The 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon series is very accessible, but it also has a surprising amount of hidden depth. For newcomers, competitive battling is a mystifying rabbit hole of EVs, IVs, natures, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:held items, damage calculations, and thousands of other intricacies. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Your beloved Charizard from 1999 with Ember, Fire Spin, Flamethrower and Fire Blast isn’t going to cut it here, friend♊.

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Serious battles are all about using the very best, which means that your EV spreads are going to need to be optimized. Whether you’ve never EV trained before or you’re just looking to see how things have changed in that regard in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon Sword & Shield, these tips should help.

10 𝓀 First Things First: What Is EV Training?

The Pokémon Alakazam

To start with the basics, you’ll probably know that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a Pokémon’s nature defines its stats. A Modest Po🎃kémon, for instance, will have a 10% higher Special Attack stat when all’s said and done, but a 10% lower Attack stat. Each nature affects two different stats in this way (other than ‘neutral’ natures).

This isn’t the only way to maximize a critter’s potential. Pokémon have 510 EVs (Effort Values) to work with, points that can be allocated across their stats. Typically, a 252/252 spread is used (a𓆏 special attacker such as Alakazam, say, will want 252 EVs in Special Atta🎃ck, 252 in Speed and the slim remainder elsewhere). Four EVs are worth 1 additional point in a particular stat.

9 How Are EVs G🍃ained?

Super Training in Pokémon X & Y

Considering the stat increase that Effort Values offer, it’s no surprise that a Pokémon will have to work to get them. There have been numerous ways to do this across the course of the series, from the Super Training mini-games of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon X & Y to Sword & Shield’s Poké Jobs.

Classic methods of EV training also include repeatedly battling specific Pokémon (each species offers a different number of EVs in a different stat when defeated) and consuming Vitamins, which ♏instantly award a small number of a certain EV each time. Before we take a closer look at some of these methods, let’s take a look at some essential items and features that can help your EV training go by quicker.

8 Get Yourself A Macho Brace And/Or Some Power Items 🥀

Pokémon Sword & Shield's store for Power items and the Macho Brace

You may have been wondering about 𓄧the functions of the Macho Brace and Power items. Put simply, the Macho brace doubles the EV the holder gains from battles (and some other sources), while the Power items each offer an increase of 8 EVs in a particular stat.

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Thesꦫe items are typically bought with BP late in the game (they’re bought in the Hammerlocke Pokémon Center for 10 BP each this time around), and have proven invaluable for training battle-ready Pokémon. Perhaps not so much in Generation VIII, t𝓀hough, as you’ll see.

7 ဣ 🌺The Importance Of Vitamins

Pokémon Sword & Shield: The Isle of Armor's Master Dojo

As the importance of the 5-a-day fruits and vegetables thing is drummed into us in the real world, it’s also important that Pokémon 🉐get their nutrients too. The Vitamins (HP Up, Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc and Carbos) are quite expensive to buy, but they offer a quick and easy +10 EVs in HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed respectively.

In the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Isle of Armor DLC, donating enough Watts to the Mastไer Dojo will eventually see Honey add a drinks machine, and then a second one. The second one will offer batches of these Vitamins at half price when fully upgraded and bought in sets of 25. But wait, don’t Vitamins stop having an effect when a Pokémon has a certain amount of EVs in a stat?

6 𓆏 You Can Max Out A Pokémon’s EVs With Vitamins Alone 🔯Now

Pokémon Sword & Shield: The Isle of Armor's Master Dojo vending machine

Not any more. With 𒁏the Dojo’s second drinks machine offering its full menu, you’ll notice that you can buy bunches of 25 of each Vitamin. This offers the best discount, and all 25 can be immediately given to a Pokémon all at once to max out that stat (bar the lost 2 EVs).

While this is a huge time-saver, there’s an important downside to consider: it costs 125,000 Pokémon Dollars for a single set of 25 Vitamins. Needless to say, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:things get super expensive super qu🌳ickly. Let🌺’s take a look at some sources of money for trainers who want to EV train through Vitamins alone, then.

