Understanding and Maximizing Your Pokémon's Stats:

A Complete Trainer's Guide

Are you interested in training your Pokémon to have the best stats, but you don't fully understand how to do it? Perhaps you've watched videos or read guides that talk about things like base stats and EVs, but you're still confused by all the different terms and numbers and colored charts. Pokémon stat mechanics are surprisingly complex - there's much more to learn than the games themselves teach you!

This plain-language guide aims to demystify Pokémon stats, and along the way I'll demonstrate how to give your Pokémon the best stats it can possibly get! Every mechanic and training technique will be explained, with plenty of screenshots to help you understand each section.

As our example, we'll train a Politoed. The same fundamental principles we'll discuss for Politoed also apply to any other Pokémon you'd like to raise, whether you're preparing for competitive battles or you just enjoy having top quality Pokémon. As you follow along with Politoed's training progress, I hope you'll gain familiarity with stat mechanics and learn how to make your own decisions about raising any Pokémon you like to its full potential.

Before you start training, take some time to consider your end goal. It's only possible for a Pokémon to maximize two of its stats, at most, so you should decide in advance what you'd like to train your Pokémon to actually do. Maybe you've already chosen which stats you want your Pokémon to specialize in; for example, you want an Incineroar with the highest possible Attack stat. Or maybe you aren't sure yet.

If you have a Pokémon you want to raise but you're not sure which stats would be best to raise, think about what you'd like to do with the Pokémon. Do you want to use this Pokémon in Tera Raids? Do you want it to help you catch more Pokémon easily? Do you want to create a strategy based on a specific move, ability or theme? Do you want it to fulfill a specific team role? These ideas should help guide you towards choosing a stat build.

Remember, there's no right or wrong answer! Pick whatever seems good to you. If you change your mind later, that's okay - you can always change your Pokémon's training again. Explore your creativity and have fun!

Base stats are the default stats for each Pokémon species and form. In other words, they are the background numbers that define the parameters of every kind of Pokémon to make them different in battle. Base stats are the foundation numbers that say Jolteon has higher Speed than Slowpoke, Shuckle has great Defense but weak Attack, Gengar is better than Gastly. Without base stats, different Pokémon that share the same types, moves and abilities would perform exactly the same in battle. Only their looks would be different.

Let's look at the base stats for Politoed. Click here to view the page on PokemonDB. We find that by default, Politoed have high HP, Special Attack and Special Defense stats; their Attack, Defense and Speed stats are mediocre. Politoed's strongest stat overall is Special Defense.

Next let's look at the individual Politoed we're going to raise. Here's her summary. Just caught at level 60, no training yet:




Our Politoed's stats - the HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed numbers we see in her stat summary - follow roughly the same pattern as the base stats shown on PokémonDB. Politoed starts with pretty good HP, Special Attack and Special Defense. Special Defense is her highest stat. In comparison, her Attack, Defense and Speed are much lower. Why aren't Politoed's stats exactly the same as the numbers we saw on PokémonDB? Because base stats don't directly correspond to the stats we see for individual Pokémon in-game. Base stats are only one component of a larger formula that determines the stats for each individual Pokémon.

The information we've just discussed helps me answer the question: how should we raise this particular Politoed? Well, personally I enjoy doing high level Tera Raids, so I'd like my new Politoed to be viable for raiding. Five+ star difficulty raids favor durability over offense, since you will often be unable to one-hit KO the bosses through their massive HP pools. My Politoed should have solid defenses - especially Special Defense, since that's her best stat - so she can take plenty of hits. I also want her to do decent damage using Special Attack, but pure damage isn't gonna be her main focus.

By putting all these considerations together, we've made a plan! Let's maximize Politoed's HP and Special Defense.

A Pokémon's nature is more than flavor text! Each nature increases one stat by 10% and reduces another by 10%, indicated by red (up) and blue (down) arrows shown on the Pokémon's stat chart. Each nature has a different effect.

Our Politoed has a careful nature.

Careful nature increases Special Defense and reduces Special Attack. See the little arrows we mentioned?

Politoed's Special Attack stat penalty means her special attacks won't hit as hard. That's not ideal. Fortunately, the problem is easy to fix.

