Understanding EV's, IV's, and the Damage Calc! Pokemon Academy Lecture #2

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Pokemon Academy Lecture #2 is live! Today we're diving in depth into how to make complicated EV spreads, how to understand IVs in competitive Pokemon, and how to use the Damage Calculator!
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[@WolfeyVGC]

What topic should I cover in next weeks lecture!?

[@theonewingedangel8680]

Cores?

[@maurice7950]

how to do online matches?

[@qin2500]

Maybe you can talk about just general team building. Like how to balance out your, team. And how to like come up with a strategy or something

[@NotTheWheel]

basic damage calcs like how to get a good idea of what an attack move might do.

[@dr.hasdan]

Maybe illegal things e.g dynamaxing? Or illegal pokemon.

[@joshuacourtney5959]

This is actually insanely helpful for someone trying to break into the competitive scene and showdown such as myself, i know this video is 3 years old but this actually made more sense to me than any of the newer videos I’ve seen about it. Curious if you would ever consider continuing the academy lectures and talk about weather theme teams like sun or sand in the context of current Natdex ou. Thanks!

[@ARana-om7tm]

I was wondering if anyone here was from 2023

[@aussiefi98]

@@ARana-om7tm lol meanwhile here in 2024 i’m learning what it’s all about

[@kinseyphillips6954]

Wolfe is unknowingly training one of us to be his rival. SMELL YA LATER

[@Akyure]

NEWBIE. I love Pokemon

[@heyhooyaayaygba3148]

😂😂😂😂

[@archieVGC_Unite]

Wolfey: *insert Morpheus “come at me hand”

[@joshuastreet8664]

Hatched a shiny Clobbopus while watching this! Had been hunting it for over a week now. Hatched it after 1,023 eggs and did 4,103 encounters for it beforehand. Thanks for the descriptive and informative video!

[@badassfroslass]

I'm so ready for this one, I missed the stream and I really struggle with EVs and IVs

[@WolfeyVGC]

I gotchu

[@geckohecko]

Me too! The streams are not often at great times for me RIP timezones

[@duckymomo7935]

I struggle getting perfect IVs I don’t want to waste hyper training

[@viliphied]

@@duckymomo7935 You need 2 dittos with 4-5 perfect IVs with no duplicate imperfect IVs (or 1 with 6) and then it's just time

[@MD-vs9ff]

If you struggle with it it's because most people (Wolfey included unfortunately) are absolutely TERRIBLE at explaining them. Start with the stat formula on Bulbapedia. it's simple arithmetic and you can see exactly how all the factors (Base stats, EVs, IVs, Level, and Nature) contribute to the stat's final value. Play around with a stat calculator feeding it different values, keeping an eye on the formula to make sure you understand how all the contributions work.

[@imESAM]

I can't believe I was in another video! But I didn't tell you I was Mr. Nintendo...how'd you know?

[@shash._.]

Wolfey always knows...

[@ZejnMikail]

ESAM lmao

[@nintendope8837]

That's why pikachus top teir it all makes sense now

[@millymenace]

You play Pokémon and smash? :)

[@SDarbzzz]

The reason the first 4EVs raises a stat is because at Level 50 it requires 2 IVs (Individual Values) to raise a stat by 1 and we have 31 IVs. So our IVs yield 15.5 stats. Then the first 4EVs yield 0.5 of a stat. Both the 0.5s add together to grant that initial stat. If you invest a 0 speed IV Pokemon 4 EVs it would cause no change to its stats

[@BurgoYT]

Yep exactly

[@Skinimink1234]

Thanks for the explanation

[@emmetstanevich2121]

I thought the calc just rounded down on each step? Or is that just damage?

[@UncalibratedAimbot]

I never realized this. I also assumed all stats were truncated at each step. What’s cool is the Showdown stat calculator understands this and has different behavior depending on a stat’s IVs. If you go to a vgc format and set a stat’s IVs to an odd number (like 31) at level 50 the stat calculator will start at 4 evs and increase by 8 like normal. If you set an IV to an even number at level 50, it will still increment by 8 but start at 8. Mind blown.

[@Pikatrainer2]

Great explanations. I think it's important to mention that while taking 8 out of HP to put it in defenses does net you more stat points, the extra stat point doesn't always change damage calcs, and if it doesn't you still get more value out of the extra HP point. But again that's something you take to the calcs and look at to see what happens. I really like the emphasis on the speed stat. it really it the most important stat.

[@spoopdawhoop]

Who is this strange, baby-faced man and what did he do with Mr. Glick

[@SkiGlovesie]

I think your simplifications of the maths behind it has only made me more confused. So it's probably a great lecture for people who aren't math weirdos like me. But seeing you use various resources to develop an EV spread was a huge help, I've not known where to look when I've been developing an EV spread like that. So thank you.

[@allisonc5343]

Thank you for what you're doing for the community! I have never seen this many people interested in/excited for VGC. You're bringing a level of positivity, excitement and fun that is SO refreshing.

