How to teach a Pokémon Egg Moves in Scarlet & Violet

There are two options now

Egg Moves have always been a hardcore optimization tactic in the Pokemon series. While Pokemon typically learn moves through leveling up or TMs, Egg Moves are a less obvious third route to get new moves. By carefully breeding two compatible Pokemon, the resulting Baby Pokemon can hatch from its egg knowing unique moves it would otherwise never learn. These moves will only be inherited if they are in a Pokemon’s eligible pool of Egg Moves, so this typically requires a lot of preparation and research to pull off.

That said, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have introduced a new way for a Pokemon to learn their Egg Moves. While not obvious at first, this method requires substantially less preparation and works with any Pokemon, not just babies. That’s right, even level 100 Pokemon have an opportunity to learn egg moves now. Here’s how you do it.

Passing Egg Moves to any Pokemon

First, you’ll want to grab a Mirror Herb. This can be found in Delibird Presents in Cascarrafa City. Both Delibird Presents locations here sell the item, though I find the northwestern location easier to access. Don’t be confused by the Mirror Herb’s description; it doesn’t mention anything about Egg Moves, but it’s absolutely the right item.

Once you have the Mirror Herb in your inventory, equip it on the Pokemon that needs to learn an Egg Move. Additionally, you’ll want the Pokemon in question to have an empty slot in its moveset. To do this, select “Check Summary” on the Pokemon, scroll over to Moves and Stats, and select “Forget a move.”

With that established, make a picnic with your Pokemon and a Pokemon that knows the Egg Move you want to pass along. The second Pokemon can be any monster, not necessarily one in a specific Egg Group or gender. The only stipulation is that your second Pokemon must have the Egg Move in its active move set. Pokemon can remember and forget moves at will, so this should be easy.

Hold the picnic for a handful of seconds and then leave. You should find your first Pokemon’s empty move slot has now been filled with an Egg Move! This process does not consume the Mirror Herb, so repeat this process as often as you’d like. The only catch is that Egg Moves taught in this fashion will not be recallable by selecting “Remember moves” for that Pokemon. Only Egg Moves inherited the old-fashioned way will have this benefit.

That said, the Mirror Herb trick is infinitely repeatable. Use this tactic whenever you want to swap Egg Moves in and out of your favorite Pokemon’s moveset!