Pokemon Sword and Shield

How to Learn Egg Moves

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Egg Moves

This page explains everything you need to know about Egg Moves in the games Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on for information about how to learn Egg Moves and the conditions necessary to learn Egg Moves.

What is an Egg Move?

A special move taught by another Pokemon

An Egg Move is a special move which a Pokemon can learn when its parent knows the move, or when it is left in the Day Care with another Pokemon knowing the move.

Can be restored even if forgotten

If a Pokemon who learned an Egg Move chooses to forget it to make room for another move, Egg Moves can later be restored by taking the Pokemon to a Move Rememberer.

How to Learn Egg Moves

Leave Pokemon at a Day Care

By leaving two of the same Pokemon at a Day Care, an Egg Move known by one of the Pokemon can be learned by the other Pokemon as well.

However, a Pokemon which already knows 4 moves cannot learn an Egg Move, so make sure the Pokemon you want to teach an Egg Move has 3 moves or less before starting.

How it works

Pokemon at Day Care
Lucario IconLucario A
Knows 'Bullet Punch'
Lucario IconLucario B
Has at least 1
open move slot

By leaving the two Pokemon above at a Day Care, Lucario B can learn Bullet Punch. According to official sources, Pokemon will not always learn all possible Egg Moves without fail, so wait a bit after leaving them to increase the chances of the move transferring.

Inherit from a Parent Pokemon

This is the traditional method for learning Egg Moves in the Pokemon series. When a Pokemon lays an egg, if the male or female parent Pokemon have a move which could be remembered by the child Pokemon as an Egg Move, the child Pokemon will be born already knowing that move.

Parent Pokemon
Cottonee IconCottonee Togetic IconTogetic
Knows 'Encore'
Child Pokemon
Cottonee IconCottonee
Knows 'Encore'

Check the number of moves a Pokemon can inherit

When a Pokemon is born knowing Egg Moves, if there are five or more possible Egg Moves it could learn from its parents, there are rules in place which determine which of the Egg Moves the Pkemon will learn. Check the list of Egg Moves carefully if there's a certain move you definitely want the child Pokemon to learn.

Rules for inheriting Egg Moves
  1. The moves will be remembered in order starting with those known by the father, then continuing to those known by the mother
  2. If the number of learnable Egg Moves exceeds 5, the remembered moves will be forgotten starting with those at the top of the father's move list

Smeargle is not in Pokemon Sword & Shield

smeargle.png
The Pokemon Smeargle, is able with its move Sketch to learn a wide variety of Egg Moves, which its children can subsequently learn, making it an essential tool for Egg Move teaching in previous games. However, Smeargle does not appear in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This causes certain Pokemon having a much more difficult time learning specific Egg Moves.

Related Links

Breed & Train Competitive Pokemon

Training Pokemon.png

IVs
How to Check Your Pokemon's IVs How to Increase IVs
Natures & Abilities
How to Change a Pokemon's Nature How to Get Hidden Abilities
Eggs & Breeding
How to Learn Egg Moves How to Breed & Hatch Strong Pokemon
EVs, Pokerus, & Leveling Up
How to EV Train Fast and Reset EVs Pokerus Effects and How to Infect Your Pokemon
How to Level Up Fast
Building Good Teams
How to Build a Defensive Team

How to Breed & Train for Competitive Pokemon

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