[@KurticusZen]

Thank you Professor VGC for recording your lectures.

[@Jah_Coby]

508 Eevees? Man I better start catching more Pokemon...

[@erobbiep4778]

:)

[@Emmanuel-ve8cd]

@@erobbiep4778 :)

[@FS-gl9cg]

start now

[@gonzogamer2636]

The demonstration with the calc was very helpful.

[@nolanharris5009]

Thanks for posting these on KZbin. Im always busy during streams, so I appreciate the VODs.

[@artvelasco1]

Hey Wolfey, Not sure if you'll even see this, but been a fan of Pokemon for as long as I can remember, but this is the first time I've owned the newest game. I was considering getting into ranked, and watching your videos was what pushed me to do it. They're very informative but also a lot of fun to watch, even just for the jokes and random conversation. You're doing an amazing job and it's no wonder your channel grew so fast! Competitive pokemon is a completely different game from the usual story-mode we all played, so I believe you're getting a lot of people into something that isn't usually easy to transition into. I don't know if people appreciate that enough. I watch every single video you put out and I'm loving what I'm seeing. Keep it up!

[@machinegunalii7001]

This comment is 3 YEARS OLD BUT IT IS WHOLESOME

[@PNWGuitar]

Wolfe, Cybertron and some others helped me go from someone who last played Pokemon Gen 2 and now I’ve played all except the black and white series and play online a lot. Feels good to actually win occasionally and understanding math more than my 8th grade teacher would ever believe

[@fluffybuttfancyton3574]

I love your stuff man, I’ve been wanting to get into VGC since the new game came out and now I can understand it and actually get into it. Thank you for the amazing content professor

[@frankchargualaf426]

This is why I love vgc academy. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about evs but I realized Ive been wasting evs using some spreads

[@polyphoenix7725]

Love the server, always in the practice rooms

[@LunarWingCloud]

While I've understood EVs and IVs for over 10 years now I definitely did not know about how EVs can be wasted on Level 50 mons. Thanks for this!

[@clampulp]

Wow I thought I knew a decent amount going into this video, now I feel like a complete noob learning something for the first time, great informative vid, I haven't tried Pokemon until recently last I played was around 2013-14, and was super impressed to see how you have gotten better during the years, even a championship :O. you have a new sub :).

[@brizzzy1215]

i cant tell u how much this video helped. THANK YOUUUU

[@Espeon804]

Started with Platinum at 10 years old. Took me until I was 20 to finally understand how Ivs work, and how to EV train. At 21 I just started breeding for good ivs. Baby steps. Nah. Not baby steps. Truth is ever since I got demolished in gen 5 Wi-Fi battles I wanted to get stronger Pokémon. My lazy butt finally put in the effort to learn last year.

[@FakeHeroFang]

It was a massive pain in the ass to breed and train until the 3ds games anyways, most people just genned because doing it legit was too inacessible and time consuming. I don't blame anyone for being put off by it until recently, it was really bad. Even now with destiny knot breeding it can take forever to get the ivs you want if you're unlucky and you have to money grind for vitamins/clock exploit pokejobs since there's no good ev training methods anymore, but it all has become much easier to grasp in the last 5 years or so.

[@fatherofrose4027]

Gay

[@tarkus1056]

I started with Silver at 6 years old and started breeding competitively with ORAS at 21 years old

[@woozi29]

I would like to see what your thought process is for building a team!

[@thetafritz9868]

YOOO IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW HOW TO DO COMPLICATED EV SPREADS THAAANK YOUUU WOLFEEE!

[@christopherxgordon]

I love these videos and always learn something. I knew about EVs, but I didn't know how to optimize them to ensure that I'm not wasting points. 👍

[@boppo16]

hatched a 6 iv adamant HA riolu while watching this. thanks wolfe

[@MrNamesjeff17291]

“There’s no rusty bottle cap” “maybe next year” ❤️🤣😂

[@WeissSchwarzRox97]

Great guide! I think Jump EVs were worth a mention as they are evs in which you gain 2 points for 8 evs rather than 1 point.

[@jaydenliberty9536]

I’m only halfway through and I knew none of this and I love it, I love learning

[@zPamboli]

12:28 for me that's something I didn't think about but now I see it's pretty important when playing VGC, I always played lvl 100, so every 4 EVs always meant +1 to the stat, that changes on lvl 50

[@cheesetheorange4503]

you can also use commands in chat rooms on showdown to help decide speed tiers. try using /statcalc [stat number] positive to see the max speed at a certain base stat and you can do for example /ds spe>59, spe

[@nathanclarke7755]

This is honestly amazing and so helpful ty so much for going through this 😭

[@jagmeyer7670]

I remembered the VGC Academy today after loving the first episode (didn't realise you carried it on since it took a while aha)- almost skipped over it too being the know-it-all I am 😅 Alas, I learned I've wasted so many EVs on my Pokemon on custom spreads- thanks again Wolfe 😂

[@TehFilmFanatic]

That music is making me wanna pick up FE:3H again

[@JayceCH.]

