Your Guide to EV training!

Hey SouthPerry.
As much as I know some of you do not like EV training, many are still wanting to EV train for some competitive battle and don't know exactly how to get started, hopefully, this guide can do just that.

Games that will be included in this guide:
Heart Gold
Soul Silver
Diamond
Pearl
Platinum
- Thank you to HurrycaneX for providing spots for DPPt ! As well as ClawOfBeta for leading me to the Smogon list !
- Thank you to Dusk for providing a list she found off of GameFAQs for HG/SS !

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED, YOU MUST KNOW, EV TRAINING IS BORING AS BALLS. AND GETTING THE RIGHT POKEMON (ASSUMING YOU WANT THE RIGHT NATURE ETC) IS JUST AS BORING.

What are EVs?

 Spoiler

They are Effort Values for your pokemon, it is essentially the basis on how your pokemon gets stats. Every pokemon gives at least one EV to at least one stat, and if you want to focus on a certain stat, such as attack, you'll want to only fight certain pokemon.
Every pokemon can get up to 510 EVs, once it reaches 510, you CANNOT obtain more EVs, and 4 EVs of one stat gives you +1 to that stat. For Example, getting 16 Attack EVs will give you +4 Attack upon level up. You can only get 252 EVs per stat, meaning you can only fully raise two stats and have 4 more EVs in another stat. (252 ATT, 252 Speed, 4 HP, for example.)

You pretty much just get the EVs for gaining experience from the pokemon. (Although I'm not sure EXP. Share gives you EVs, however, you should not be using that item to EV train, a helpful tip would be that you just switch out the pokemon you want to EV train onto a pokemon that can easily kill the pokemon you're fighting. IT STILL GETS THOSE EVS!

What do I need?
You do not necessarily need ANYTHING to get started on EV training, but there are many, MANY, items you can use to speed it up.
Such as the power items - they will give you 4 more EVs in a certain stat per battle. (For example, you fight a magikarp (1 speed EV) and your pokemon is wearing a power weight. You will get 1 speed EV and 4 HP EVs).

 Spoiler

- The Power Weight : Available from the Battle Frontier, gives 4 HP EVs
- Power Bracer : Battle Frontier; 4 ATT EVs.
- Power Belt : Battle Frontier ; 4 DEF EVs.
Power Lens : Battle Frontier; 4 SP. ATT EVs.
Power Band: Battle Frontier; 4 SP. DEF EVs.
Power Anklet : 4 Speed EVs.

There is also the Macho Brace allows you to get double the EVs (Fight a Magikarp, get 2 Speed EVs instead of 1). It is relatively easy to find compared to the power items, you can get one from Goldenrod city off of the man who trades you a machop.

There is also Pokerus.. It doubles the EVs you get. (Fight a Magikarp with a Power Anklet, you'll get 10 speed EVs. [2x(1+4)].
Any pokemon gets it from the wild, it is VERY rare. And if a pokemon in your party battles with it, it may spread to other pokemon in your party. HOWEVER, once it passes midnight, the Pokerus goes away and cannot be re-obtained on the pokemon that has had it before. However, keeping the pokemon in the PC as the time passes will allow it to retain the status effect.
Plus:

Just some stuff about Pokerus, it's extremely rare, and it's accepted there's a 1 out of 32768 chance of running into a wild Pokemon with it. Also, any Pokemon that's been "cured" of Pokerus will continue to receive the benefits of it.

Some more info on EXP. Share:

Using the EXP Share while EV training allows the EVs earned in battle to be awarded both to the Pokemon that K/Os the opponent and the Pokemon holding the item. For example, if my Horsea has the EXP Share equipped and my Ampharos kills a Poliwhirl, both Ampharos and Horsea get 2 Speed EVs. The downside is that EV-increasing items and statuses cannot be manipulated by the EXP Share Pokemon to boost EVs earned; to get the increased amount one would have to lead with the EV training Pokemon and switch to the sweeper.

Also, Rare Candies are not as bad as you think. While they don't take EVs into account when leveling, they're safe to use once all EVs have been earned on a Pokemon.

ADDITIONALLY, the vitamins (Calcium, Carbos, etc) give +10 EVs to the stat it says it is for, and you can use up to 10 per pokemon, per stat. Meaning right off the bat, if you use all 10 of a certain vitamin, you knock off 100 EVs off that stat, resulting in just 152 EVs left to obtain!

