Effort Values (or EVs) are utilized to make Pokemon stronger in a particular state.
Unlike
Individual Values,
Effort Values must be earned through battle, from select
items, or other methods in the game. EVs will be added to one of a Pokemon's six base stats to make it much stronger.
Each Pokemon grants an EV point when defeated, usually dependent on what it's naturally gifted in. For example, defeating a
Zubat will grant one Speed EV point to your Pokemon, defeating a
Yungoos will grant one Attack EV point to your Pokemon, etc. Some Pokemon, usually stronger evolutions, will grant two or three EV points when it's defeated.
Four EV points equals a stat increase by one. Example: If you want
Popplio's Special Attack to raise by three stat points,
Popplio will need 12 EV points, so it must defeat 12
Gastly in single battles.
You will see some improvement at lower levels, but these stat increases won't fully reflect in a Pokemon until it reaches Lv. 100.
Pokemon cannot gain unlimited EV points! Only a total of 510 EVs can be earned, and only a max of 252 EVs can be used toward a single stat. Choose wisely. With this, you essentially can choose two stats to max out, and one to raise slightly.
That's a basic sense of how it works, but it can get a bit more complicated. Check out the
Effort Values page to read more about the mechanic in full detail.
EV Training in Pokemon Sun and Moon
Super Training and Horde Battles were not brought back to Pokemon Sun and Moon, but luckily there are two great ways to EV train your Pokemon quickly or easily in Pokemon Sun and Moon!
This method requires a little planning and item gathering, but once the
items are obtained it's an incredibly efficient and fast method.
To get a perfectly trained Pokemon, you essentially need to start from
scratch. To do this, you can start with a freshly caught or
bred Pokemon. If you're going to go through the effort of EV training a Pokemon, we recommend you
breed a Pokemon with your preferred
Nature and great
Individual Values(IVs).
If you already have a Pokemon you'd like to EV Train, but don't know if it already has EV points, you can check by looking at its Summary and pressing Y. If there's a faint outline outside of the solid yellow, it means the Pokemon has accrued some EV points.
To erase EV points, you can use the following
Berries.
The first berry used will reduce the
Effort Values on a stat to 100 if it's any number over 100. After that, each berry will lower the EVs by ten points each. Obtain
Berries from berry piles found around Alola, then plant them on
Poke Pelago to produce more.
Some
Facilities such a Friendship Cafe and other restaurants in the
Festival Plaza will serve meals that can reduce a Pokemon's EV points, but these can only be used once a day.
Vitamins can be purchased for P10,000 each at the
Mount Hokulani Poke Mart. These will award 10 EV points to a specific stat each. You can only use 10 of these on each stat, up to 100 EV points.
If a Pokemon already has 100 or more EV points in a stat, Vitamins won't work!
When held, a Pokemon will earn an additional eight EV points in that stat for each Pokemon defeated, regardless of the Pokemon.
Only the Pokemon holding a Power Item will obtain the extra EV points! They will obtain these extra points even if they don't participate in battle as long as the Exp. Share is on. Even if the lead Pokemon is holding a Power Item, its extra EV points will still not distribute to other Pokemon in the party.
These eight EV points stack with the EV point granted by the defeated Pokemon and any multipliers, such as
Pokerus, or
S.O.S. Battles (which we'll get to in a second!)
Pokerus is a rare virus that grants the same bonus as the now absent item Macho Brace, without inhibiting the Pokemon's speed. It doubles EV points earned and stacks with
items and multipliers with no adverse side effects! This bonus is not passed on by the Exp. Share, but a Pokemon in your party with
Pokerus will gain double points if the Exp. Share is on.
Pokerus is about as rare as a
Shiny Pokemon in the wild, but with online trading you may be able to convince a friendly Trainer to trade you a Pokemon with the virus, which you can then spread to your other Pokemon!
STEP FOUR: CHOOSE YOUR TEAM AND LOCATION
Make sure the Exp. Share is on! If you have many Pokemon you'd like to train in one stat, prepare them all before heading to battle to train them simultaneously. They will all need
Pokerus to gain its bonus and will all need their own Power
Items to gain its bonus, as well.
Once you have your party planned and stat chosen, you need to choose your location. Below are the best locations to train for each stat. These Pokemon will appear at least 30 percent of the time, so starting a battle with them will be easy.
With the right items and Pokerus you can max out a Pokemon's stat by defeating as little as three Pokemon in an S.O.S. Battle! This is because once an encounter becomes an S.O.S. battle, all EV points gained will double.
Use an Adrenaline Orb at the start of the battle to increase the chance for allies to be called. These are purchasable for just P300 at most Poke Marts. Make sure the Pokemon at the head of your party is holding the correct item and has the move False Swipe -- not only to stall if you need to wait for an ally to be called, but to ensure you don't knock out the first Pokemon while getting its health low (to make it call for help.) Ideally, your Pokemon will be well over-leveled compared to the Pokemon you're battling to make the process easy!
The following are the EV points acquired per Pokemon defeated in an S.O.S. Battle, assuming that each Pokemon would normally grant one EV point.
| Method | EV Points | Pokemon to Defeat to Max Stat | If Max Vitamins Used |
|---|
| None | 2 EV Points | 126 | 76 |
|---|
| Pokerus | 4 EV Points | 63 | 38 |
|---|
| Power Item | 18 EV Points | 14 | 9 |
|---|
| Pokerus and Power Item | 36 EV Points Per Pokemon | 7 | 3 |
|---|
Some wild Pokemon may give two or three EV points instead of one, increasing the total output, decreasing the number of Pokemon you need to battle. If a Pokemon appears other than the ones listed, simply
run away and start a new one.
Ideally, you will have at least a Power Item to make the most use out of this method. However, using Vitamins in conjunction with Pokerus, if you have it, isn't that outrageous. To increase a wild Pokemon's Individual values and the chance of a Shiny Pokemon appearing, you need to chain at least 30 Pokemon anyway.
If you don't have at least Pokerus, or this all sounds too tedious in general, consider using Poke Pelago instead!
You can max a Pokemon's stat passively and easily on Isle Evelup in
Poke Pelago. Each Playtime Session completed, which takes 30 minutes, grants four EV points. Add Poke Beans to that, and it takes 15 minutes per session. You can set how many Play Sessions you want your Pokemon to complete in the background, meaning you can set it to go and the Pokemon will be done training after the allotted time, whether or not your 3DS is on.
You can use
Vitamins first to reduce the amount of EV points needed to earn, too.
If you max upgrade the Isle Evelup, you can have three groups of six each training for a different stat at the same time.
The following chart is accurate only if Isle Evelup is fully upgraded
| Item Used | Sessions Needed to Max Stat | Time Passed |
|---|
| None | 63 | 31.5 Hours |
| Poke Beans | 63 | 15.75 Hours |
| Max Vitamins | 38 | 19 Hours |
| Poke Beans & Max Vitamins | 38 | 9.5 Hours |
Note About Poke Beans: When using Poke Beans to halve the amount of time training will take, set Poke Beans to last half the time of the current session. So if originally it will take 31.5 hours to complete, set your Poke Beans to last at least 15.75 hours. You will have to use special Poke Beans or Rainbow Poke Beans to reach this high number. Poke Pelago will update the "time to completion" when you
return to it later.
Some Facilities, such a Friendship Cafe and other restaurants, in the Festival Plaza will serve meals that raise EV points. However, these can only be eaten once a day, so the other methods are more effective.