Mints are consumable items that adjust the effect of a Pokémon's nature. When you use a mint, your Pokémon's current nature bonus and penalty will change to the ones that match the nature indicated by the mint. The text description shown in your Pokémon's summary does not change, but its stats do - exactly as though your Pokémon had a different nature from the beginning. There is absolutely no stat difference between an original nature and a minted nature, so there's no downside to using mints! And the effect is permanent until you feed your Pokémon another mint, which you can do as many times as you'd like to adjust its stats. Mints are sold at the Chansey Supply Shops in Mesagoza, Montenevera, and Cascarrafa.

Let's use a Calm Mint on Politoed. Calm nature increases Special Defense and reduces Attack.



Here's how Politoed's stats changed: Attack decreased from 102 to 91 (-11). Special Attack increased from 112 to 125 (+13).

Politoed still officially has a careful nature, but now the effect of her nature is more beneficial. The Calm Mint increased Politoed's Special Attack by removing the penalty from it, and she kept the same Special Defense bonus she already had. In exchange, Politoed's Attack decreased - Attack has the penalty now. She'll deal less damage with physical attacks from now on, but that's a tradeoff I'm happy to make.

Effort values (EVs, also confusingly known as base strengths) are one of the sets of unique values that make specific individual Pokémon different from others of the same species. These values are called 'effort' because the EV system represents the concept of your Pokémon becoming stronger/more skilled at using particular stats. Imagine that in addition to your Pokémon's regular experience bar, your Pokémon also has six hidden 'stat experience' bars, one for each of its stats. As you train your Pokémon, it gains 'stat experience points' (EV points) that fill up those hidden bars. Whenever your Pokémon's stat gains enough 'stat exp,' that stat invisibly 'levels up' and your Pokémon gains bonus stat points that increase the actual number you see on-screen in your Pokémon's stat summary. For example, Defense EVs are like your Pokémon has learned how to guard itself better against physical attacks, increasing its Defense stat.

EV training (also known as super training) means the process of making your Pokémon gain specific amounts of EV points to increase its stats by exact pre-planned amounts. Usually people EV train for competitive battles, where trainers' strategies often require their Pokémon to achieve particular stat numbers. However, you can still successfully EV train even if you don't care about the math behind it. In fact, you may be interested in my EV Training Planner! If you're following this guide with your own Pokémon, why not give it a try?

That said, feel free to skip to the next paragraph, but here we go with a more detailed look into the mechanics of EVs. A Pokémon can gain a total of 510 EV points spread across all six of its stats. Each individual stat can gain up to 252 EV points; 252 is the maximum amount of EV points possible for a single stat. At that point the stat has basically reached the 'stat level cap' and that Pokémon gets the highest possible bonus for the relevant stat. The actual impact of EVs on stats is scaled with the Pokémon's level and nature. In general, it takes 4 'stat exp' points for each 'stat level up'. (4 EV points = +1 stat point at lvl 100.)

Okay, math class is over! The important fact going forward is that 252 EV points = the highest possible bonus to that stat.

A basic and popular spread to EV train is 252/252/6. That's two stats maxed out and a tiny boost to a third. I'll demonstrate this spread with Politoed: 252 HP, 252 Special Defense, and 6 Special Attack.

Vitamins, Mochi and Feathers are consumable items used to instantly gain EV points, like rare candy for stats. EV training with consumables is super fast and easy. The only downside is that you may need to spend time farming the items.

Consumables for Gaining EV Points
Item Effect
HP Up / Health Mochi +10 HP EVs
Health Feather +1 HP EV
Protein / Power Mochi +10 Attack EVs
Muscle Feather +1 Attack EV
Iron / Resist Mochi +10 Defense EVs
Resist Feather +1 Defense EV
Calcium / Genius Mochi +10 Special Attack EVs
Genius Feather +1 Special Attack EV
Zinc / Clever Mochi +10 Special Defense EVs
Clever Feather +1 Special Defense EV
Carbos / Swift Mochi +10 Speed EVs
Swift Feather +1 Speed EV

We want Politoed to have 252 HP points. So, for example, we can feed Politoed 25 HP Ups/Health Mochi plus two Health Feathers, equaling exactly 252. Or we could use 26 HP Ups - that actually adds up to 260, but since the maximum limit is 252 per stat, it'll cap out at 252. Or we could use 252 Health Feathers... or whatever. Any combination of EV training items will work as long as they add up to the desired final EV.

Let's go ahead and use 26 HP Ups on Politoed:




Here's how Politoed's stats changed: HP increased from 185 to 223 (+38).

