EV and IV training: how does it work?

[Solar]

I've seem a lot of cool things such as Pokemon giveaways and talk about "5IV" Pokemon and I've become interested I'm the topic. Although since I've never gone in depth on the topic would someone be able to explain how both things work? I don't mind a long post but I would love to be able to participate in it and maybe make a competitive team!

 

[bloomwaker]

I've only just started going into some more competitive pokemon builds (I just hatched a 6 IV Togepi about a week ago), so I don't know too much about it. Here's my impression of it in a nutshell.

IVs seem to be like the max potential a pokemon can reach in a certain area. If you've spoken to the purple-haired guy in Kiloude City in XY, he judges your Pokemon's potential, and what he says determines how many IVs each pokemon has, which ones it has (HP, Speed, Att. Special Att., etc), and how well those IVs work for the Pokemon. Whether this has to do with how well the IVs work for the Pokemon's nature, or all Pokemon of its kind, I'm not entirely sure. I've gotten "outstanding" potential from a Pokemon with only two IVs, and "relatively superior" from one with 4. I guess the key is to hope that you have the IVs that you DO want to max out in EV training.

EVs are a bit like ability points in MMOs. You only get a certain amount per pokemon, so you want to invest them in the stats you need the most. It's easier in X and Y with super training and reset bags, where you can set all your Pokemon's statistics back to base level, and then only train the ones you want trained. If you look at pokemon stats, they'll often have some added in places they won't really use. Like a special attacker having some points in attack (which wouldn't really do it much good). EV training helps you invest your points properly, so that none of your EVs go "wasted" so to speak. Where you decide to put the effort really depends on what kind of pokemon you want to build, as well as what the pokemon is generally suited for. If it has good IVs in a certain area, then it's more likely that it will reach is maximum potential. My first Togekiss has 4 IVs, but I invested into as much HP as it would allow, and it's only off the maximum possible HP for a Togekiss by 1. Very annoying to deal with, from someone else's point of view, haha.

 

[Sumemr]

I've only just started going into some more competitive pokemon builds (I just hatched a 6 IV Togepi about a week ago), so I don't know too much about it. Here's my impression of it in a nutshell.

IVs seem to be like the max potential a pokemon can reach in a certain area. If you've spoken to the purple-haired guy in Kiloude City in XY, he judges your Pokemon's potential, and what he says determines how many IVs each pokemon has, which ones it has (HP, Speed, Att. Special Att., etc), and how well those IVs work for the Pokemon. Whether this has to do with how well the IVs work for the Pokemon's nature, or all Pokemon of its kind, I'm not entirely sure. I've gotten "outstanding" potential from a Pokemon with only two IVs, and "relatively superior" from one with 4. I guess the key is to hope that you have the IVs that you DO want to max out in EV training.

EVs are a bit like ability points in MMOs. You only get a certain amount per pokemon, so you want to invest them in the stats you need the most. It's easier in X and Y with super training and reset bags, where you can set all your Pokemon's statistics back to base level, and then only train the ones you want trained. If you look at pokemon stats, they'll often have some added in places they won't really use. Like a special attacker having some points in attack (which wouldn't really do it much good). EV training helps you invest your points properly, so that none of your EVs go "wasted" so to speak. Where you decide to put the effort really depends on what kind of pokemon you want to build, as well as what the pokemon is generally suited for. If it has good IVs in a certain area, then it's more likely that it will reach is maximum potential. My first Togekiss has 4 IVs, but I invested into as much HP as it would allow, and it's only off the maximum possible HP for a Togekiss by 1. Very annoying to deal with, from someone else's point of view, haha.

To add onto your post, the maximum number of IVs a pokemon can have in each stat is 31, which you will be able to tell by the Judge in Kiloude City when he judges your pokemon. You'll know that a stat has the maximum number of IVs in it when he'll say something along the lines of, "Those stats can't be beat!", right after he lists which stats. The beginning part where he says "Outstanding potential" or "Relatively superior potential" lets you know that your pokemon has a high number of IVs in most/all of the stats, but that doesn't mean that all the stats have perfect 31 IVs. There are many helpful guides online, if you just look up ' iv breeding and ev training pokemon x ' or sometning along those lines.