You will also want a little notepad, just to keep track of everything.

What should I do once I get my items prepared?

 Spoiler

What I personally do is that I would use the 10 vitamins for the stat I wish to increase, make sure it has Pokerus, the power item and head off to where ever I need to train for that stat. Once you get the 252 for that stat, you would want to use 10 more vitamins on the second stat you want to raise, then repeat the process. For the final 4 EVs you will not be able to use vitamins, as you need EXACT EVs. And also because you will need 252 EVs, and you will be left with 152 after vitamins, and then you can get at least 10 EVs with Pokerus and the power item, you will need to get those last 2 EVs without the EV boosting item and fight a pokemon that gives just 1 of that EV (pokerus will make it 2 EVs).

I messed up on my EVs, what can I do?!

 Spoiler

So you messed up your EVs, and you do not want to re-obtain that pokemon that you believe is perfect for your party, well there's an item for that.
There are EV reducing berries that LOWER 10 EVs from any stat, and even if its just 1 EV, it will get reduced.
The Berries are:
HP : Pomeg Berry
ATT : Kelpsy Berry
DEF : Qualot Berry
SP. ATT : Hondew Berry
SP. DEF : Grepa Berry
Speed : Tamato Berry

Plus:

if you have over 100 EVs in a stat, an EV berry reduces it to 100, then decreases by 10 until there are 0 EVs. It will always take 11 berries at most to reset EVs.

Now where do I get the EVs?
PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS LIST IS JUST FOR HG/SS.

HP : Grimer/Muk (1/2 EVs, respectively) in the Celadon bridge water. To get there, from the pokemon center, head to the left, on the second left turn you can make (or bottom in top view), turn left. There is a bridge with water around it. Surf there, I use the bottom part. You should most likely find just the Grimers, only hunt those or Muks.

DPPt : Bidoof (1) at route 201.

ATT : Goldeen/Seaking (1/2), Cerulean City waters. You'll want to go up Nugget Bridge (The golden bridge) and enter the waters to the left of it. Should mostly find these, only hunt these.

DPPt : Seaking and Gyarados at Lake Verity. I think you'll need a super rod. Machop at Route 207. (2/2/1)

DEF : Geodude, Graveler, Gligar. (1/2/1). Route 45, under BlackThorn City. As you go down the bridge in BlackThorn, under the pokemon center, you'll want to search in the patch of grass closest to your RIGHT side. You may find other pokemon, but only aim for these.

DPPt : Geodude; Hippopotas(1/1); Route 207 for some Geodude. You can also go to Veilstone City, down to Route 214 and to the left you should see a cave, The Maniac's Tunnel to be exact. Here you can find mass amounts of Hippopotas and Geodude. I believe it expands if you have like Unown. Not sure though.

SP. ATT : Psyduck/Golduck (1/2). Route 6, upper vermillion city. On top of Cerulean City, in the huge patches of grass there should be a small lake/pond to surf in, it is just a tad on top of the Pokemon center. Should be fairly common to find, only hunt these.

DPPt : Gastly(1); Old Chateau

SP. DEF : Tentacool (1). The waters to the right of Olivine City. These are VERY common in the water, may find other pokemon, but these should be ideal.

DPPt : Tentacools or Tentacruel (1/2); North of SunnyShore.

Speed : Magikarp (1). Lake of Rage. Magikarps are ridiculous in here, you may find Gyarados, which give 2 ATT EVs. If you want speed, clearly aim for just magikarp.

DPPt : Bidoof or Magikarp (1/1) Bidoofs can best be found at Route 201. For Magikarp, go left of Eterna City, onto the bridge with four fishermen. The third trainer from the left will have a team of six Magikarp, just keep VS. Seeking and he should be ready to battle sooner or later.

That list not cutting it enough?

HG/SS (Thanks Dusk/GameFAQs)

 Spoiler

HP:
- Surfing in Slowpoke Well; Slowpoke (1).
- Surfing in Ruins of Alph; Wooper (1) and Quagsire (2).
- Surfing in Cliff’s Edge Gate; Wooper (1) and Quagsire (2).

