Breeding the Perfect One

Breeding the Perfect One

Howdy

Last time we wrapped up the basics, and if I missed something I’ve failed as a Trainer. This time we’ll be getting more in depth with the Pokemon, like with breeding, EVs and IVs, and how they play a role in competitive battling.

Be sure to check out the list of Pokemon

I'll just let this sink in

Effort Values and Individual Values (EVs and IVs)

·       Effort Values – Additional points that are used to improve any of a Pokemon’s given stat

o   A Pokemon can have up to 510 EVs and up to 252 EVs in any one stat

o   For every 4 EVs the Pokemon gains a stat increase

o   EVs are gained through battling Pokemon or using Super Training

o   EVs can be checked via the Super Training

o   EVs CAN be reset by using the Reset Bag in Super Training

·       Individual Values – The stats a Pokemon is born with

o   A Pokemon can have up to 31 IVs (Perfect IVs) in any one stat

Gardevoir

o   The higher the IVs the higher the stat, and the lower the IVs the lower the stat

§  Ex: A Lv. 100 Gardevoir with 31 IVs in Atk would have a 149 Atk stat, but if it had 0 IVs in Atk it would have a 121 Atk stat

o   IVs CAN’T be reset

o   Breeding gives the most control over IVs

o   IVs can be checked in game via the IV checker, Ace Trainer, in Kiloude City’s Pokemon Center

o   IVs determine the type for the move Hidden Power

Pokemon that haven’t been properly EV Trained and don’t have Perfect IVs fall short to Pokemon who are.

Breeding

In Pokemon X & Y if you want to battle competitively you’re going to have to breed your own Pokemon, and it can be very time consuming.

What is breeding?

Breeding is exactly what it sounds like, it’s making a baby. In Pokemon, breeding is far superior than catching a Pokemon in the wild because breeding gives the trainer a lot more control of how the Pokemon will come out. A wild Pokemon is all RNG* (Random Number Generator) so the stats, ability, of nature could be good or bad, but by breeding the trainer can pass down specific traits. With Pokemon X & Y breeding became a lot easier.

An Egg

*RNG is essentially luck, but in a techy sense because it’s data

Breeding as I know it

To breed a, what can be known as, Flawless Pokemon you’ll need the nature you want on a Pokemon, the ability you want on a Pokemon, and perfect IVs in every stat (maybe except the stat the nature lowers). Also, all Pokemon come from eggs.

Ditto

To get an Egg you’ll need to place two Pokemon in the Day Care. Every Pokemon can’t breed with one another. You need a male and a female Pokemon from the same Egg Group. Not all Pokemon can breed. Pokemon from the Undiscovered Egg Group can’t breed, and that includes Legendaries and baby Pokemon. Ditto is the one Pokemon that can breed with all other compatible Pokemon. Once you have the Egg it will take a certain number of steps to hatch (this can be sped up with a Pokemon with the ability Magma Armor or Flame Body in your Party).

·       The offspring of two different species of Pokemon will always be from the same evolutionary chain as the female

·       The offspring of a Pokemon breeding with Ditto will always be from the evolutionary chain of the Pokemon breeding with Ditto

·       Breeding with two different species allows access to Egg Moves, moves that can’t be obtained normally by leveling up. (Check a Pokemon to see their Egg Moves)

·       The ability the offspring Pokemon will have is random

o   You can pass down Hidden Abilities (HA), though it’s still random. If you breed a male Pokemon that has a HA with Ditto you have a chance of the offspring obtaining the HA.

            Important Items for Breeding

            These items are held by the breeding Pokemon in the Day Care

Destiny Knot

Everstone

·       Destiny Knot – Passes over 5 IVs from either parent to the offspring

·       Everstone – Passes the nature over from whatever parent was holding this

·       Power Items – Depending on the item, passes down a certain stat

Breeding is the only way to get a Flawless Pokemon, meaning you’ll need Perfect IVs. Instead of me explaining it here’s a video that helped me understand IV breeding.

This sums up breeding

EV Training

Once you have your Pokemon with Perfect IVs it’s time to start training , but you can’t train them on any Pokemon. Each Pokemon will give a certain amount of EVs after you defeat them, and the EV depends on the Pokemon. Ideally you want to focus on two main stats, but that doesn’t mean you have to.

·       Each Pokemon gives at least 1 EV to a certain stat, but Pokemon can give up to 3. For example, Bellsprout gives 1 EV to Atk, its evolve form Weepinbell gives 2 EVs to Atk, and lastly Victreebel gives 3 EVs.

Examples of EV Training:

Most Attackers* will EV Train their better attacking stat (physical or special) and their speed stat, and most Walls* will EV Train their better defense stat (physical or special) and their HP.

