The Factors of Stats
As you know, there are MANY different factors that affect the outcome of your Pokemon's stats. If you've ever compared something, say, your Kyogre with your friend's, then you'll see that the stats are almost all different. Your Kyogre has more HP, Attack, and Speed than your friend's. But your friends has more Special attack and Defense. The Special Defenses of both your Kyogre's are more or less, the same. What causes this difference even if they're the same Pokemon? Find out what enhances and decreases certain stats on this page. ;)Factor #1: The Base Stats
The base stats are what causes the Pokemon to have a certain amount of whatever stat in the first place. If you want to know whether or not a Pokemon will have a high number in a certain stat, the Base Stats are the first place you should look. Although you should know this already, Base Stats are basically a fixed number given to each stat that decides the Pokemon's strengths and weaknesses. Because every game has a different look on what's a "good number" and what's a "bad number", I've made a list of base stat numbers if you don't know how to judge them already:
- 200 - Off the charts. You'll rarely see a Pokemon with a base stat that exceeds 200.
- 150 - This is also REALLY good.
- 130 - Pretty common and your prime choice for a hard hitter if it goes into offensive stats.
- 100 - Average. It's something that you would still call "good", though.
- 80 - Okay; not too great.
- 70- - Pretty bad if it's in the 50-70's. Really bad if it's in the 40's and below.
So now you know what's considered good or bad when it comes to Pokemon stats. You'll find out for yourself if you've been in a few battles, like how you see your Snorlax dying to Physical attacks and just soaking up those Special attacks. :) Like I said before, the Base Stats are what start the Pokemon's stats off in the first place and they never change.
Factor #2: The Nature
Along with the base stats, another thing that influences final stats greatly is the nature of the Pokemon. You know how you always see something like "Bashful" and "Lonely" in a Pokemon's profile but never knew what it meant so you just discarded it as something useless? Well, when you're looking for a specific Pokemon, natures are what you should look at first before you start training it up to level 100 or ditching it. There are 25 natures and each one decreases and increases a different stat:
| Nature | Increases | Decreases |
|---|---|---|
| Hardy | No Change | No Change |
| Lonely | Attack | Defense |
| Brave | Attack | Speed |
| Adamant | Attack | Sp. Attack |
| Naughty | Attack | Sp. Attack |
| Bold | Defense | Attack |
| Docile | No Change | No Change |
| Relaxed | Defense | Speed |
| Impish | Defense | Sp. Attack |
| Lax | Defense | Sp. Defense |
| Timid | Speed | Attack |
| Hasty | Speed | Defense |
| Serious | No Change | No Change |
| Jolly | Speed | Sp. Attack |
| Naive | Speed | Sp. Defense |
| Modest | Sp. Attack | Attack |
| Mild | Sp. Attack | Defense |
| Quiet | Sp. Attack | Speed |
| Bashful | No Change | No Change |
| Rash | Sp. Attack | Sp. Defense |
| Calm | Sp. Defense | Attack |
| Gentle | Sp. Defense | Defense |
| Sassy | Sp. Defense | Speed |
| Careful | Sp. Defense | Sp. Attack |
| Quirky | No Change | No Change |
You will be seeing the effects of the natures; just try comparing the Attack stat of an Adamant level 16 Mightyena with a Modest one. The Adamant one's will be way higher because Adamant boosts attack while Modest decreases it.
Factor #3: The Deter Values
Deter Values (otherwise known as DVs, IVs, and Individual values) are a bit like Effort Values but they can only go up to 15 and they are fixed and never change. Each Pokemon has a different DV in every stat; the higher the DV is in one stat, the better the stat will be when the Pokemon reaches level 100. Let's say that we have a Pokemon with 0 DVs in Attack and another with 15 DVs in Attack. The one with 15 DVs will have 31 more stat points in attack than the one that had none. DVs are very abstract and they aren't *that* important and don't make much of a difference, but if you are comparing a Pokemon with low DVs in every stat with the same Pokemon but with high DVs in every stat, the differences will show.
Factor #4: The Effort Values
Effort Values (EVs) are perhaps the only thing that you can actually control that when it comes to driving your Pokemon's stats in a certain direction. They are gained during battle and greatly affect the outcome of your Pokemon's stats. Although almost every aspect of EVs is explained and described in the EV Guide, I'll give you a brief summary of EVs here on this page. But do look at the other one because it is much more useful and in-depth.
EVs are gained in battle; each Pokemon gives a different amount of EVs in different stats. Getting a lot of EVs in a certain stat will considerably make it higher than one who doesn't have any EVs in a stat. For example, if I wanted my Kadabra to have a lot of speed, it would be wise to battle Pokemon that gave me Speed EVs, like Pikachu. Battling Pokemon just for the sake of getting the right EVs is a very wise idea if you want to have perfect, high quality Pokemon. A Pokemon can only get 510 EVs in all and 255 total in a single stat so be careful not to waste any precious EVs by battling random Pokemon.
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