While pure levels from adventuring together are enough to clear most story challenges in any mainline Pokémon game, the true mark of a well-reared Pokémon prepped for competitive play is an optimized spread of Internal Values (IV) and Effort Values (EV).
IVs and EVs are hidden values that constitute the bulk of stat diversity between individual Pokémon of the same species. Understanding how these values work and how to optimize them is critical to training for high-level competitive play—here’s a breakdown of how IVs and EVs work in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
How do IVs and EVs work in Pokémon?
IVs are stat boosts determined upon the Pokémon’s acquisition, and EVs are stat boosts awarded by winning Pokémon battles. The EVs of any Pokémon can be manipulated via careful training while maxing IVs involves either vigorous selective breeding or the use of rare items.
It’s a deceptively simple system that ensures robust stat diversity for individual Pokémon, making them feel more like unique living creatures instead of simplistic copies of the species’ template. As you can imagine, this plays a huge role in competitive play where the levels are equalized for an even playing field and every unique advantage counts.
The first iteration of hidden stat factors was the Determinant Value (DV) and Stat Experience system, roughly corresponding to IVs and EVs, respectively, in terms of function and mechanics. Each stat could be maxed at 15 DVs and 63,535 Stat Exp, in contrast to the 31 IV and 252 EV maximums of the modern system. DVs also handled a Pokémon’s gender and shininess, creating a competitive meta with strange quirks—for example, female Pokémon could not have a maxed Attack DV, and most shiny Pokémon automatically had suboptimal DVs that made them non-viable in competitive play.
The entire system was overhauled in Gen 3. Factors like gender and shininess were shunted off to a new hidden value called the Personality Value, and innate stat diversity was moved to the IV and EV system that has been used in every mainline Pokémon game ever since. For a decades-old game mechanic, there have been very few alterations to how IVs and EVs affect Pokémon stats beyond the player’s ability to access and manipulate the values.
Pokémon EVs, explained
How do EVs affect Pokémon stats?
EVs work on a very simple formula: Every four EV points boost a stat by one. Any given Pokémon can gain a maximum of 510 EV points across all six stats. However, because 510 isn’t a clean multiple of four, only 508 of those points actually translate into a total of 127 bonus stat points if allocated correctly.
The most common format for optimized EV builds is 252/252/4 for 63 points in two primary stats and an extra point in a secondary stat (simply so those last handfuls of EVs don’t go to waste). However, the allocation of EVs is purely based on how well they complement a Pokémon’s moveset, so you may find alternate EV spreads in build guides and competitive play.
Are EVs applied retroactively?
Yes and no. “Retroactive” is a misleading word because a Pokémon’s level has no effect on the stat boosts from EVs—it’s a flat bonus, not a multiplier on stat growth rate. Every time a stat gains another four EV points, the stat increases by one, irrespective of anything else. Nothing is lost when a Pokémon gains high levels before having its EVs optimized.
How do you check EVs?
In earlier generations, EVs were obscured behind roundabout wording from specific NPCs that judged the “effort” of your Pokémon. As of Gen 7, you can check your Pokémon’s EV anytime, anywhere, right away in your Pokémon menu itself. Simply press L on its summary page to flip the info from its current stats to its accumulated EVs. A stat will sparkle when maxed, and the entire chart will turn blue when the Pokémon accumulates all 510 EV points.
For many generations, the max EVs you could invest in a stat was 255. Gen 5 reduced this to a neat 252, making it impossible to waste 3 EVs at the tail end of a maxed stat and eliminating the need for razor precision or complicated fiddling in EV training.
