I'm a bit of a genwunner as it's the gen I grew up with. But I'm also a big fan of gens 2 and 3. If I had to pick 5 off the top of my head I would say Charizard, Umbreon, Snorlax, Mew, Latias/Latios. All shiny versions preferred.

Recent favorites are FF7 Remake, Apex Legends, and Breath of the Wild. All time favorites include Pokemon Emerald, Red/Blue, Yellow, Crystal, and Heart Gold/Soul Silver. I also enjoy NHL and NFL games, as well as classic arcade and retro games.

Also tough to narrow down a list of artist. I like most genres of music these days. My teens and twenties were heavily influenced by emo and alternative rock. Bands like Senses Fail, The Used, Linkin Park and Underoath produced some of my favorite albums from that time. Love grunge like Alice in Chains and Nirvana as well.

Fun fact: I used to play guitar and sing in a band. Played a few gigs at parties and a local bar.

smgRic

Have you ever wondered why Pokémon of the same species and level could have different stats? While multiple factors are in play, perhaps the most prominent is Individual Values (IVs). IVs are a set of values between 0 and 31 that are assigned to each of your Pokémon’s six stats.

These values are assigned by the game behind the scenes upon capturing or hatching the Pokémon from an egg. IVs are important because they determine the maximum potential value of each stat for a fully trained Pokémon. If you want your Pokémon to be strong, you’ll want to ensure it has the best IVs possible.

Normally, IVs values are hidden. However, a feature in Scarlet and Violet provides hints on what these values could be. To check your Pokémon’s IVs, first complete the main storyline in Pokémon Scarlet or Violet. Once the credits roll, speak to the nurse at any Pokémon Center to unlock the Judge function.

Once unlocked, simply open your box, hover over the Pokémon you want to check, and press the + button. While the Judge function won’t give an exact number of IVs, it will provide a description next to each stat that correlates to a range of possible IVs.

Most of the time, you’ll want your Pokémon to have a “Best” or 31 IV in every stat. Below are two exceptions:

Attack stat on Pokémon using only Special Attacks in its move set - If the Pokémon isn’t using physical attacks, having 0 IVs in Attack is beneficial because if your Pokémon is confused, it will reduce the damage taken from hurting itself in confusion.

Speed stat when building a team that uses a Trick Room strategy - This strategy revolves around using the move Trick Room to let slower Pokémon move first in battle. The slower your Pokémon are, the more likely they will move first when Trick Room is active. Therefore, a 0 IV Speed stat is preferred.

Because IVs are randomly assigned to a Pokémon, you’re unlikely to find one with great IVs in the wild. Thankfully, there are two methods you can take advantage of to get the IVs you desire.

The quickest and easiest way to ensure a perfect 31 IV is to Hyper Train your Pokémon. Hyper training requires the use of items called Bottle Caps. The chart below details the two different types of bottle caps and their location in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

With Bottle Caps in your inventory, fly to Montenevera and locate the man standing beside an 

 near the Pokémon Center. He will offer to Hyper Train your Pokémon in exchange for Bottle Caps. You can offer him a standard Bottle Cap to train one stat, or a Gold Bottle Cap to train all six simultaneously. 

When your training is complete, look at your IVs using the judge function. Any stat with “Hyper Trained” next to it indicates it was successfully Hyper Trained and is now a perfect 31.

Breeding is a staple for players looking to create competitively viable Pokémon with perfect IVs. IVs are passed down from parent to child Pokémon through breeding.

This means you can take two compatible Pokémon with perfect IVs in different stats and breed them to hatch an egg containing a Pokémon with a combination of those perfect IVs. A newly hatched Pokémon will normally inherit three random IVs from the combined 12 IVs of the parents. The other three IVs are generated at random. 

However, the specific IVs passed down can be controlled through the use of held items. If you wish to pass down a specific IV, the Power Items - Power Weight (HP), Power Bracer (Attack), Power Belt (Defense), Power Lens (Special Attack), Power Band (Special Defense), and Power Anklet (Speed) - will pass down the corresponding IV of the parent holding the item without fail.

The Destiny Knot is another fantastic item to have when breeding for IVs. When held by either parent it will increase the number of random IVs passed down by both parent Pokémon - from three to five. The final IV will be generated at random. A good strategy for breeding involves continuously swapping out one of the parents with a child that has more perfect IVs. Keep at it and you may be lucky enough to hatch a Pokémon with six perfect IVs!

Breeding allows you to pass down more than just IVs. Moves, Natures, and PokeBall types can all be passed down through breeding. You can even increase the odds of hatching a shiny Pokémon by breeding 2 Pokémon from different geographical regions!

