Hey guys, I found your blog and love what you're doing!!! I'm super interested in challenging your gym leaders but I've never played Pokemon for the IVs and such I think I need to level some more before I challenge you guys but if you could give me some more information about what exactly I have to do that'd be awesome. Thanks guys
Hi! Thank you for showing interest in the Poke-League~ We’re happy to offer you, and anyone else, the information needed to begin understanding and battling on a competitive level. Below is some streamlined information with links to more in-depth explanations on the various points of competitive battling. We hope this information helps you and others to better understand what it means to raise competitive Pokemon and we look forward to your future challenger applications!
What is competitive Pokemon battling, and how does it differ from what I’ve been doing all this time?
Competitive Pokemon battling refers to the combined knowledge of Base Stats, IV Breeding, Natures, Abilities, EV Training, Competitive Movesets, and Synergy that are applied when battling against other players in official tournaments, or leagues such as this.
It’s different from what is known as “metagame” battling (Metagame referring to challenges faced by the player through the game’s AI, not Player vs Player interaction) in the way that, unlike competitive battling, you only really need high-level Pokemon and a bunch of powerful moves to win.
Leveling does not matter in a competitive battle setting UNLESS you are playing Flat-Rules or No Restrictions. The game automatically bumps up your Pokemon to Lv.50 or scales them back to Lv.50 when battling against another player in a setting that is not Flat-Rules (Which allows Pokemon under, but not above, Lv.50) or No Restrictions (Which uses whatever levels your Pokemon are at). Flat Rules can be used by Gym Leaders and Elite Four of the Poke-League, but No Restrictions is never used. As such, it is recommended that all of your Pokemon are at or above Lv.50.
Base Stats are what tell you a Pokemon’s most useful function in battle. Their values can range from 1 to 255 and give you a strong idea of how that Pokemon should be utilized. Base stats cannot be changed and are the same across all Pokemon of the same species. That means that no matter how many Umbreon you have, they will all inevitably have higher Defense and Sp. Defense than Attack and Sp. Attack.
Base stats are not, however, the end-all for a Pokemon’s potential. IVs, EVs, and Nature all also have a role to play.
Serebii offers a full breakdown of each individual Pokemon’s Base Stats on their PokeDex pages.
What is IV Breeding, and why is it important?
IV Breeding is a process to ensure your Pokemon hatch from their Eggs with the perfect IVs. What are IVs? Well, IV stands for Individual Value, and it refers to a randomly generated number between 0 and 31 that is applied to all your Pokemon’s stats when you either A) Receive an Egg from the Daycare Man/Lad, B) catch a wild Pokemon, or C) Receive a Pokemon as a gift (Via NPC or other means, like the Beldum at Steven’s House).
IVs are important because those random values are precious points that are added to your Pokemon’s stats as they level up. You won’t notice a big difference in-game unless your Pokemon is at Lv.50 or Lv.100, which is why they matter for competitive battling. Those 31 points can make or break a Pokemon and, in turn, make or break your chances of winning.
Example: You and your opponent both send out Salamence. Your Salamence moves first and uses Dragon Claw on the opposing Salamence, reducing it to half health. Your opponent’s Salamence also uses Dragon Claw, but KO’s your Salamence. Now, the reason for this is likely that your own Salamence had lower Defense and HP IVs while the opposing Salamence likely had higher Defense, HP, and Attack IVs.
To determine a Pokemon’s IVs, you can check with the Ace Trainer NPC in the Pokemon Center at the Battle Resort in ORAS or, alternatively, the Ace Trainer NPC in Kiloude City’s Pokemon Center in XY. Here is a link to help decipher the NPC’s messages about your Pokemon’s stats.
Breeding IVs can be a rather lengthy process without the right tools. IVs are passed on to the child Pokemon from their parent Pokemon at random. Normally, only 3 IVs are passed on from the parents while the others are randomly generated. Having one of the parent Pokemon hold a Destiny Knot ensures that 5 IVs are passed down instead of three. Having one of the parent Pokemon hold a “Power” item (Power Anklet/Bracer/Lens/etc) will ensure that that specific stat’s IV is passed down from the parent to the child, but is still only one of 5 IVs passed down if used in tandem with the Destiny Knot.