How to increase Pokémon EVs
There are only two ways of accumulating EVs: battling other Pokémon and using EV-raising items.
| Stat | Vitamin (+10) | Feather (+1) | Mochi (+10) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP | HP Up | Health Feather | Health Mochi |
| Attack | Protein | Muscle Feather | Muscle Mochi |
| Defense | Iron | Resist Feather | Resist Mochi |
| Special Attack | Calcium | Genius Feather | Genius Mochi |
| Special Defense | Zinc | Clever Feather | Clever Mochi |
| Speed | Carbos | Swift Feather | Swift Mochi |
In terms of EV items, Vitamins are the most stable and reliable source of EVs. You can purchase them at any Chansey Supply after earning at least three Gym Badges for 10,000 Poké Dollars apiece. They’re also available at the Blueberry Academy Store for 50 BP if you have the DLC. With the 510 EV point max, it takes more than 500,000 Poké Dollars to fully EV train one Pokémon. Unless you have a reliable money-farming method, EV training with Vitamins only can get unfeasibly expensive.
You can use Mochi instead to give your wallet a break—they are a randomized reward from the Ogre Oustin’ minigame in Kitakami. While it’s free to participate in the minigame, you have no control over which Mochi you get, and grinding enough to max EVs can get time-consuming and tedious.
Feathers are also a free and randomly awarded item. However, with only one EV per use, they’re not worth actively seeking out and should be used to supplement other EV training methods.
Previously, it was impossible to raise EVs past 100 with items alone. This was changed as of Gen 8, allowing players to max EVs in a blink so long as they have enough money.
The cheapest but slowest method of EV training is manually battling. Each Pokémon species has a designated number and type of EVs that they give upon defeat, and the EVs are automatically distributed to every member of your active team. Unfortunately, Auto-Battling from the Let’s Go! system doesn’t give any EVs and can’t be used to speed up the grind.
The most efficient method of EV training in Scarlet and Violet
Out of all the options available, the most efficient method of EV training is manual farming with the help of Power Items. They can be purchased at any Delibird Presents for 10,000 Poké Dollars apiece and, when held by a Pokémon, awards eight extra EV points of their corresponding stat at the end of every battle:
- HP: Power Weight
- Attack: Power Bracer
- Defense: Power Belt
- Special Attack: Power Lens
- Special Defense: Power Band
- Speed: Power Anklet
At minimum, having a Power Item equipped gives a Pokémon nine EV points per battle. If you invest in six Power Items of each type, you can speed up EV grinding to give nine EVs for all six members of your team with one battle. It costs 360,000 Poké Dollars for the full suite of Power Items, but this one-time investment is vastly more affordable than spending over 500,000 per every individual Pokémon.
To start, you need to gather six Pokémon that are being trained in the same stat, equip them all with the corresponding Power Item, then hunt the correct kind of Pokémon until that stat is maxed.
The most accessible area is just to jaunt up and down Poco Path and the start of South Province Area One. The Pokémon spawning there all reward one point in the following stats:
- HP: Lechonk, Azurill, Happiny, Igglybuff
- Attack: Yungoos, Chewtle,
- Defense: Scatterbug, Tarountula
- Special Attack: Psyduck
- Special Defense: Hoppip,
- Speed: Fletchling, Pawmi, Buizel, Fidough,
However, if you have access to more of the map and a strong Pokémon to lead your team, you can farm higher level Pokémon for extra EV points and a hefty amount of regular EXP. This is a great way to get a head start on leveling up weaker or freshly hatched Pokémon for competitive play. Ideally, your leading Pokémon would either be training the same EVs, have its EVs already maxed, or doesn’t need EV optimization—the only hard requirement is that it’s strong enough to quickly farm the target Pokémon.
