Pokémon Stratagem

EV's

Definition

Each Pokemon has six stats - HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack and Special Defense. Effort Values are like points - each time you battle a wild Pokemon or an in-game trainer's Pokemon, it will increase your stat's EV count by a certain amount of points, for example, beating a wild Gardevoir or a trainers Charizard will increase your Special Attack EVs by 3. For every 4 EVs you earn, the actual stat value raises by one (note this applies to Pokemon at lv100 only - at any other level, you may not notice an increase until more EVs are acquired). In other words, take the number of EVs, divide it by 4, and round it down to the nearest whole number. This gives you the stat increase.

Each stat can have a maximum of 255 EVs. So that means if you were to fight a wild Gardevoir 100 times, you'll only have 255 EVs instead of 300 (100 x 3). A Pokemon with 255 EVs for Defense (Or 254, 253, 252 since they are divided by four and round down to the same number) will have 63 points more than a Pokemon with 0 EVs for Defense.

Be carefull though, a Pokemon can only hold a maximum of 510 EVs. That means, the sum of the EVs for HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack and Special Defense must not exceed 510. Therefore, it's possible to max out two of a Pokemon's stats, whether it be Attack and Defense, or HP and Speed, or whatever. Careful planning means that you can have 252 for one, 252 for another, and 6 in another, meaning you max out two stats, and increase the last by 1. I suggest speed if you havent done it already, as one point an make all the diffrnct if you and your opponent are using the same pokemon with EV boosted stats. For example I both you and your opponent are using a Golem Yours has boosted HP/Defence and his has Attack/HP. Well if thier both LvL 100 then thir speed stats would be identicle, so that 1 point causes you to go first.

Using EV's Effectively

It is obvious that maxing out EVs is a powerful training method to make your Pokemon that much stronger. With 510 EVs to distribute between 6 stats, however, how should one go about gaining EVs? The distribution of EVs on a Pokemon is more commonly known as its EV Spread. When planning what EV Spread should be used for a Pokemon, you have to consider the moves that the Pokemon knows.

Checking EV's

As stated before, EVs are gained when you battle and defeat wild Pokemon or in-game Trainers, excluding the Trainers in the Battle Frontier and Battle Tower facilities. As a general rule of thumb, if you gain Experience in a battle, you are gaining EVs as well, just that EVs are hidden values and are not shown to you.

The fact that EVs are hidden means that there is no way for you to know how many EVs your Pokemon has accumulated. As such, you should manually keep track of the EVs that your Pokemon have gained, so as to avoid learning the wrong amount of EVs.

There is, however, one in-game method to check if your Pokemon has already maxed out its EVs. In Diamond or Pearl, go to the lady behind the counter at Sunyshore Market and speak to her. In Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald, go to the stall in the lower left and speak to the woman there. If your lead Pokemon has already maxed out its EVs, you can get an Effort Ribbon from her. Apart from this, there are no other methods of telling how many EVs your Pokemon have.

EV Training a Pokemon refers to letting the Pokemon gain the correct EVs according to your plans for the Pokemon's EV Spread. In short, you would have to battle 510 Pokémon to max out your Pokemon's EVs, assuming each of the 510 Pokemon give only one EV each.

EV Booster Shot

With 510 EVs to gain, EV-training can be a daunting task. Thankfully, there are a variety of items and features which will go a long way towards helping you gain those EVs.

Macho Brace

When a Pokemon is holding a Macho Brace, it will gain double the EVs per Pokemon beaten. As such, defeating a wild Pidgey will net you 2 Speed EVs instead of just 1. Note that your Pokemon's Speed is halved when it is holding the Macho Brace. However, it is just a temporary effect, so once the Macho Brace is removed, the effect will be gone.

Power Items

Introduced in Diamond and Pearl, there are six new items that speed up EV training for a certain stat. Unforunately, like Macho Brace, these items cut the user's Speed while wearing that item. Listed below are the effects of the Power items:

Power Weight - Gains 4 extra HP EVs after every battle Power Bracer - Gains 4 extra Attack EVs after every battle Power Belt - Gains 4 extra Defense EVs after every battle Power Lens - Gains 4 extra Special Attack EVs after every battle Power Band - Gains 4 extra Special Defense EVs after every battle Power Anklet - Gains 4 extra Speed EVs after every battle

Each of the Power Items can be bought at the cost of 16 Battle Points at the Battle Tower, but well worth it when you are EV training for commonly used EVs like Speed and Attack.