Attack:
- Using the Super Rod in the first floor of Mt. Silver; Gyarados (2) and Seaking (2). You can encounter Goldeen (1) and Seaking (2) surfing on the same level.
- Surfing on Route 42; Goldeen (1) and Seaking (2).
- Surfing everywhere in Mt. Mortar; Goldeen (1) and Seaking (2).
- Surfing in Cerulean City; Goldeen (1) and Seaking (2).
- Surfing on Routes 24 and 25; Goldeen (1) and Seaking (2).

Defense:
- Rock smash boulders in Ruins of Alph; Geodude (1).
- Rock smash boulders in Rock Tunnel; Geodude (1).
- Rock smash boulders in Cerulean Cave; Geodude (1) and Graveler (2).

Special Attack:
- Surfing on Route 35; Psyducks (1) and Golducks (2).

Special Defense:
- Surfing in Cherrygrove City; Tentacool (1) and Tentacruel (2).
- Surfing in Olivine City; Tentacool (1) and Tentacruel (2).
- Surfing in Pallet Town; Tentacool (1) and Tentacruel (2).
- Surfing in Cinnabar Island; Tentacool (1) and Tentacruel (2).
- Surfing on Routes 20 and 21; Tentacool (1) and Tentacruel (2).

Speed:
- Surfing on Route 30; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2). Using any type of fishing rod, you can encounter Magikarp (1) and Poliwag (1).
- Surfing in Violet City; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2). Using any type of fishing rod, you can encounter Magikarp (1) and Poliwag (1).
- Surfing in Ilex Forest; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Surfing in Ecruteak City; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Using any type of fishing rod in Cliff’s Edge Gate; Magikarp (1) and Poliwag (1).
- Using the Old Rod in Lake of Rage; Magikarp (1)
- Surfing on Route 43; Magikarp (1).
- Surfing on Route 44; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Surfing on Route 45; Magikarp (1). You can also use the Super Rod to encounter Poliwag (1) and Magikarp (1).
- Surfing in Blackthorn City; Magikarp (1).
- Surfing on Route 28; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Surfing in Mt. Silver (outside the cave); Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Surfing on Route 22; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Surfing in Viridian City; Poliwag (1) and Poliwhirl (2).
- Surfing in Fuschia City; Magikarp (1).
- Diglett Cave; Diglett (1) and Dugtrio (2)

Diamond/Pearl:

 Spoiler

Platinum:

 Spoiler

~These are taken directly from Smogon, all credits to Smogon for these two charts !

That's all I have for now..
Got any requests or recommendations? Post it or PM me and I will most likely add it on.
Questions? Post or PM.

Helpful and used Links : Serebii,
Look here if you're lost on where to go for HG/SS. Got locations here.

Need some pokemon strategies/builds? Use this site!, Smogon provides very in depth builds on nearly all pokemon. Serebii also works great but does not have nearly as many builds !

Thanks for reading and again, post any recommendations or mistakes ! Happy EV Training!

this is probably one of the few times where i would use an AR or any other cheat engine. Like you had said, certain pokemon give x EV's. now sure you can just hack your pokemon to have 999 of all stats, but thats just sad. plus using the engine you can easily obtain as many of the vitamins as you would want.

But instead, you can use it to generate wild pokemon encounters and fight pokemon that would give 4 of that EV, instead of just the 1/2.


Also, i think you should Include in your guide the berries that lower X stat, as i know off hand they too are used with EV's. they lower X stat, but raise happiness iirc.

this is probably one of the few times where i would use an AR or any other cheat engine. Like you had said, certain pokemon give x EV's. now sure you can just hack your pokemon to have 999 of all stats, but thats just sad. plus using the engine you can easily obtain as many of the vitamins as you would want.

But instead, you can use it to generate wild pokemon encounters and fight pokemon that would give 4 of that EV, instead of just the 1/2.


Also, i think you should Include in your guide the berries that lower X stat, as i know off hand they too are used with EV's. they lower X stat, but raise happiness iirc.

WELL ARS SUCK.
However I do condone the use of AR to get every item, TM, berries, etc. Just as long as you don't use it on actually modifying pogeys.
and yeah I realized I forgot about EV-reducing berries. They are added now though !

This guide is pomegranite. I'll just go get an AR and use pokesav DERPDERP.

Lol jk gg, Will.

Everything should be working now, and I'm fairly certain this is all that is needed besides DPPt spots.

this is probably one of the few times where i would use an AR or any other cheat engine. Like you had said, certain pokemon give x EV's. now sure you can just hack your pokemon to have 999 of all stats, but thats just sad. plus using the engine you can easily obtain as many of the vitamins as you would want.