Politoed's HP EVs are maxed out. To indicate this, you will see a sparkle effect on HP on the EV chart in the Pokémon's stat summary.

In general, when a Pokémon participates in or gains experience from a battle, it also gains EV points. Exactly what EV points and how many are determined by the species of the defeated opponent. If you don't care what opponents you battle, then your Pokémon still gradually gain EVs - you're just not choosing their EVs. But you can also purposefully EV train using battles. This is the cheaper but more time-consuming method. When EV training against wild Pokémon, you'll need to pre-plan exactly what wild Pokémon to battle and how many of them you need to KO.

We want Politoed to have 252 Special Defense points. Let's plan this out. First, we need certain held items to equip. Next we need to identify the right Pokémon to battle: wild Pokémon that will give the kind of EVs we want. Then we need to figure out how many of them to KO in order to gain the number of points we want.

The Power training items are held items that improve the holder's EV gains from battling. With a Power item equipped, your Pokémon will gain 8 additional EV points for every KO. Those 8 extra EVs are determined by the Power item. For example, let's say your Pokémon is holding a Power Bracer, which gives bonus Attack EVs. Then you KO a Chansey, which gives +2 HP EVs. Your Pokémon gains +2 HP EVs from the Chansey plus +8 Attack EVs from the Power Bracer it's holding.

You might notice that the Power items' in-game descriptions mention a Speed penalty. Don't worry, this effect is temporary. It only lasts while your Pokémon is actually holding the Power item. Just unequip it when you're done using it.

Held Items for Earning EVs in Battle
Item Effect Example Target Example Target's EV Yield Total EVs per Example KO
Power Weight +8 HP EVs Marill +2 HP EVs +10 HP EVs
Power Bracer +8 Attack EVs Veluza +2 Attack EVs +10 Attack EVs
Power Belt +8 Defense EVs Sudowoodoo +2 Defense EVs +10 Defense EVs
Power Lens +8 Special Attack EVs Golduck +2 Special Attack EVs +10 Special Attack EVs
Power Band +8 Special Defense EVs Hypno +2 Special Defense +10 Special Defense EVs
Power Anklet +8 Special Defense EVs Floatzel +2 Speed EVs +10 Speed EVs

We'll have Politoed hold a Power Belt...


And beat up some Hypno. My go-to spot to find Hypno is the ruins east of Alfornada.



We'd need Politoed to KO a total of 26 Hypno to earn 252 Special Defense EVs with this setup. (I actually only KOd two and then finished the Special Defense training off-screen with Zinc. The end result is the same.)

Politoed can unequip the Power Belt when we're finished using it.


Here's how Politoed's stats changed: Special Defense increased from 148 to 190 (+42).

Politoed's Special Defense EVs are maxed out. Again, to indicate this, you will see a sparkle effect on Special Defense on the EV chart in the Pokémon's stat summary.

In the previous two sections Politoed gained a total of 504 EV points. She can gain 6 more points before hitting the cap of 510. We'll dump these into Special Attack using 6 Genius Feathers.



That's it. EV training complete! Here's how Politoed's stats changed: Special Attack increased from 125 to 126 (+1).

Notice that the EV chart has changed from yellow to blue, indicating that Politoed can't gain any more EV points. There are sparkle effects on HP and Special Defense, indicating that those two stats have gained the maximum amount of EV points.

Furthermore, as a fully trained Pokémon, Politoed now qualifies for the Effort Ribbon. This achievement awards the title "the Once Well-Trained." I like to get all the Pokémon I EV train this ribbon.

The Effort Ribbon is handed out by a girl with a Luxio in the courtyard of south-central Levincia.



Changed your mind or made a mistake with EV training? There are a couple of ways to remove your Pokémon's EVs and start over. Use these items:

Consumables for Losing EV Points
Item Effect
Pomeg Berry -10 HP EVs
Kelpsy Berry -10 Attack EVs
Qualot Berry -10 Defense EVs
Hondew Berry -10 Special Attack EVs
Grepa Berry -10 Special Defense EVs
Tamato Berry -10 Speed EVs
Fresh-Start Mochi -All EVs

There is no limit to the number of times you can remove and redistribute a Pokémon's EV points. The berries can be picked up off of the ground in Paldea Area Two, and Fresh-Start Mochi can be won as a prize at the Ogre Oustin' game at the Kitakami Festival.

