Pokemon Vitamins : ‘Pokémon Sword and Shield’ EV Training Guide: How to Maximize Stats, Reset EVs and More
Training Pokémon for competitive takes a few steps to complete a team. You first need to breed the Pokémon you desire and the other is EV training.
Effort Values or EVs are how a Pokémon can earn “experience” towards certain stats when they level up.
By defeating a certain number of a specific species of Pokémon, a stat can increase faster than normal.
Couple this with a Pokémon’s Individual Values (IVs) and Nature, and you can have a Pokémon that excels in a certain stat or two.
The following is a guide to EVs and EV Training in Sword and Shield, including how to determine a Pokémon’s EVs and which Pokémon to battle to maximize the stat of your choice.
CHECKING A POKEMON’S EVS
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In Pokémon Sword and Shield the easiest way to check a Pokémon’s EVs is to go through the summary page.
After selecting your Pokémon and checking its summary, scroll to the stats page (the second page) and press the X button.
This will show a yellow shape that denotes that Pokémon’s EVs. The more you battle, the yellow area will grow.
A maxed out stat will see the yellow area reaching the end of the hexagon.
EV TRAINING IN POKEMON SWORD AND SHIELD
Each Pokémon is allowed 510 Effort Values. The points that go into which stat is determined by the species of Pokémon that is defeated.
Each Pokémon in Sword and Shield has a specific amount in a given stat their EV points go towards.
One example of this is Skwovet gives one HP point when it’s defeated.
Each stat has 252 EV points allotted to be maxed out. So defeating 252 Skwovet will max out the HP stat.
In past Pokémon games, this was made easier by hordes or double battles allowing for faster training.
In Sword and Shield, those multi-Pokémon battles are not present in the wild so there’s a bit of a grind to maxing out EVs.
However, there are items and other methods to make the process much easier. But before we go into that, here are the Pokémon that give out a stat-specific EV point and is an easy battle.
- HP – Skwovet (Route 1)
- Attack – Chewtle (Route 2 Lakeside)
- Defense – Rolycoly (Galar Mine/Giant’s Cap)
- Special Attack – Gastly (Watchtower Ruins)
- Special Defense – Gossifleur (Route 3)
- Speed – Rookidee (Route 1)
ITEMS TO HELP EV TRAINING | Pokemon Vitamins
As we mentioned above, there are certain items that will help maximize EVs quicker than battling Pokémon.
The first are vitamins. These one-use items give 10 EV points in a specific stat by just feeding it to your Pokémon.
In Sword and Shield, these Vitamins can be purchased in the Hammerlocke and Wyndon Pokémon Centers for 10,000 PokeDollars each.
- HP Up (+10 HP EVs)
- Protein (+10 Attack EVs)
- Iron (+10 Defense EVs)
- Calcium (+10 Special Attack EVs)
- Zinc (+10 Special Defense EVs)
- Carbos (+10 Speed EVs)
Another one-use item are Wings. These are dropped from bird Pokémon, usually on bridges.
In Sword and Shield, the bridge east of the Nursery on Route 5 drop plenty of Wings.
While these items are time-consuming to max out EVs, but are great to get that last one or two EV point in a stat.
Here are the various Wings in Sword and Shield and what EVs they affect.
- Health Wing (+1 HP Ev)
- Muscle Wing (+1 Attack EV)
- Resist Wing (+1 Defense EV)
- Genius (+1 Special Attack EV)
- Clever Wing (+1 Special Defense EV)
- Swift Wing (+1 Speed EV)
Power Items are a group of hold items in Sword and Shield that make it easier to earn EV points in specific stats.
These Power Items cuts the speed of the Pokémon holding it in half. And in the case of stat-specific items, will earn EVs points in that stat regardless of which Pokémon you battle.
One example is equipping the Power Weight to a Pokémon and battling a Skwovet.
Instead of earning one HP EV, that Pokémon will earn five instead making it much easier to max out stats.
All of the Power Items can be purchased in Hammerlocke for 10 Battle Points (BP) each.
- Macho Brace – Doubles EVs gained in battle
- Power Weight – + 8 HP EVs
- Power Bracer – +8 Attack EVs
- Power Belt – +8 Defense EVs
- Power Lens – +8 Special Attack EVs
- Power Band – +8 Special Defense EVs
- Power Anklet – +8 Speed EVs.
POKEJOBS | Pokemon Vitamins
A new feature in Pokémon Sword and Shield are Poke Jobs. Similar to to the PokePelago of Gen 7, Poke Jobs will let Pokémon in your PC box perform tasks for EV points.
By sending up to 10 Pokémon to a particular job, trainers can boost the EVs earned.
Each hour on the job will increase that Pokémon’s EVs in a stat by four. Leaving a Pokémon at a job for an entire day will earn 96 EV points.
Have your boxed Pokémon hold a Power Item to increase the amount of EV points earned.
Here are the various tasks with the stat they increase:
- HP seminar in session
- Attack seminar in session
- Defense seminar in session
- Sp. Atk seminar in session
- Sp. Def seminar in session
- Speed seminar in session
RESETTING EVS | Pokemon Vitamins
Sometimes, you may slip and earn an EV point in a stat you didn’t want or you simply want to reset your Pokémon’s EVs you can in Sword and Shield.
These berries are found in the Wild Area in the Bridge Field, Giant’s Mirror, Motostoke Riverbank sections.
They are also random drops from Max Raid Battles so keep battling to pick up these EV resetting berries.
Feed your Pokémon these berries to decrease the EVs of each stat.
- Pomeg Berry (-10 HP EVs)
- Kelpsy Berry (-10 Attack EVs)
- Qualot Berry (-10 Defense EVs)
- Hondew Berry (-10 Special Attack EVs)
- Grepa Berry (-10 Special Defense EVs)
- Tamato Berry (-10 Speed EVs)
Pokémon Sword and Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch.
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