Pokémon Home Move Changes:

On Changing and Transferring Moves

The Home move transfer situation is somewhat complicated. What moves your Pokémon are allowed to keep and what moves they aren't depends on multiple factors, including the Pokémon's species, the specific move in question, the game they are going into from Home, and the moves the Pokémon knows in other games it has been in before.

How moves and movesets are handled and stored

For each group of Switch games (Sword/Shield/Bank, Scarlet/Violet, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, and Legends Arceus) Home keeps a server-side whitelist of all the moves that every species implemented in those games is allowed to know. If a particular move is not whitelisted for a particular species in that game group, then all Pokémon of that species can't keep the move. Not even if the Pokémon knows that same move in a different game. The move can't be learned or remembered in-game and can't be brought into the game as a transfer move. When transferring your Pokémon from Home into the target game, Home only displays whitelisted moves in the Change Moves menu.

This unintuitive system has resulted in many 'lost' legacy moves - moves that cannot be used and/or cannot be relearned if forgotten. These legacy moves are often event-exclusive or otherwise rare moves such as Dizzy Punch hatchlings from Crystal's Odd Egg, Octazooka Sableye from the Pokémon Smash 2013 Japanese event distribution, and purified shadow Sing Ralts from XD. Even some TM, egg, and tutor moves that were relatively easy to get fall into this category, such as Hone Claws Anorith, Water Gun Phanpy, and Mimic Kecleon. Body Press Zamazenta is a prominent recent example: a staple of S/V VGC, yet impossible to obtain in its debut game.

The first time a Pokémon gets uploaded to Home, the server registers its data and assigns it a unique ID value known as the Home tracker. The server-side data recorded for each Pokémon can be roughly divided into a permanent 'core' plus multiple game-group-specific 'profiles' of fungible attributes. For each new game group that individual Pokémon enters, Home generates a new profile and uses it to store specific data used for that game group. This game-group-specific profile includes the Pokémon's moveset (and many other game-specific parameters such as awakening, grit and mastery, friendship, Dynamax level, alpha status, etc). Subsequently, every time the Pokémon is uploaded from a game back into the Home cloud, both its game profile and its core data are updated to reflect any changes you made - without changing any of its other game-group-specific profiles. For comparison, the core information includes static traits that don't change from game to game, such as the Pokémon's sex, ability slot, IVs, EVs, ball, ribbons and marks.

Detailed documentation is available in this 2022 Nintendo patent describing Home's Pokémon data storage structure. If you're interested in this sort of thing, I highly encourage you to check out the document; it provides an interesting look into the general data structure.

How move memories are handled and stored

Level-up, TM and egg move memories do not directly cross over between games. Using the in-game move relearner, your Pokémon can remember its level-up moves within that game, plus the following: egg moves it was bred with in that game, special event moves it was distributed with in that game, TMs it memorized in that game (Scarlet/Violet only), TRs it memorized in that game (Sword/Shield only), and tutor moves it memorized in that game (Legends Arceus only).

You can use the Change Moves function in Home to transfer moves that your Pokémon currently knows or can remember in a different game. As stated in the previous section, the move you want to transfer must also be allowed for that species to use in that game; if a move isn't allowed for your Pokémon in the destination game, the move won't appear in the Change Moves list.

Let's walk through an example of Home moveset profiles, move memories, and the Change Moves function.

I will transfer my Dragonite from Home to Shield, then Home to Violet, and finally back to Shield. Falcor, my Dragonite, is originally from Kalos in Pokemon X/Y. She has been transferred from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon Home.

  1. I'm connected to my Shield game in Home. Here's my Dragonite - notice her moveset in the bottom right corner. This is her original moveset from Pokémon Bank.
  2. I withdraw Dragonite from Home into Shield.
  3. Once placed into Shield, her moves do not change. This is because Home combines Bank, Sword and Shield into a single game group; they all share one profile. In other words, Home merges data from Bank with Sword/Shield and vice versa. Because Dragonite came from Bank, she automatically also has a Sword/Shield profile ready to go, even though this is actually the first time she's ever touched a Sword/Shield game.
  4. Notice the orange disc icon that appeared? This indicates that the Change Moves function is available. Let's open the menu and check it out. (You need to be in box view mode to access the menu, and the Home cursor must be in single select mode, indicated by a red arrow. Press ZR to change the cursor mode if needed.)
  5. I can view information about each of the four moves in Dragonite's active moveset. I can also rearrange them.
  6. I can click on any move to open a list of options I could change that move to.
  7. Okay, so that's what the menu looks like, but I don't want to change any moves at the moment. I'll just save and exit to confirm that I'm withdrawing Dragonite into Shield as-is.
  8. We're skipping ahead a little bit - off-camera, Dragonite was deposited back from Shield into Home. Now I'm connected to my Violet game and I'm going to withdraw Dragonite from Home into Violet. This will also be the first time she's ever touched a Scarlet/Violet game.


  9. Once placed into Violet, Dragonite's moveset changes! Home created a new Scarlet/Violet profile for Dragonite. The new moveset defaults to the four most recent level-up moves that a Dragonite would learn in Scarlet/Violet.
  10. I'll use the Change Moves function to restore Dragonite's previous moveset.


  11. There - exactly like before! The orange disk icon has turned grey. This indicates that I've made unsaved changes to Dragonite's active moveset.
  12. On second thought, I'd like to give Dragonite some different moves.
  13. I change Dragon Claw to Extreme Speed...
  15. And Aerial Ace to Roost. I'm keeping Earthquake and Dragon Dance.
  16. Looks good! I save and exit again.
  17. We're skipping ahead once more - off-camera, Dragonite was deposited back from Violet into Home. Now I'm connected to my Shield game again. Notice that Dragonite's displayed with her Violet moveset; the default view in Home reflects whatever game the Pokémon has most recently been in.


