ENTERTAINMENT POKEMON BATTLING

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LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

A comprehensive guide to competitive Pokemon

by Alex Wheadon awheadon315@g.fhsdschools.org

To some, Pokemon may be a game where one casually plays through the game without care for which Pokemon is the best or which type of matchup beats which. Others may want to shiny hunt to find a rare one in 4,096 shiny or off-colored Pokemon. For others, they play for the competitive scene where type matchups, held items, EV’s and IV’s all matter and just one wrong move may cost the game. With all that being said, there is a lot that goes into competitive Pokemon so let me guide you through the world of competitive Pokemon.

For this, I will mostly be referencing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the newest games in the series. Let’s start with the newest addition to that game; Terastallization. This is really important in a battle because it can completely change a Pokemon’s type, so a dragon type, one of the strongest types, can terastallize into a fairy type negating the fairy, dragon and ice weaknesses. Another reason it’s good is the Same Type Attack Bonus (S.T.A.B.) that a Pokemon has stays the same, plus they get extra for the type they become or they get a boost to attacks if they terastallize to the same type they already were.

Speaking of, let’s talk about S.T.A.B. or Same Type Attack Bonus as it is something each Pokemon has and it depends on their type. S.T.A.B. gives certain moves a 1.5x attack boost. So for example,

More To Help On Your Journey

Some things to help with your journey to be a competitive master

EV Training a Pokemon works by defeating Pokemon that give certain EVs like how Chancey gives two HP EVs.

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a fire fighting Pokemon will get a 1.5x attack boost to attacks that are fire or fighting. Going back to terastallization, if they terastallize into a grass type then they gain the S.T.A.B. from the grass typing and they keep the original S.T.A.B. they had.

EV’s (Effort Values) and IV’s (Individual Values) are the stats of the Pokemon. Before talking about EV’s and IV’s, someone getting into Pokemon needs to know about B.S.T. (Base Stat Totals). They are the total from one to 255 with each stat being HP, attack, special attack, defense, special defense and speed and gauges the potential a Pokemon has in battle. IV’s are stats from one to 31, the higher the IV’s for each stat the better. Pokemon get IVs when they hatch and to get perfect IVs for the stats you want, you would get a parent with those stats and use a destiny knot to breed it down till you get what you want. EV’s are 510 points that are divided into the Pokemon’s stats with a max of 252 per stat that will help them be stronger. For example, you could put 252 EVs into the attack stat and you would be left with 258 that you could divide into something else.

Natures and abilities are another thing to consider. There are 25 natures that a pokemon can have when caught or hatched. Pokemon will have one of these natures and most raise one stat and subtract from another. For example, adamant nature increases attack but decreases special attack. Abilities are something each Pokemon gets that do specific things and some even have hidden abilities which might be better than their usual abilities.

So if you wanted to get 252 EVs in your Pokemons HP would need you to defeat a lot Chancey’s. But there are ways to make it easier, Vitamins are a good but expensive way to do it because they cost 10,000 Pokédollars each. Each vitamin gives 10 EV’s in a stat depending what is used so one would need 26 to max it out. To max out one stat you need to pay 260,000 Pokédollars.

Another way to quicken the process is the

Power Items

These are something you buy from Delibird Presents, a store in the game which costs 10,000 Pokédollars each. There are six, the power bracer, power weight etc. These power items grant 8 EVs so if one were to defeat a Chancey with the power weight one would get the two HP EVs on top, of the eight making it so you only have to defeat 26.

Getting the perfect IVs for a Pokemon isn’t an easy task and can only be done through breeding. In Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you will need a level two egg power sandwich which will help increase egg production from the parent Pokemon and a destiny knot. When an egg is hatched you will get random IVs but if you use a destiny knot with a parent Pokemon with some of the IVs wanted it will keep five of the 12 IV

Bottle Caps are used to hyper train Pokemon. Hyper training is the only way to perfectly max out a Pokemon’s IVs which makes the Pokemon stronger. There are also held items which a Pokemon can only hold one and they can help a Pokemon. One example is leftovers which each turn will heal the Pokemon 1/16 of its maximum HP. Another is the focus sash which will allow a Pokemon to live on one HP if the move would normally one shot the Pokemon.