Some of the best farming targets for fast leveling are in Area Zero, awarding two or three points each:
| Stat | Pokémon | Encounter Power lvl. 1 meal | Encounter Power lvl. 2 meal |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP | Chansey | Ham Sandwich | Great Tofu Sandwich |
| Attack | Garganacl | Mustard Rice Ball (Treasure Eatery, Medali) | Ultra BLT Sandwich |
| Special Attack | Girafarig | Custom Sandwich (one Strawberry, one Salt) | Custom sandwich (four Herbed Sausage, two Onion, and four Peanut Butter) |
| Defense | Corviknight | Potato Salad Sandwich | Ultra Tower Sandwich |
| Special Defense | Floette | Fruit Punch (Any Go-For-Broke location) | Ultra Ham Sandwich |
| Speed | Jumpluff | Custom sandwich (one Red Onion, two Olive Oil) | Great Klawf Claw Sandwich |
Another great way to farm EVs is to take advantage of Mass Outbreaks. You can check your daily outbreaks against Bulbapedia’s full list of EV yield to determine which stat the outbreak will train.
In previous generations, a Pokémon that had contracted the Pokérus would earn double EV points until it was cured. Purposely getting your Pokémon infected used to be a common EV training tip—but as of Gen 9, the Pokérus does not provide any bonus or effect.
Can you reset Pokémon EVs?
If you’ve been adventuring as intended, all of your team will likely have EVs randomly distributed across the board. This doesn’t disqualify them for EV optimization, however—it’s possible to reset EVs and start fresh with any Pokémon by using EV-reducing items.
The most efficient way of resetting IVs is to use the Fresh-Start Mochi, one of the possible mochis that can also be awarded from the Ogre Oustin’ minigame. Using this on a Pokémon resets all of their EVs to zero for a literal “Fresh Start.” However, you need to have The Teal Mask DLC to gain access to mochis. If you only have the base game—or want to keep some EVs intact while reducing others—you’ll need to use EV-reducing berries.
There are six EV berries corresponding to the six stats:
- HP: Pomeg Berry
- Attack: Kelpsy Berry
- Defense: Qualot Berry
- Special Attack: Hondew Berry
- Special Defense: Grepa Berry
- Speed: Tamato Berry
One berry reduces EVs by 10 points. While these berries aren’t particularly rare, there are no stable and consistent means of acquiring them without RNG-based farming. The only three sources of EV berries in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are random rewards from Tera Raids, as a possible auction item at Porto Marinada, and as a random reward from reaching at least Phase Two in Alfornada Gym’s Emotional Spectrum Practice Knockout Mode.
However, grinding a minigame can get tedious very quickly—the easiest way to farm EV berries is to abuse the date and time settings on your Switch to instantly reroll the Porto Marinada auctions and/or respawn Tera Raids. Farming the raids are especially useful if you’re just starting out on stat optimization, as they also reward other helpful items like nature mints and Bottle Caps for IV training.
Pokémon IVs explained
How do IVs affect Pokémon stats?
Unlike the straightforward divide-by-four logic of EVs, the impact of IVs on Pokémon stats is based on a complex formula that is also affected by level and nature. In barebones layman’s terms, a full 31 IV translates to 31 extra stat points at level 100. The amount of bonus stats diminishes the lower the Pokémon’s level is, and it overall is less impactful than EVs. However, every bit counts when it comes to competitive play—even a small difference in IVs can be the deciding factor in a battle between two fully EV-optimized Pokémon.
How do you check IVs?
The easiest and most convenient way to check IVs is the Judge function in the Box menu, which you can unlock by speaking to any Pokémon Center nurse after rolling credits on the main story. This allows you to press + while selecting a Pokémon in the Box menu and see the IVs of all six stats at a glance. There are six ratings:
- No good: zero
- Decent: 1-15
- Pretty good: 16-25
- Very good: 26-29
- Fantastic: 30
- Best: 31
If you haven’t finished the main story yet or want more precise numbers, you can use many of the IV calculators found online. Make sure to level up any freshly hatched Pokémon to at least level 10—the margin of error for IV calculation increases the lower the Pokémon’s level is.
How to get perfect IVs
If you haven’t been optimizing from the start, it’s likely none of your existing Pokémon have fully maxed IVs—but don’t give up on them yet. The easiest way to max out IVs is actually via Hyper Training, a mechanic introduced in Gen 7. In exchange for Bottle Caps, you can max out the IVs of Pokémon you already have without having to breed a more optimized batch.
