Becca's Guide to EVs & IVs for trainers in a hurry (USUM)

Figured I might as well put something up for this, since I've yet to see one around that was immediately accessible. If one of you has already made a guide for EV/IV spreads in USUM that I haven't found, I'm sorry.

Anyways! Welcome to a new series of threads I'm about to call...

Becca's Guide for Trainers in a Hurry

I am your host, Snowbound-Becca, here to give you some helpful tips and tricks for Pokémon Trainers wanting to quickly get into the competitive scene but simply have too much time on their hands to properly train up a combat-ready Pokémon team.

Today, as you've no doubt read from the title, we will be talking about EVs and IVs.
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First and foremost: What are EVs and IVs? ​

Well, firstly, EVs have nothing to do with the Pokémon Eevee, as adorable and versatile as it is. EV stands for Effort Values, a set of stat numbers that increases every time you beat a wild or NPC trainer's Pokémon in a fight. Each opponent Pokémon you beat will net you 1 or 2 EVs from a specific stat, and every 4 EVs will equal 1 stat point. For example, beating a Pikipek will grant you 1 Attack EV, while beating a Spearow will net you 1 Speed EV. You can check a Pokémon's EV spread in the party summary by simply pressing Y. This is what sets trained Pokémon apart from wild Pokémon.

IVs, on the other hand, stand for Individual Values. These stats are always static and cannot be changed (unless you use Hyper Training, which I will explain later). These values are invisible at the start, but they will become accessible to see after you've beaten the main campaign and gained entry to the Battle Tree. There will be a male cool trainer there that will give you a handy dandy button to help view your Pokémon's IVs on the PC, but only after you've hatched at least 20 eggs.

What's the best EV spread for my Pokémon?​

That depends on the Pokémon and what role you want it to have on your team. For this, we'll use Eevee as an example. Say you just hatched an Eevee, and its nature benefits its Speed stat. You'll want to train its Speed EVs to the max to make it gotta go fast- I mean first most of time, along with whatever stat that you want it to have maxed out that isn't lowered by its nature (i.e. if your Eevee is Timid, you'll want to max out its Sp. Attack instead of its Attack). Most EV spreads will have two maxed out stats and a little more into another stat, normally HP just to be safe.

For more information about specific Pokémon EV spreads, I recommend checking Smogon.

How do I gain EVs for my Pokémon?​

Back in the day, it took a lot of time and a lot of math to make even one perfect EV trained Pokémon. Thankfully, in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, gaining EVs for your Pokémon has become super simple. There are two ways to train a Pokémon's EVs: Poke Pelago or SOS battles.

If you're the type of person who simply has too much work to do in the real world, Poke Pelago is for you. Isle Evelup is the perfect place to put your Pokémon away to be EV trained and just forget about it. If you've leveled up Isle Evelup to the max and put in a lot of beans, the fastest it will train a Pokémon's stat to max will take up to a day. When you check your Pokémon on the playground, Mohn will inform you how many EV points it has gained and if its stats are maxed out.

For those who want to be a little more engaged and want your Pokémon EV trained as soon as possible, you'll want to get into SOS battles. You know, whenever a wild Pokémon calls for help. We've all seen it before. For this, you'll want to do some preparations first.

First, you're going to need Vitamins. These are a lot easier to come by since they only cost 2 BP a pop. You're going to need 10 of each for the two stats you want to max out, and one for the extra. Before EV training your Pokémon, use the first two right away, and the extra one after your training.

Then, you're going to need Power items. These babies can be purchased for 16 BP a piece at the Battle Royal Dome. With one of these equipped, a single specific EV gained from a defeated Pokémon will be increased by 4. For example, beating a Spearow will normally give you 1 Speed EV, but holding the Power Anklet will net you 5 Speed EVs. So instead of beating over a hundred Spearows, you'll just be beating at least 7.

Next, you'll want Adrenaline Orbs. These can be purchased at a cheap price at any PokeCenter. Using one of these in a battle will increase the chances of a wild Pokémon calling for help (whether its friends come to help or not is entirely up to RNG). Finally, you'll want a high level Pokémon with Intimidate, Unnerve, or Pressure as its ability, and also knows False Swipe/Hold Back and at least one attacking move. These three abilities also increase the chance of a wild Pokémon calling in the cavalry (I like using Absol or Weavile, personally).

Also, there's PokeRus. This is extremely rare, but if you have it active, you're in luck because any EVs you earn after beating a Pokémon are doubled. Thus, the count for beaten Spearows is cut down from 7 to... 4, I think. So make sure you spread that around your team in fights and keep at least one active contagion boxed for later use.