While they sound similar to each other, IVs (Individual Values) and EVs (Effort Values) relate to different aspects of a Pokémon. Think of IVs as the potential a Pokémon is born with and EVs as the training it puts in. With EV training, you can choose which stats to boost to give your Pokémon an edge in battle. To learn more about EVs, check out our companion EV training guide on Dittobase.

Complete guide for IV training your Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet.

Guides

Tips & Tricks

How To Train Your Pokémon: IVs

Effort Values (EVs) are one variable that directly affects your Pokémon’s stats. EVs can be customized to your liking, allowing you to choose which stats you want to boost. To maximize your Pokémon’s battle potential, you’ll need to train its EVs by battling and catching other Pokémon or using EV-increasing items.

A Pokémon can earn a total of 510 EVs among all its stats, with a maximum of 252 EVs for a single stat. For every four EVs earned in a particular stat, the corresponding stat value will increase by one. This equates to 127 total stat points, or 63 in a single stat. 

When your Pokémon levels up, the game calculates how much to increase your stats using a formula involving your Pokémon’s current level and EVs earned. All stat changes will take place by the time it reaches level 100. Remember, since it takes four EVs to increase a stat by one point, always be sure the final tally for each stat is divisible by four.

Like experience points, EVs are accumulated by defeating or catching other Pokémon. Each Pokémon species yields different EVs when defeated or captured, which will be distributed to either one or multiple stats, depending on the Pokémon.

will increase your Pokémon’s HP EV by one, while defeating or capturing a 

 yields one HP EV and one Attack EV. It’s important to note that each Pokémon in your party will receive the same number of EVs at the end of battle, so be sure to remove any party members you don’t want to EV train.

To speed up the EV training process, you can have your Pokémon hold a Power item. These items add eight EVs of the corresponding stat to whatever EVs you earn.

 yields one HP EV. A Pokémon holding a Power Weight would receive nine HP EVs, while a Pokémon holding a Power Belt would receive one HP EV and eight Defense EVs. In 

, Power items can be purchased from Delibird Presents in Mesagoza, Levincia and Cascarrafa.

Vitamins can be used on your Pokémon to increase each corresponding EV by 10. In 

, Vitamins can be found as sparkling spots, obtained as rewards for winning the Academy Ace Tournament, defeating Tera Raid dens or conveniently purchased for 10,000 Pokédollars each from Chansey Supply shops. Supply shops are located in Mesagoza, Cascarrafa, Levincia and Montenevera.

Vitamins are the easiest and fastest way to EV train your Pokémon. However, they are uncommon to find and will cost you around 500,000 Pokédollars if you wish to purchase enough to fully EV train a Pokémon from scratch. Fortunately, there is an 

easy way to farm money in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Feathers are a good way to fine-tune your Pokémon’s EVs. While Vitamins increase EVs in increments of 10, Feathers increase EVs by a single point. In 

, Feathers can be found scattered around the Casseroya Lake region of the map — just look for the sparkling spots on the ground and in the water. They can also be obtained from completing Tera Raids or by placing winning bids at the auction in Porto Marinada.

If you need to remove unwanted EVs from a particular stat, you’ll need to use EV-reducing berries. Each berry reduces the corresponding EV by 10 points. These berries have a secondary effect of increasing your Pokémon’s happiness level, which is useful for Pokémon that evolve by friendship. In 

, EV-reducing berries can be found as sparkling spots on the ground in the East Province or by placing winning bids at the auction in Porto Marinada.

A good rule of thumb for deciding how to EV train your Pokémon is to answer the following questions:

Increasing a Pokémon’s best stats allows it to perform what it does well even better.

Sometimes, shoring up a weak stat makes a Pokémon more balanced. This is usually true for defensive Pokémon like Chansey, where training its weak Defense stat grants it better overall bulk.

What role does this Pokémon perform on my team?

Pokémon focused on dealing damage will usually need a boost to their Attack or Special Attack, while support Pokémon benefit most from buffs to their Defense and HP.

By looking at a Pokémon’s base stats, you can usually tell what role it performs best. Take 

, for example. Its highest stats are Special Attack and Speed. This Pokémon functions best as a special sweeper, meaning it hits hard and fast with special attacks to KO the opponent before taking a hit.

By maxing out its Special Attack and Speed with 252 EVs each, you will do more damage and have a better chance at moving before your opponent. The remaining four EVs could go toward HP or one of its Defense stats.

You also need to consider the moves your Pokémon knows. With the EV spread above, you will want to use special moves like Psychic instead of physical moves like Psycho Cut. Since Alakazam has a pitiful base Attack stat and only Special Attacks in its move set, any Attack EVs would be a waste.

