What are Effort Values?

Most people know that Pokémon get stronger when raised by a trainer. For example, if you compare the stats of a level 40 Onix that you just caught in the wild to those of a level 40 Onix that you raised from a low level, the hand-raised one will be much stronger. But have you ever asked yourself why this is? The answer is two words: Effort Values, or EVs for short.

EVs are hidden stat boosts that your Pokémon get every time they defeat other Pokémon in battle. Which stats get boosted depends on which Pokémon you battle. For example, defeating a Patrat gives your Pokémon 1 Attack EV, while defeating a Dugtrio will give it 2 Speed EVs. When you go through a Pokémon game, your team gets EVs at random, since you generally don't pay attention to who fights what. But what if you could deliberately fight the right Pokémon to give your team the exact stat boosts they need to be the best they can be? This is where EV training comes in.

Wow, sounds great! But how does it work?

This is the longest section, but once you have it down you will be well on your way to being a Pokémon Master! We'll have to do some simple math here—please don't run away! Rub your eyes, give yourself a shake, and try to follow along. Trust me; it's not as complicated as it seems. In a nutshell:

• A Pokémon can have a maximum of 510 EVs in total
• A Pokémon can have a maximum of 255 EVs in a single stat
• Every 4 EVs in a stat causes said stat to increase by 1

Remember that a Patrat yields 1 Attack EV. Therefore, defeating 4 Patrats will cause your Pokémon's Attack stat to go up by 1. Yay! But here is where the math (and the strangeness) comes in: 255 is not divisible by 4. The closest we can get is 252.

252/4 = 63, wow! So if you have a wild Pokémon with an Attack of 100, the same Pokémon when fully EV trained could have an Attack of 163! That is a major difference, and you can bet the wild Pokémon would get royally whipped in battle by the EV trained one! As I said before, the actual maximum is 255, so you can put an extra 3 EVs into your Pokémon's Attack, but they will be wasted so it's best not to. Here is what to do instead (oh no, more math!):

252 x 2 = 504. So you can have two maxed out stats, with 6 EVs left over (remember, the total maximum is 510). Now you can put 4 of those EVs into a third stat to give it a small boost! As for the last two, well, they're wasted. Nothing we can do about it. Why did they make it this way? I have no idea.

Still following I hope? Here are some examples:

• A Weavile raised to be a fast, physical attacker could have an EV spread of 252 Attack/252 Speed/4HP
• A Chandelure raised to be a slow, bulky special attacker could have an EV spread of 252 Special Attack/252 HP/4 Defense

EV spreads should play to a Pokémon's natural strengths – Chandelure has good defences and decent HP making it a good choice for a bulky Pokémon, whereas Weavile is quite frail so investing lots of defensive EVs would be a waste. Always research your Pokémon's base stats before EV training it!

Ok, I think I've got it. Now, how do I do the actual training?

Here is what you will need to successfully EV train a Pokémon:

1. A Pokémon which has never been in battle. This could be a freshly caught Pokémon, or a newly hatched one. Since it has never battled, it has no EVs. A clean slate, so to speak.
2. Knowledge of your Pokémon's potential. What are its base stats? Should it be mainly defensive or offensive? Mainly physical or special? From there, decide on an EV spread.
3. A list of Pokémon that yield the desired EVs, and where to find said Pokémon. Conveniently enough, there is one right here.
4. A way to keep track of your Pokémon's EVs. Remember, these values are hidden! If you don't keep track, you're pretty much doomed. (Ok that's a bit of an overstatement, but still.) You can use a pen and paper to make tick marks, or you can use an EV counter application on the internet or your phone.
5. A bit of time on your hands. EV training is tedious, there's no way around it. But think of the awesomely strong Pokémon you'll have!

Once you have these things, train away! Let's go back to my Weavile example, with the EV spread mentioned above. If I'm playing in Soul Silver, I might go to Diglett's cave for its Speed EVs. One Diglett yields 1 Speed EV, and one Dugtrio yields 2. So I would run around Diglett's Cave, and every time I fight a Diglett or Dugtrio, I make 1 or 2 tick marks on my sheet of paper (or however you're counting your EVs). When I have 252 tick marks, I move on to Route 42, where I can surf to fight Goldeens and Seakings (1 and 2 Attack EVs, respectively). Finally, when I have 252 Attack EVs as well, I can fight a few Hoothoots (1 HP) to get my small HP boost. And voila – a fully EV trained Weavile!

And now you understand the basics of EV training! Congratulations!

FAQ

...I don't get it. T_T

If there is something about EV training that you still need cleared up, feel free to neomail a question to The__Eye and she will be happy to help! But please make sure you have thoroughly read this guide first, as she is not going to re-explain everything from scratch. ;)

Does every Pokémon give EVs? How do I know which Pokémon give which EVs?

Yes; every Pokémon has an EV yield associated with it. Any good online Pokédex should have EV yields in its entries so you can check what EVs your team got from fighting that last Gym Leader.

This takes way too long! Isn't there any way to speed it up?!

