Advanced Pokémon 101
Welcome to advance Pokémon 101. By taking this course, you have shown a good amount of dedication to the Pokémon game, and I congratulate you on your accomplishment. However, simply loving people isn’t enough to be the best of the best. During this course, I will teach you the basics of what is called EV training, and the importance of both nature and your Pokémon’s IVs.
Section 1: Battle Roles
Not every Pokémon can be used as an offensive attacker with its special type moves. It is important to identify what each Pokémon’s best use is, and train it to the best of its ability.
Basic Battle Roles:
1. Physical Sweep- This is a Pokémon with an especially high attack stat. Physical sweeps must have a naturally high attack stat, as well as speed. Examples of good Physical Sweeps are Scizor and Zangoose.
2. Special Sweep- This is the category people tend to incorrectly group their Pokémon in. As there are many Special Sweeps, it is important to make sure you have the fastest type of Special sweep, as well as the one with the highest natural Special Attack stat. Examples are Gengar and Typhlosion.
3. Physical Sponge- A Physical sponge is a Pokémon with a particularly high defense stat. They are meant to be able to stay in battle for long periods of time, while aiding one of your sweeps by taking attacks for it, thus allowing the Sweep to stay in battle longer and take out more Pokémon. Examples are Weezing and Shuckle.
4. Special Sponge- Essentially the same as the Physical sponge, the only difference being, stress is placed on special defense, not regular defense. Examples are, again, Shuckle, and Milotic.
5. Tank- A tank is a Pokémon with high stats in both regular and special defense. They are normally used for staying in battle for long periods of time, while taking out several Pokémon in the process. Examples are Torkoal, and Swampert.
6. Healer- A healer is a Pokémon who can use Heal Bell. The move Heal Bell, while appearing to do nothing, actually heals the status problems of every single Pokémon in your party with the exception of a fainted Pokémon. Healers should be trained for defense. Examples are Blissey and Chimecho.
Those are the easiest and most common battle roles used. Most teams simply have poorly trained Special sweeps in all six slots. That is a horrible idea. It is important to have at least one of each of the first four mentioned.
Section 2: STAB
STAB stands for S(ame) A(ttack) T(ype) B(onus). It is key to recognize and use STAB attacks in battle. It is best explained through example. Let’s say we have a Sandslash. Sandslash is a Ground type. Imagine you tell sand slash to use earthquake. Earthquake is usually a power level 100 move. But because Sandslash’s Pokémon type is the same as the move type it’s moving, the power increases. When the types match up, to find the new power, multiply the base attack power by 1.5. So, in our Sandslash example, earthquake no longer does 100 power damage, but 150 power damage. Another example is a Squirtle using bubble. Bubble, normally 30 power, becomes 45 power. Pokémon with two types have a STAB in two different attack types.
Essentially, if you have a normal type and a fire type with the same attack stat use tackle, a normal move against the exact same Pokémon, the normal one’s attack will be more effective because of the STAB that it gets.
Section 3: Natures
The nature of a Pokémon is much more than just a simple personality trait that’s there for fun. It expresses an advantage in one of your Pokémon’s stats, and a disadvantage in the other. Each Pokémon will be 10% stronger in one of its stats than normal, and 10% worse at another than normal. Some natures are neutral, where there are no advantages or disadvantages. Here is a list explaining which natures go with which stat advantages or disadvantages.
Hardy: No change.
Lonely: + Attack, - Defense
Brave: +Attack, - Speed
Adamant: +Attack, -Special Attack
Naughty: +Attack, -Special Defense
Bold: +Defense, -Attack
Docile: No change.
Relaxed: +Defense, -Speed
Impish: +Defense, -Special Attack
Lax: +Defense, -Special Defense
Timid: +Speed, -Attack
Hasty: +Speed, -Defense
Serious: No change.
Jolly: +Speed, -Special Attack
Naïve: +Speed, -Special Defense
Modest: +Special Attack, -Attack
Mild: +Special Attack, -Defense
Quiet: +Special Attack, -Speed
Bashful: No change.
Rash: +Special Attack, -Special Defense
Calm: +Special defense, -Attack
Gentle: +Special Attack, -Defense
Sassy: +Special Defense, -Speed
Careful: +Special Defense, -Special Attack
Quirky: No change.
Section 4: IVs
Perhaps one of the hardest concepts of Pokémon to learn, IVs, or Individual Values, are key to understanding how strong your Pokémon can become. Behind each of your Pokémon’s stats is an invisible number. This number is anywhere between 0 to 31. 0 means that your Pokémon is not naturally well suited to be strong in this particular stat. 31 means that this Pokémon was practically born for that stat to be used. Each Pokémon has 6 different IVs, one for each stat. An IV is a set limit as to how strong your Pokémon in capable of becoming in a certain stat. The game of Pokémon is entirely balanced upon probability, or how likely something is to happen, the odds. A Pokémon is fare more likely to have an IV somewhere in the middle of the 0-31 spectrum rather than on either end. In fact, the odds of finding a wild Pokémon with even one IV at 31 is even slimmer than 1:100. Essentially, if you catch 100 wild Pokémon, it isn’t likely that any of them will have a 31 IV in any of their six different stats. I, personally, have a Froslass with two 31 IVs, but that wasn’t all luck and chance. IVs are hereditary, meaning, when you breed two Pokémon, the IVs of the parents determine the IVs of the child. So, the Galie that I bred Froslass from, or the Ditto, must have had very good IVs. But sometimes, no matter how high an IV is, it simply isn’t enough to make up for a naturally bad stat. For example, the Pokémon Carnivine is extremely slow. I once caught a wild Carnivine with a 31 IV in speed. I was excited at first, but soon realized that it was wasted luck, even with a 31 IV, it still wouldn’t be enough to make Carnivine fast enough to even begin to compare to other, faster Pokémon more commonly used in battle.