How Do You Check Your Pokémon’s Current EVs?

, open the main menu and select a Pokémon to check its summary. Navigate to the Moves and Stats page. Here you’ll see a graph of the Pokémon’s stats. Press the L button to switch the graph view. The dark yellow shape represents the Pokémon’s base stats, while the bright yellow shape represents EVs the Pokémon has accumulated.

If your goal is to max out the EVs of a particular stat, you know you have done so when sparkles appear around the stat's name. Additionally, you’ll know the Pokémon is fully EV-trained when the bright yellow shape turns light blue.

Individual Values (IVs) are another determining factor of your Pokémon’s stats. Unlike EVs, IVs are already in place from the moment you capture or hatch a Pokémon. To learn more, check out our companion IV training guide on Dittobase.

Complete guide for EV training your Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet.

How To Train Your Pokémon: EVs

All Pokémon are assigned types. Types affect various characteristics of a Pokémon, including effectiveness in battle against other Pokémon, the type of moves it can learn, design features, and often the color palette chosen for that Pokémon.

Currently there are 18 available types a Pokémon could have. All Pokémon belong to either one or two of these type categories. 

, for example, is a mono Fire type, while 

is a dual Grass and Poison type. Types are consistent across species, meaning all Charmander will be Fire types. Let’s take a closer look at how Pokémon types affect battles.

Like Pokémon, attacks are also assigned types. For instance, 

 is a Fire type attack. When a Pokémon uses an attack, the type of the attack is compared against the type of the defending Pokémon. 

Depending on the type matchup, the attack could be neutral (100% damage), super effective (200% damage), not very effective (50% damage), or have no effect (0% damage).

 Knowing the effectiveness of attack types on Pokémon types can give you a huge advantage in battle!

 to see how all 18 types interact with each other!

Attack effectiveness is multiplied for dual type Pokémon. For example, 

, a dual Water/Flying type, would take 400% damage from an Electric attack, since Electric is both 2x effective against Water and 2x effective against Flying. This works the same for resistances. 

, a Bug/Steel Pokémon, would only take 25% damage (.5 x .5) from a Grass type attack, since Grass is not very effective against both Bug and Steel.

To easily calculate dual type effectiveness, you can also use Dittobase’s 

. This useful tool allows you to select your Pokémon's type(s) to see how well it defends against each attack type, as well as checking offensive attack effectiveness and coverage.

Another factor to consider when calculating attack damage is Same Type Attack Bonus, abbreviated as STAB.

 If a Pokémon's type matches its attack type, the attack will do an additional 50% damage.

. Hydro Pump is a base 110 power Water type attack. Since Blastoise is a water type Pokémon using Hydro Pump, a water type attack, the STAB bonus applies, essentially bumping the power of Hydro Pump from 110 to 165 (110 x 1.5). Because STAB and type effectiveness are multiplied, your Pokémon has the capability of doing massive damage against the right opponent. A mindful trainer will consider this and make the appropriate switches in battle.

Tera types, introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, add another dimension to Pokémon typing. By using a Tera Orb in battle, you can Terastallize your Pokémon, switching its type completely! 

When a Pokémon Terastallizes in battle, it loses its original type(s) and becomes whatever its Tera type is.

 The Tera type is listed on the Pokémon Status Summary screen, directly under its type. 

. Miraidon is an Electric/Dragon type. This particular Miraidon has Electric for its Tera type, meaning

 when it Terastallizes, it loses its Dragon typing and becomes a pure Electric type.

 This means Miraidon will no longer have its weaknesses to Fairy and Dragon type attacks but retains its weakness to Ground type attacks. 

Terastallizing into one of the Pokémon's original typings will also boost the STAB bonus from 50% to 100%, meaning even in a neutral type matchup, Miraidon will be hitting for twice the damage when using Electric type attacks!

 This is a great example of how to use Terastallization to boost your offensive power.

Terastalliztion is also often used as a defensive tactic. This shiny 

, for example, has a Bug/Steel typing, with a Tera type of Water. Normally, Scizor would take 400% damage from Fire attacks since both its typings are weak to Fire. However, if you predict an incoming Fire attack, you can Terastallize into the Water type to reduce that damage down to 50%. Additionally, a 

Pokémon will gain STAB on attack types that match its Tera type, while retaining STAB on attacks of its original type(s)

. This means that after Terastallizing, any Bug, Steel, or Water type moves Scizor uses will do an additional 50% damage!