I prefer to focus on leveling up my Pokémon after I've finished EV training them. If you're not paying attention while battling, you might accidentally gain unwanted EV points. Once EV training is complete, though, this is no longer a concern. So feel free to grind or use exp candy - whatever you prefer.

I have way more than enough exp candies, so let's feed some to Politoed. Level 100: the pinnacle of power for a Pokémon!



Unsurprisingly, Politoed gets a massive stat boost: HP increased from 223 to 366 (+143). Attack increased from 91 to 150 (+59). Defense increased from 107 to 176 (+69). Special Attack increased from 126 to 207 (+81). Special Defense increased from 190 to 313 (+123). Speed increased from 101 to 165 (+64).

Notice how Politoed's HP and Special Defense grew a lot more than all her other stats? That's her EV training in action!

Individual Values (IVs, also known as individual strengths) are the other set of sets of unique values that make specific individual Pokémon different from others of the same species. IVs represent a Pokémon's 'genes': six unique values, one for each of its six stats, that determine the Pokémon's innate stat growth potential. IVs are meant to diversify individual Pokémon of the same species and level, so that Jenny's level 20 Pikachu isn't quite the same as Jimmy's level 20 Pikachu. IVs range from 0 (the worst possible) to 31 (the best possible).

This chart displays the Judge assessment of Politoed's current stat growth potential.

Our Politoed here is Decent at HP and Attack, and Pretty Good at everything else, relative to other Politoed. Her overall quality is Good.

Hyper training artificially increases a Pokémon's stat growth potential, causing the associated stat to be recalculated as though the IV were the highest possible value (31). The actual IV does not change, but the stat value does, like using a mint to optimize a specific stat. Functionally there is no stat difference between a naturally "best" IV and a hyper trained IV, so there is no downside to hyper training! Hyper training is purchased with items called Bottle Caps, which themselves can be purchased at Delibird Presents in Mesagoza.

We're going to optimize Politoed's genes. Let's visit the Hyper Trainer, a man with an Abomasnow near the Pokémon Center in Montenevera.




Five Bottle Caps later... The chart now shows each IV we augmented as "Hyper trained!", and Politoed's overall stat quality has correspondingly increased to Amazing. I could have hyper trained Politoed's Attack too, but I didn't bother. She won't be using it anyway.

Here's how Politoed's stats changed: HP increased from 366 to 384 (+18). Attack stayed the same. Defense increased from 176 to 186 (+10). Special Attack increased from 207 to 217 (+10). Special Defense increased from 313 to 328 (+15). Speed increased from 165 to 176 (+11).

At this point Politoed's stat training is complete. But we're not finished quite yet. Politoed's ability is Water Absorb, which is fine, but... Politoed's Rainy Mark is a perfect match for Drizzle!

The Ability Capsule and Ability Patch are similar consumable items that change a Pokémon's ability. When you use an Ability Capsule or Patch on your Pokémon, its ability changes to another one of its species' abilities. The change is permanent until you use another Ability Capsule or Patch on your Pokémon, which you can do as many times as you'd like. Ability Patches change to and from hidden abilities; Ability Capsules change between standard abilities.

In this case we need an Ability Patch to change Water Absorb, a standard ability for Politoed, to Drizzle, a hidden ability.


Politoed's current moveset also obviously needs improvement... Pound is just embarassing. Let's review the moves Politoed can learn. (Click here to view them on PokémonDB.) We find that Politoed has access to a decent variety of special attacks and support moves. Keeping in mind that I'd like to use Politoed in Tera Raids, I'll select new moves that will be good for raiding.

Let's go with Chilling Water and Mud Slap to debuff raid bosses, Surf for consistent Water damage, and... not sure about that last slot... I guess Ice Beam just as filler for now.


That's looking MUCH better!

Politoed has been turned into a soggy froggy powerhouse with top-tier stats; in particular, Politoed's training has given her the absolute maximum HP and Special Defense possible for a Politoed, plus a tiny extra boost to Special Attack. Here's her final build:




Mission accomplished! We successfully raised a raid-ready Politoed, and I hope you learned something interesting along the way.



Train on!

As a reward for making it all the way to the end, would you like to trade for a free battle-ready Pokémon? Check out the Battle Ready section of my tradeshop (#87) on PokeTrades to view what's currently available.