Guide to EV Training

[TheGreaterC]

What are EVs?

EV is short for Effort Value. You get effort values every time you gain experience from a pokemon. (This includes EXP share.)

For every 4 EV points you have in a particular stat, you gain one extra point in that stat at level 100.

eg. lets say for our purposes that if you got a Magikarp to level 100 using just Rare Candies, therefore gaining no EVs, it would have an attack of 60. However if you had the same Magikarp gain 4 EVs in attack, once it is level 100 it would have an attack of 61, instead of an attack of 60.

In all stats combined, you may have a total of 510 Evs. This means you can gain up to 127 points overall.

In each individual stat however, you may only have 255 EVs (Though you will only gain stat points up to 252 EVs). This means you can gain up to 63 extra points, in any given stat.

For those of you who are not fans of maths, this means you can have 2 stats maxed out and have an extra point left over. (If you cared to know.)

There is no way to tell how many EVs you have directly unless you use the Counter Application and count manually. There are a few ways, however, that you may indirectly check.

At the Market in Sunyshore City there is a lady who gives a ribbon to the first pokemon in your party if it is completely EV trained. If your Pokemon can get the ribbon from this lady, it has all 510 EV points filled.

There are berries you may feed your Pokemon that decrease your EV points. These berries work differently than they did in the Advance generation. The first berry reduces the base stat to 100. After the base stat is at least 100, the EV is reduced by 10 for every berry you give it. You cannot achieve negative EVs, thus this is a good indirect way to check what a pokes EVs are.



Vitamins

Vitamins are a key part of the EV training process, as they can make your training session go by much faster. You will find that vitamins are exceptionally useful in training EVs 100 points, or lower.

Vitamins can be bought at the Veilstone department store for $9,800 each, or at the Battle Tower for one point.

For each vitamin you give a Pokemon, it gives it 10 EVs in that stat.

You may get up to 100 EVs this way.

You may only use this for the first 100 EVs in any given stat. (For example, you give your Garchomp 110 Attack EVs and then remember you haven’t used vitamins. Since you already have 100 attack EVs, you will not be able to gain any more through vitamins)

Here is a Quick List of Vitamins

HP-UP – Hit-Points
Protein – Attack
Iron – Defense
Calcium – Special Attack
Zinc – Special Defense
Carbos – Speed

Remember to always use these before you go EV training.



Pokerus

Pokerus is a "disease" your pokemon develop randomly while walking around/battling. The first time you have it the lady in the Pokecenter will tell you when you go to get your Pokemon healed.

The other way to see if you have Pokerus is to check the top left corner of the screen when you are looking at the summary of your pokemon. If it has active Pokerus there will be a small purple box reading Pkrs. If it has unactive pokerus you will see a small circle with a red dot in the middle, near the bottom left hand corner.

Active Pokerus is held by your pokemon for 2 days before it becomes unactive. However for time to pass on the "Pokerus clock", your pokemon must be in your party, not in a box.

While your Pokemon has active Pokerus it will spread it to all the other pokemon in your party. This happens randomly while you're walking around and stuff. If your pokemon is in a box, it will not spread its Pokerus.

Pokerus doubles the total EVs you gain after a battle. This is calculate after factoring in all power items.

eg. say you fight a Gyarados while wearing a Power Bracer. This would give you the base 2 EVs + the 4 EVs from the Bracer, totaling out at 6 EVs. If the pokemon that fainted the Gyardos had Pokerus, it would gain double the total EVs, giving it 12 EVs from fighting a single monster.


Training HP EVs

This is one of the simplest EVs to train. The best place to train HP is west of Pastoria City, on Route 212. You will see a small body of water, which you can hope on in and surf on. In this water you will see Woopers which give one point each, and Quagsires which give 2 points each. Together they both have a 100% encounter rate, though Woopers are far more common.

I suggest only training on the Wooper. This is for the pure simplicity of calculations, because when using power items the Woopers always give an EV amount divisible by 5.

Alternatively you may use the VS Seeker to repeatedly challenge a girl on Route 209 named Cowgirl Shelly. She has 5 Bidoofs which give 1 HP EV each. She is a great alternative place.


Training Attack EVs

Though attack is simpler than HP training, it requires more attention. The best place to train attack EVs is East of the Fight Area, or West of the resort area (Easier this way) on route 229. Here with your Super Rod you may fish for Gyarados, which appear 100% of the time you actually get a catch. These give you 2 EV points each.

Another good place to fish is Twinleaf Town. Here you can encounter Seakings, which give 2 EV points in attack each.


Training Defense EVs

The best place to do this is in the Ruin Maniacs cave. This is outside of where you catch the Unknown, the tunnel you actually find the guy in.

Here you will find primarily Geodudes, though Hippopotas are not completely uncommon. Each of these guys give 1 EV point each for defense. The low level of these pokemon make defense EV training much simpler than it might seem at first.


Training Special Attack

The best place to train this is in the Resort Area. In this small little town you will find a small pool of water near the bottom right-hand corner of the town. In this pool of water you may surf, and find Golducks. These give 2 EV points for everyone you beat. On top of that, they are a 100% encounter rate.

Another place you may train special attack is in the Old Chateau, though it is only worth it if you have a GBA Pokemon game.

Here you will find Gastlys that give 1 special attack EV each. If you have a GBA game inserted into your DS, you will also encounter Haunter and Gengar. These give 2 and 3 special attack EVs respectively.


Training Special Defense

This stat is almost always easier to train if you use the Split EV training method explained below. Thankfully though, not many things need special defense EVs.

The best place to train this stat, is North of Sunyshore city. Once you’ve flown there, head North until you find Jasmine, the Steel Type Gym Leader from GSC who gives you the HM. Now, swim out into the water. Here you will find, Tentacruels. They are a 60% encounter rate. You will occasionally run into Mantykes, who gives 1 Special Defense EV each.

An alternative and possibly better place to train is in Pastoria City. East of the Move Tutors's home you will see a pool of water. If you surf in here you will encounter Tentacools which give 1 special defense EV each. This is a higher encounter.


Training Speed

The best way is using the Versus Seeker. On Route 205, you will find many fishermen fishing. (You get to Route 205 by exiting Eterna City via the eastern exit.) Challenege the second fisherman from the right, Fisherman Andrew. He has 6 Magikarps that give 1 Speed EV each.

There is however another good training area. You will find the training area east of the Survival area. Head east of the Poke center until you find a place you can rock climb. Climb up, and you are on the ledges.

Here you will find Fearows and Raicates, both of which give 2 speed Ev points each. You also (Though much more rarely) find their pre-evolved forms, Rattata and Spearow, who offer 1 EV point each.

The reason EV training here is not as effective as fighting Fisherman Andrew, is the lack of a 100% encounter rate. You will find that Golduck and Machoke are farily commonly found here. Though this makes the location inferior to Fisherman Andrw, it is still a good place to train.


Getting the Power Items
Power items are items that can be held by your Pokemon. These things increase the EVs you receive at the end of a battle, by four. What stat they raise depend on which item it is.


All of the power items are obtained by purchasing them at the Battle Tower Gift Shop.

Each of the items cost 16 BP each, and there are 6 to buy. A set will cost you 96 BP.

List of the Items
Power Weight - Helps HP Growth
Power Bracer - Helps Attack Growth
Power Belt - Helps Defense Growth
Power Lens - Helps Special Attack Growth
Power Band - Helps Special Defense Growth
Power Anklet - Helps Speed Growth



I hope I've helped!