All Competitve Pokemon Masters click here!--EV Guide Abridged

[Rhys29]

btw, the Shoddy gods fixed U-Turn, so now Pursuit still hits as you switch, just letn' ya know as that Support Celebi running U-Turn has lost some usefulness.

I am well aware of this. The focus of outrunning Tyranitar was to avoid Crunch, not Pursuit. Part 3 coming relitively soon.

~ Just got rocked out of my effing skull by Muse at a radio concert event. If you have a chance to see them, I highly recommend it. ~

[AbsoLover]

Why isn't this thread in the CRMT Guide Collection?

[zapper22001]

Why isn't this thread in the CRMT Guide Collection?

The guide still isn't complete yet. The abridged version that Salavior posted is complete, but the more detailed one that Rhys29 wanted to post isn't fully updated yet.

[JRCxyz]

Sala, I wonder, have you asked the mods for the sticky? If not, you should.

The funny thing about everyone complaining about this not being stickied is that no one PMed me about it.My inbox has nothing in it about this thread.

Ironic?

Will Rhys keep updating the guide?

[rocket4ever]

Very nice guide. I don't usually try to calculate down as close as possible though.. I usually go a little over what I think I will need to account for possibly bad IV in a stat. IVs can make such a difference that calculating out too close makes me a little weary. It is perfect though if you are dealing with something like Shoddy battle. I don't mess with Shoddy though.

[Salavoir55]

Yeah, making EV spreads for less than ideal IVs can be tricky. The basic principles are the same, but you are right in that you can't always be as calculating as you would like to be sometimes. However, there are methods of caluclating your IVs ahead of time as well as getting very good IVs, and since most EV spreads often end up with filler EVs, it is usually possible to compensate reasonably well. Glad you liked the guide!

Ironic?

Will Rhys keep updating the guide?

Yeah, I'm sure Rhys will. Anyway, sorry for waiting so long to reply, Shining Mew, and for not PMing you like I should have.

[Rhys29]

Back from vacation and my high maintanence job is over so now I can spend a bit of time working on this. Don't worry, it's comin haha.

[Blue Harvest]

Rhys, don't do it.

You managed to escape pokemon for this long. If you start again now you'll never be free.

[Rhys29]

Pokemon has no hold on me anymore. Honestly. I don't even think about competitive and all this stuff is already ingrained in me so I might as well get it out. Might as well give back to this forum since it was my birthplace you know? Hell I had forgotten HGSS was coming out for the longest time ^.^

[Rhys29]

Though I'm sure no one even reads these, enough waiting.

(3)Scoring The Kill

3.)Find something important to NHKO. OHKO, 2HKO, OHKO with SR, etc. Very important for sweepers, somewhat important for tanks, and less important for walls. It depends on your Pokemon's purpose. Maxing the offense of sweepers is fine. Stuff with awful offense generally ignore this step.

Ever since the introduction of Platinum, the whole metagame has taken a massive offensive turn. In order to counter and deal with certain threats effectively, having a sure fire way to take down a common opponent in an attack or two is vital to most teams. This is an essential factor to keep in mind for basically any set that has an attack which deals damage.

Do keep in mind this is far more important for offensive sets than defensive.

~Consider~

For sets designed to sweep an opponent's team, this is a very important step to focus on. This is the step where you decide what investment you will make on your offenses.

Odds are you will be doing several calculations to make sure you can score KO's on specific threats, so a handy damage calculator will be your best friend. Libelldra has a phenomenal damage calculator with easy user interface.

There are almost too many threats to invest into taking down, so for reference have a list of the top threats of your tier at hand. One of the best things you can do is constantly check, favorite, or memorize the top threats in the shoddy statistics provided by the dedicated DougJustDoug from Smogon. You can click here to find a list of all the tier stats for the months and past months if you're curious and looking for a history lesson or trends.

~Apply~

Here are two factors to include when sizing up the amount of damage your set will deal.

Entry Hazards – Check your team for the moves Stealth Rock and Spikes. These attacks are called ‘entry hazards’. They deal damage to opponents switching in, or entering combat. If a Pokemon in your lead spot has either one of these moves, there is a good chance that an opponent will be taking damage every time they switch. Keeping this in mind will help you ease into KO’s.

