Alright, this will be a long and wordy post so bear with me because this will get confusing.
Effort Values:
To first explain Effort Values, I’ll first explain a bit more on Pokemon Stats. As we’ve already covered, base stats form the basis and essence on the strength of a Pokemon. As some of you may have asked, what does this make the stats you see in game? Well they’re what the base stats turn into after leveling and such. While Base Stats are how you compare Pokemon initially (for example, 125 Base Attack is always better than 115 Base Attack) the final stats are also very important as that will ultimately determine Pokemon strength.
Now the question becomes, can Pokemon with the same base stats have different end stats? The answer is yes. And that’s where Effort Values (and Individual Values but that’s later) come in. Also, in learning this you’ll understand why Pokemon in essence become weaker when leveling up using Rare Candies.
When a Pokemon defeats an enemy Pokemon, you gain experience (this you know). However, you also gain something else. When you defeat certain Pokemon, you also gain a certain amount of points to one of your 6 stats. For example, defeating a Bulbasaur will grant you one point towards Special Attack. That point is an Effort Value. Four EVs (four points) towards one stat will equal one legitimate point in that stat. So say your Pokemon has an end stat of 300. If it gained four EVs towards HP, its end stat will now be 301.
So essentially, Effort Values are a way to customize your Pokemon to your preference. Though usually, EV’s will be used to boost your best stats. Now, there are a few rules to keep in mind for EV’s.
- The maximum amount of EV’s a Pokemon is allowed to gain is 510.
- The Maximum Amount of EV’s a Pokemon is allowed in one stat is 255.
- As it’s already been said, 4 EV’s = 1 Stat Point.
So here’s where we use a little math. If you haven’t noticed, in the end if you divide 510 by 4, you’re left with a remainder of 2 worthless EV’s. Nothing can be done about that, sorry. Also, the maximum amount of EV’s you can use for one stat in reality is 252. Going all the way to 255 would actually waste 3 EV’s. So in the end, here’s what will happen. You are allowed to max 2 stats, and add an extra Stat point to a third. Or you can spread them out.
Now, to use more math, a full 252 EV’s in one stat will add up to 63 Stat Points in the end. So let’s bring up that Health value again. If a Pokemon’s end stat in HP is 300, if you max out the HP EV’s, the end stat will now become 363. A very big increase. And now you see the importance.
And this is why Pokemon who use Rare Candies to level up become weaker. Because they’re leveling up without as much battling experience and thus less Effort Values gained and thus weaker stats. Cultivating EV’s is a painstaking task, only really accomplished by breeding Pokes and starting from Level 1 and on top of that, you can’t visibly see the Evs. Until Gen 6 where now we’ll have visible Evs and EV training.
As for what EV’s mean for you? It’s used again, to customize your pokemon. Usually, this will be done by maxing out your stats of preference and usually your best stats. Since Mienshao is the current topic, we’ll use him. Mienshao’s top two stats are Attack and Speed. Those are the stats you tend to want to increase in order to get maximum efficiency out of it to allow it to hit as hard as possible and move as quickly as possible. As for what to do with the last 4 EV’s that aren’t used on Attack and Speed? Up to you. I’d say Special Attack if you want coverage or Special Defense if you want to focus on Hi-Jump Kick and U-Turn but we’ll get to that later. But this is how Mienshao’s with those EV’s are written.
252 Atk/4 SpD/252 Spe
It goes in order of where the stats are (HP/Atk/Def/SpA/SpD/Spe). The numbers show the amount of EV’s used. And thus Mienshao will get a 63 point boost to Attack and Speed and a 1 Point boost to Special Defense. That should be a good run down on Effort Values.
Individual Values:
Alright, IV’s are a lot more annoying to explain, and yet aren’t nearly as important (or manageable) as IV’s unless you want to use Hidden Power. But let’s get this over with.
Individual Values have an easier explanation and summation than EV’s. In essence, they are genes. Like the genes for humans change different things like Eye Color and skin pigmentation, the Genes or IV’s of Pokemon change…well, stats as well and can also increase them like Effort Values.
