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Pokemon Scarlet & Violet has been out for a little while and plenty of trainers have managed to get through the main campaign. This leaves you with the rather engrossing “post-game” to battle through – things like high-end Tera Raids and online multiplayer. There’s a lot to do here, but we are willing to bet your championship-winning team isn’t quite up to snuff to tackle it all.
That’s because Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is begging to be delved into and digested to find the hidden depth the series has been built on for decades. At its heart, Pokemon is all about training, breeding, and conditioning the perfect Pokemon. Any Pokemon can be the very best, but it’s going to take a lot of time to get there – or a lot of money. Let’s dive into the wonderful world of EV training.
More Pokemon Scarlet & Violet content:
IV Training | Starfall Street Guide | Tera Raid Battles | How To Get Charizard
What Are EVs?
EV stands for “Effort Value”. They are a somewhat hidden (or obfuscated) set of bonus stats that Pokemon gain whenever they participate in a battle. Defeating different Pokemon will increase different stats by a very small amount, and throughout the game, your favourite Pokemon will be truly unique with a diverse spread of stats.
When it comes to high-end Pokemon content, such as multiplayer, a diverse stat spread won’t get you very far. In fact, your Pokemon will be clobbered mercilessly. That’s because players min/max their Pokemon’s EVs to make a truly brutal force on the battlefield. What’s stronger than a Garchomp trotting around Paldea? A Garchomp being trained to be death incarnate.
Now there are some restrictions when it comes to EVs:
- Pokemon can only gain a total of 510 EVs
- Pokemon can only have a maximum of 252 EVs per stat
Now you can distribute your EVs however you want, however, the most common method is to do a 252/252/6 split. This will hyper-focus your Pokemon in two areas, and give them a small bump in another area. A great example would be giving an Attack-based Pokemon 252 EVs in Attack, 252 EVs in Speed, and the remainder in HP. This will make it as fast and as damaging as possible whilst giving it a slight bump in survivability.
How To EV Train From Battling
We’ve already mentioned that you can EV train your Pokemon from battling, and this is the cheapest method going. Do note that all Pokemon in your party will gain EVs even if they are not battling directly. Because of this, make sure you only bring Pokemon you want to EV train in the same way, or better yet, take only one Pokemon at a time.
Defeated Pokemon will grant 1-3 EVs, with the specific EV granted being determined by the Pokemon you defeat (or catch). Since you need a whopping 510 of these things, you are going to be battling for quite a while to get even a single Pokemon maxed out. Thankfully, there are ways to expedite this process.
In Delibird Presents (found in most Towns), you can find various Power items. These can be held by your Pokemon and will boost the number of EVs you get in a specific stat to a whopping 10. This, as you might expect, drastically cuts down on the number of battles you need to engage in to cap out your EVs. They cost $10,000 each, so they are rather expensive. They are, however, the cheapest way to gain quick power.
The items you are looking for are:
- Power Weight (HP)
- Power Bracer (Attack)
- Power Lens (Special Attack)
- Power Belt (Defence)
- Power Band (Special Defence)
- Power Anklet (Speed)
As a quick side note, you can’t gain EVs from Autobattling, so you are forced to engage in an actual battle if you want to EV train your Pokemon.
Which Pokemon Give Which EVs?
Every Pokemon gives EVs, with each specific Pokemon always handing out the same EV. You can EV train off of any Pokemon, but we have included a list of early Pokemon that can be found just by wandering some low-level areas. This ensures your Pokemon can quickly dispatch your foes, and you can reap the rewards faster. All of these Pokemon can be found in South Province.
| EV Gained | Pokemon Required |
| HP | Lechonk |
| Attack | Yungoos |
| Special Attack | Psyduck |
| Defence | Scatterbug |
| Special Defence | Spoink |
| Speed | Fletchling |
How To EV Train With Vitamins
If you don’t want to spend about 30 minutes per Pokemon grinding out EVs, then you can cut your time down to around about 60 seconds. This method is the most effective way to gain EVs, and you can turn a fresh-faced Pokemon into a seasoned vet almost instantly. The catch? It’s shockingly expensive.
You can buy special Vitamins from Chansey Supply (which can also be found in most Towns). Each Vitamin will set you back $10,000, and each Vitamin will boost your chosen stat by 10 EVS. If you want to max out a single Pokemon’s EVs, you are looking at dropping a hefty $510,000. For the record, that might be less money that you’d gain from completing the main campaign.
The Vitamins are:
- HP Up (HP)
- Protein (Attack)
- Carbos (Special Attack)
- Iron (Defence)
- Calcium (Special Defence)
- Zinc (Speed)
No matter how you choose to EV train your Pokemon, your efforts will not be for nought. A fully EV-trained Pokemon will be a great boon in any party, and can greatly increase your chances of winning high-end Tera Raids. This can lead to huge rewards if you can successfully burn through a lot of these quickly.
That’s all we have for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet for now. Check out our other guides as we have covered everything from the main campaign, to IV training, and even how to get the perfect Tera Raid Pokemon.
