How to EV Train Competitive Pokemon
EV training is Part 2 on the road to competitive play! Part 1 is first breed competitive Pokemon, so if you haven't gotten around to it yet, check it out!
Effort Values, or EVs, are values for each stat (HP, attack, etc) that a Pokemon can gain through battling Pokemon or Super Training. Each Pokemon can earn up to 510 EV points before maxing out their EVs. These EV points influence your final stats and your scaling when you play Online Battles.
If you wish to remove EVs from a Pokemon, use a Reset Bag in Super Training or select Berries that reduce EVs.
There are two routes to Quick EV Training: Super Training and Horde Training.
Why EV Train?
Specializing damage
Jolteon is easily one of the best competitive electric Pokemon. Check out its base stats: 130 speed, 110 special attack, and an underwhelming 65 attack. Why would you ever cast physical attacks (Thunder Punch) when you can use special attacks (Thunderbolt) that fit Jolteon's stats better? EV Training assures you're not spreading thin on a variety of stats, and specializing all your damage makes you hit so much harder.
Optimizing your plans
Your Gengar is battling another Gengar. You both are weak to ghost moves. You both will die in 2 hits. Who is going to win that fight? The one who has higher speed, of course. Chances are your Gengar will attack faster than the next Pokemon he/she sends out, and you could very well take it to half HP too. There is truly no contest when pitting a bred Pokemon vs a casual Pokemon.
Moves like Gyro Ball encourage you to put no EVs into your speed. Pokemon like Aegislash benefit from having no speed, because you switch to Offensive Stance when you attack. If your opponent attacks second, they will hit you when you are not in your Defensive Stance. You want to be hit in your Defensive Stance.
Super Training (Less Efficient, But Safer)
Unlock the all stages & all difficulties
Grab a Pokemon you don't plan on using competitively. Switch to the Super Training tab in your bottom screen. Select your Pokemon, and complete the Tutorial. After the Tutorial, you unlock 6 minigames: one for each stat. Complete all 6 minigames to unlock another set of 6 in medium difficulty, and completing medium unlocks hard. When you have all three tiers unlocked, grab your team. Check out the Super Training page for more details.
Begin Basic Training & consume punching bags
Double check to see that your Pokemon has 0 EV Points. Compare the meter on the right with the meter of another Pokemon you just caught. If they are the same height, then they both have 0 EVs. If you accidentally put EVs on via EXP Share or accidental battling, you need to use a Reset bag or you will be wasting your time maxing a Pokemon with imperfect stats to begin with.
Using the Mamoswine we bred in the last tutorial, you'll notice ALL of his moves are physical and his base stats are catered towards Attack. Let's breed him 252 attack for damage, 252 speed to outrun Pokemon in its same speed tier, and 6 defense. That totals to the cap of 510.
Complete the "Attack" minigame in Easy difficulty for +4 Attack. As you gain more attack, the minigames will be easier and you can complete higher difficulties for more point gains. There is some skill involved, so if you feel you can complete harder games earlier, go for it! There is no drawback to failing a training session or exiting early.
After completing a minigame, a punching bag will almost always drop with the corresponding stat you trained for. Consume between training sessions and you will save you a lot of time!
MAXing Evs; Getting specific EVs
When the Swinub has 252 EVs in attack and you try to complete an "attack" minigame, the game will tell you that the Pokemon's stat is already maxed and can no longer gain points. If you did your EVs correctly, you should get this message in 2 stats, and your last stat will have +6 remaining before being maxed. The game will congratulate you for maxing a stat! Continue with your team, and you're officially done training (besides leveling to evolve)!
If you want specific stats for certain Pokemon like 224 HP/252 def/32 speed, you have to manually keep track of your EV gains. The game will only tell you if the stat is maxed. This is the main reason some people will choose Super Train over Horde Train -- it gives you tangible numbers you can record to eliminate any stress of counting invisible values.
Horde Training (VERY Efficient, Less Safe)
Preparation
1) Catch a Pokemon with Sweet Scent
I recommend Tropius, because it's one of the only Pokemon that can learn both Sweet Scent and Fly. This saves you the convenience of trading out an Oddish / Combee for someone that can Fly between each zone. Be sure to also take note that Sweet Scent cannot be used when it's raining, this will not effect caves/indoor areas (try changing your 3DS' time to change the weather).
