And now onto the final hurdle before getting to the actual breeding. Because the last post got kinda long, we’ll cover Effort Values (EVs) in depth and then finally be able to fiddle with some eggs next time… Let’s get cracking!
Effort Values
Effort Values are gained from battling wild Pokemon and they boost your Pokemon’s statistics much like IVs. The main difference being that you have far more control over EVs. Each Pokemon you battle in the wild gives you between 1 and 3 EVs in a specific stat.
A Pokemon can have a maximum of 510 EVs in total split amongst it’s stats with a maximum of 255 in each stat. This obviously means you can only get 2 stats to maximum.
But what do EVs do? Well, at level 100, 4 EVs in a stat equates to an increase of 1 point in that stat. Clearly 255 isn’t divisible by 4 so you only need 252 to hit the maximum benefit. Which is, for those following along, a massive 63 stat points at level 100.
So you can get a massive 63 point boost to two stats, leaving 6 points spare. You can throw 4 of those points at another stat giving you a single point increase leaving 2 EVs totally redundant.
Note: Before Pokemon Black and White, Pokemon Stats only adjusted to EVs during a level-up, so you wouldn’t be able to see your efforts until you levelled it up (also, you couldn’t give a Level 100 Pokemon different EVs because of it)
However, Pokemon Black and White adjusts Pokemon Stats after each battle, which removes the above limitations.
EV Affecting Items (and Statuses)
I know I said above you get EVs from battling wild Pokemon (which I will get onto, I promise!) but there are some important items which come into play when dealing with EVs.
Vitamins
Okay, first up are Vitamins. You can purchase these across all Generations from the following places:
Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald: Lilycove Department Store ($9800), Battle Frontier (1BP, Emerald Only)
FireRed, LeafGreen: Celadon Department Store ($9800)
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Veilstone Department Store ($9800), Battle Park (1BP, Diamond/Pearl),
Battle Frontier (1BP, Platinum Only)
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Celadon Department Store, Goldenrod Department Store, Safari Zone Gate ($9800),
Battle Frontier (1BP)
Black, White: Shopping Mall 9 ($9800), Battle Subway (1BP)
What do Vitamins do? Each stat has a Vitamin associated with it, HP Up (HP), Protein (Attack), Iron (Defence), Calcium (Special Attack), Zinc (Special Defence), Carbos (Speed).
Each use of a Vitamin adds 10 EVs to that stat until the stat has 100 EVs or more. As you’ve no doubt worked out, this can give you a good chunk of your initial EVs giving you 25 (100/4) of those potential 63 stat points from the off.
Wings
Okay, that’s Vitamins done with, however in Generation 5 (Black and White) there is a new addition to the EV-altering item family, Wings.
Wings are new to Black and White and are found in two places, Driftveil Drawbridge and Marvellous Bridge. When you see a flying Pokemon’s shadow, you have a chance of grabbing a wing.
Wings are essentially mini-Vitamins but with one important difference. They aren’t subject to the 100 EV cap so you can use them at any time during EV training. But sadly they only give 1 EV in the appropriate stat.
Much like Vitamins there is a Wing per stat, as follows: Health Wing (HP), Muscle Wing (Attack),
Resist Wing (Defence), Genius Wing (Special Attack), Clever (Special Defence), Swift Wing (Speed).
Berries
Now Wings are out the way, let’s move onto EV-related Berries…
Berries were added in Ruby and Sapphire and opened up a new strategic option to battling as each berry had a specific use your Pokemon could automatically use in battle, such as holding an Oran Berry to get health back or a Cheri Berry to cure paralysis.
Alongside berries that aid in battle there are 6 berries that aid us when EV training, these berries reduce EVs in the associated stat by 10 except if that stat has more than 100 EVs in which case the first berry used will reduce the stats EVs to 100, with every berry after that reducing by 10 as expected. In other words, no stat will ever take more than 11 of a particular berry to have its EVs reduced to 0.
