after spending months on end scouring countless fansites and compiling that data with my own experiments and findings, this is a comprehensive nutshell of the EV system. you may want to read through this twice for a full understanding. if anything is helplessly confusing, please let me know.
the core principles:
WARNING: consider premises 3 and 8 above. 255 will max one stat, but 255/4 = 63 3/4 stat points, where 3 EVs are left over. Those 3 EVs are therefore not accounted for, and subsequently wasted. Therefore, only put 252 EVs in any one stat, which will raise that stat by 63 with no waste. If you max 2 stats (252 EVs each) you will have 6 EVs left over, which grants you an additional 1 point (6/4 = 1 2/4, only 2 EVs wasted) in a stat of your choice.
EV-boosting hold items:
EV-boosting vitamins:
the core principles:
- EVs stand for Effort Values.
- Your game does not keep track of EVs for you via Poketch apps or your Pokemon's Summary pages. Therefore, EVs can be thought of as "hidden stats". You are responsible for keeping track of EVs yourself.
- Every 4 EVs in one stat will raise it by 1 point.
- For some reason, these points do not necessarily show up immediately (ie. if you fight 40 Bidoofs without lvling up, you will not necessarily gain all 10 hp points on your next lvl up) but they will all be accounted for by the time you reach lvl 100.
- So if you are lvl 99 and you gain 252 EVs in HP, on your next lvl up you are guaranteed a gain of 63 HP points, plus any additional HP points you would have gained without the EVs.
- If you are currently lvl 100, you CANNOT gain more EVs, because you only gain stats when you gain lvls.
- Every Pokemon can gain a total of 510 EVs.
- Each stat can hold a maximum of 255 of those 510 total EVs. This means only 2 stats can become truly maxed by lvl 100.
EV-boosting hold items:
these can be purchased from the Battle Tower. Each costs 16 BP.
- Power Weight; +4 HP EVs after each battle (not per pokemon fainted).
- Power Bracer; +4 Attack EVs after each battle (not per pokemon fainted).
- Power Belt; +4 Defense EVs after each battle (not per pokemon fainted).
- Power Lens; +4 Special Attack EVs after each battle (not per pokemon fainted).
- Power Band; +4 Special Defense EVs after each battle (not per pokemon fainted).
- Power Anklet; +4 Speed EVs after each battle (not per pokemon fainted).
- Macho Brace; Double the amount of EVs granted after each battle (per pokemon fainted).
EV-boosting vitamins:
these can be purchased from the Veilstone City Dept. Store. $9800 each, and from the Battle Tower for 1 BP each. limit 10 of each per pokemon, offering as much as 100 EVs in any 5 stats (note that cap is 510 total 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
the first berry consumed will drop that stat's EVs to 100 (only if EVs had been above 100), and each subsequent berry will decrease that stat's EVs by 10.
- Pomeg berry; lowers HP EVs
- Kelpsy berry; lowers Attack EVs
- Qualot berry; lowers Defense EVs
- Hondew berry; lowers Special Attack EVs
- Grepa berry; lowers Special Defense EVs
- Tamato berry; lowers Speed EVs
Pokerus (PKRS) virus:
the PKRS virus is a very rare, contagious disease. Get it once, and spread it like wild-fire to all your pokemon. it can be obtained either by random encounter in the wild with an inflicted pokemon, by trading with someone for their inflicted pokemon, or by spreading it to all your pokemon. this is done by placing the inflicted pokemon between two pokemon who are not yet inflicted (pokemon in your party are connected by a line; this line is the order of pokemon on your belt). fight some random battles, checking your pokemon periodically. eventually they all become inflicted.
PKRS lasts for about 24 hours of active gameplay. placing an inflicted pokemon in your PC will freeze that timer. after the timer runs out, the PKRS icon on their Summary screen will disappear, to be replaced by a small smiley icon in the lower right corner of their picture. this image is permanent, and means that this pokemon is now immune to PKRS. they can no longer obtain the disease or spread it to other pokemon, though they will still gain double EVs.
Pokerus doubles the amount of EVs gained. its effects are the same as wearing a Macho Brace, but allows you the freedom of maintaining the Macho Brace's bonus while wearing a different hold item simultaneously.
again, an immune pokemon cannot obtain or spread PKRS anymore, but will still gain double EVs.
Exp. Share hold item:
with the exp. share hold item equipped, the pokemon will gain the normal amount of EVs from each battle won, with or without participating in the battle. EVs gained by a pokemon holding exp. share are not affected by how many EVs the participating pokemon gains (ie. even if your lead pokemon has PKRS and a power item equipped, your exp. sharing pokemon will only gain normal EVs, not double or the added 4 for the power item of the lead pokemon).
personally, i do not recommend using exp. share in EV training. it does give multiple pokemon EVs from each battle, but since my lead pokemon always have PKRS and a corresponding power item equipped, i'd have to keep track of two different rates of EV growth (double EVs from PKRS and +4 from power item for my lead, and the normal, much slower EV gain for my exp. share pokemon). still, if you can keep track, it is faster than EV training one pokemon at a time.
rare candies:
there has been a lot of questioning as to the "safety" or "risk" involved in using rare candies on your pokemon. once and for all i will say that rare candies do not hinder the growth of your pokemon. in regards to what you have learned about EVs, rare candies will only hinder your pokemon if you give a lvl 99 pokemon a rare candy when all EVs have not yet been earned. this was covered here.
EV math:
assuming your pokemon has all of the EV boosts mentioned above (vitamins, PKRS, power hold items), EV gain will add up in this way;
vitamins given > base EVs gained > power hold item bonus > PKRS bonus
so if you give your ivysaur 10 HP Up's, inflict him or her with PKRS, equip a Power Weight, and fight a Bidoof, the EVs earned will be added up in this way;
(100 hp EVs from vitamins) then each Bidoof = (1 hp EV) + (4 hp EVs from hold item) x (2 from PKRS)
for a total of (1 + 4) x 2 = 5 x 2 = 10 hp EVs per Bidoof
after one Bidoof, your ivysaur will have 110 hp EVs. each subsequent Bidoof will add 10 EVs, as opposed to the normal 1 hp EV. so, whenever you are figuring up EV gain, consider the base EV, add 4 from your power item if you're using one, THEN multiply that sum by 2 if your pokemon has PKRS. if you are missing any of these elements, the rest still come in the same order.
for pokemon holding exp. share, the formula is simply this;
(base EVs) x (2 from PKRS, if inflicted)
note; power items are not figured here because you're already holding exp. share.
where to EV train:
i highly recommend these spots, and will provide you the corresponding base EVs gained in parentheses. plug this number in to the above formulae, as well as whatever EV boosts your pokemon has.
for EVs in...
hp: Route 201
wild Bidoof (1)
attack: Route 212
wild Bibarel (2), wild Kricketune (2)
defense: Oreburgh Gate, west of Oreburgh City
wild Geodude (1)
special attack: haunted mansion in northern Eterna forest
wild Ghastly (1), wild Haunter (2), wild Gengar (3)
Haunter and Gengar appear in the room with the eyes when a pokemon GBA game is inserted.
special defense: Route 223
wild Mantyke (1), wild Tentacruel (2)
speed: Victory Road pond areas
wild Golbat (2)
