POKEMON EFFORT VALUES

Introduction

In GSC we had Stat Experience; in RSE, FRLG and DPP we have Effort Values. These are a bit more complicated than Stat Exp, but they both have the same principles.

Each Pokemon has six stats - HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack and Special Defense. Effort Values are like points - each time you battle a wild Pokemon or an in-game trainer's Pokemon, it will increase your stat's EV count by a certain amount of points, for example, beating a wild Gardevoir will increase your Special Attack EVs by 3 (See the Psydex for a quick list). For every 4 EVs you earn, the actual stat value raises by one (note this applies to Pokemon at lv100 only - at any other level, you may not notice an increase until more EVs are acquired). In other words, take the number of EVs, divide it by 4, and round it down to the nearest whole number. This gives you the stat increase.

Each stat can have a maximum of 255 EVs. So that means if you were to fight a wild Gardevoir 100 times, you'll only have 255 EVs instead of 300 (100 x 3). A Pokemon with 255 EVs for Defense (Or 254, 253, 252 since they are divided by four and round down to the same number) will have 63 points more than a Pokemon with 0 EVs for Defense.

However, a Pokemon can only hold a maximum of 510 EVs. That is, the sum of the EVs for HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack and Special Defense must not exceed 510. Therefore, it's possible to max out two of a Pokemon's stats, whether it be Attack and Defense, or HP and Speed, or whatever. Careful planning means that you can have 252 for one, 252 for another, and 6 in another, meaning you max out two stats, and increase the last by 1.

This table summarises the restrictions on a Pokemon's Effort Values:

Still confused? Let's take a look at a sample Pokemon. This is a level 100 Breloom with max IVs (IVs are pre-determined, unchangeable numbers that determine your stats. A Pokemon with high IVs has high stats, a Pokemon with low IVs has low stats). You can enter in some values below to see how its stats change with the number of EVs you put in. Alternatively, play around with our Stat Calculator to see the effects on different Pokemon, with different levels and different IVs.

Planning your EVs

It is obvious that maxing out EVs is a powerful training method to make your Pokemon that much stronger. With 510 EVs to distribute between 6 stats, however, how should one go about gaining EVs? The distribution of EVs on a Pokemon is more commonly known as its EV Spread. When planning what EV Spread should be used for a Pokemon, you have to consider the moves that the Pokemon knows.

Take a Latios which knows the moves Calm Mind, Dragon Pulse, Psychic and Recover, for instance. As you can see this Latios is used as a Special Sweeper, with all its attacking moves being Special moves. As such, it would be pointless to gain EVs in Attack to raise its Attack stat, since Latios has no Physical moves to use. Instead, you should probably choose to pump EVs into Special Attack and Speed, since those help it do damage to the foe before it can damage you.

Checking your EVs

As stated before, EVs are gained when you battle and defeat wild Pokemon or in-game Trainers, excluding the Trainers in the Battle Frontier and Battle Tower facilities. As a general rule of thumb, if you gain Experience in a battle, you are gaining EVs as well, just that EVs are hidden values and are not shown to you.

The fact that EVs are hidden means that there is no way for you to know how many EVs your Pokemon has accumulated. As such, you should manually keep track of the EVs that your Pokemon have gained, so as to avoid learning the wrong amount of EVs. You can make use of Psypoke's Stat Calculator to determine your Pokemon's stats if you know your Pokemon's DVs, EVs, Level and Species.

There is, however, one in-game method to check if your Pokemon has already maxed out its EVs. In Diamond or Pearl, go to the lady behind the counter at Sunyshore Market and speak to her. In Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald, go to the stall in the lower left and speak to the woman there. If your lead Pokemon has already maxed out its EVs, you can get an Effort Ribbon from her. Apart from this, there are no other methods of telling how many EVs your Pokemon have.

EV Training a Pokemon refers to letting the Pokemon gain the correct EVs according to your plans for the Pokemon's EV Spread. In short, you would have to battle 510 Pokémon to max out your Pokemon's EVs, assuming each of the 510 Pokemon give only one EV each. For a detailed list of suggestions on which Pokemon to battle for which EVs, please refer to Psypoke's Effort Values Training Guide.

Speeding up EV Training

With 510 EVs to gain, EV-training can be a daunting task. Thankfully, there are a variety of items and features which will go a long way towards helping you gain those EVs.

Macho Brace

When a Pokemon is holding a Macho Brace, it will gain double the EVs per Pokemon beaten. As such, defeating a wild Pidgey will net you 2 Speed EVs instead of just 1. Note that your Pokemon's Speed is halved when it is holding the Macho Brace. However, it is just a temporary effect, so once the Macho Brace is removed, the effect will be gone.

Power Items

Introduced in Diamond and Pearl, there are six new items that speed up EV training for a certain stat. Unforunately, like Macho Brace, these items cut the user's Speed while wearing that item. Listed below are the effects of the Power items:

Power Weight - Gains 4 extra HP EVs after every battle
Power Bracer - Gains 4 extra Attack EVs after every battle
Power Belt - Gains 4 extra Defense EVs after every battle
Power Lens - Gains 4 extra Special Attack EVs after every battle
Power Band - Gains 4 extra Special Defense EVs after every battle
Power Anklet - Gains 4 extra Speed EVs after every battle

Each of the Power Items can be bought at the cost of 16 Battle Points at the Battle Tower, but well worth it when you are EV training for commonly used EVs like Speed and Attack.