Here is a list complete with where to get them:
Pomeg Berry – Lower HP EVs
Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald: Route 119, Berry Master
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Route 214, Berry Master
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Juggler (Fuchsia City, Red Shard)
Pokewalker: Found in Hoenn Field, Beyond the Sea – Rare 1000+ Steps
Held by Happiny – Amity Meadow – Common 2000+ Steps
Kelpsey Berry – Lower Attack EVsRuby, Sapphire, Emerald: Berry Master
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Berry Master
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Juggler (Fuchsia City, Blue Shard)
Pokewalker: Found in Hoenn Field – Rare 1500+
Found in Beyond the Sea – Rare 2500+ Steps
Held by Magby – Amity Meadow – Rare 5000+ Steps
Qualot Berry – Lower Defence EVsRuby, Sapphire, Emerald: Berry Master
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Berry Master
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Not Available
Pokewalker: Found in Hoenn Field – Rare 2000+
Found in Big Forest – Very Rare 4500+ Steps
Held by Cleffa – Amity Meadow – V. Common 0+ Steps
Hondew Berry – Lower Special Attack EVsRuby, Sapphire, Emerald: Route 119, Berry Master
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Fight Area, Berry Master
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Juggler (Fuchsia City, Green Shard)
Pokewalker: Found in Big Forest – V. Rare 5000+
Held by Smoochum – Amity Meadow – Common 2000+ Steps
Grepa Berry – Lower Special Defence EVsRuby, Sapphire, Emerald: Berry Master
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Berry Master
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Juggler (Fuchsia City, Yellow Shard)
Pokewalker: Found in Big Forest – Rare 500+
Held by Igglybuff – Amity Meadow – V. Common 0+ Steps
Tamato Berry – Lower Speed EVsRuby, Sapphire, Emerald: Berry Master
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Route 212, Berry Master
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Scratch Cards in Battle Frontier
Pokewalker: Found in Big Forest – Rare 1000+
Beyond the Sea – Rare 2500+ Steps
Held by Elekid – Amity Meadow – Rare 5000+ Steps
As you can see, I haven’t listed any locations for Pokemon Black and White, this is because at the moment berries are unobtainable except through the Dream World. The Dream World becomes accessible in Europe and the US on March 30th 2011 via the Global Link website.
I’ll update this article with any relevant post-Global Link info as it becomes available.
Power Items and other EV-related items
As well as Berries and Vitamins, there are a variety of other Hold Items that can affect EV training.
Macho Brace – Doubles any EVs the Pokemon holding it gets.
Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald: Gift after defeating the Winstrate Family on Route 111
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Gift in Pastoria City after showing a boy all forms of Burmy (Diamond/Pearl) or Combee (Platinum)
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Held by the Traded Machop in Goldenrod in exchange for Drowsee
Black, White: Obtained from a Man in the Eastern Gate from Nimbasa City
Power Weight, Power Bracer, Power Belt – Adds 4 EVs to HP, Attack, Defence after battle.
Power Lens, Power Band, Power Anklet – Adds 4 EVs to Sp. Attack, Sp. Defence and Speed after battle:
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: Battle Park/Tower (16BP Diamond/Pearl), Battle Frontier (16BP Platinum)
HeartGold, SoulSilver: Battle Frontier (16BP)
Black, White: Battle Subway (16BP)
As you can see, using these items can speed up EV gain quite considerably. Also worth noting is that a Pokemon holding an Exp. Share will also gain EVs from a battle, the downside being as they are holding the Exp. Share they can’t benefit from the above items.
Finally there is one more topic to touch on before getting to actually laying the smackdown on Pokemon to actually EV train, and that is Pokerus.
Pokerus
Pokerus (Pokemon Virus) is an affliction Pokemon can get randomly after battling, but rather than being a bad thing (as suggested by it’s name) it is actually beneficial. A Pokemon with Pokerus gets double EVs from battle, just like the Macho Brace, even better though is that it stacks with the above items.
