FeaturedTheLastMethBender wrote:
How exactly does EV training work?
If I have a level 60 pokemon is it too late for me?
Is EV training a must have thing to play online?
How exactly does EV training work?
Basically EVs are a separate hidden stat that boosts a pokemon's actual stats. You get them by battling pokemon similar to EXP. Each pokemon has a different EV yield, some give 1HP EV, some give 2ATK EVs etc. EV training is basically fighting the right pokemon until you get the EVs you want. To make it easier, Pokerus doubles the EVs you get when you fight a pokemon and Power Items increase them even further, and it's recommended you don't try to EV train without them. The best part is you can EV train your whole team at once.
In SM, you can easily fully EV train a pokemon by using SOS battles, as each ally actually gives more EVs than the last, meaning if you have pokerus and a Power Item, you can max out a stat with just 7 KOs. Power Items can be bought with BP, and pokerus is a random encounter with a rate of finding a Shiny, but it spreads throughout your team when you battle so people trade away pokerus all the time. Ask here and you can probably find someone who will give it to you.
You max out EVs at 510 total and 252 per stat, so the most common spread is to put 252 into two stats and 4 into another.
If I have a level 60 pokemon is it too late for me?
Yes and no. If you went through the game with that pokemon, it's guaranteed to have maxed out it's EVs. However, there are certain berries that can lower the EVs of a pokemon to reset them. You can find them (or trade for them) then use Poke Pelago to grow them easily. I have about 300 of each right now preparing myself for when I will start breeding. Each berry lowers EVs by 10 so you will probably need 10-25 of each in order to reset your EVs. A bit time consuming if you are starting from scratch, but once you get the supplies, it becomes very easy.
Is EV training a must have thing to play online?Again, yes and no. Against people who breed for the right IVs and Nature, and perfect their EV spread, your pokemon are going to pale in comparison to theirs. It doesn't make them unbeatable, an improper Water-type can easily kill a proper Fire-type easily if the opponent doesn't switch. I would go into online play and see how you do, if your pokemon seem to not be able to kill anything, EV training might be necessary, although unless your pokemon is Hyper Trained and has the right Nature, it still won't completely match others.
EV training, once you have Pokerus and the Power Items, plus know where to EV train at, takes little time (In ORAS, it took 20 minutes to EV train 4 mon to full, and I hear SM is even faster) IV breeding is what takes some time, but that's a whole other can of worms entirely. Given the nature of your question, I'm assuming you want to go online with your story pokemon. EVs give you more than IVs, and your strategy will always matter more, so if you do decide to EV train your pokemon, you won't exactly be on an even playing field with everyone, but you should be able to battle them with a chance of victory.
To put it into numbers, I'll use Primarina.at level 50.
With no EVs and IVs and a neutral nature Primarina's stats are 140 – 79 – 79 -131 – 121 – 65
With no EVs and perfect IVs and a neutral nature, it's stats are 155 – 94 – 94 – 146 – 136 – 80
This tells you how much IVs affect your stats.
With half IVs and evenly spread EVs with a neutral nature you get 158 – 97 – 97 – 149 -139 – 83
This is an approximation of what you get with a story mon without resetting EVs
With half IVs, neutral nature, but with 252 SpAtk EVs and 252 HPs, you get 179 – 86- 86 – 170 – 128 – 72
This is what you would get if you reset the EVs and properly EV trained your story mon
With perfect IVs, a Modest Nature, 252 SpAtk EVs, 44 Spd EVs and 212 HP EVs you get 182 – 84 – 94 – 195 – 136 – 86
This is what you are likely to go up against, someone who has bred a perfect Popplio and perfectly EV trained them (or at least, out the EVs I would put into a Primarina)
The SpAtk difference of 149 – 195, as you can see, is huge, but 170 is usable, but not ideal. You will definitely still be at a disadvantage, but much less so if you go through with EV training, but again, 170 or 195 isn't doing much different against an Eviolite Chansey wall, so strategy still plays a bigger part. And this all depends on whether or not you run into someone like me who fights with perfect mon, or someone like you who just uses their story mon.
In short, if you are set on using your story mon online, It might take a few days of berry growing and BP farming, but it's easy to EV train and worth the reward.
