiny Knot by any one of the parent Pokémon, five IVs from both parents will be sure to pass down to the egg Pokémon.
• Oval Charm: The Oval Charm increases the probability that an Egg will appear when breeding two Pokemon.

Can you Breed Ditto with another Ditto?

The single member of the Ditto Egg Group is Ditto. Except for those in the No Eggs Discovered Group, Ditto has the unique ability to breed with any Pokémon in the game. This category includes infant Pokémon, special form Pokémon, and practically all of the series’ Mythical and Legendary Pokémon. 

Because Ditto is a genderless Pokémon, it may procreate with any gender, making it extremely valuable for breeders and shiny hunters. Although the Dittos of the world are breeding machines, Ditto cannot breed with another Ditto.

Because members of the Ditto Egg Group are unable to breed, the only way to obtain a Ditto is to catch one in the wild, exchange it with another player, or acquire one in a special event.

Even though Ditto cannot breed with other Ditto, they are nonetheless highly sought after by all players. Competitive players will benefit from a Ditto with strong IVs, while Shiny hunters will benefit from an international Ditto. As a result, practically every player serious about breeding and fighting will need a Ditto at some point, making it one of the most popular Pokémon in the franchise.

How to get perfect IV Ditto?

A perfect IV Ditto comes in handy when the user wants to breed a competitive pokemon or a pokemon with rare traits. In Pokemon: Sword and Shield, this is how you can get a perfect IV Ditto-

Unlike an ordinary Ditto, the perfect IV Ditto can be captured during raid battles. The location of the raid can be found in the Stony Wilderness section of the Wild Area. One can locate these special Dittos here; they can be easily spotted by a purple beam of light projecting from a spot.

Finally, once trainers of Pokemon Sword and Shield locate the purple glow, a Ditto with a different number of perfect IVs will be waiting within the well. The number of perfect IVs the Ditto has will be determined by the star ranking in the upper left. Trainers will strive for a five-star Ditto raid because it will contain at least four perfect IVs, with the possibility of more. It may take some time, particularly to defeat the raid for obtaining the ideal Ditto for future breeding.

Breeding or Clone Formation?

Because the offspring of Ditto and another Pokémon acquires all traits of the other Pokémon, breeding with Ditto can generate clones reducing the biodiversity of the Pokémon. The way Baby Pokémon develop skills, IVs, moves, and other qualities from their parents is the most distinguishing feature of Pokémon breeding.

A female Pokémon’s Hidden Ability has an 80% probability of passing down to her child. On the other hand, male Pokémon breeding with a Ditto has a 60% probability of succeeding. They have no possibility of passing it down if they procreate with a female Pokémon. Parents can teach their children up to three IVs or five if one parent has a Destiny Knot.

Whether it’s a move learned through leveling up, TMs, HMs, or moves taught by the Move Tutor, baby Pokémon can inherit their parents’ moves. However, if a Pokémon breeds with a Ditto, these options are severely limited. This constricts the gene pool of the Pokémon in question. This is one drawback of breeding with Ditto.

Since the algorithm of breeding (reduced biodiversity) is quite complex, it’s totally possible that you might create a pool of offspring that are exactly the same as the parent pokemon. These same offsprings might have a higher probability of not inheriting the Hidden Abilities and TM moves.

An entire species might breed with Dittos, but in the rarest cases, all the young Pokémon in the species will be the clone of the parent.

Regardless of its disadvantage, Ditto remains an important Pokémon for players to breed their Pokémon and create a strong team because of its versatile breeding traits. So, if you are looking to expand your team and happen to chance upon a Ditto, you Gotta catch’em all.

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