What are the best wild Pokémon to EV train against?​

Here are some of the best Pokémon to EV train against in US&UM in my opinion:

• HP: Caterpie or Wishiwashi.
• Attack: Yungoos, Pikipek, Lillipup, Mudbray, or Grubbin.
• Defense: Alolan Sandshrew or Pelipper
• Sp. Attack: Petilil, Psyduck, or Zorua
• Sp. Defense: Mantyke or Tentacool
• Speed: Spearow or Alolan Rattata.

How do I lower EVs?​

Lowering EVs in US&UM can only be achieved using berries. Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa and Tamato berries will lower 10 EVs each, and can be located at the berry tree on Route 10 on Ula'ula Island. If you have them, you can easily grow more using Isle Aplenny in Poke Pelago.

How do IVs work?​

Each Pokémon, wild or bred, always comes with a certain amount of Individual Values that boost its stats. As I said before, these values are static and cannot be changed, but in US&UM, there is a way to max out IVs almost instantly.

When a Pokémon reaches level 100, they gain access to Hyper Training in the mall in Hau'oli City. Speak to the hyper-active man there and for one Bottle Cap, he will instantly max out one IV stat for your Pokémon. For a Gold Bottle Cap, he will max out ALL of your Pokémon's IVs at once.

How do you get Bottle Caps? These special collectibles can be obtained in the Festival Plaza. A man at the very back of your castle will trade 10 Shards of the same color for 1 Bottle Cap. Gold Bottle Caps are rare however, and so far the only possible way to obtain one is winning the lottery or through events.

If you want your Pokémon with max IVs right away however, you're going to have to do a lot of breeding.

How do I breed IVs for my Pokémon?​

Breeding for perfect IVs has always been tricky. Even in US&UM, breeding for the perfect Pokémon takes time, patience, and a hint of luck. Thankfully, there are a lot of things added in US&UM that make this process somewhat quicker.

To breed for the perfect Pokémon, you're going to need two items: a Destiny Knot and an Everstone. The Destiny Knot helps the baby Pokémon inherit a certain amount of IVs from the parent, while the Everstone almost guarantees the baby Pokémon inherits the nature of its parent. These two items are imperative for breeding the perfect Pokémon for your team. You can obtain the Destiny Knot after saving a swimmer girl from some Frillish on the route just below Tapu Village, and the Everstone can be obtained after rematching Ilima at their house in Hau'oli City.

You're also going to need one very special Pokémon. Everyone's favorite pink blob, Ditto. Ditto can be obtained on Mt. Hokulani, but there is also a side quest at Koni Koni City's police department that will give you the chance to catch five unique Dittos, each with preset IVs and natures perfect for breeding. Don't pass this up, otherwise you're going to have to catch some max IV Dittos on the mountain via SOS battles.

Oh, I forgot to mention. You can get Pokémon with up to 5 max IVs via SOS battles. This is a time consuming process, but definitely worth your time. Especially if you want really good IV Pokémon right off the bat and with a potential hidden ability as well.

One other item that will make the process of hatching dozens of eggs much faster is the Oval Charm. After beating the main campaign, you can fight the guys at Game Freak HQ in a double battle. Beat them, and they will give you the charm, which increases the chance of an egg appearing in the Nursery. Also, having a Pokémon in your party with the Flame Body/Magma Armor ability (such as Fletchinder, Magby or Larvesta) will help incubate the eggs, and using Rotom's R-Hatching power also helps eggs to hatch faster as well.

Once you have a really good Ditto and your selected Pokémon holding a Destiny Knot and Everstone (depending on the IVs and nature you want), the rest is up to chance. You're going to have to hatch dozens of eggs, check the babies' IVs on the PC with the Judge button, and rotate the parents out for Pokémon with better IVs every so often until you get the Pokémon you want.

Again, there's no helping how time-consuming this process is. However, if you're patient enough, you'll eventually get that perfect 6 max IV Eevee in the end. And with the EV training guide above, getting them to their max battle potential will be the easy part.

And that's it! A clear-cut guide to IV and EV training. If you have any more questions, feel free to comment below. This is Snowbound-Becca, signing out.​

 

Certain berries will lower a specific EV, yes. You can check which stat they lower in their descriptions.

 

It's honestly not as hard to get BP in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, as Mantine Surfing is a fun minigame that rewards you with a lot of BP if you happen to be good at it (as an alternative to Battle Royal and the Battle Tree, if constant battling isn't your thing).