You can’t really plan to obtain Pokerus, as it’s an ultra-rare occurence (something like a 1 in 21,000 chance), but if you do spot a Pokemon with an odd status effect labelled PKRS, bung it in a Box so as to have a permanent source. Pokerus infects Pokemon in your party, but it has a lifespan of 24 hours. This lifespan is paused if the infected Pokemon is stuck in a Box.
Even if a once infected Pokemon loses it’s infection, it will forever be stuck with the boosting effects as indicated by a smiley on it’s summary page. Just to let you know it was once a carrier.
Obtaining EVs from Wild Pokemon
So now you know what EVs are and what items influence what you get, what Pokemon do you need to knock out to gain specific EVs?
Well, the games now have 649 Pokemon and clearly I’m nowhere near masochistic enough to do a full list of Pokemon and what EVs they give, so instead I’ll provide an example location for Generation 4 and 5 titles.
(Thanks to the wonderful folks over at Smogon and Bulbapedia for the amazing abundance of information)
HP
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Bidoof (Levels 2 – 4, Route 201, 1 EV)
HeartGold/SoulSilver: Slowpoke (Levels 5 – 25, Slowpoke Well, 1 EV)
Black/White: Stunfisk (Levels 15 – 35, Route 8 *Surfing*, 2 EV)
Attack
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Shinx (Levels 3 – 4, Route 202, 1 EV)
HeartGold/SoulSilver: Goldeen/Seaking (Levels 5 – 10, Route 25, 1 EV – Goldeen, 2 EV – Seaking)
Black/White: Patrat / Lillipup (Levels 2 – 4, Route 1, 1 EV)
Defence
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Geodude / Onix (Levels 5 – 10, Oreburgh Mine, 1 EV)
HeartGold/SoulSilver: Tangela (Levels 20 – 30, Route 21, 1EV)
Black/White: Roggenrola (Levels 10 – 13, Wellspring Cave, 1 EV) * 50% encounter rate *
Special Attack
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Gastly (Levels 12 – 16, Old Chateaux , 1 EV)
HeartGold/SoulSilver: Psyduck / Golduck (Levels 5 – 10, Route 6, 1 EV – Psyduck, 2 EV – Golduck)
Black/White: Litwick / Elgyem (Levels 26 – 29, Celestial Tower, 1 EV)
Special Defence
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Tentacool (Levels 20 – 30, Valley Windworks *Surfing*, 1 EV)
HeartGold/SoulSilver: Tentacool / Tentacruel (Levels 15 – 20, Route 27 *Surfing*, 1 EV – Tentacool, 2 EV – Tentacruel)
Black/White: Frillish (Levels 5 – 15, Route 4 / 17 / 18 *Surfing*, 1 EV)
Speed
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Starly (Levels 2 – 3, Route 201, 1 EV)
HeartGold/SoulSilver: Rattata (Levels 3 – 6, Sprout Tower, 1 EV)
Black/White: Basculin (Levels 5 – 15, Route 1 / 3 / 6 *Surfing*, 2 EV)
So, armed with this info, if you wanted those 63 points in Speed on for example a Starly in Black or White, you’d simply go to route 1, surf like your life depended on it and slaughter 126 Basculin with her. (Basculin gives 2 Speed EVs per battle, we need to get 252 EVs for those 63 points, 252 / 2 gives us 126)
To speed things up a bit, you could make our gorgeous Starly hold a Macho Brace which would halve the battles needed, down to 63 dead Basculin (As the Macho Brace doubles EV gain, each Basculin would be worth 4 instead of 2)
Alternatively you could make her hold a Power Anklet and kill 42 Basculin (Each Basculin is 2 Speed EVs + 4 Speed EVs from the Anklet, for a total of 6 Speed EVs per Basculin. 252 / 6 gives us 42 necessary deaths!)
As you can see, this is all pretty straightforward! The hard part is keeping track of how many battles you’ve fought in… good old paper and pen helps here, or use the Counter app in Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum!
Next time we’ll delve into Pokemon Eggs and how they work as well as the importance of good parents!