Here is a link to a comprehensive IV breeding guide to help you get started.
What are Natures and why do they matter?
Natures have been in Pokemon since Gen 3 and are an indicator of how your Pokemon’s stats will grow. There are 25 different Natures with five (Hardy, Quirky, Serious, Bashful, and Docile) that have no effect on your Pokemon’s stats. The other 20 increase one stat by 10% while decreasing another by 10%. One may think that neutral natures are the way to go, as they don’t lower your stats, but they also don’t raise them - and a lot of Pokemon have one stat that can do with a bit of loss.
Example: You’re wanting to breed a Scyther that will specializes in physical attacks when it evolves into Scizor, since its Sp. Attack is terrible. With that in mind, it’s logical to allow its Sp. Attack stat, which it won’t be using anyway, to be decreased even further by trying to breed an Adamant (Atk+, Sp.Atk-) or Jolly (Speed+, Sp.Atk-) natured Scyther.
There are no natures that influence HP. HP is determined purely by IVs and the amount of EVs invested into it.
Breeding natures is easy as long as you have an Everstone. Simply give the stone to the parent Pokemon whose nature you wish to pass on to the child and the child will have that nature, 100% guaranteed.
Here is a link with a table detailing all 25 natures and their respective buffs/debuffs.
Are Abilities really worth looking into?
The answer is yes. A Pokemon’s Ability can make it an integral part of your Pokemon team, or dead weight. A lot of Pokemon have abilities that don’t particularly shine, but even then it’s still best to be pragmatic and choose the one which will benefit your team the most.
Hidden Abilities were introduced in Gen 5 and provide a lot of Pokemon with much more useful abilities than they can get naturally. Hidden Abilities are fairly easy to come by in ORAS and XY through use of the Friend Safari, Hordes, and DexNav chaining.
It’s even possible to breed Pokemon with their Hidden Abilities! In ORAS and XY, if the mother Pokemon has her Hidden Ability, there is an 80% chance it will be passed on to the child. If the father has it, you can still luck out and get a child with its Hidden Ability 20% of the time.
Here is list of all Pokemon whose Hidden Abilities are legitimately obtainable in ORAS/XY.
What are EVs and how do I EV Train my Pokemon?
EV stands for Effort Value. EVs are what have the biggest impact on a Pokemon’s stats. You’ve been unknowingly raising your Pokemon’s EVs as you played through the main story of the game without even knowing it! That’s because, every Pokemon you defeat or capture gives a certain amount of EVs to your own Pokemon.
A Pokemon can have a total of 510 EVs across all six stats with each individual stat capping at 252. The reason is that EVs are divided by 4 before being calculated into stat points. That means that a Pokemon with 252 Attack EVs will be 63 points higher in Attack than a Pokemon with 0 Attack EVs, at Lv.100.
All Pokemon can yield 1, 2, or 3 EVs upon defeat/capture. Now, that may seem like a very meager amount (And it is) but there are various methods to speed up the EV training process.
Vitamins can be used to increase a Pokemon’s EVs by 10 in any one stat. However, Vitamins can no longer be used when a stat has reached 100 EVs or higher. The amount of EVs given by Vitamins cannot be manipulated.
PokeRus, the elusive “virus” that infects Pokemon, doubles the amount of EVs the Pokemon receives from defeating/capturing Pokemon and continues to work even after the condition has passed. This means the Pokemon would receive 2, 4, or 6 EVs rather than 1, 2, or 3.
The Macho Brace also doubles a Pokemon’s EVs and stacks with the PokeRus. By itself, the Macho Brace helps yield the same EVs as the PokeRus, but together, you can get 4, 8, or 12 EVs per Pokemon.
The Power items also effect EVs. Each one promotes the growth of a certain stat at the cost of the Pokemon being slower in battle while the item is equipped. These items add +4 to their respective stats regardless of the EVs the Pokemon received in battle. These items also stack with PokeRus, meaning you would gain +8 EVs rather than +4.
