How to get Egg Moves in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Egg Moves are moves that can be passed down from one Pokémon to another via selective breeding. Typically, the move comes from the male parent and is passed down to a hatched Pokémon.

The biggest perk of it is it means a hatched Pokémon can learn a move that it couldn’t learn normally. That’s because Pokemon can breed with other species in the same Egg Group (or Ditto).

There are two ways to get them in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet—regular breeding, and a handy trick with Mirror Herbs.

Egg Moves in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet method, explained

Breeding

As mentioned above, the natural way to get Egg Moves is via breeding.

Breeding works a little differently in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It happens when two Pokémon in the same Egg Group play together at a Picnic. The premise and outcome is the same, though.

All you need to do is have the two Pokémon in your party (preferably them and no others) and set up a Picnic. Just make sure one is male and one is female. It may take a while, but eventually, an egg will appear in the basket. You can speed up the process by making certain sandwiches. The Pokémon in the egg will inherit the moves.

You can then repeat this process multiple times using hatched Pokémon, since it may be able to pass Egg Moves to other Pokémon that couldn’t breed with its parent’s species.

Mirror Herbs

If that all sounds a bit too complicated and time-consuming, you can pass Egg Moves from one Pokémon to another by giving them Mirror Herbs—and the best part is, it doesn’t have the same limitations as breeding.

The first step is to purchase a Mirror Herb from the Delibird Presents store in Cascarrafa. It will cost 30,000, so make sure you’ve got the coin to spare. Then, make the Pokémon you want to receive the Egg Move hold it.

After that, free up a move slot on the recipient by pressing X to open up the menu, then select it in your party, and click on Check Summary, Moves and Stats tab, and Forget Move.

Next, set up a Picnic. You won’t need to remove others from your party, either. Then, wait about 20 seconds or so and close the Picnic, and the desired Egg Move should have transferred over. 

The only shortcoming of this method is moves learned by TMs won’t transfer.

So, there you have it—a breakdown of what Egg Moves are, why they’re important, and the two ways you can get them.

Along with EV training, Egg Moves play an important role in getting the best out of your Pokémon. After all, there’s nothing like stunning an opponent in battle with a curveball move!