The Hyper Training NPC in Scarlet and Violet can be found in Montenevera. Look for the muscled man and his Abomasnow standing just past the Pokémon center. There are no unlock requirements for Hyper Training so long as you have enough Bottle Caps and your Pokémon is at least level 50.
Normal Bottle Caps max out the IV of one stat, while Gold Bottle Caps max out all six IVs of a single Pokémon. Both types are a possible reward for Tera Raids of at least five stars, the Academy Ace Tournament, the Porto Marinada Auction, and the Item Printer at Blueberry Academy. You can also purchase regular Bottle Caps from Delibird Presents after collecting six gym badges for 20,000 Poké Dollars.
IVs that are maxed out this way display as “Hyper Trained” instead of “Best” in the Judge panel. Note that Hyper Training only applies to a Pokémon’s performance in battle—when it comes to breeding, it can only pass on its original IVs. However, the fact that you can just buy Bottle Caps eliminates the need for IV breeding at all, saving you a great deal of time and effort.
How IV breeding works
Still want to try your hand at the traditional way of IV maxing? Don’t say we didn’t warn you—it’s a long and tedious process even if you start off with a max IV Ditto. You’ll be spending a lot of time just biking around in-game, so grab your Switch charger and strap in.
To get started with IV breeding, you’ll need:
- One Destiny Knot (purchased at the Delibird Presents in Mesagoza after collecting four badges),
- A Pokémon with at least one naturally maxed IV stat (preferably a Ditto to guarantee compatibility across the board),
- One Talonflame (found in Area Zero, South Province Area Three, or by leveling up a Fletchling or Fletchinder),
- Technically, you can use any Pokémon that has the Flame Body ability. Talonflame is just the most accessible if you don’t already have another egg warmer Pokémon.
- At least one of each Power Item.
By default, Pokémon breeding passes down three random IV scores from either parent, while the other three are randomly rolled. If one of the parents is holding a Destiny Knot, the resulting egg will instead inherit five IV scores, and only roll one stat for itself. If the other parent is holding a Power Item, one of those five scores is guaranteed to be the stat corresponding to said Power Item.
The process of IV breeding is to use Power Items to ensure that at least one max IV is passed down, then hatch the eggs to see if any of them have rolled better IVs than their parents. If they have, you swap in that new Pokémon as a parent instead, and repeat. The Destiny Knot comes into play when both parents have at least five max IVs, so you want to make sure the eggs inherit most of them and don’t roll as many stats for themselves.
You can breed Pokémon eggs fast by putting only the two parent Pokémon in your party, then setting up a picnic and making an Egg Power sandwich. Idle for fifteen to thirty minutes, then collect the eggs. Swap out the parent Pokémon for the Talonflame, then go bike around in an open area—preferably with no overworld Pokémon spawns or lag and performance issues. Bike around until they hatch, check the IVs, set down a picnic for another batch, then rinse and repeat.
Advanced IV optimization tips
With the removal of Hidden Power, IV optimization is more straightforward in Scarlet and Violet than it’s ever been. However, there are still some other reasons why you wouldn’t want or need fully maxed IVs in all six stats.
For one, most Pokémon are built around either Attack or Special Attack as their primary offensive stat, not both. You can completely ignore Special Attack if your Pokémon only uses Attack, and vice versa. Not only does this help you save on breeding time or Bottle Caps, it also makes it much easier to pick a Nature for your Pokémon—you’ll get the most out of Natures that decrease Attack or Special Attack and increase your Pokémon’s most important stat.
If you want to go the full nine yards in optimization, you can also breed your Pokémon to have no Attack IVs at all if it doesn’t need it. At zero IV points, your Pokémon will take the minimum damage possible from moves that are based off the target’s Attack stat, such as Foul Play. It’s an incredibly situational optimization that doesn’t make a huge difference, but it’s something to consider if you’re IV breeding for yourself.