2) Train a Pokemon with Area of Effect moves
Most people use their Water starters because surf is an easy, hard-hitting move that kills most hordes effortlessly. I recommend a Pokemon like Gourgeist with moves like Rock Slide and Razor Leaf. A Tropius with Sweet Scent, Fly, Earthquake and Razor Leaf maximizes efficiency, letting you train 5 Pokemon at once. Gourgeist has the ability called Pickup, and EV training has netted me a ton of ethers, and even 2 Leftovers! You can easily trade Leftovers for items like Masterballs, bred Pokemon, and more!
3) Obtain the Pokerus (optional)
Pokerus doubles the EV gains of infected Pokemon. You can trade for the virus in various forums, and spreading the virus to your party is as easy as battling with a lead Pokemon that is infected. This doubles all EV's gained through battling (though not in Super Training).
4) Obtain Power Items (optional)
You can have your Pokemon hold certain items to boost EV gains called Power Items. If you faint a Wingull which gives you +1 speed EV and you're holding a Power Anklet, you'll actually gain 5 EVs per Wingull. These can be purchased using BP from the Battle Maison in Kiloude City.
5) Use the most efficient training spots.
HP: Gulpin - Route 5 (Common - 1EV) or Whimsur - Connecting Cave (Common - 1EV)
Attack: Weepinbell - Route 19 (Common - 2EV)
Defence: Geodude - Terminus Cave (Common - 1EV) or Durant - Terminus Cave (Uncommon - 2EV) or (X only) Aron - Terminus Cave (Common - 1EV)
Special Attack: Mareep - Route 12 (Uncommon - 1EV) or Vanillite - Frost Cavern (Common - 1EV)
Special Defence: Hoppip - Route 7 (Common 1EV)
Speed: Minun/Plusle - Route 5 (Uncommon 1EV) or Zubat - Connecting Cave (Common 1EV)
6) Use abilities to influence your encounters.
Whilst training you will notice that there are 2 electric and 2 steel types that are recommended to train against. You can use certain pokemon to increase your chances of these encounters.
The Static ability increases your chance to encounter electric type pokemon by 50% (use for Mareep and Minun/plusle).
The Magnet Pull ability increases your chance to encounter steel type pokemon by 50% (use for Durant and Aron).
Begin ev training
1) The Math
If you kill 5 Wingulls in one horde battle, you'll be gaining 5 EV points for speed (1 spe EV x 5 wingulls). If you are holding a Power Anklet on a Pokemon, you'll get 25 EV points in total (1 EV + 4 item) x 5 wingulls). If your Pokemon is infected with the Pokerus, you'll gain 50 EVs from ONE horde battle! That's the equivalent of over 12 Super Training minigames, and everyone in your party will gain EVs.
2) Create your Party
- Pokemon with AOE attacks
- Pokemon with Sweet Scent
- 1-5 Pokemon who need the same EV trained
3) Horde Battles!
Check the Horde locations above. Look for a stat you need. Fly to the route, and lead with your high-level Pokemon. Turn on EXP Share. Activate Sweet Scent, and you have a 100% chance of triggering a horde battle. If it is not the Pokemon you want, run away. If it is, faint the team. Repeat until your bar is half-way full and stops moving in the Super Training window. You can double check to see if the stat is full by completing a minigame, and the game will prompt you that it can no longer gain EV in that stat.
Repeat this process with the other stat you are trying to max, and finish the remaining 6 in Super Training.
4) BE CAREFUL
Accidentally killing the wrong Pokemon can give you unwanted stats on your Pokemon. If your Experience Share is on, your whole party will have unwanted stats. You can start from scratch using Reset Bags via Super Training, but they drop inconsistently. Run away from everything you don't want. This includes catching Pokemon.
Make sure you are double checking via Super Training to see if your two core stats are maxed before training your third. You may be 1-2 points off, and you will be left with 252/250/8. You will be out-sped by every Pokemon in your same speed tier that did not make this error unless you start from scratch
Next Step: Moves, Items, and Evolving!
You are now done breeding IVs and EVs. You are a master adventurer, a master catcher, a master breeder, a master trainer, and a master of patience. Now, test how well you are at battling! Will you equip mega evolutions stones or leftovers? Will you use Energy Ball or Mega Drain? You're done with the grind, now comes the fun part.
Test your team against the Battle Maison and see how far you can get, then test your luck against real players!