  19. Dragonite automatically regains her Sword/Shield moveset when I withdraw her into Shield. And I can change her moves again if I'd like to!

You've got a Mew in Scarlet/Violet. You use a TM to teach your Mew Thunderbolt. Then you overwrite Thunderbolt with another move. Then you move Mew to Sword/Shield for the first time. Thunderbolt disappears from Mew's active moveset when it is moved into Sword/Shield, but you can use Home's Change Moves function to get Thunderbolt again in Sword/Shield. However, Mew can't remember Thunderbolt at the in-game move relearner in Sword/Shield unless you use a Thunderbolt TR on it in Sword/Shield.

You've got an Inteleon in Sword/Shield. You use a TR to teach your Inteleon Focus Energy. Then you move Inteleon to Scarlet/Violet. Focus Energy disappears from Inteleon's active moveset when it is moved into Scarlet/Violet, and you can not use Home's Change Moves function to get Focus Energy again in Scarlet/Violet. Even though Inteleon has memorized Focus Energy, and Focus Energy is in his active Sword/Shield moveset, and Focus Energy exists as a usable move in Scarlet/Violet. Focus Energy is not on the Scarlet/Violet move whitelist for Inteleon, so Home will not under any circumstances allow Inteleon to have Focus Energy in Scarlet/Violet. Inteleon also won't be able to remember Focus Energy using the in-game move relearner in Scarlet/Violet. However, if you move him back to Sword/Shield, he will be able to remember Focus Energy using Home's Change Moves function and the in-game move relearner. Inteleon is allowed to know Focus Energy in Sword/Shield but not in Scarlet/Violet.

You've bred an Indeedee with some egg moves in Sword/Shield and now you want to move it into Scarlet/Violet. You deposit Indeedee from Sword/Shield into Home, save and quit, log back in, then withdraw Indeedee into Scarlet/Violet. Once you've placed Indeedee into Scarlet/Violet, BEFORE you save and quit, Indeedee should be marked with an orange disk icon. You press A on Indeedee and choose "Change Moves" from the menu. You will now be able to change Indeedee's Scarlet/Violet moveset to re-add its egg moves. Save and quit after you've changed its moves.

You captured the Mightiest Mark Pikachu from the Tera Raid event in Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. Unfortunately, it didn't come with Pikachu's signature attack, Volt Tackle. Fortunately, Pikachu can learn Volt Tackle from the move tutor in Legends Arceus. You deposit Pikachu from Scarlet/Violet into Home, save and quit, log back in, then withdraw Pikachu into Legends Arceus. You save and quit again. You launch Legends Arceus and bring Pikachu to the move tutor to learn Volt Tackle. Then you deposit Pikachu at the Pasture, save and quit Legends Arceus, and log in to Home again. You deposit Pikachu from Legends Arceus into Home, save and quit, log in again, and finally withdraw Pikachu into Scarlet/Violet. Once you've placed Pikachu into Scarlet/Violet, BEFORE you save and quit, Pikachu should be marked with an orange disk icon. You press A on Pikachu and choose "Change Moves" from the menu. You will now be able to change Pikachu's Scarlet/Violet moveset to re-add its new tutor move. Save and quit after you've changed its moves.

This category broadly encompasses past-gen to Home transfer moves of all kinds, including transfer-exclusive moves that could only be obtained in pre-Switch games and moves that were deprecated in Sword/Shield. These moves generally can't be used, but you may be able to retain them in the active Sword/Shield moveset only.

During the Bank-to-Home transfer, a Pokémon's move memory list from gens 6 and 7 is permanently deleted. Its active moseset at the time of transfer is preserved and becomes its default Sword/Shield moveset (if applicable). In other words, the original moveset a Pokémon has when it gets transferred from Bank into Home is merged with its Sword/Shield moveset. This means that changes to the Sword/Shield moveset will equally affect the Bank moveset too; the Bank moveset cannot be otherwise modified after transfer. Crucially, Sword/Shield are the only Switch games that do not force a moveset reroll upon first entry. That means for Sword/Shield only, you can retain up to 4 transfer-exclusive moves - even moves flagged as unusable - as long as your Pokémon had them in their active moveset at the time of Bank to Home transfer, and it never forgets or change those moves in Sword/Shield. This means your Air Slash Suicune, Dynamic Punch Raichu, Hidden Power Jolteon and Grasswhistle Roselia can be preserved in Galar to some extent, even if they can't actually use their special moves anymore. If these transfer-exclusive moves are ever replaced or forgetten, or you make your Pokémon Ranked Battle Ready, they'll be permanently lost.

Move PP may change from game to game as well. PP Ups are remembered on a per-game, per-move basis as part of your Pokémon's move memory list. You can't use PP Ups in one game and carry over their effect to a different game. However, if you transfer a Pokémon out of a game where you used PP Ups and then transfer it back to that game later, it will regain its extra PP.

PP enhancements are carried over from Pokémon Bank to the Sword/Shield moveset.

You catch a Lapras in Sword/Shield. You give it PP Ups to max out its Hydro Pump. Then you use Home to transfer your Lapras into Scarlet/Violet. Home creates and stores a separate moveset for Lapras to use in Scarlet/Violet. You can keep Hydro Pump on Lapras for use in Scarlet/Violet, but it will only have the default amount of PP. You would need to use more PP Ups on Lapras in Scarlet/Violet to max out Hydro Pump again for that game. If you put Lapras back into Sword/Shield later, it will get back its Sword/Shield moveset and Hydro Pump will regain the extra PP.