Sword and Shield have turned previous egg moves into TRs, making it much easier to get the exact setup you need on all of your competitive Pokémon. In fact, there are three egg moves that exist as TRs now on this list, for the sake of history. Some top-tier moves can still only be transferred to certain Pokémon by breeding them, though. Which is what we’re going to go over in this list.
10. Muddy Water (Kingdra)
Muddy Water is the first example of a traditional egg move that recently got a TR. However, Muddy Water has always been a staple for Kingdra, so I figured it was worth mentioning regardless. Kingdra isn’t the most popular competitive Pokémon these days. That being said, it does see more play than most of the Pokédex thanks in part to its Swift Swim ability. Combine that with its already high base Speed, and Swift Swim allows Kingdra to dominate in Rain teams. Muddy Water is a part of that strategy, especially for duos. It hits like a truck and has the added effect of possibly reducing your opponent’s accuracy, making it a more valuable choice over something like Surf.
9. Leech Seed (Ferrothorn)
Ferrothorn is one of my personal favorite Pokémon of all time. Ever since its inception, it has been a defensive staple of many a championship-winning team. Its high stats combined with access to entry hazard moves makes it a nightmare to deal with in high-end battles. However, it doesn’t have access to any healing moves naturally. That’s where Leech Seed comes in. When bred onto Ferrothorn, Leech Seed provides it with passive healing and damage. When it’s used with something like Leftovers, it can make Ferrothorn nearly impossible to get rid of. There are better entry hazard setters these days for sure. But Ferrothorn will always be in the discussion when it comes to competition, thanks partly to its access to Leech Seed.
8. Icicle Crash (Weavile)
Weavile has always been a weird Pokémon to talk about. It has the Speed and Attack of a top-tier sweeper, but its ice typing has always been its downfall. Not only is it four times weak to the extremely popular fighting type, but it’s also got a lack of STAB moves, especially through natural leveling. Icicle Crash pretty much saves Weavile from obscurity. It’s an extremely strong staple ice type move that single-handedly allows Weavile to be used in competitive play. Whether you want to run the risk of smashing up against a faster fighting type is your decision, though.
7. Roost (Corviknight)
Has Corviknight replaced Skarmory in the meta? I think so, especially since it gets access to the move that made the latter so difficult to deal with. Roost, for any of you that don’t know, is a healing move that restores around 50% of your Mons’ HP but removes its flying typing for a turn. I don’t know about you, but I’m not running Corviknight for its Attacking power. So in other words, it’s more or less just a free half-heal. I don’t need to tell you why that’s good.
6. High Jump Kick (Cinderace)
Cinderace might just be a fire type, but we all know that it should probably have that ever-popular fighting typing, as well. For better or worse, it doesn’t. Despite not being a STAB move though, High Jump Kick still sees its way onto pretty much every competitive Cinderace ever bred. It’s an extremely powerful move that rounds out Cinderace’s coverage nicely, letting it break through particular walls that it otherwise wouldn’t be able to. High Jump Kick is a rare example of a non-STAB move being a meta staple, so make sure you’re taking advantage of it.
5. Sucker Punch (Bisharp)
Bisharp has been wandering around the competitive scene since Gen V. It’s never been at the very top of the hill, but it’s gotten pretty damn close. However, it has never been able to keep up in the Speed department. There’s no use in being a great wall breaker if everything and its mother is slapping you before you can get a single attack out. Sucker Punch (thankfully) gets rid of that problem for us. Being a priority STAB move, this thing will shred through any psychic types you come up against, turning some of the meta’s hardest hitters into glorified punching bags.
4. Heat Wave (Chandelure)
Heat Wave is another example of an old egg move becoming a TR in Sword and Shield. Once again, though, it’s powerful enough to deserve a mention on the list. Heat Wave is a move capable of hitting both opponents in a doubles battle. Given that it’s a STAB move on Chandelure, it’s your best option for spreading damage across your opponent’s team. Yes it’s not fancy or shiny – but it doesn’t have to be when it’s that effective.
3. Dragon Dance (Tyranitar)
Our last egg move-to-TR entry on this list is Dragon Dance for Tyranitar. If you’ve ever played Pokémon competitively, I shouldn’t have to explain why this pairing is so deadly. Tyranitar is already a monstrous attacking Pokémon. When you give it access to Dragon Dance, you turn it into a powerhouse perfectly capable of running through the entire enemy team. If you’re interested in competitive Pokémon, then you know I’m not exaggerating when I say that.
2. Icicle Crash (Mamoswine)
Mamoswine is a very slept-on Pokémon. It has good survivability thanks to its Thick Fat ability, and a massive Attack stat that allows Mamoswine to crash through your opponents with ease. However, Mamoswine doesn’t get access to any decent STAB physical attacks through its natural movepool – hence why we’re breeding Icicle Crash onto it. This move is more or less mandatory whenever you want to run Mamoswine, so it’s obviously going to end up somewhere on this list.
1. Nasty Plot (Togekiss)
Togekiss has an ability that doubles the chance that a move’s secondary effect triggers. This single ability makes Togekiss a meta staple, being used in almost every single seriously competitive team in one form or another. Moves like Air Slash and Thunder Wave are going to constantly be paralyzing and flinching your opponent, but that’s no use if Togekiss isn’t actually outputting damage. That’s why we’re breeding Nasty Plot onto it. Nasty Plot will increase Togekiss’ Sp.ATK by two stages. Needless to say, the only thing worse than being stun-locked by a Togekiss, is being stun-locked by one that hits like a train.