Macho Brace

*These are roles Pokemon play I’ll discuss those in a later post

       Important Factors for EV Training      

Power Bracer

·       Power Items (Same from Breeding section) – Gives +4 (Macho Brace gives +2) EVs of a certain stat to the total EVs of opposing Pokemon

·       Pokerus– Doubles the amount of EVs received

·       Horde Battles – This type of battle allows you to battle FIVE at once, speeding up theprocess

o   Hotspots to Horde Battle and a EV training guide

o   With Horde Battles, Power Items, and Pokerus a Pokemon can get a minimum of 50 EVs in a single battle

Because words can be harder to follow than sound I feel I should have a video explain how EV Training works.

Next Time

To me EVs and IVs are two of the main reasons people may be intimidated by competitive battling, but once you have that figured out battling becomes more about remembering information. With Pokemon Showdown you don’t have to breed or EV Train, but I feel that takes some emotional connection away from the Trainer and Pokemon. In the next post I want to finally start getting into the actual Competitive Battling aspect, such as the tiers, rules, and possibly the roles of Pokemon. I had a hard time with this, it took me a couple weeks to get a basic understanding, but now it’s like second nature. 

Stepping Your Game Up

Last Time/This Time

Last time we got through some of the basics of Competitive Pokemon Battling and this time we’ll pretty much be doing the same thing. We’ll dive more into status conditions, go over abilities and held items, and explain parts of a battle. Let’s get started!

Status Conditions (Cont.)

There are tons of other status conditions, besides the ones mentioned in the last post and these conditions can stack. The status conditions from last time are known as non-volatile (shown with an icon in battle) and these are known as volatile. Unlike the non-volatile status conditions, these can be healed by switching out your Pokemon. I will be listing a few, but not all, of the other status conditions. (The ones that are a big deal in competitive battles)

·       Confusion – Confusion last 1-4 turns and it gives the Pokemon a 50% chance of attacking. If the Pokemon fails to attack it will hit itself.

o   The attack is 40 based power physical attack.

o   If confusion is paired with paralysis you get what is known as ParaFusion, and that’s a 37.5% chance of attacking.

·       Flinch – The flinched Pokemon is unable to attack for that turn. This can only be done if the Pokemon attacks first.

·       Encore – The encored Pokemon is locked into the same move for 3 turns.

·       Taunted – The taunted Pokemon is not allowed to use non-attacking moves for 3 turns. 

List of all Status Conditions.

Abilities

Every Pokemon will have one ability; some may Pokemon have access to more than one ability but they’re only given one of them. Not every Pokemon has their own ability; plenty of Pokemon can share the same abilities.

 It is possible to change a Pokemon’s ability with the Ability Capsule. As of Gen V, many of the Pokemon gained access to Hidden Abilities, which are abilities the Pokemon wouldn’t normally get. You can’t use the Ability Capsule to unlock a Pokemon’s Hidden Ability. The main ways to get Hidden Abilities on a Pokemon is through Friend Safaris or bring the Pokemon over from another Generation that already has it with Pokemon Bank.

Check out the list of abilities here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ability

Abilities give the power to do more damage, give an extra immunity, or affect stats; among other things. Not only do you have worry about the type of the Pokemon, but you have to worry about the ability a Pokemon has.

Abilities in Action

Flygon would be an example of a Pokemon who only has one ability and that ability is Levitate, which makes it immune to Ground attacks. Bronzong is another Pokemon that can have Levitate, but it also has access to Heatproof, halves damage from Fire-type moves, and its Hidden Ability Heavy Metal, doubles it weight. With Flygon you would know Ground-type moves wouldn’t work on it. With Bronzong, a Steel-Psychic type Pokemon, Levitate takes away its Ground weakness and Heatproof makes its Fire weakness 1x effective.

 FlygonBronzong

Held Items

Similar to abilities, held items are a way for Pokemon to get a boost, but unlike abilities there are a lot more options to choose from. Here are some of the more commonly seen items in battle…

·       Berries – Berries are a one-time use, unless using the ability Harvest, and they can restore HP/Status Conditions, weaken damage, or strengthen attacks.

Sitrus Berry

·       Gems – Gems are a one-time use and are the type of gem corresponds to the type of attack to boost the power of the attack by 30%.

o   Ex. If a Pokemon had a Fire Gem and used a Normal Attack the gem wouldn’t activate, the Pokemon would need to use a Fire attack to gain the boost.

Fire Gem

·       Choice Items – Choice Items only allow the use of one move, but one stat (Atk, SpAtk, or Spe) is raised by 50%

Choice Scarf

Check out the list of held items here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Held_item

Parts of a Battle

**Note: I will be focusing on Single Battles, but there are other types of battles like Double, Triple, and Rotation. This could have been one of the things I could have talked about earlier, but I think it’s best we get the basics out of the way.

In a quick/standard Pokemon X & Y Wi-Fi Battle it will be 6v6 (Each Trainer uses six Pokemon) and the maximum level will be Level 50. (Any Pokemon under that level will be brought down but Pokemon under that level will not be brought up)

·       Single Battle are the basic style of battling, it’s One Pokemon vs. One Pokemon on the field, and they’ve been around since Gen I

·       The battle begins with the Pokemon each Trainer wants to lead with

·       Each turn the Trainer can choose either Fight, Pokemon, or Run.

o   Fight allows the Pokemon to use a move

o   Pokemon allows the Trainer to switch Pokemon

o   Run allows the Trainer to walk away from the battle (give up)

o   Bag is also an option, but it does nothing in a Competitive Battle

§  This process will be repeated every turn until one Trainer is unable to battle (No more Pokemon) or a Trainer Runs (gives up)

o   A battle cannot end in a draw, even if each of the Trainer’s last Pokemon faints on the same turn the Trainer whose Pokemon fainted first is the loser.

Read more about battles or the other types of battles here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_battle

Now What?

Now that the pieces are falling together it might be time to look at raising a Pokemon. EVs/IVs play a huge role in Competitive Battling, and can drive a person crazy. If you want to battle competitively in Pokemon X & Y you’re going to have to breed your own Pokemon. Sure there are other ways of getting the Perfect Pokemon, but where’s the fun in that?

Enter the World of Competitive Battling

**Note: I will be using the competitive aspect Pokemon X & Y as my main point because I will be mentioning breeding and what not, however that doesn’t make this limited to Pokemon X & Y as this can be used for places like Pokemon Showdown. Anywho…

What is Pokemon?

Pokemon began as a video game sometime in the 1990s, and is essentially mythically creatures battling each other. The series has since branched off into things such as an anime, manga, and trading card game, among other things. Pokemon is great because it is something many people have grown up with, and it’s still going strong so they can still experience it.

Right now there are 718 Pokemon, and counting (have a look for yourself). Every Pokemon is going to have their strengths and weakness, but we’ll save that for another time.

Competitive Battling

I think competitive battling is one thing that really keeps a lot of the fans attached to Pokemon. It may seem complicated, but once a person understands the mechanics of the game it can be a lot of fun. Well unless you’re the type of person who believes winning is everything and doesn’t know how to have fun (I kid). Some people may say Pokemon is childish, but I like to think Competitive Pokemon takes more skill than games like Call of Duty, it may be a different kind of skill but it’s skill nonetheless.

If you’ve never seen a Competitive Pokemon Battle be sure to look some up on YouTube. That’s where I started, and I think it’s a great way to learn. 

Here’s a guy who has some really nice battles (Caution  Strong Language)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Haydunn?feature=watch

The Basics

If you’ve played through any main series Pokemon game, like X & Y, then you should already know some, if not all, of the basics. For the sake of competitive battling it would be a good idea to have this memorized. I hope I don’t forget anything. :)

Types

With the introduction of Gen VI there has been the introduction of the Fairy type, and the last time a new type was added was in Gen II with the introduction of Dark and Steel. When it comes down to it, type matchups are like a big game of paper, rock, scissors; there’s always going to be one type that’s better than the other.

List of Types

Pokemon, Moves, and Types

Every Pokemon will have at least one type, and in some cases a Pokemon can have two types. Just like Pokemon, moves have types but moves only have one type (Exceptions, the move Flying Press and Hidden Power, which is a move that varies depending on the Pokemon). When a Pokemon of one type uses a move of the same type then that move will receive a Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB). Pokemon of two types can benefit from having two STAB moves, but having two types opens up different weaknesses, which could be a good or bad thing. (What STAB does is found under chart)

Type Chart

·       If the attacking type is stronger than the defending type, the attack will deal 2x damage (Super Effective)

·       If the attacking type is weaker than the defending type, the attack will deal ½x damage (Not Very Effective)

·       If the attacking type is stronger than both types of a defending Pokemon, the attack will do 4x damage (Super Effective)

o   Ex: Fire attack vs. a Grass/Steel type Pokemon

·       If the attacking type is weaker than both types of a defending Pokemon, the attack will do ¼x damage (Not Very Effective)

o   Ex: Bug attack vs. a Flying/Fairy type Pokemon

·       STAB adds 1.5x damage to the attack

·       If a Pokemon receives STAB and the attack is Super Effective, the damage will multiply resulting in 3x damage or even up to 6x damage!