UNLIKE Effort Values however…you cannot really change them directly. Like Genes, IV’s are given to a Pokemon when they are born and due to that…are the most absolutely frustrating thing to manage in this game, especially due to the fact that like EV’s, until Gen 6 there’s no visible way to truly manage it. The best you can do is in Gen 5 where there’s an NPC that will give you a rough estimate on how you’re doing. But let’s explain in a bit more detail without hopefully destroying your brain.
Each stat (except HP) has an IV rating from 0-31 and each Pokemon when born can range anywhere in that number. A Pokemon that’s said to have Perfect IV’s have 31s in each stat. In short, you want to get each IV as close to 31 as you can get as it will increase the stat the higher the number is (I don’t know the exact formula and it isn’t as important). As it was said by other people, unless you’re using Battle Simulators (until Gen 6), it’s not worth the hassle to try and breed for Perfect IV’s as it will take forever and is a crapshoot. The best you can do is try and breed to max out your Speed IV (again the Gen 5 NPC will help you check). However…this changes when we come to Hidden Power.
Hidden Power is a Special Attack type move that is always 60 BP but varies in Typing. The IV’s of your Pokemon determine the typing. Why is this important? Because some pokemon, Mienshao potentially included, can use the Type Coverage Hidden Power brings to cover weakness. For example, I’ll use one of my personal favorite Pokemon, Lucario.
I prefer to use a Special Attack based Lucario (the Physical Attack Lucario has no such issues). Now Lucario is a Fighting/Steel Type Pokemon, so Flying and Ground type Pokemon are an issue. The usual set run for Lucario, at least his first 3 moves, are Nasty Plot (to boost SpA for sweeping), Aura Sphere (90 Base Power, never miss Fighting Special Move) and Dark Pulse (80 BP, Dark Special). As you can see, no coverage for the two weaknesses I mentioned. And if you go to look up Lucario’s movepool, he does not learn an Ice Special Attack at all (Phyical Lucario has Ice Punch). That’s where Hidden Power comes in. You can make Hidden Power an Ice Type Move thus granting Lucario that crucial coverage needed to take down those Ground and Flying type threats (along with Dragons).
But again, it’s best to not go too deep into how to legitimately generate IV’s as it’s extremely frustrating. Battle Simulators will allow you to play with the IV’s set to your preferences (and thus Hidden Power) and hopefully, Gen 6 will remedy the situation as promised. But at most, do try to breed Pokemon with Perfect IV’s in Speed so all your Pokemon will be at max Speed which is always good (with one or two exceptions due to how certain moves work).
Natures:
I had almost forgotten to add this but this is also very important, but thankfully for all involved, a LOT easier to explain than the above two with also much less math (I don’t mind math, but I’m a math major and I know everyone else aren’t fans).
Ever wonder what those things called Natures are? You know, those one word descriptions in game? Bold, Bashful, Quiet, etc? They actually mean a lot more than you think.
Natures are the last thing that determine Pokemon End Stats (except for HP). Again, a lot easier to explain. There are 25 Natures. Each Nature gives One stat a 10% Increase and gives another Stat a 10% decrease. There are also 5 Natures that don’t change a thing (technically they increase and decrease the same stat, thus averaging out to nothing). They also determine what flavors a Pokemon likes and dislikes, but that’s more towards single player stuff.
Anyway, the usage of Natures are to boost the stat you absolutely want to center your Pokemon around the most. For Mienshao, that can be Attack or Speed. But you also have to make a sacrifice in another category, usually one of your worst or the one you’re not using at all. For Mienshao, if you’re not using any Special Attacks, then you can take away from that stat as you’re not using it. For a Mienshao that specializes in Speed but takes away from Special Attack, the Nature you want is Jolly.
Now Natures are also decided by Breeding but are manageable and of course, visible so a lot easier to have done. That you can research later, it’s pretty simple. So this is how the Mienshao can look so far.
Mienshao, M(ale)
Jolly Nature
252 Atk/4 SpD/252 Spe
And…I’m done…please check for anything off.
