Egg Move

An Egg move is any move passed down from a Pokémon breeding pair to their offspring, which it would not normally possess at the level it hatches. The term is also frequently used specifically for moves that a Pokémon can acquire only from breeding (i.e. moves that the offspring cannot learn via level-up, TM or HM, or Move Tutor), though a Pokémon can inherit moves from its parents in other ways. All of these methods require the male Pokémon (the father) to know the move prior to breeding.

Before breeding a Pokémon, one must consider whether to use any Egg moves in that Pokémon's moveset, and breed accordingly. To learn more than one Egg move, since they are only passed on by the father, only a father Pokémon in the appropriate Egg Group that can legitimately have all of the moves in one moveset can be used. This makes certain combinations of Egg moves impossible for certain Pokémon: e.g. Tentacruel has both Rapid Spin and Mirror Coat as available Egg moves, but no Pokémon in the Water 3 Egg Group can learn both moves so Tentacruel can't use both in the same moveset.

Sometimes to get a certain moveset onto a Pokémon, such as a Spinda with Wish and Baton Pass, several steps must be taken; this is called chain breeding.

Rules of Egg move breeding

Level-up moves

If both parents know one or more moves that their offspring could learn by leveling up, the offspring will inherit that move. For example, Gengar and Mismagius both know Mean Look, so their child, Misdreavus, who learns the move at level 19 will know it when it hatches.

Parents	Gengar ♂	Mismagius ♀
Moves	Mean Look	Magical Leaf
	Dark Pulse	Mean Look
	Lick	Lucky Chant
	Hex	Perish Song
Offspring	Misdreavus
Moves	Mean Look
	Growl
	Psywave
	---

Note that Ditto cannot be used to pass down moves in this manner, because the only move it possesses is Transform.

TM and HM moves

If the male Pokémon knows a TM or HM move that the offspring can learn, the offspring will have that move. This applies whether or not the female Pokémon knows the move (or if Ditto was used in lieu of a female). In this example, the father, Gliscor, learns X-Scissor naturally, and his child, Joltik, can learn the same move through TM81, so it will know this move upon hatching.

Parents	Gliscor ♂	Galvantula ♀
Moves	X-Scissor	Thunder
	Fire Fang	Bug Buzz
	Stone Edge	Agility
	Screech	Gastro Acid
Offspring	Joltik
Moves	X-Scissor
	String Shot
	Leech Life
	Spider Web

Prior to Generation V, this was the only way to "reuse" one-of-a-kind TMs, like the ones obtained from Gym Leaders.

Egg moves

If the male Pokémon knows a move that the offspring can learn only by breeding, the offspring will be born knowing the move (similar to the inheritance of TM moves described above). For example, if a male Dragonite knowing Outrage is bred with a female Charizard, the resulting Charmander will know Outrage. As of Generation VI, a female can pass down moves, too.

Parents	Dragonite ♂	Charizard ♀
Moves	Outrage	Flare Blitz
	Thunder Wave	Shadow Claw
	Surf	Dragon Claw
	Ice Beam	Fly
Offspring	Charmander
Moves	Outrage
	Flare Blitz
	Scratch
	Growl

Default moves

In addition to (or in the absence of) any inherited moves, the offspring Pokémon will know at least one default move when hatched, labeled in their level up move list as either "Start" or "--" in lieu of a level number. If this would result in the offspring possessing more than four moves, the inherited moves take priority and the moves on top of their level up move list (with "Start" or "--") will be the ones that are not learned. (If desired, the player may consult a Move Reminder to acquire those moves.)

Special cases

Breeding with Incense

Incense-bred Pokémon often have a different or expanded Egg move list than their evolved forms, due to being classified in the Pokédex as a different species.

Parents	Golduck ♂	Azumarill ♀
Moves	Amnesia	Superpower
	Soak	Hydro Pump
	Psychic	Helping Hand
	Psych Up	Rollout
Female Held item	Nothing	Sea Incense
Offspring	Marill	Azurill
Moves	Amnesia	Soak
	Tackle	Splash
	Bubble	Bubble
	---	---

Volt Tackle

Pichu can "inherit" Volt Tackle if the female Pikachu or Raichu of the breeding pair holds the Light Ball.

Parents	Mawile ♂	Raichu ♀
Moves	Crunch	Thunderbolt
	Iron Head	Feint
	Fire Fang	Nasty Plot
	Sweet Scent	Agility
Female Held item	Nothing	Light Ball
Offspring	Pichu
Moves	ThunderShock
	Charm
	---	Volt Tackle
	---

Genderless Pokémon

Genderless Pokémon cannot inherit any Egg moves, as they can only be bred with Ditto, and always start with a fixed number of moves. Some of these, such as Unown and Beldum, are also incapable of learning moves via TM and HM.

Parents	Ditto	Porygon-Z
Moves	Transform	Tri Attack
	---	Thunderbolt
	---	Ice Beam
	---	Shadow Ball
Offspring	Porygon
Moves	Conversion 2
	Tackle
	Conversion
	Sharpen