Best use of Sub Skill Seed (Silver)

A Sub Skill Seed (Silver) upgrades one of your Pokémon's subskills from White or Blue to Gold—stronger effect, same slot. The catch: the game picks randomly among every subskill that can still be upgraded. This guide explains how that works and how to get the most from your seeds.

What it does and where to get it

When you use a Sub Skill Seed, the game chooses one subskill on that Pokémon that is currently White or Blue and upgrades it to Gold. Gold gives a better version of the same bonus (e.g. Helping Speed S → stronger help rate, Ingredient Finder S → higher ingredient rate). Subskills that are already Gold cannot be upgraded again.

Important: the seed does not let you pick which subskill to upgrade. It randomly selects from every upgradeable subskill on that Pokémon. So if you have three White/Blue subs and only one of them is really good for your build, you have a one-in-three chance to hit the one you want. Understanding that will help you decide when to use a seed and when to wait.

Sub Skill Seeds are sold in the exchange for 1,400 sleep points each (e.g. Premium shop). They're cheaper than Main Skill Seeds but still a meaningful cost, so using them on the right Pokémon and at the right time matters.

Which subskills are worth upgrading

Not every subskill affects production the same way. "Production-relevant" subskills are the ones that increase helps per day, berries, ingredients, or main skill trigger rate. Upgrading those to Gold gives you more strength, more ingredients, or more skill procs. Upgrading something like Research EXP Bonus or Inventory Up still helps, but it doesn't directly increase how much your team produces each week.

So when we talk about "best use," we mean: prefer seeding Pokémon whose White/Blue subskills are the kind that boost production. The exact list depends on that Pokémon's specialty:

• Berry specialists: Helping Speed S/M, Helping Bonus. (Berry Finding S is Gold-only, so you can't upgrade into it—you either have it or you don't.) Avoid wasting a seed on an Ingredient Finder sub on a berry mon; you want more helps and berries, not more ingredients.
• Ingredient specialists: Ingredient Finder S/M, Helping Speed S/M. These directly increase how often they find ingredients and how often they help.
• Skill specialists: Skill Trigger S/M, Skill Level Up S (Blue→Gold), Helping Speed S/M. More skill procs and stronger main skill are the payoff.

If all of a Pokémon's upgradeable subskills are production-relevant, a seed is a good bet no matter which one the game picks. If only one or two are, your odds of "hitting" the right one go down—something to weigh before spending.

Which Pokémon to seed

Seeds are best used on Pokémon you're committed to for the long term and that are already strong. A common rule of thumb: if a Pokémon would rate "Great" or better by level 50 (e.g. in our grader or on RaenonX), it's a solid seed candidate. That means its subskills, nature, and spread already support its role—the seed is making a good mon better, not propping up a weak one.

If the Pokémon is only "Good" or below by 50, think twice. You might replace it later with a better roll; spending 1,400 sleep points on a mon you might bench is risky. One more thing: if every upgradeable subskill is non-production (e.g. only Research EXP, Sleep EXP, Inventory Up), seeding still upgrades something, but the impact on weekly progress is smaller. Many players save seeds for mons that have at least one or two production subs to upgrade.

Timing: when to use a seed

Because the seed picks randomly among all upgradeable subskills, when you use it can change your odds. Subskills unlock at levels 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100. Until a level is reached, that slot isn't unlocked yet—so it isn't in the pool for the seed.

Example: your Pokémon has a great production sub at Lv10 and a less useful one at Lv25. If you use the seed before they reach level 25, only the Lv10 sub is upgradeable—so the seed is guaranteed to hit the one you want. If you wait until after Lv25, the seed could hit either the Lv10 or the Lv25 sub. So if the earlier sub is the one you care about, using the seed before unlocking the next slot locks in the upgrade where you want it.

Conversely, if the Lv10 sub is weak and the Lv25 sub is strong, wait until the Pokémon reaches level 25 so that the strong sub is in the pool. Then use the seed; you might still hit a different sub, but at least the good one is eligible.

Next: Best use of Main Skill Seed (Gold) · How stats are determined · Subskills in the glossary · Grade a Pokémon (see seed advice)