Vitamins

Vitamins, unlike the Macho Brace, instantly give a Pokemon EVs, instead of helping it to gain them faster. There is a specific vitamin for each stat. Listed here are the effects of the vitamins:

HP Up - Increases HP by 10 EVs Protein - Increases Attack by 10 EVs Iron - Increases Defense by 10 EVs Carbos - Increases Speed by 10 EVs Calcium - Increases Special Attack by 10 EVs Zinc - Increases Special Defense by 10 EVs

Vitamins can be obtained in a variety of ways. They can be found as hidden items throughout the land, Proteins may be obtained by a Pokemon with the Pickup ability, and vitamins can also be purchased in Slateport City from the Energy Guru in the Slateport Market for 9800 dollars. After beating the Elite 4, the Energy Guru will occasionally have a half-priced sale preceded by an ad on the TV 2 days in advance. In addition, they can be purchased in the Lilycove Department Store on the left counter on the third floor for 9800 dollars. Berries can be crushed using the Berry Crush Machine and the powder traded to the Medicine Shop in Slateport for vitamins for 1000p each. Last, but certainly not least, vitamins can be obtained in the Battle Point Exchange Service Center for a mere 1 Battle Point per vitamin.

What's the use of vitamins? As listed, any one vitamin will give 10 EVs to its corresponding stat. Since it takes 4 EVs to change any stat point by one, this is most effective if given in twos. 20 EVs = 5 stat points. However there is a limit of 10 vitamins per any given stat limiting it to 100 EVs or 25 stat points per attribute by vitamin enhancement. Plan well ahead and you can save yourself half the trouble and time of actual battle to completely EV train your selected Pokemon.

Exp. Share

The Exp. Share is a useful tool for EV-training more than one Pokemon simultaneously. This is because the Exp. Share gives the Pokemon all the base EVs gained from the Pokemon which has been defeated, even if the Pokemon does not take part in the battle. For instance, if a Flygon with a Macho Brace defeats a wild Pidgey, it would gain 2 Speed EVs. Suppose you have a Milotic in your party holding an Exp. Share. The Milotic would gain 1 Speed EV.

PokeRus

Like Macho Brace, Pokerus doubles the EVs gained. So if a Flygon has both Macho Brace and Pokerus, it would gain 4 Speed EVs from defeating a Pidgey, and not just 2 or 1. Note that Pokerus can be lost, but your Pokemon still gains double the EVs after losing it.

So, by battling a Pokemon who awards 3 of your target EVs and by wearing the appropriate Power Item, you can gain 7 EVs per battle. Throw PokeRus into the mix and you have a grand total of 14 EVs earned per battle.

Battle Stratagem

Roles in Battle

Pokémon have roles in the battlefield much like normal battlefields do, mostly depending on their Base Stats, Movepools and finally their Trainer's decisions; you! Thus, many Pokémon could have multiple roles and you are required to choose the desired one. I will now list you the roles, Pokémon may have, alphabetically.

Annoyer

An Annoyer is a Pokémon whose moveset is made to inflict non-direct damage to an opponent; by this term, I mean moves such as Toxic, Confuse Ray, Leech Seed, Will O’ Wisp etc. These Pokémon usually have good defenses as well as a decent amount of Hit Points. Consider sharing the EV’s among these three stats and having a Bold or Calm nature. Annoyers include Pokémon such as Venusaur and Crobat.

Baton Passer

A Baton Passer Pokémon, usually works best in a Baton Passing Team. Baton Pass permits Pokémon to pass on added effects to their allies such as those of Calm Mind, Cosmic Power and even Mean Look. A Baton Passer usually has one or more moves or abilities to boost his stats. The types and EV administration can vary very much, but it is generally preferred to have good Defenses and Hit Points. Umbreon and Ninjask make excellent Baton Passers.

