A couple of days ago, I decided to start EV training on Pokemon White. I had never attempted it before, but I'd read many many articles about it, and all the exciting benefits it can bring. To make sure I don't do something completely and utterly wrong, though, I decided to put all my progress into a blog for you lovely (and, frankly, more experienced) people to judge and pass comment on.
Also, so this isn't just me posting continuously whenever I train a new Pokemon, I'd like to invite you all to join in as well. If you start training a new Pokemon, or you're training one currently, then feel free to post as well. We might as well collaborate our ideas.
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The first Pokemon I decided to EV train was Magikarp/Gyarados. The only real reason for picking them is because Magikarp has the shortest hatching time from an egg, and I wanted to make my first EV trained Pokemon as smooth a process as possible. The obvious choice to me was to make an Attack orientated Gyarados, since they are already pretty well known for being solid attackers. So, my plan was as follows:
Gyarados
20 Def/252 Att/238 Sp
Adamant
Intimidate
Dragon Dance/Waterfall/Earthquake/Stone Edge
I had no idea about movesets, but I'd heard of Smogon, so I stole one from there
I eventually hatched myself an Adamant natured Magikarp and got to work. I stuck on an EXP Share and headed off to Dragonspiral Tower to pump out some Attack EVs. It took a while, but I persevered. Whilst gaining all these lovely EVs, my Magikarp had evolved into a Gyarados and reached level 38. Next stop was Route 3, where I would destroy Basculin's continuously for those Speed EVs. I took off the EXP Share (Gyarados was more than capable of battling on her own now) and stuck on a Macho Brace so that I could gain 4 EVs with every kill (no, I do not have any of those special Battle Subway hold items that boost EVs even more. Not yet, anyway). I soon finished off the Basculins, and headed over to Wellspring Cave to work my way through the Roggenrolas. Seeing as I only needed 20 Defense EVs, I was done in no time.
So, it seemed I had EV trained my first Pokemon. I trained her up to level 44 to learn Dragon Dance, and taught the other 3 moves through TMs. I headed to the Battle Subway to test her out, and everything seemed to have worked out fine. She is a pretty solid killing machine. For those interested, here's how my Gyarados' stats work out:
Level 50HP: 161
Attack: 191
Defense: 95
SpAttack: 58
SpDefense: 119
Speed: 123
Level 100 (estimate)HP: 313
Attack: 378
Defense: 186
SpAttack: 113
SpDefense: 234
Speed: 242
I don't really care much for IVs (to me, that is FAR too much effort just for a game) but I made a half-arsed attempt at working them out, in case you're wondering about them as well. When I say working them out, I mean a rough range of where the true value lies. They're not great, but I don't think they're THAT bad either.
HP: 12-13
Attack: 25-26
Defense: 17-18
SpAttack: 0-1
SpDefense: 29
Speed: 15-16
All in all, this was a successful experiment, and I'll post again when I complete another. In the meantime, feel free to share your experiences!
_________________"You can't reason yourself back into cheerfulness any more than you can reason yourself into an extra six inches in height."
"You don't sit down and write a wish list about the person you are going to fall violently in love with. It just doesn't work like that."
Stephen Fry