Best use of Sub Skill Seed (Silver)

A Sub Skill Seed (Silver) upgrades one of your Pokémon's subskills by one level—S becomes M, or M becomes L. Same subskill, same slot, stronger effect. 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 at S or M level and upgrades it by one tier: S becomes M, or M becomes L. The upgraded version gives a stronger bonus of the same type (e.g. Helping Speed S → Helping Speed M, Ingredient Finder M → Ingredient Finder L). Subskills that are already at L cannot be upgraded further.

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 subs at S or M 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), and they're also awarded as milestone rewards in some areas (e.g. reaching Master 20). 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 can be upgraded

Only subskills that come in S/M or S/M/L families can be upgraded by a seed. Standalone subskills (like Berry Finding S or Helping Bonus) have no higher tier — a seed will never target them.

No duplicates: A subskill can only appear once on a Pokémon. If your Pokémon has Inventory Up S at level 10 and Inventory Up M at level 100, the S cannot be upgraded to M — that would create a duplicate. The M would need to be upgraded to L first (once it's unlocked at level 100), and only then could the S be upgraded to M.

Which subskills are worth upgrading

Not every upgradeable subskill affects production the same way. "Production-relevant" subskills are the ones that increase helps per day, berries, ingredients, or main skill trigger rate. Bumping those up a tier gives you more strength, more ingredients, or more skill procs. Upgrading something like 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 subskills are the kind that boost production. The exact list depends on that Pokémon's specialty:

• Berry specialists: Helping Speed S/M is the top target — more helps means more berries. Helping Bonus is great too but it's standalone (Gold), so the seed won't touch it. Avoid wasting a seed on an Ingredient Finder sub on a berry mon.
• Ingredient specialists: Ingredient Finder S/M is the highest-impact upgrade — it directly boosts ingredient rate. Helping Speed S/M is valuable too but secondary to Ingredient Finder for this role.
• Skill specialists: Skill Trigger S/M is the priority — a bigger jump in main skill trigger rate matters more than a general speed boost. Skill Level Up S/M and Helping Speed S/M are also good but less impactful per upgrade.

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.

Watch out: the silver seed trap

Inventory Up is the only subskill family with three tiers (S → M → L). That means it can appear in the seed's upgrade pool more than once if your Pokémon has both an S and an M Inventory Up across different subskill slots. This matters because Inventory Up doesn't boost production — it only increases bag capacity. If the seed randomly picks Inventory Up over a production subskill you wanted to upgrade, that's a wasted seed.

Before using a seed, count how many of your Pokémon's unlocked subskills are upgradeable and figure out how many of those are Inventory Up slots. The more Inventory Up entries in the pool, the worse your odds of hitting the subskill you actually want.

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 at its breakpoint (level 50 for berry/skill specialists, level 60 for ingredient specialists) 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 jump from S to M on those subs has a smaller impact on weekly progress. 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 (anything at S or M), 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)