Easing into KO’s means you don’t have to assure dealing 100% damage to score a kill. A good example would be Ice Punch Lucario. One of Lucario’s best counters has been Zapdos since it can wall Lucario without too much of a hassle and score OHKO with Heat Wave. When Swords Dance, Ice Punch Lucario was first initially introduced to the metagame, it ran a Jolly set to outrun Zapdos and Salamence sets which were built to outrun Adamant Lucario. However a Jolly Lucario, after a Swords Dance as Zapdos switches in, can only manage 81% ~ 95% on the most defensive Zapdos set, which under normal circumstances would never score a KO. However Zapdos is weak to Rock type which means it takes a hefty 25% as it switches in. Even after a turn of Leftovers recovery, Jolly Lucario can score a OHKO with a +2 Ice Punch as long as Stealth Rock is down.

Make sure you always include entry hazards when showing your calculations as well. If you find you will score just as many KO’s with less investment into your attacking stats as long as you have entry hazards out with the set you currently have, don’t be afraid to shuffle some of the Ev’s around.

Weather Effects – Weather can drastically change how battles will play out and every good battler should be aware of what it can do to their team. The most common by far is Sandstorm thanks to Hippowdon and the popular Tyranitar’s Sand Stream ability. This is why most teams usually include a large amount of team members who are either Rock, Ground, or Steel, making them immune to Sandstorm damage.

The key component to keep in mind when dealing with Sandstorm is that it deals damage before end of turn items activate. If a Pokemon not immune to Sandstorm is down to 6.25% or less at the end of the turn, it will faint from the buffetting Sandstorm before Leftovers recovery could put it in the clear. Here is an example of how this would work.

An Adamant Tyranitar with a Life Orb with +1 Attack thanks to Dragon Dance is about to attack with Crunch while the opponent switches in a 252/252 HP/Def Cresselia, which switched into Stealth Rock (not the most likely situation but it’s just an example). Crunch from this Tyranitar would deal 366 – 432 damage (or 82.43% - 97.30%), not assuring a OHKO even with Stealth Rock damage included (82.43 + 12.5 = 95.93%: minimum damage). However before Cresselia can recover with Leftovers at the end of the turn, the Sandstorm will deal an additional 6.25%, scoring the OHKO (95.93 + 6.25 = 102.18%: minimum damage). If you have Sandstorm on your team, it may be a good idea to take this into account before finalizing your calculations.

Hail, the exclusive cousin to Sandstorm, has the same damage effect. The only difference is the types taking damage each turn: only Ice remains untouched. Luckily, Abomasnow, the only Pokemon family gifted with the ability Snow Warning, is a very uncommon sight. Only teams based around Hail should pay any attention to this affect. Hail does 6.25% as well and hits at the same time Sandstorm does, so KO’s can be eased into a bit more efficiently.

The two remaining weather effects, Sun and Rain, are both very similar to each other. Sun powers up Fire type moves by 1.5x and reduces Water attacks by 1.5x while Rain does the exact opposite. This gives both a large offensive and defensive boost to teams based around these effects and all calculations on these teams should include these weather effects.

~Reconsider/Reapply~

Make sure your offensive investment can work with your other previously set investments. If they clash, you may have to choose one over the other. If you are unsure which takes priority, check back to your purpose and if you still can't choose go to a more advanced player for advice.

[Rakarei]

I understand that a pokemon can only have a total of 510 EVs. But, what if they get all 510 EVs before reaching level 100?

[Noctourniquet]

^ They are meant to get all 510 before Lv. 100. EV Training a Lv. 100 is completely pointless, since the EVs won't do anything (IIRC).

[Rakarei]

I know that, but once they get all 510 EVs, what happens to the other EVs they get when leveling up to 100?

[Noctourniquet]

^ They are ignored, since the EV limit has been reached. Only the first 510 will apply.

[Rakarei]

Thanks, I thought it would do that, but I just wanted to be sure.

[zaphod9642]

^ thats not true on serebii.net it says that you can ev train at level 100 then deposit and withdraw the pokemon from the pc when it gets withdrawn the stats get recalculated.

[Noctourniquet]

^ Where does it say that? Besides, you have misread the question. The question had nothing to do with EV training a Lv. 100.

[Luxe]

^IIRC if you were EV training a pokemon [but it stayed on the same level the entire time] and you deposited it into your PC, it would have the appropriate stat amount for that level+EVs upon withdrawal. I had always assumed that the same was possible at level 100, but there was so much negativity about Arceus being obtained at level 100 making EV training impossible that I assumed that the same couldn't be done at level 100.

[Bulldogs]

It's called the box-trick. I'm fairly certain it only works in Adv though I'm not sure because I've never attempted it in DP.

[Reno]

can people stop posting irrelevent stuff, it is pretty annoying, as this guide is good. if you are going to post, make it helpful or linked to the guide.