5 ꦺ Money, Money, Money 𓃲

Pokémon Sword & Shield: Digging Pa on the Isle of Armor

One way to make a lot of money is selling L🐽uxury Balls. These can be acquired by buying them from the Watt Tradꦅers, who sell them for 100 Watts each. You can then take them to the nearest Pokémon Center, where they sell for 1,500 Pokémon Dollars! To get the kind of Wattage you’ll need to make the most lucrative sales, Digging Pa (also of the Isle of Armor, in the Training Lowlands) can sometimes dig for huge quantities of Watts.

Alternatively, a Gigantamax Meowth’s G-Max Gold Rush offers enormous returns. The Meowth is level 84🐬 or higher and has a luck Incense or Amulet Coin, it canܫ earn you up to 99,999 Pokémon Dollars per battle!

4 Pick The Right (And Most Efficient) Tar๊get Pokémon

Pokémon Sword & Shield: A battle against a wild Skwovet

For some, the changes made to Vitamins has rendered the ‘traditional’ method of EV training obsolete. Depending on your situation and the Watts/ Pokémon Dol♈lars you have available, though, you may still prefer to go about things the old-fashioned way: through battles with wild Pokémon.

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A handy list from shows the best Pokémon to seek out for the💙 stat you want to raise: For HP, seek out Skwovet (1 EV, Route 1) or Wobbuffet (2 EV, Route 5). For Attack, Chewtle (1 EV, Route 2, Lakeside) or Bewear/Crawdaunt/Machoke (2 EV, Axew's Eye, Wild Area) are good picks. When it comes to Defense, go for Wooloo (1 EV, Route 1). For Special Attack, try Gastly (1 EV, Watchtower Ruins, Wild Area), while Nickit is a convenient choice for Special Defense (1 EV, Route 1). Finally, is you’re EV training Speed, you can go for Rookidee (1 EV, Route 1) or Ninjask (2 EV, Stony Fields, normal and rain weather, Wild Area). Combine this information with the Macho Brace or appropriate Power Item, and those gains increase exponentially. There’s one more thing you can use as well: Pokérus!

3 Don’t Forget About Pokérus Too 🎀 ❀

A Galarian Linoone affected by Pokérus in Pokémon Sword & Shield

Pokérus isn't an item, it’s a mechanic, a rare ‘illness’ that can ‘infect’ your Pokémon. It’s sometimes found on wild or traded Pokémon. It’s denoted by the small Pokéruꦅs icon on a critter’s status screen, and it has no negative effects. What it does is double the EVs that Pokémon gains from battle!

Should you come across a Pokérus Pokémon, then, pass it🦄 onto other Pokémon in your party by simply playing as normal while they’re in a slot.it has a chance to pass to others, who will gain the benefit. Just remember that a Pokémon with it is ‘cured’ (the icon will change to a smiley🌞 face) if they’re left out of the PC for one to four days (new days). They’ll still enjoy its effects, but can no longer pass it on.

2 If Time Isn’t So Much Of A Factor, Give Poké Jobs A Try ℱ

The Poké Jobs menu in Pokémon Sword & Shield

EV training can be a time-consu༒ming, costly process, but there’s another method that can either supplement these effo🔴rts or replace them entirely. Poké Jobs aren’t just fun little distractions!

Aside 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:from the typing-matching fun, Poké Jobs can also be used to gain your Pokémon EVs. On arriving in Hammerlocke, you’ll gain access to a series of Seminars for specific stats. They’ll gain the critters sent on that job anywhere fr⛎om 4 to 96 EVs in that stat, depending on how long they’re sent away. At a 24 hour wait for the latter, though, this method is very time-consuming in its own way.

1 🥃 💞 Don’t Simply Go 252/252 Every Time

A Haxorus' status screen in Pokémon Sword & Shield, showing its EVs

While a lot🔯 of Pokémon work super well with an effective 252/252/4 spread in the stats you’re focusing on, it’s sometimes important to be more specific than that.

Using damage calculators, match-up knowledge and other elements of high-end competitive play, trainers can tailor their Pokémon’s EVs in very specific ways (to survive a certain very common attack in doubles play, say). Sometimes you may not need all that Speed and can afford some extra HP, or can make other tweaks. The more experience you get with competitive play, the more comfortable you’ll bec𒈔ome with customizing these things.

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