But instead, you can use it to generate wild pokemon encounters and fight pokemon that would give 4 of that EV, instead of just the 1/2.


Also, i think you should Include in your guide the berries that lower X stat, as i know off hand they too are used with EV's. they lower X stat, but raise happiness iirc.

>:|

Charla-chan is not pleased with this type of f'aggotry that you call hax. Just train with the Power-items. Still insanely easy to EV train. The IVs are what gets most people.

WELL ARS SUCK.
However I do condone the use of AR to get every item, TM, berries, etc. Just as long as you don't use it on actually modifying pogeys.
and yeah I realized I forgot about EV-reducing berries. They are added now though !

if i had an interest in EV training, id use an AR for it. design an encounter a wild pokemon with pokerus that gives 4 of the EV, and rinse. Using a cheat engine to obtain all the items, IMO, is a smarter idea than trying to go through and get them all normally. the point of them is to speed up the training, so why not speed up the obtaining of the tools that speed up EV training?

The serebii page of each pokemon tells you the EVs it gives. Gyarados does indeed give 2 Attack.

A quote from Dusk I found useful, I think it covers a few minor things your OP didn't have. Might answer questions for people like my friend and me, who have never EV trained.

Any pogey that gets exp from the battle gets EVs. [....] Your pogeys get their EVs immediately, but their stats don't immediately change after battle. What happens is they have two sets of stats. One is the displayed stats on your screen. The other is their IVs/EVs. The stats that you see on your screen are recalculated from the IVs/EVs every time they are deposited, level up, or have vitamins/EV berries used on them. So if you completely EV train a pogey from scratch, but never deposit or level it up, its stats won't change.

You can EV train at any time before level 100. When you reach level 100, you can't gain exp anymore, so you can't gain EVs. Oh, and the "+4" or whatever to stats that you see on level up are meaningless. It's just recalculating those stats and displaying the difference. You can EV train a level 99 pogey and level it to 100 and you'll see like +60 to whatever stats you EVed.

On the topic of cheats: Pokesav is faster and easier. :| So, nou.

if i had an interest in EV training, id use an AR for it. design an encounter a wild pokemon with pokerus that gives 4 of the EV, and rinse. Using a cheat engine to obtain all the items, IMO, is a smarter idea than trying to go through and get them all normally. the point of them is to speed up the training, so why not speed up the obtaining of the tools that speed up EV training?

Because most of us like to play the game the way it was meant to be played, not by speeding up EV training or manipulating IVs to have 31s in everything.

Yeah, can we keep the AR out of the discussion now?
This guide is meant for those who don't have an AR, are interested in competitive battling, and are interested in EV training.

Yeah, can we keep the AR out of the discussion now?
This guide is meant for those who don't have an AR, are interested in competitive battling, and are interested in EV training.

...fiiiine.

Since you addressed it; Whats the deal with IV's?

...fiiiine.

Since you addressed it; Whats the deal with IV's?

Most I know about them is that it's the extra hidden stats a pokemon has.
I don't exactly know how to get perfect IVs and stuff, but it ranges from 0~31.
If a base stat of a pokemon was like 80, and it had 30 IVs for that stat, un-EV'd, it would have 110 of that stat.

The pokemon characteristics help identify their main IV stat.

Can't help much past that.
Each stat has a certain IV.

It IS possible to get a certain amount of IVs on a pokemon I tihnk, to near perfect, but its REALLY hard and random.

Power item breeding allows you to get a certain characteristic (Anklet would give you a characteristic that will benefit you in speed), and I think the characteristic a pokemon has (Such as often dozes off) means it has 31 in that stat.

But that's just one stat.

I'll check back tomorrow.
Later guys ~

Most I know about them is that it's the extra hidden stats a pokemon has.
I don't exactly know how to get perfect IVs and stuff, but it ranges from 0~31.
If a base stat of a pokemon was like 80, and it had 30 IVs for that stat, un-EV'd, it would have 110 of that stat.

The pokemon characteristics help identify their main IV stat.

Can't help much past that.
Each stat has a certain IV.

It IS possible to get a certain amount of IVs on a pokemon I tihnk, to near perfect, but its REALLY hard and random.

Power item breeding allows you to get a certain characteristic (Anklet would give you a characteristic that will benefit you in speed), and I think the characteristic a pokemon has (Such as often dozes off) means it has 31 in that stat.