Vitamins

Vitamins, unlike the Macho Brace, instantly give a Pokemon EVs, instead of helping it to gain them faster. There is a specific vitamin for each stat. Listed here are the effects of the vitamins:
HP Up - Increases HP by 10 EVs
Protein - Increases Attack by 10 EVs
Iron - Increases Defense by 10 EVs
Carbos - Increases Speed by 10 EVs
Calcium - Increases Special Attack by 10 EVs
Zinc - Increases Special Defense by 10 EVs

Vitamins can be obtained in a variety of ways. They can be found as hidden items throughout the land, Proteins may be obtained by a Pokemon with the Pickup ability, and vitamins can also be purchased in Slateport City from the Energy Guru in the Slateport Market for 9800 dollars. After beating the Elite 4, the Energy Guru will occasionally have a half-priced sale preceded by an ad on the TV 2 days in advance. In addition, they can be purchased in the Lilycove Department Store on the left counter on the third floor for 9800 dollars. Berries can be crushed using the Berry Crush Machine and the powder traded to the Medicine Shop in Slateport for vitamins for 1000p each. Last, but certainly not least, vitamins can be obtained in the Battle Point Exchange Service Center for a mere 1 Battle Point per vitamin.

What's the use of vitamins? As listed, any one vitamin will give 10 EVs to its corresponding stat. Since it takes 4 EVs to change any stat point by one, this is most effective if given in twos. 20 EV's = 5 stat points. However there is a limit of 10 vitamins per any given stat limiting it to 100 EVs or 25 stat points per attribute by vitamin enhancement. Plan well ahead and you can save yourself half the trouble and time of actual battle to completely EV train your selected pokemon.

Exp. Share

The Exp. Share is a useful tool for EV-training more than one Pokemon simultaneously. This is because the Exp. Share gives the Pokemon all the base EVs gained from the Pokemon which has been defeated, even if the Pokemon does not take part in the battle. For instance, if a Flygon with a Macho Brace defeats a wild Pidgey, it would gain 2 Speed EVs. Suppose you have a Milotic in your party holding an Exp. Share. The Milotic would gain 1 Speed EV.

PokeRus

For more information on this, please see the Pokerus Guide. Like Macho Brace, Pokerus doubles the EVs gained. So if a Flygon has both Macho Brace and Pokerus, it would gain 4 Speed EVs from defeating a Pidgey, and not just 2 or 1. Note that Pokerus can be lost, but your Pokemon still gains double the EVs after losing it.

So, by battling a Pokemon who awards 3 of your target EVs and by wearing the approriate Power Item, you can gain 7 EVs per battle. Throw PokeRus into the mix and you have a grand total of 14 EVs earned per battle.

Undoing Trained EVs

First of all, you might be asking "Why undo EVs if they're so beneficial?". Well, sometimes, by chance, you might have let your Pokemon gain EVs in the wrong stat. EVs gained cannot usually be undone, but if you have Pokemon Emerald, there is a way. By feeding special Berries to your Pokemon, you can reduce the EVs gained by that Pokemon. This makes it easier to undo misplaced EVs. Note that this only works in Pokemon Emerald. For a detailed list of the Berries and their effects, check out Psypoke's Emerald Berry Changes page.

Common Questions

Why does my Pokemon not gain 63 Speed stat points when I let it accumulate 252 Speed EVs before levelling it up?

Stat increases due to EVs gained are not apparent right from the start. You will start noticing greater increases in stats once your Pokemon is at higher levels. Regardless of when the changes become obvious, your Pokemon will end up with the correct stats when it eventually reaches level 100, so worry not.

On the other hand, your Pokemon might already have maxed out that stat's EVs. In this case, your Pokemon will not be gaining any additional EVs in that stat, and therefore no stat changes are observed. Alternatively, it could have maxed out all 510 of its EVs. You will have to use the special Berries in Emerald to undo EVs if you want to shift EVs from one stat to another. This is the reason why you should always EV train with care, to prevent gaining EVs in the wrong stats.

Does a Pokemon get EVs while in the Breeding Center or if I use Rare Candies on it?

No, a Pokemon does not gain EVs by these two methods. You will only gain EVs by fighting Pokemon. So while a Pokemon may gain experience points and level up, it will not gain EVs to further its stat growth.

In that case, does putting Pokemon in the Breeding Center or using Rare Candies make my Pokemon weaker?

No, both do not make your Pokemon weaker. As long as a Pokemon receives the same amount of EVs eventually, the method of levelling it up does not matter. For instance, you have three Dragonites. You max out the EVs for all three of them, then place one in the Breeding Center, use Rare Candies on the second, and use the third for battling. Assuming the Dragonites all reach level 100 using their respective methods of gaining Experience and levelling up, they will end up with the same stats.

When should I start EV training?

It doesn't matter. Feel free to max out your Pokemon's EVs first before levelling it up, or level it up first before maxing out its EVs. However, it is always advisable to max out EVs first. This is because you will not run the risk of learning the wrong EVs when trying to level it up via battling.

Can you still EV-train when your Pokemon is at level 100?

Yes you can, but since the Pokemon can no longer level up, the stat will never increase due to EVs gained. How then, can one overcome this problem? The answer lies in the Box Trick. Suppose your Mewtwo gains 4 Speed EVs. To increase its Speed by 1, deposit Mewtwo in the PC, and withdraw it again. Its Speed will now be higher by 1 point. This is because the stats are recalculated each time you withdraw a Pokemon in the PC. However, this is a tedious process. You will have to repeat this procedure for every 4 EVs gained. As such, it is advisable to start EV training early so that you do not have to resort to this means to let your level 100 Pokemon gain stats.

Thanks to lunareclipse