When participating in competitive Pokemon matches, a Pokemon's typing, stats, held items, and moves are all equally important. Some teams depend on certain moves to set up their entire battle strategy, and while most moves can be learned or taught, some have more complex methods, such as Egg Moves.

Egg Moves have been around since Generation II in Pokemon and are often what tips a Pokemon into exceptional territory. With the correct planning, players can fill all their Pokemon's moveslots with these special moves if they choose to. Here's everything there is to know about Egg Moves.

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What Are Egg Moves?

Egg Moves are special moves that Pokemon can only learn through breeding. These moves are passed down from the parent Pokemon onto the child. In most cases, Pokemon cannot obtain these moves by Leveling Up, TM/HM, or Move Tutors. Furthermore, parents can't pass down just any move to their child, as their offspring will only get moves they learned by leveling up or other Egg Moves.

Egg moves are incredibly useful in competitive Pokemon as players can create uniquely strong teams built around different movesets. Since they are somewhat difficult to obtain, it is an excellent opportunity to mix things up in the Meta by equipping surprising moves.

Breeding Pokemon For Egg Moves

Players get Egg Moves through breeding specific Pokemon species. Pokemon breeding requires the following:

• 1 Male Pokemon
• 1 Female Pokemon
• Or Ditto in place of either of those

Leave the two Pokemon at a Day Care or Nursery. Players can find these in every generation except Gen I in various locations. Speak to the woman inside, and she will ask players if they have any Pokemon they would like to leave in her care. Next, choose two compatible and breedable Pokemon. Make sure that at least one of them has an Egg Move in their moveset. If both parents have one (or more), their offspring will have both Egg Moves when it hatches. After leaving the Pokemon behind, walk around for a little while, and once returned, the Nursery or Day Care will hand over the Egg. To hatch the Egg, simply walk around and explore as it requires a certain number of steps to hatch.

Prior to Generation IV, Egg Moves can only be passed on by a male parent. From Gen V onward, it can be the mother or father.

Keep in mind that the hatched Pokemon will be the same species as its mother when bred. In practice, this means players who want a Torkoal with the move Ancient Power will need to breed a female Torkoal and a male Dunsparce, Piloswine, Kecleon, or Mamoswine that knows the move already.

Egg Groups

While players can breed different species, they must be in the same Egg Group to produce an egg. A Pokemon's physical traits determine Egg Groups for the most part. Some Pokemon can be in multiple egg groups. For Example, Togekiss is in the Flying and Fairy Egg Group, so typing sometimes counts, too. If two Pokemon aren't compatible, they won't produce an Egg. Certain Pokemon like Ditto and Legendary Pokemon have different rules when it comes to Pokemon breeding.

Ditto can breed with almost any Pokemon, regardless of species or gender. The main exception is Legendary Pokemon, who can't be bred. Other Pokemon that can't be bred include Unown, Baby Pokemon, and many others, who belong in the "Undiscovered" Egg Group. Legendaries fall into the Undiscovered Egg Group and are often genderless, so they can't breed even within their species. Ditto cannot breed with any Pokemon in this category.

Chain Breeding

Chain Breeding is a term that describes passing Egg Moves down through multiple generations. This means breeding a Pokemon to get an Egg Move, then using that Pokemon to breed another that can also learn the Egg Move but wasn't compatible with the original parent. This method works well with Pokemon that sit in more than one Egg Group. However, chain breeding in Pokemon can get very complex, and the chain length depends on the moves players want their Pokemon to know.

An example is the move Wish being chain-bred onto an Eevee. Eevee can learn Wish as an Egg Move from Togedemaru, Pikachu, or Raichu. However, those three can also only learn Wish by breeding. So, if players wanted to get an Eevee (Field Egg Group) with the move Wish, they would need first to breed a male Pokemon that knows Wish with a compatible female Pokemon. So players would start by breeding a female Pikachu (Field + Fairy Egg Group) with a male Togekiss (Fairy + Flying Egg Group) that knows Wish until they get a male Pichu with Wish. Once Pichu evolves into Pikachu, it can be bred with a female Eevee to get an Eevee or Eeveelution that knows Wish.

Togekiss passes Wish to the child Pichu/Pikachu, then that Pikachu passes it to the child Eevee.

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