Hazer

A Hazer is a Pokémon whose signature move is Haze. He uses Haze to counterattack Pokémon that use stat increasing moves such as Swords Dance, Cosmic Power etc. A good Speed is preferred but not necessary. A good Defense and a Decent amount of Hit Points would be wise to have just in case the opponent has already pumped himself up (especially those Baton Passing Teams). A subcategory of Hazer, the Pseudohazer, uses moves like Roar and Whirlwind to produce an effect similar to Haze by forcing a switch. Blastoise, Crobat and Vaporeon can -among other things- take up the role of the Hazer.

Healer

Healers are few but are able to counter Shufflers extremely well. They use moves such as Aromatherapy and Heal Bell to neutralize abnormal status conditions, as well as protective moves like Reflect and Light Screen. These Pokémon must be able to last long enough to support the rest of the team so boosted defenses and Hit Points would do the thing. Miltank, Blissey, Chimecho and Vileplume can all be Healers.

Physical Sweeper

A Physical Sweeper is a Pokémon made to inflict massive physical damage, the fastest way possible. These Pokémon's stats concentrate on Attack and Speed, so Adamant and Jolly natures are most suitable for them. Physical moves include Bug, Fighting, Flying, Ghost, Ground, Normal, Poison, Rock and Steel. Heracross, Tauros and even Charizard make surprisingly good Physical Sweepers.

Subpuncher

A Subpuncher makes use of the Substitute and Focus Punch Combo; since it will not be hit after using Substitute, Focus Punch will always hit. Normal and Fighting type Pokémon make a good use of this. Since Focus Punch is a Fighting move, this sub-role is categorized under the Physical Sweepers.

Rapid Spinner

A Rapid Spinner has only one purpose: counter Spikers. Rapid Spin is a move that ruins Spikes and frees the Pokémon from a continuous trapping condition (Whirlpool, Fire Spin etc). Starmie and Blastoise can both be Rapid Spinners.

Shuffler

A Shuffler has a single purpose in battle: affect all of the opponent's party with a status condition. He could be a Toxishuffler, Pyroshuffler or Parashuffler, using Toxic, Will O' Wisp or Thunder Wave respectively. After inducing the opponent with the desired status condition, it forces a switch with moves such as Whirlwind and Roar. It is best preferred to have a good Speed stat and decent Defenses in order to accompdtsh its purpose. A Timid or Jolly nature would be best for Shufflers like Butterfree and Manectric.

Spiker

Classified under the Shuffler category, the Spiker earns its name by its signature move, Spikes. Its purpose is to use three layers of Spikes along with a status inducing move and force a switch. Skarmory is the best Spiker up until now.

Special Sweeper

A Special Sweeper uses high Speed and Special Attack stats to blast its opponent with the strongest of special moves; Modest and Timid are perfect natures to pick for these Pokémon. Special moves include Dark, Dragon, Electric, Fire, Grass, Ice, Psychic and Water. Alakazam, Sceptile and Typhlosion are examples of Special Sweepers.

Sunnybeamer

A Sunnybeamer is a Pokémon that takes advantage of Sunny Day to attack with Solarbeam every turn. Many Grass and Fire types can have this moveset which is considered Special Sweeping.

Thunderdancer

This is simple; we all know the terrific combo Rain Dance and Thunder make; almost all Electric Pokémon could have this set, which is classified under the Special Sweeper category.

Staller

A Staller is a special kind of Tank that uses moves that poison, burn or paralyze. They are also called Toxistallers, Pyrostallers and Parastallers, and use either Toxic, Will O' Wisp and Thunder Wave respectively, along with protective moves such as Protect or Detect and recovery moves such as Rest. They benefit from high defenses and Hit Points, as well as items like Leftovers. Preferred Natures are Bold, Impish Careful and Calm. Torkoal, Dusclops and Azumarill make fine Stallers.

Tank

A Tank is a Pokémon made to last and stall time. It usually possesses high defensive stats along with a move that raises defenses such as Cosmic Power, items such as Leftovers and probably a recovery move, Rest or Recover. Preferred Natures are Bold, Impish Careful and Calm which all favor Defense or Special Defense. Torkoal and Blastoise make fine Tanks.