But that's just one stat.

If you feel like digging back in time, you can check the IV's of a pokemon in Emerald version. there are many drawbacks to this, first and foremost that you can NOT trade from D/P/Pt BACK TO Emerald, only forward via pal park.

theres an NPC that looks like a karate guy, he can check and evaluate the IV's of a pokemon. he rates them as good, great, poor, bad, and something else iirc, and then says which stat stands out most to him, which would be what stat that IV is for.

...fiiiine.

Since you addressed it; Whats the deal with IV's?

For each point in an IV you have more stat points. At level 100 1 IV will equal 1 stat point(not sure on this one, I was messing around with an IV calculator once and when I added 1 IV the stat went up with 3).

Glad to see that someone found some good EVing spots in HG/SS, it seems that it now is better at everything competitive wise, EXCEPT for actually getting the eggs: in DPPt you could stand on the rightmost line of sandy tiles, then use your bike in speed 4, and go up and down constantly while being able to see what the daycare man was doing. In HG/SS this is somewhat possbile, but you're slowed by Goldenrods north gate(why couldn't they just replace that thing with something similar to the one on the south). I think that is going to be very annoying when you actually start breeding, but with being able to pass on IV and natures easily it can't be that horrble.

My EV spots in Diamond/Platinum:
HP: Bidoof at route 201.
ATT: Machops at route 207.
DEF: Geodudes at route 207.
Sp.ATT: Gastlys at the Old Chateau.
Sp.DEF: Tentacools. No idea where. Or maybe Tentacruels north of Sunnyshore.
Speed: Starly at route 201.

I could've sworn I've seen this exact same guide, word for word, on Smogon.

If you feel like digging back in time, you can check the IV's of a pokemon in Emerald version. there are many drawbacks to this, first and foremost that you can NOT trade from D/P/Pt BACK TO Emerald, only forward via pal park.

theres an NPC that looks like a karate guy, he can check and evaluate the IV's of a pokemon. he rates them as good, great, poor, bad, and something else iirc, and then says which stat stands out most to him, which would be what stat that IV is for.

They readded this guy in Pt and HG/SS. He's in the Battle Tower.

How long does it take to connect your game to a computer and hack something in? I could probably fully EV train a Pokemon faster. Every battle is 10-12 EVs, and you can get at least 200 of them by vitamins. That leaves 30 battles, tops, to max out EVs. It's really not a big deal. I just do it in the processs of training up a new Pokemon. If you don't have Pokerus, ask someone who does.

IVs aren't a huge deal as long as they're not terrible (above 20 and above 25 in the important stats is usually good enough). The only time I obsess over them is when I'm going for a specific Hidden Power.

Specific IVs determines the 'attribute' of your Hidden Power too. Always keep that in mind in case you want a specific one.

About the EV-reducing berries : if you have over 100 EVs in a stat, an EV berry reduces it to 100, then decreases by 10 until there are 0 EVs. It will always take 11 berries at most to reset EVs.

They readded this guy in Pt and HG/SS. He's in the Battle Tower.

How long does it take to connect your game to a computer and hack something in? I could probably fully EV train a Pokemon faster. Every battle is 10-12 EVs, and you can get at least 200 of them by vitamins. That leaves 30 battles, tops, to max out EVs. It's really not a big deal. I just do it in the processs of training up a new Pokemon. If you don't have Pokerus, ask someone who does.

IVs aren't a huge deal as long as they're not terrible (above 20 and above 25 in the important stats is usually good enough). The only time I obsess over them is when I'm going for a specific Hidden Power.

Like me.

For me, I try to EV train without the need of vitamins, with Pokerus and a Power "X" item. The few times I'd go and buy them is if I've reached the money cap.

About the EV-reducing berries : if you have over 100 EVs in a stat, an EV berry reduces it to 100, then decreases by 10 until there are 0 EVs. It will always take 11 berries at most to reset EVs.

Sweet. I didn't know that. I thought it always decreased EVs by 10. At the very least this will save me a ton of berries needed in the future if I ever need to EV reset a Pokemon of mine.

I could've sworn I've seen this exact same guide, word for word, on Smogon.

I assure you this is all recycled information of mine, that guy's youtube video.
I learned to EV train from Serebii.

I don't even use Smogon besides the pokemon builds. xD