How to get your Azumarill to learn Belly Drum in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

One of the best physical attackers to bring to Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is Azumarill. One of the main benefits Azumarill brings to the fight is its access to the Huge Power Ability, along with one specific move—Belly Drum.

Belly Drum maximizes the user’s Attack stat in exchange for half their HP. It might be risky and a huge price to pay, but it allows Azumarill to quickly set up before tearing through the raid boss’s health bar. The combination of Belly Drum and Huge Power is incredibly strong if you can pull it off, and it’s no wonder this Pokémon has been the MVP of seven-star raids such as the Unrivaled Charizard Tera Raid.

You never know when you’ll run into a random Tera Raid where Azumarill will be the best counter, so it’s a good idea to be prepared and have Belly Drum on its moveset. But teaching Belly Drum to Azumarill in Scarlet and Violet isn’t as straightforward as using a TM or training it to a certain level. It instead requires different methods.

How to teach Azumarill Belly Drum in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Belly Drum is one of Azumarill’s egg moves, meaning the move can be added to its moveset in two different ways—with the Mirror Herb or via breeding.

Mirror Herb method

Using a Mirror Herb is the quicker and more convenient option for teaching Belly Drum to Azumarill.

• Start by purchasing the Mirror Herb item at the Delibird Presents store in Cascarrafa. It will cost you 30,000 PokéDollars. It’s a bit pricey, so you may need to earn more money first.
• You’ll also need another Pokémon that knows Belly Drum. The most accessible Pokémon that learns Belly Drum in Scarlet and Violet is Hariyama, who learns it at level 26, but you can also use Iron Hands, Snorlax, or any other Belly Drum user in the game. Whichever Pokémon you go with, make sure it has Belly Drum as one of the four attacks on its current moveset.
• Let your Azumarill hold the Mirror Herb. Do not send Azumarill out in battle while it’s holding the Mirror Herb or else you might accidentally lose the item. If that happens, purchase another one from Delibird Presents.
• Make sure there is an empty slot in Azumarill’s moveset for Belly Drum to fill. If not, have the aqua rabbit forget one of its attacks to make room for the new move.
• Keep Azumarill and the other Belly Drum user in your party and place all other Pokémon into the boxes.
• Have a picnic with these two Pokémon only. After the picnic, Azumarill should have Belly Drum added to its moveset.

Breeding method

Due to the lack of Pokémon that can naturally learn Belly Drum by leveling up, breeding isn’t a convenient method at all. Currently, there’s only one evolution line in Scarlet and Violet that can breed with Azumarill while passing Belly Drum down to the babies—Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, and Politoed. These four ‘mons only appear in the wild in Kitakami, so this method unfortunately requires you to have The Teal Mask DLC or transfer them from other games via Pokémon HOME.

To breed Belly Drum onto Azumarill, take a male member of the Poliwag line and make sure they have Belly Drum on their moveset. This may take a while because Poliwag, for example, doesn’t learn the move until level 48 at earliest. Once it learns Belly Drum, put it in a picnic with a female Azumarill and no other ‘mons.

From there, you just need to wait a bit and check the basket for any eggs. Once you get an egg, hatch it for a baby Azurill with Belly Drum on its moveset. Evolve Azurill into Marill with the power of friendship, and then level it to 18 to evolve it into Azumarill.

Although this method remains an option, we strongly recommend using the Mirror Herb instead for a speedier process. That way, Azumarill can hit the field as soon as possible, set up with Belly Drum, and sweep your opponent’s entire team in dominant fashion.