And I’m sure you are wondering, how do you know what your Pokémon’s IVs are? There is a simple way. Look at your Pokémon and find it’s stats, then enter them into this website: http://serebii.net/games/iv-calcdp.shtml
It’s easiest to determine the IVs of a Pokémon if it has never battled before. If it hasn’t you won’t need to enter anything in the EP row. EP stands for Effort Points. An EP is more commonly referred to as an EV, or Effort Value. If your Pokémon has ever battled before, and you don’t remember every single Pokémon it ever fought, and how many times, you won’t be able to figure its EVs out without recording each EV earned by your Pokémon. Therefore, it’s best to try to figure out your Pokémon’s IVs before you begin to battle it. Although, if your Pokémon is too low level, it is very hard to determine the IVs with a high amount of accuracy, so for the most accurate results, it’s best to record EVs earned and enter the amount into the EP row.
Section 5: EVs
I’m sure it’s just killing you by now. After all of that talk with IVs and EVs, you can’t help but wonder, what is an EV? As earlier stated, an EV is an effort value. EVs are very difficult to explain, so try to bear with me.
Each Pokémon will gain a certain amount of stat points in each section (attack, defense, etc.) while leveling up according to it’s nature, IVs and which Pokémon it is. But, there are still more possible stat points to be earned. First, what one must understand is that a Pokémon’s level means nothing. When a Pokémon levels up, it gains more stats, and that is what makes it stronger. When your Pokémon levels, I’ll bet you just usually skip right through the part where it tells you how many points in each stat it earned, right? You wouldn’t do that when you are EV training a Pokémon. You get extra stat points, we’ll call those SP, for the EVs that you earn. For every 4 EVs that you earn, your Pokémon will get 1 SP. EV are earning through battling other Pokémon. For example, battling and defeating a Gastly earns your Pokémon one EV in Special Attack. Therefore, battling a Gastly 4 times, and therefore earning for EVs, will gain your Pokémon one extra SP for itself. Every Pokémon you battle offers different potential EVs to be earned. Staravia offers 2 speed EVs, while Rosalia offers 2 special attack. Bidoof offers one HP EV. But you can’t just keep earning EVs all day long. Each Pokémon has a maximum 510 EVs that they can potentially earn. No more than 255 EVs can be earned in one particular stat. But EVs make a giant difference in training, and this, coupled with good IVs and a good nature, makes one kick butt Pokémon. EV training is essentially the secret to training Pokémon. I wouldn’t try to keep track of EVs in your head, though. I’d suggest using a notebook to keep track. Think of it this way, battling your Pokémon normal throughout the game is essentially evenly EV training in every stat. That doesn’t help your cause; rather, you could train your Pokémon, say, in the speed stat with 252 EVs. That’s 63 extra SPs you didn’t have before. That is a huge difference. Imagine that same difference applied to a Physical Sweep in the attack and speed stats. That Pokémon would be nearly unstoppable.
Normal EV training is boring. There are plenty of ways to speed it up; the best and most accessible being Pokérus. Pokérus is gained by a your party randomly while visiting the Pokémon Center. If you don’t already have it, I can give you a Pokémon with it. If you battle with an infected Pokémon in your party, eventually, the others will get it too. When a Pokémon has Pokérus, the EVs it gains in battle are doubled. Meaning, if you fight a Staravia, normally giving 2 speed EVs, you would receive 4 speed EVs. Essentially, earning 1 SP per battle. You only have to battle that same Staravia 62 more times. That isn’t a lot. There are other items as well. They are called Power items, and only available through Pokémon Diamond or Pearl. The power items add on 4 extra EVs in a particular stat after every battle. Say you had the Power item for speed attached to your Pokémon. Say it has Pokérus and you just fought a Staravia. You get your basic 2 EVs from the Staravia, plus 4 more from the power item, and then double it from the Pokérus. You just got 12 EVs in one battle. That’s 3 SP per battle. Now you only have to battle the Staravia 20 more times, a piece of cake. Ask me for a list of the Power items and which stat belongs to which item when you get Diamond or Pearl. Also, you can speed up the process even further by buying nutritional supplements from the PokéMart. Those are the items like Carbos, Calcium, and Zinc. When you feed them to your Pokémon, 10 EVs (not effected by Pokérus) are automatically gained in the supplement’s corresponding stat.
The game itself will never tell you your Pokémon’s EVs. There’s only one thing it will tell you – when you’ve hit 510. In Diamond and Pearl, there is a girl in Sunnyshore City in the Marketplace who awards your Pokémon an effort ribbon if it’s hit 510. The same girl is in Slateport in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.
Now I bet you’re wondering how in the world do you know which Pokémon gives out which EVs? Simple. You look it up. http://www.psypokes.com has a great guide to EV training on it. It can tell you which Pokémon gives which EVs.
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