If a Pokémon can’t learn any moves that match its Tera type, you can always teach it TM 171 

. Tera Blast is a 80 BP attack that will always match the typing of your Tera type. It will deal either Physical or Special damage, depending on whichever stat is higher of the Pokémon using it: Attack, or Special Attack, respectively.

Most wild Pokémon will have a Tera type that matches one of their standard types. However, certain glowing Pokémon in the wild and Tera Raid Pokémon may have different Tera types. The good news is Tera types can be changed!

To change your Pokémon's Tera type, you must first beat the Normal type gym in Medali. Next, collect 50 Tera Shards of your desired type. Shards can be won from defeating Tera Raid Dens, or from completing classes at the Academy. When you have the required number of shards, head to the Treasury Eatery in Medali and speak to the Chef behind the counter. He will offer to change your Pokémon's Tera type in exchange for 50 Tera Shards. Think carefully before choosing your Tera type, as these shards can be hard to come by.

The Stellar type, introduced in the Scarlet and Violet Indigo Disk DLC, is worth a special mention. Below are the key points to remember about the Stellar type:

Currently, no Pokémon have the Stellar type as one of their main types. This type is only accessible as a Tera type when Stellar Tera Shards are used to change your Pokémon's Tera type to Stellar

There are no Stellar type moves, however, the moves 

 become the Stellar type if the user has Terastallized into the Stellar type

Stellar type moves are super effective only against Terastallized Pokémon

Pokémon that Terastallize into the Stellar type maintain the weaknesses of their original types

Hopefully this guide helped you understand how Pokémon types interact with attack types and provided you with useful tools and information to become a better Pokémon trainer!

An overview of Pokémon types, attack types, and how type effectiveness is calculated.

Pokémon Type Effectiveness Guide

The best and fastest way to farm money in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is to repeatedly challenge the Academy Ace Tournament held in Mesagoza. You can unlock this tournament by completing the main story and rematching all the gym leaders. This method allows you to participate in a series of battles to earn money by defeating the other trainers. Using the Amulet Coin to double your prize money, this method allows you to quickly fill your pockets with currency, between 26,000 and 34,000 per battle! You can also get some great items as a reward for winning, including Nuggets, Nature Mints and if you’re really lucky, even a Gold Bottle Cap!

Dark moves work wonders in the Academy Ace Tournament, and 

 unleashes them better than any Pokemon in the game thanks to its 135 base Special Attack and Beads of Ruin ability that decreases the Special Defense stat of all Pokémon on the field other than the Pokémon with this Ability by 25%. This allows 

 to defeat most Pokémon it will face in the tournament with a single 

A controller with a turbo button (optional)

Chi-Yu can be captured by first collecting the 8 Blue Ominous Stakes located in the north/east regions of the map. With all 8 stakes found, head to the Bamboo Forest. You will find 

 at the Firescourge Shrine, located in the cave, near the waterfall. See the Ruinous Pokemon Guide for more details.

The Amulet Coin can be obtained from the Pokémon League Representative outside the Pokémon Center in Medali. Simply defeat 5 trainers in West Province (Area Three) and he will hand it over.

Chi-Yu should be EV trained 252 HP, 252 Special Attack, 4 Defense. You should also give it the Amulet Coin to hold.

Deposit all other Pokemon besides Chi-Yu into your PC box. This will prevent the game from asking you if you would like to switch Pokemon after defeating each one of your opponent’s Pokemon. This will speed up the farm by eliminating additional text 

and is necessary if you are using the turbo controller method.

Fly to the Uva Academy in Mesagoza. Enter the school through the front doors and approach the g

Speak to the gentleman to start the Acadamy Ace Tournament. You’re ready to go to battle! Simply use your 

 to decimate your opponents using a combination of 

, whichever attack hits for neutral or super effective damage.

 is the top move in your move set. This will be the only move Chi-Yu uses. Barring an unlucky situation where you get hit with multiple critical hits, Chi-Yu will be able to handle every trainer you come across in the tournament.

Next, set the turbo to continuously press the A button. You’ll need to find a way to keep that button held down, either with a rubber band, or some other method. Some controllers like the 8BitDo Pro 2 allow you to remap other buttons to the A button. This is useful because the P1 and P2 buttons on the back of the controller are more easily held down by wrapping a rubber band around the grip.

Once your controller is set up, speak to the gentleman behind the desk to initiate the tournament. Sit back, relax, take a nap if you wish. 

will do all the work. Just be sure to save your game every so often in case the software crashes.

The most efficient way to max out your money in game.

smgRic

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Latest posts

How To Train Your Pokémon: IVs

How To Train Your Pokémon: EVs

Pokémon Type Effectiveness Guide

Chi-yu Unlimited Money Farm Guide for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet