Welcome to
Pokemon Training 102! Have a seat and grab a drink, this will take a bit of time to get through. Here in this article, I will explain the various numbers and other elements that make your pokemon what it is.
The first and most basic element of any pokemon is type. There are seventeen types in pokemon, and each of them has its own set of weaknesses and resistances to other types. Now, this resistance and weakness is to attack moves of given types, which means that as some pokemon will have no moves of their own type, you need to concern yourself more with what moves your opponent’s ‘mon is likely to have than with what type it is, but more on that in a later article.
The seventeen types are as follows: Normal, Fire, Water, Ice, Grass, Poison, Bug, Flying, Psychic, Fighting, Rock, Ground, Steel, Electric, Dragon, Ghost, and Dark. Many pokemon are only one type, but a far larger number are a mixture of two types. What does this mean? Well, when a pokemon has two types, it gains the resistances and weaknesses of both. If a pokemon gains a weakness -and- a resistance to a given type, then the two cancel out and it becomes neutral. If a pokemon gains two weaknesses or two resistances to a given type, they multiply each other. And if a pokemon gains an immunity to a given type, then whether they also have a weakness, a resistance, or neutrality simply doesn’t matter because they are immune.
So, what are weakness and resistance? Well, if a pokemon has resistance, a move will be followed by the text ‘It wasn’t very effective...’, and the move’s damage will be cut in half before the pokemon’s defense is applied. If a pokemon has weakness, however, the move will be followed with the text ‘It was super effective!’ and will have its damage doubled before the pokemon’s defense is applied. Of course, a double weakness means the damage will be multiplied by four instead, just as a double resistance means it will be divided by four. Keep in mind, though, that this multiplication or division happens before the pokemon’s defense is applied, so it isn’t as straightforwards as it might seem.
Some pokemon have immunity, such as Flying-types’ immunity to Ground moves, or the way Ground pokemon are immune to Electric moves. This is very important because it protects against all moves of that type, not just those that deal damage. If you want to learn about pokemon types, resistances, weaknesses, and immunity, then you’ll want to look into
Pokemon Training 110, Pokemon Training 111, and
Pokemon Training 112 which are all about that kind of thing.
Continuing onwards, though. Your pokemon is also composed of six statistics- or ‘stats’. Hit Points, which determines the amount of damage they can soak; Attack, which helps determine the power of their physical attacks; Defense, which reduces incoming physical damage; Special Attack, which helps determine the power of their special attacks; Special Defense, which reduces incoming special damage; and Speed, which mostly determines which ‘mon will act first on each turn. Every different pokemon has its own Base Value in these stats, which is in turn modified by Individual Value (IV), Nature, and Effort Value (EV).
Now, before we progress any further, I feel I really ought to explain something that is apparently very poorly understood by most trainers. When your pokemon levels up, it does not get numbers added to its stats. I will repeat this, because it is very important: When your pokemon levels up, it does not get numbers added to its stats.
I know that the game shows addition-style increases, but that is just how it shows you the difference between your pokemon last level and on this new level.
What is actually happening is this- the game re-determines what your pokemon’s stats will be at level 100 each time it gains a level in order to determine its current stats.
\WARNING: MATH AHEAD
The game then does the appropriate math to give your pokemon its level in percentage of each stat, then adds five (or ten and the ‘mon’s level in the case of Hit Points). Now, keep in mind that your pokemon’s Base Value in a stat is doubled at level 100, and the result looks like this:
Hit Points at level X = (BVx2)(X/100)+10+X
Stat at level X = (BVx2)(X/100)+5
However, there are things that modify this. IV is an abbreviation of Individual Value, and this is a number that is determined for each pokemon that remains the same for that pokemon’s existence, even through evolution. This number is different for each of the six stats, and varies between 0 and 31. This gets added to the level 100 stat of the pokemon, so we insert it into our math before the level, getting:
HP @ level X = (BVx2+IV)(X/100)+10+X
Stat @ level X = (BVx2+IV)(X/100)+5
Further, the level 100 stats of your pokemon are modified by its Effort Value, a set of points that your pokemon earns based on which vitamins it has taken, certain hold items, and which pokemon it has battled against (without fainting). This value can be anywhere from 0 to 63, depending on the number of EV points it has- the number is reached by dividing the EV points by four- resulting in this pair of equations:
HP @ level X=(BVx2+IV+(EV/4))x(X/100)+10+X
Stat @ level X= (BVx2+IV+(EV/4)x(X/100)+5
Then, if a stat is boosted by your ‘mon’s nature, that stat is multiplied by 1.1, and if it’s reduced, it’s multiplied by .9.
If you want to learn more about IVs and EVs and Natures and how to use them with and on your ‘mon, you want to look to
Pokemon Training 120 and
Pokemon Training 121.
ATTENTION: THE MATH IS OVER FOR NOW
This is rather complex, but the end result is that two pokemon at the same level can, even with the exact same battles and wins under their belts, have varied stats and be suitable for different positions. This also means that while the game -shows- ‘+2' or ‘+3', it does not mean that the game is adding two or three to the stat.
After all of this, types, stats, Base Values, IVs, EVs, and Natures, there is another important element of your pokemon- its moves! The type of the move and its effect will help to determine the position of your pokemon in a team and its tactics in battle. A pokemon with two moves that improve its defenses, a move that tacks slowly-building damage on an opponent, and a move that recovers its HP will act very differently than a pokemon with three damaging moves that have side effects and one move that knocks it out to deal heavy damage on any opponent.
Finally, every pokemon has an Ability. This is some special quality that the pokemon has that affects how it functions either in battle or as a team member. Many pokemon have two or even three abilities to choose from, which are suitable for different situations. Guts Hariyama likes being burned and hits very hard, while Thick Fat Hariyama is actually a pretty good wall against Fire and Ice moves.
By considering your pokemon’s likely and current stats, its types, its ability, and which moves to select, you can determine what position you want it to serve on your team.
