If you’re a competitive Pokemon player, or you have aspirations of competing in the VGC for the new Switch games, you’re going to need to know this. Without getting too into the breeding mechanics in the games, there are a few basics you need to know. It’s a very good idea to check out our list of recommended breeding items in Pokemon Sword and Shield that you’re going to want to use alongside the Destiny Knot as well.
The core of both competitive breeding and hunting for Shiny Egg spawns is an odds game. Most of this revolves around IVs. IVs (Individual Values) determine how much the stats grow over time. The values range from 0 to 31. Which means that to nail each of those perfect 31 IVs has a 1 out of 31 odds, PER IV.
The higher that number, the better the stats of the max level Pokemon. Competitive battles in the game take place at level 50, so IVs are much more important. Once you have the basics down it’s time to talk about what you need to do to get the Knot.
What is the Destiny Knot?
The Destiny Knot is a vital piece of equipment for breeding competitive Pokemon in these games. Instead of using that basic 1 out of 31 chance per each IV, you can alter the chances to get a much better IV roll. If you use a Ditto combined with another Pokemon, this will make it much easier to max out all six stat IVs. Destiny Knot copies 5 IVs from the parents at random. When using Destiny Knot there is a chance the child will get the same stat as the parent.
As a note, you use the Judge function to check IVs in Pokemon Sword and Shield. So that means you need to have completed the main story and unlocked the Battle Tower in Wyndon. Once you’ve completed the game, head to the Wyndon Monorail, and select the Battle Tower option. once you’re there, you will have the option to battle random Trainers for Battle Points, this will be important later.
The basic process is to get Destiny knot and combine it with a Ditto and the Pokemon you wish to breed. Say you want to get a competitive Arcanine. Put your Arcanine and Ditto into the Nursery on Route 5, with the Pokemon with the best IVs holding the Destiny Knot. The resulting child will eventually have multiple “Best” IVs. Take that Pokemon, With several best IVs, and breed it with the Ditto, once again using the Destiny Knot. Repeating this enough times with a 5 IV Pokemon pair will eventually roll a perfect six.
How do you get the Destiny Knot?
The Battle Tower is your destination. The Battle Tower is basically a training mode for Ranked battles online. Your team will be level capped at 50, and the AI is much more effective at using status moves, Super Effective moves and combining intelligent strategies. You need to beat the first Beginner Tier of matches to get the Judge Function.
Winning six battles in this mode should give you 23 BP in total. This will be enough to get two Destiny Knot. This means you can use the Ditto method for farming six IVs or Shiny Pokemon at both of the Nursery locations. One is on Route 5, the other is found in the Wild Area.
Once you have 10 BP (Battle Points), you must head to Hammerlocke and enter the Pokemon Center. Look for the League Staff to the right side, next to the shop NPCs. She sells various items, including Destiny Knots for 10 BP each. Buy two and you’re ready to go about breeding.
