EV Guide | IV Guide
What are Individual Values?
Individual Values are essentially a Pokemon’s genes and true potential. While a Pokemon’s potential is determined by its IVs, EVs, Nature, and the skill of its trainer, nothing affects a Pokemon’s ultimate power such as IVs. IVs are both amazing and annoying to deal with. Everyone wants their Pokemon to have the perfect 31 IVs down the line, even if a stat is stunted in its growth (natures) compared to everything else. It just makes sense.
IVs are determined randomly when you obtain a Pokemon through means other than Breeding (depends), Friend Safari (two guaranteed perfect IVs), and the Undiscovered Egg Group (three guaranteed perfect IVs, but only if they are caught in the wild). The rules are determined by Generation VI rules.
Things like Personality Values, Shininess, and an Unown’s shape are affected.
The breeding aspect varies depending on Generation. Generations IV, V and VI’s breeding rules are similar enough to use this guide to your advantage.
Pokemon have had up to 0-31 in their IVs since Generation III. Before, it was only up to 15, which caused backwards compatibility problems in Generation III. There is very little you can do to affect IVs except use a couple of breeding items, and breed for a long time. The probability of getting one perfect IV is 1 in 32, two perfect IVs are 1 in 1064, and all six perfect IVs is well in the millions. IVs also determine the power and type of Hidden Power. More on that later.
Before that, how do you determine a Pokemon’s IVs? You can use an IV calculator, which can be found searching on Google. Simply go to the Pokemon status menu on your game and insert the appropriate information based on what Pokemon. There are also two formulas you can use, if you are good at math. Base Stats can be found on various sources.
Formula for calculating HP IV:
IV = (((HP – level – 10) * 100) / level) – EP/4 – (base stat * 2)
Formula for calculating stat IVs:
IV = (((stat / nature) – 5) * 100 / level) – EP/4 – (base stat * 2)
With practice and time, you’ll eventually be able to guess an approximation of what IVs a certain stat falls in.
A Pokemon’s Characteristic is under their Nature. It tells you what their highest IV is. Put it in the calculator as well. Some are self-explanatory, like “proud of its power.” Some are not-so-much, like “somewhat vain.” That’s Attack and Special Defense, respectively.
Breeding IVs
For breeding, Pokemon are very likely to inherit IVs from their parents, though it is still random. If you want to breed the best Pokemon you can, start with a Pokemon from the Friend Safari, or catch an Undiscovered Egg Group Pokemon in the wild that is capable of breeding (but that is exceptionally rare).
In the Friend Safari, you can get some practice figuring out that the highest stats are the perfect IVs (but take into account natures), and the lower ones are well, lower.
So once you have a Pokemon with good IVs, you should get these items and have the “strong IV Pokemon” hold it. Make sure a Pokemon with a good nature is breeding with it, and holding an Everstone.
These items can all be bought for 16BP at the:
Platinum Only – Battle Frontier
HGSS – Battle Frontier
BW – Battle Subway
BW2 – Battle Subway and Pokemon World Tournament
XY – Battle Maison
Power Weight – HP IV
Power Belt – Defense IV
Power Bracer – Attack IV
Power Band – Special Defense IV
Power Lens – Special Attack IV
Power Anklet – Speed IV
Go to the guy in the Battle Tower to determine your Pokemon’s potential in Platinum & HGSS.
Go to the guy in the Battle Subway to determine your Pokemon’s potential in Generation V.
Go to the guy in the Pokemon Center in Kiloude City to determine your Pokemon’s potential in XY.
*They should all look like Ace Trainers and be in the lobby.
Hidden Power
Hidden Power Gurus are located in these locations. Before Generation VI, the power was random. Now it is always 60. These guys will determine the type for Competitive use. Hidden Power is popular because it helps trainers cover their Pokemon’s weaknesses when the movesets are working against them. Hidden Power is not affected by Normalize, but is for Electrify. Normal-type and Fairy-type Hidden Power is currently impossible, though for the Fairy-type, it might change in ORAS.
Platinum: Veilstone Game Corner
HGSS: Celadon Game Corner
BW: Mistralton Pokemon Center
BW2: Pokemon World Tournament
XY: A house in Anistar City
How to do EV Training?
What are Effort Values?
The wonderful thing about Effort Values is that you are in full control of them. PokeRus (1 in 21845, better to trade and get one to pass in party, which is determined by Player steps) and those aforementioned Breeding Items really help affect growth in Evs (they add 4 points in value). There are berries which will kill certain EV growths in case you screw up: Pomeg, Kelpsey, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tomato.
So, there are 504 EVs for you to work with on every Pokemon. In Generation VI, we now have 510. To maximize a stat we only need 252. For pre-Generation VI games, watch out, because it goes up to 255, wasting four points. Also, those berries prior to Generation V reduce the desired EV by 100, but now it is 10.
The most common strategy is to maximize the two BEST stats and hand the remaining 4 to 6 EVs to something else. So a Modest Alakazam with great IVs would want 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, and 4(6) to either HP or Special Defense.
How to Get IVs the REALLY HARD WAY, SERIOUSLY. UNLESS YOU HAVE POKERUS AND A LOT OF ITEMS AND DRUGS, JUST USE SUPER TRAINING in Generation VI.
Defeat Pokemon, pure and simple. You want to go to Google and determine which Pokemon you should fight because the EV yield for every one is different. Weedle, gives a single Speed EV, so you would have to fight a Weedle (or another Pokemon with a Speed EV) 252 times to max out the Speed EV.
PokeRus, introduced in Generation II, multiplies the yield by 2. An item like a Power Anklet adds to the muliplier further, making fighting a single Weedle give 10 points to Speed. Don’t get me started on Double, Triple, Rotation and Horde battles, just be careful. If all the Pokemon are the same in a horde battle, go for it.
Buy drugs like HP UP, Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc, and Carbos to boost EVs by 10. You can only use each drug 10 times. This goes for the berries, too. Wings only do 1 point.
If you are playing a game before Generation VI, you can use the EXP Share. The EVs will be transferred to the Pokemon holding it. Make sure the “fighting” Pokemon is maxed out or of a similar build. Unfortunately, the effects of the “Power/Breeding” items do not transfer to the Pokemon holding the EXP Share. Pokerus does though.
Don’t use the EXP Share in Generation VI unless you want unwanted EVs for your whole team. Max them out first.
In Generation VI, use Super Training. The previous method is much more effective only if you have all the necessary equipment. It takes 40-60 minutes. Get a proxy that will unlock the later stages so you can focus on the Pokemon that you will actually train. It’s up to you to determine what EVs are distributed.
Assuming you’re going 252/252/6, Count by 36 (that’s when the “pie” moves up on the screen); that helped me quite a lot. Ditch the small bags, and stack the medium bags up to 3, then use them. Use large bags as much as possible. Use Double Bags for the stat you have less EVs for. Put 6 in HP if nothing else works for you.