Pokémon Quest Move Learning: How to Maximize Training Success

To guarantee the best results when teaching a new move in Pokémon Quest, use supporting Pokémon that share the exact species or elemental type of your trainee, and always aim for a 100% success rate before confirming the session. Because every training attempt permanently reduces that specific Pokémon's future success odds, wasting attempts on low probabilities will quickly make future move swaps unaffordable.

How Move Learning Works

Move Learning lets you replace one of a Pokémon's active moves with a random ability from its species move pool.

To run a training session:

1. Select the primary Pokémon you want to train.
2. Select the move you want to replace.
3. Assign up to four supporting Pokémon from your roster as fodder.
4. Check the displayed success percentage, then confirm the training.

All supporting Pokémon assigned to the session are permanently consumed whether the move transfer succeeds or fails. If the attempt succeeds, the selected move changes to a new random skill. If it fails, the move stays the same, the fodder is gone, and the Pokémon receives a permanent penalty to its future success rates.

Fodder Success Rate Hierarchy

The percentage contribution of each supporting Pokémon depends on its species and typing relationship to the trainee. Supporting Pokémon level and Power Stones do not increase Move Learning odds, meaning a low-level summon contributes the same percentage as a high-level one.

Using an identical species (such as an Onix to train an Onix) provides the largest single-slot increase. If identical Pokémon are not available, use Pokémon that share an elemental type, such as sacrificing a Geodude into an Onix or a Horsea into a Water-type ally.

Managing the Training Penalty

Every Move Learning attempt performed on an individual Pokémon permanently reduces its base success rate for all subsequent attempts. This penalty applies on both successes and failures.

During the first two or three training attempts, reaching a 100% success rate requires minimal investment—often just one or two matching-type Pokémon. By the fourth or fifth attempt, unrelated Pokémon contribute almost nothing, and shared elemental types grant noticeably lower percentages.

To avoid running into steep penalties:

• Never gamble on partial odds: Always add enough fodder to reach a 100% success rate on early attempts. A failed 75% attempt consumes your fodder and permanently lowers your odds for the next roll without giving you a move.
• Save identical duplicates for later: Use shared-type fodder while base success rates are high. Save same-species duplicates for later rolls when the cumulative penalty requires higher-value fodder to hit 100%.

Efficient Fodder Farming with Cooking Pots

To gather training fodder without draining your ingredient supply, use low-tier cooking pots rather than high-tier expedition pots.

• Cook with Brass Pots or Iron Pots: Low-tier pots require significantly fewer ingredients per dish. Because Move Learning success is tied to species and typing rather than level or stats, a level 5 Pokémon from a Brass Pot provides the exact same success rate as a level 70 Pokémon from a Gold Pot.
• Target type-specific recipes: Brew basic dishes that focus on the trainee's type, such as Stone Soup a la Cube for Rock-types or blue-ingredient stews for Water-types.
• Target species-specific recipes: When penalties become steep, switch to recipes with the narrowest pool for your trainee's exact species to produce identical duplicates cheaply.

When to Retrain vs. Attract a Fresh Pokémon

If a Pokémon has undergone multiple failed attempts and now requires multiple identical species just to reach acceptable odds, evaluate whether the unit is worth further investment.

• Keep training: If the Pokémon has an ideal Bingo Bonus layout and a desirable socket balance between Attack and HP Power Stones, continue using same-species fodder to secure key abilities like Hydro Pump, Bulk Up, or Psychic.
• Attract a replacement: If the Pokémon has poor Bingo Bonuses or an undesirable stone slot distribution, stop spending fodder. Cooking a new Pokémon resets the Move Learning attempt counter to zero, allowing you to roll for the desired moveset at base success rates.