As for EVs, you can only have a maximum of 252 EVs per stat, and 508 total. You don't have to put 252 all in one stat, either. You can split it like 128 in Def. & 128 in Sp. Def. and then 252 in HP or something. For me, I use pokemon hordes to train for EVs. You can also look up ' horde training pokemon x ' to find out what pokemon give which EVs and where you can find them. Your pokemon can earn 50 EVs per pokemon horde IF your pokemon meet these requirements: Infected with pokerus and have an appropriate Power item (BP item from Battle Maison). The power items will have a description of something like, "lowers holders speed but boosts HP (or anther stat)" They're 48 BP each.

But to know what IVs and EVs you want to invest/give your pokemon, you should do some research. Like look up their base stats, and see which ones you want to buff. Along with EVs and IVs and what not, you also want to see which moves you want to put on your pokemon and whether or not it's an egg move (meaning you have to breed the move from another pokemon that can learn the move in your pokemon's egg group). There's also other things to take into account such as natures & abilites. I myself just learned how to do all this IV breeding and EV training a couple months ago, so it comes easily to me now. I hope my post helps you, and that you look up guides like I've mentioned above! If you have any other questions, just let me know and I'll do my best to help you answer them. c:

 

[Solar]

I've only just started going into some more competitive pokemon builds (I just hatched a 6 IV Togepi about a week ago), so I don't know too much about it. Here's my impression of it in a nutshell.

IVs seem to be like the max potential a pokemon can reach in a certain area. If you've spoken to the purple-haired guy in Kiloude City in XY, he judges your Pokemon's potential, and what he says determines how many IVs each pokemon has, which ones it has (HP, Speed, Att. Special Att., etc), and how well those IVs work for the Pokemon. Whether this has to do with how well the IVs work for the Pokemon's nature, or all Pokemon of its kind, I'm not entirely sure. I've gotten "outstanding" potential from a Pokemon with only two IVs, and "relatively superior" from one with 4. I guess the key is to hope that you have the IVs that you DO want to max out in EV training.

EVs are a bit like ability points in MMOs. You only get a certain amount per pokemon, so you want to invest them in the stats you need the most. It's easier in X and Y with super training and reset bags, where you can set all your Pokemon's statistics back to base level, and then only train the ones you want trained. If you look at pokemon stats, they'll often have some added in places they won't really use. Like a special attacker having some points in attack (which wouldn't really do it much good). EV training helps you invest your points properly, so that none of your EVs go "wasted" so to speak. Where you decide to put the effort really depends on what kind of pokemon you want to build, as well as what the pokemon is generally suited for. If it has good IVs in a certain area, then it's more likely that it will reach is maximum potential. My first Togekiss has 4 IVs, but I invested into as much HP as it would allow, and it's only off the maximum possible HP for a Togekiss by 1. Very annoying to deal with, from someone else's point of view, haha.

To add onto your post, the maximum number of IVs a pokemon can have in each stat is 31, which you will be able to tell by the Judge in Kiloude City when he judges your pokemon. You'll know that a stat has the maximum number of IVs in it when he'll say something along the lines of, "Those stats can't be beat!", right after he lists which stats. The beginning part where he says "Outstanding potential" or "Relatively superior potential" lets you know that your pokemon has a high number of IVs in most/all of the stats, but that doesn't mean that all the stats have perfect 31 IVs. There are many helpful guides online, if you just look up ' iv breeding and ev training pokemon x ' or sometning along those lines.

As for EVs, you can only have a maximum of 252 EVs per stat, and 508 total. You don't have to put 252 all in one stat, either. You can split it like 128 in Def. & 128 in Sp. Def. and then 252 in HP or something. For me, I use pokemon hordes to train for EVs. You can also look up ' horde training pokemon x ' to find out what pokemon give which EVs and where you can find them. Your pokemon can earn 50 EVs per pokemon horde IF your pokemon meet these requirements: Infected with pokerus and have an appropriate Power item (BP item from Battle Maison). The power items will have a description of something like, "lowers holders speed but boosts HP (or anther stat)" They're 48 BP each.