Yes, there are a few ways to make it less mind-numbingly endless. The most common is an item called the Macho Brace. This wonderful device, when held by your Pokémon, DOUBLES the EVs it receives! So Instead of getting 2 Speed EVs from a Dugtrio, you get 4! Woohoo! Slightly harder to obtain are the Power items, which give 4 extra EVs in a specific stat regardless of the Pokémon fought:

• Power Weight: +4 HP
• Power Bracer: +4 Attack
• Power Belt: +4 Defense
• Power Lens: +4 Special Attack
• Power Band: +4 Special Defense
• Power Anklet: +4 Speed

So if your Pokémon fights a Dugtrio while holding a Power Anklet, it will get 6 Speed EVs instead of 2! If it fights the Dugtrio while holding a Power Bracer, it will gain 4 Attack EVs as well as 2 Speed EVs! Wow!

Last but not least, there is Pokérus. Pokérus is a rare virus which infects Pokémon and causes them to receive double EVs, much like the Macho Brace. Information on this elusive ailment could fill another petpage, so I won't go into any more detail. Do some research yourself! ;)

CAUTION: Be very careful when using these techniques! They make the job go faster, but they also make it harder to keep count! Stay focused!

I just hatched a new Pidove, but it's only at level 1 and can't battle on its own! How do I EV train it?

The EXP Share is a fantastic item! Not only will the Pokémon holding it receive half the EXP points from a battle, but it will receive ALL of the possible EVs! Give your baby Pidove an EXP share, fight a Patrat with a stronger Pokémon, and your Pidove will receive 1 Attack EV, just as if it had battled the Patrat on its own! The downside to this is you can't use Power Items or the Macho Brace, since your baby is already holding the EXP Share.

Is there any way to gain EVs without battling?

Yes, there are items which give your Pokémon EVs:

• HP Up: +10 HP EVs
• Protein: +10 Attack EVs
• Iron: +10 Defense EVs
• Calcium: +10 Special Attack EVs
• Zinc: +10 Special Defense EVs
• Carbos: +10 Speed EVs

There is a catch though: you can only feed your Pokémon these items until it has 100 EVs. If it has 100 or more, you will get the message "it won't have any effect". So if you're putting 252 EVs into Defense, you can feed your Pokémon 10 Irons and then take it from there.

Black and White introduced a new set of EV-giving items in the form of wings:

• Health Wing: +1 HP EV
• Muscle Wing: +1 Attack EV
• Resist Wing: +1 Defense EV
• Genius Wing: +1 Special Attack EV
• Clever Wing: +1 Special Defense EV
• Swift Wing: +1 Speed EV

Unlike the vitamins, the only limit to Wings is the EV limit of 255 per stat (or 510 total). So theoretically you could EV train your Pokémon by feeding it wings alone, but in reality they are hard to obtain in large quantities.

I love my Charizard! It's at level 77 and I spent so much time raising it, but it has a bunch of unknown EVs since I've battled with it lots. Isn't there any way I can EV train it?

Yes, there is in fact a way to remove EVs from Pokémon: berries! By feeding your Charizard the right berries, you can remove all its EVs and start it off with a clean slate. *cheer* These are also useful if you lost count while EV training and wish to start over.

• Pomeg Berry: Removes 10 HP EVs
• Kelpsy Berry: Removes 10 Attack EVs
• Qualot Berry: Removes 10 Defense EVs
• Hondew Berry: Removes 10 Special Attack EVs
• Grepa Berry: Removes 10 Special Defense EVs
• Tamato Berry: Removes 10 Speed EVs

In Pokémon Black and White, the only way to obtain these berries is through Dream World.

In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold and Soul Silver, they work a bit differently. The first berry you feed a Pokémon will lower its EVs to 100 (assuming it already has over 100). Every subsequent berry will lower the EVs by 10. If your Charizard has 221 Attack EVs, the first Kelpsy Berry it eats will lower that to 100, then 90, then 80, and so on. If it only has 49 Special Defense EVs, every Grepa Berry you feed it will lower that by 10, including the first one.

When your Pokémon's EVs for a stat cannot go any lower, it will tell you that the berry won't have any effect so you know you don't have to feed it any more of that berry.

Ok, I fought 16 Patrats but my Pokémon's attack didn't go up by 4. I think your information is wrong.

Nope, I just left something out: Every 4 EVs in a stat causes said stat to increase by 1 at level 100. So you will not see the full effects of your hard work until your Pokémon reaches level 100, but believe me, you will still see very significant results.

Also, in all games before Black and White, EVs only take effect when your Pokémon levels up so you will not notice any stat changes until that happens. In Black and White, EVs take effect after every battle. This also means that prior to Black and White, you could not EV train a Pokémon who was already at level 100. In Black and White they changed it so you can.

...does it really make a difference? It seems like so much work.

This is Huxley, my Houndoom. He is at level 100 and has been EV trained in Special Attack and Speed. I would like to invite you to have a look at his stats and see which ones strike you as being disproportionately huge. =)

HP	297
Attack	188
Defense	116
Special Attack	341
Special Defense	192
Speed	280

Don't mess with me!