Example: Your Pokemon defeats a wild Zigzagoon (Which yields 1 Speed EV) while equipped with the Power Bracer (Which gives +4 Attack EVs), This means your Pokemon gained not only 1 Speed EV, but also 4 Attack EVs!
Horde Battles are a way of gathering EVs faster by defeating 5 Pokemon at a time rather than 1. Having a Pokemon with Sweet Scent helps as the move always results in a Horde Battle in ORAS and XY when used in the field.
Super-Training is also an option and provides you with a visible guide to your Pokemon’s EVs. It’s fairly self-explanatory so I won’t go in-depth here. However, do know that regardless of whether you use the Super Training function, it will still show you whatever EVs the Pokemon in your party have accrued.
The Exp. Share also shares EVs. Keep this in mind when EV Training as it could ruin other Pokemon in your party. Or, it can be utilized to speed up the process with Pokemon who you want to have similar EV distributions.
If you make a mistake or simply have a beloved Pokemon whose EVs need to be redone, you have three options: A) Berries. There are six berries (Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tamato) that lower your Pokemon’s EVs by 10 when consumed. Each affects a different stat and will stop working if your Pokemon is at max Happiness (As they also increase Happiness) B) Reset Bags. These are obtained randomly via Super Training and, when used, completely reset your Pokemon’s EVs. C) This option is only available in XY. If you have a Kee Berry and a Maranga Berry, you can take them to the Juice Shoppe in Lumiose City to create the Perilous Soup, which functions like a Reset Bag and completely resets your Pokemon’s EVs.
The way your Pokemon’s EVs are distributed are called EV Spreads and you should put a lot of thought into this when raising your Pokemon. Smogon is a decent resource for determining how a Pokemon’s EVs should be distributed for a particular set. Do not consider their spreads to be concrete by any means. Instead, use them as guidelines for building your own spreads.
Here is a comprehensive guide on EVs with information on optimum Hordes and how to best utilize PokeRus, the Macho Brace and Power Items.
What is considered a “competitive” moveset? Why can’t I use attacks I like?
Well, you can. But chances are, you’ll lose. A competitive moveset is four moves chosen for a Pokemon that will ensure it is as versatile as possible and benefit your team.
Running Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Strength and Fly on a Charizard is not going to get you very far at all. However, Dragon Dance, Dragon Claw, Fire Punch and Roost (For a Charizard whose purpose is to Mega Evolve into CharizardX) allows for much more versatility.
Generally, you want your Pokemon to be able to hit as many different types as it can for at least neutral damage. For that reason, having two damaging moves of the same type is pretty redundant (There are some exceptions).
However, you also need to look at non-damaging moves that can improve your Pokemon’s effectiveness in battle. Take that CharizardX set-up, for example. Dragon Dance increases CharizardX’s already great Attack even further and bumps up its Speed to allow it to outspeed your opponent and possibly KO before they can get a move in. Roost provides it with the ability to heal and therefore last much longer in battle.
Things like Base Power and Accuracy also need to be considered when building a moveset. Zap Cannon, though powerful, is a terrible competitive move since it only hits 50% of the time, and who wants to rely on that when they’re down to their last Pokemon? Moves with less than Base 60 Attack Power aren’t even worth considering in most cases (The exception being Abilities that enhance their power like Technician, Aerialate, Refrigerate and Pixelate).
Synergy is your team’s ability to mesh and function as a unit in battle rather than as individuals. Now, this is important in building a competitive team because just throwing a team consisting solely of Pokemon that all function the same (Physical attacks, tanks, healers, etc.) isn’t going to get you any wins.
This page gets really in-depth into what it means to build a competitive team and I highly recommend reading through all of its Table of Contents as it covers all the previous topics I’ve explained and then some.
I hope this has helped you and whoever else has read this answer to better understand the components of competitive battling~ Feel free to leave us any further questions and we’ll be sure to answer as soon as possible!