But to know what IVs and EVs you want to invest/give your pokemon, you should do some research. Like look up their base stats, and see which ones you want to buff. Along with EVs and IVs and what not, you also want to see which moves you want to put on your pokemon and whether or not it's an egg move (meaning you have to breed the move from another pokemon that can learn the move in your pokemon's egg group). There's also other things to take into account such as natures & abilites. I myself just learned how to do all this IV breeding and EV training a couple months ago, so it comes easily to me now. I hope my post helps you, and that you look up guides like I've mentioned above! If you have any other questions, just let me know and I'll do my best to help you answer them. c:

Thank you guys so much!! This actually really helped me a lot and would keep me going with my game for a long while longer!! I hope this helps others wondering like me which is a big reason I posted the thread!! One question: do you guys make use of the super training feature and what exactly does it do? I know it has something to do with EV's or IV's but I don't really know what

 

[Sumemr]

Thank you guys so much!! This actually really helped me a lot and would keep me going with my game for a long while longer!! I hope this helps others wondering like me which is a big reason I posted the thread!! One question: do you guys make use of the super training feature and what exactly does it do? I know it has something to do with EV's or IV's but I don't really know what

Super Training gives you EVs, or Effort Values. I use Super Training to get any missing EVs I need if I need like 20 or less EVs. Because if you do horde training like I do, you can do 5 hordes for 250 and then I use Super Training for the last 2. Some people use Super Training to get ALL the EVs they need, but I find that too tedious for me so I use horde training instead. xD

 

[bloomwaker]

I tend to use the Super Training quite a bit, but that's also because certain levels of them provide you with things like evolution stones and other little useful things.

Glad to see that clarification about what he says as well. I didn't think about the fact that his word choice was also an indication of how high each IV could be. Would explain why a few of my 4 IV hatches were better than some of my 2 IV ones.

 

[Solar]

Super Training gives you EVs, or Effort Values. I use Super Training to get any missing EVs I need if I need like 20 or less EVs. Because if you do horde training like I do, you can do 5 hordes for 250 and then I use Super Training for the last 2. Some people use Super Training to get ALL the EVs they need, but I find that too tedious for me so I use horde training instead. xD

That makes sense!! Just thought if another question!! Is there anyway that you can find out how many EV's your Pokemon currently has? I would like to fine tune my Sylveon that I trained to a high level but I would like to see her EV's before I do.

 

[Sumemr]

That makes sense!! Just thought if another question!! Is there anyway that you can find out how many EV's your Pokemon currently has? I would like to fine tune my Sylveon that I trained to a high level but I would like to see her EV's before I do.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to tell what EVs a pokemon has unless you've specially EV trained it. :/

 

[Dr J]

Here's a little tip for you in regards to EV training: You CAN know if its got 252 EVs in a stat because it'll say you can't train that stat anymore; meaning you've maxed out the pokemon's potential for that stat. You can get two maxed out with about 6 leftover EVs you can toss on another stat. I usually put them on a lower stat to boost that one a little; provided it's a stat my pokemon is actually going to use.

Example: my 6IV volt tackle female pikachu is actually setup for physical attacking because volt tackle is a physical move(I'm well aware she won't be as good as she'd be if she were to use special attacks), so I've got her entire movelist setup to help her take down foes that are immune/resistant to her volt tackle. So her EVs are on attack/speed, with the extras on her defences.

Her moves are:

Nuzzle(for the paralize + damage)
Double Team
Volt Tackle
Brick Break

She also has Static and is Adamant(I do plan on getting a second one designed for special attacks to use as her team battle partner so she'll have cover). Course, she's still only lvl 31, so I don't know how well she'll do later on but I'm hoping she'll be a powerful little chu.

That said, Destiny Knot and Everstone are you best friends when IV/Nature breeding since Destiny Knot passes on 5 of 6 IVs to the new born from both parents and Everstone will pass on the nature of the parent holding the everstone. Your best bet is to use the safari to get IV'd pokemon that are compatible with what you want to get IV'd up; and work from there(Swapping out old parents for new parents as you get better IV rolls on offspring)

Oh, and don't expect to get a 6IV pokemon right away when breeding a pair of 5IV pokemon, 6IVs are rare just plan on getting a perfect 5IV roll on your pokemon and it'll do just fine; afterall, most pokemon don't use all six stats anyway.

edit: Long story short.. don't give up hope just because you keep getting bad IV rolls, that perfect pokemon will come eventually(and you may luck out and get a flawless while trying for your perfect pokemon[6IVs + correct nature]; in which case.. REJOICE!

- - - Post Merge - - -

That makes sense!! Just thought if another question!! Is there anyway that you can find out how many EV's your Pokemon currently has? I would like to fine tune my Sylveon that I trained to a high level but I would like to see her EV's before I do.

If you look at her in the super training main screen, you can see what her EVs are currently and you can adjust them if you have the berries that lower EVs when fed to your pokemon(which also frees up the EVs to be put onto the proper stats)