·       If the Pokemon receives STAB and the attack is Not Very Effect, the damage will do 1x (normal) damage

·       If there is no number in the type chart the attack does 1x damage

·       If there is a “0” in the type chart the attack does NO DAMAGE (Doesn’t Effect)

o   Ex: If a Fighting type attack was used against a Ghost/Ice type there will be no damage despite Fighting being Super Effective against Ice

Critical Hits!

Critical Hits will add 1.5x damage to the attack. (Critical Hits used to add 2x damage to the attack but that was prior to Gen VI)

·       Critical Hits have a 6.25% chances of happening and ignore all stat changes

Stats

Every Pokemon is unique, for the most part, not only in appearance but also in what they’re able to do. Some are better attackers and some are better at taking a hit, it all depends on their stats.

·       HP (Hit Points) – How long a Pokemon will survive, once their HP reaches 0 they have fainted and are unable to battle

·       Attack (Atk) – Physical damage, this determines how much damage a Pokemon will do to the other Pokemon’s HP while considering the Pokemon’s Defense

·       Defense (Def) – Physical Defense, this determines how well a Pokemon can take an Attack

·       Special Attack (Sp. Atk)– Special damage, this determines how much damage a Pokemon will do to the other Pokemon’s HP while considering the Pokemon’s Special Defense

·       Special Defense (Sp. Def)– Special Defense, this determines how well a Pokemon can take a Special Attack

·       Speed – (Spe)This determines you goes first in a turn, if the speed of Pokemon A is higher than the speed of Pokemon B then Pokemon A will go first, unless otherwise effected

·       Accuracy (Acc)– The chances of an attack hitting the Pokemon

·       Evasion (Eva)– The chances of a Pokemon avoiding an attack

Stat Modifiers

Besides moves that do damage there are also moves that can increase or decrease a Pokemon’s stats. Stat changes happen in Stages with the max/minimum Stage being +6/-6. Moves vary by how many Stages they can change a stat, and Stage for Accuracy/Evasion are different from the other stats (except HP, the base HP can’t be raised or lower during a battle).

Stages for Atk/SpAtk/Def/SpDef/Spe

·       Stage 1 – 1.5x

·       Stage 2 – 2x

·       Stage 3 – 2.5x

·       Stage 4 – 3x

·       Stage 5 – 3.5x

·       Stage 6 – 4x

Stages for Accuracy/Evasion

·       Stage 1 – 1.33x

·       Stage 2 – 1.66x

·       Stage 3 – 2x

·       Stage 4 – 2.33x

·       Stage 5 – 2.66x

·       Stage 6 – 3x

Status Conditions

Stat Modifiers aren’t the only thing that can change a Pokemon’s stats. Status Condition can be from Status causing moves, an added effect from attacking moves, or an ability (Further down).

·       Burn – Halves damage done by Physical Attacks and Pokemon loses 1/8 of its HP every turn, Fire types can’t be burned

·       Freeze – Pokemon cannot move, there’s a 20% chance of unfreezing every turn unless a Pokemon uses a Fire type move that can unfreeze, Ice types can’t be Frozen

·       Paralysis – Speed is lowered by 75% and the Pokemon has 25% chance of not moving, Electric type Pokemon cannot be Paralyzed

·       Poison/Badly Poisoned – Poison deal 1/8 damage every turn, and Badly Poison’s damage gradually increases every turn the Pokemon stays in starting from 1/16 damage and increasing by 1/16 every turn after, Poison and Steel type Pokemon can’t be Poisoned

·       Sleep – A Pokemon will randomly sleep from anywhere between 1 to 5 turns, every time the Pokemon switches out and comes back in the counter is reset, all Pokemon can sleep

**Note: Only one of these status conditions can apply to a Pokemon at a time

Natures

Every Pokemon has a nature, and depending on the Nature the Pokemon’s stats will be affected. Natures will either have no effect on the Pokemon’s stats, or will increase one stat by 10% and lower another by 10%. This is really important in competitive battling because you want to get the most out of a Pokemon’s best stat and at the same time you can lower its worst stat so all the other stats are affected. (HP is a stat that is not affected by Natures)

List of Natures

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Nature

Next Time Trainers

This information is just the basics of what Pokemon is about, but if you don’t know this you aren’t going to make it very far. Depending on how you take this in it may seem like a lot, or you may have already known this stuff, but this plus what’s to come is going to start shaping the competitive battling scene. Once I add in the abilities and items, and touch more on the specifics on some of the things I already address the wheels will start turning, but for now I leave you with the fundamentals.