You dropped it for a reason.

[@bergenehrlich8309]

So basically just know a lot, and that’s how you win Pokémon. Also the bit about when to increase defense over heath really helped , I never knew when to do that before!

[@zackforde4185]

let’s gooo, everyday’s a school day

[@3bladex]

There was so much i did not know about evs and i play pokemon since red and blue thanks wolf

[@emmetstanevich2121]

An interesting aspect about EVs is that, since they give a flat boost to their respective stat (regardless of base stats and IVs), they have a disproportionate effect on normally low stats. For example, chansey and blissey have absolutely abysmal defense, but since EVs are just a straight-up addition to their stats, they each gen much more value out of defense investment than, say, ferrothorn, who invests into special defense for similar (albeit less dire) reasons. That's also why the two pink blobs also generally don't run spdef investment, as the boost from EVs is a much smaller portion due to their high natural special bulk, although they sometimes have to do so anyways in some generations of ubers, where the powercreep has gotten to the point where they can't rely solely on their natural, uninvested bulk. HP is somewhat different though, as it helps you survive both physical and special damage (and is the only way to mitigate fixed-damage moves like seismic toss,) so it is generally invested in first even if it's not always as efficient as either defense or spdef for their specific purposes. After all, you don't really get to pick-and-choose what threats you go up against, unlike how you can generally use either attack or spatk as a dump stat for non-mixed attackers. tl;dr: EVs are neat, yo.

[@timeless1882]

I was there at the beginning of the livestream, but I had to do something for school. Thanks for uploading this!

[@jesseo2103]

Can't wait to finish these finals so I can focus on a REAL class.

[@shawnleblanc3931]

Hes got the best ratings on ratemyteacher

[@noahperez4589]

i love how the editor left in “im not using dark mode i never use dark mode”

[@AznDumbum]

@WolfeyVGC I also think it's a important note to mention that the actual amount of EVs is actually 510, not 508. But because all the ev's that count towards an attribute are divisible by 4, the extra 2 are just considered to be lead-way for players to fix EV mistakes from EV training. This can be capitalized upon when doing EV training.

[@FakeHeroFang]

It's not as big a deal as it used to be since you used to be able to waste them by investing too much, but ever since they limited the evs to 252 instead of 255 it's not as big a problem as it used to be. Just have to be aware of making sure you use multiples of 4 in your ev spreads

[@bdoug6715]

My brain has a really tough time understanding this...

[@spindash64]

To give you an idea of WHY someone would run less investment on Megawile, it had Base 105 Attack and Huge Power. If you ran Adamant full investment on it, the equivalent Baseattack needed to reach that without held items, abilities, or boosting would be base 261. The highest possible base stat is 255. This Pokémon was basically just packing so much heat that it was nearly overkill, so you may as well try running some bulk.

[@deceive4258]

A very good presenter Better than many of my profs in uni

[@Toxicated13]

Wow... Been playing pokemon for 4 years competitively... And learnt more in this 40min video than the 4 years! Thanks again wolf... 'Divisable by 8, Bad... Bad Divisable by 8' 😅

[@00031849]

The invite for the discord is invalid. Does the discord still exists?

[@supremeleaderkyloren7938]

Been waiting for this wolfey!!! Teach me so I can beat you at worlds lol

[@michaelmoran4012]

superlate but small little trick if you want a trickroom pokemon the 4 ev state waist could be used to lower your stat say you have the pikachu with 90 base speed, if you now take a nature that slows you down -10% speed that would put you at 81, nothing special right. now take those 4 left over ev's and put them into speed, speed becomes 91 so having a nature that slows you now becomes -10% rounded up meaning you lose 10 stat points putting you at 80 speed, i know i know it's only 1 point and might be very niche when this is important but it could help

[@frankunodostres473]

now that we're talking formats, let me throw a proposition out there: we don't need 5-6 tiers in gen8 like we did in gen7. because we have 400 less pkmn than in gen7. imo we should scrap PU and maybe even NU (and ZU if you ever considered it a real thing) and that's enough for our meta. otherwise we would divide the few pkmn we have into tiers so small that it gets really boring. for singles that is. what do you think?

[@jakejohnson7399]

Hey wolf, after your worlds run could you show us your complicated ev and iv spreads and the reasoning behind them

[@parzivalcline205]

I love these so much! Thanks for doing them!

[@ldmtag]

Neutral natures are great for playthrough. I love to catch legendary pokemon and use them as super versatile neutral nature mixed attackers

[@zarzanator1991]

I casually play Pokemon games now and then. My favorites black/white. Never played with EVs/IVs in consideration on casual playthroughs. But i think I'll see playthroughs alot differently now.

[@supa4ys843]

Thumbnail looks like Wolfey is gonna drop the hardest pop quiz ever

[@uhhrace]

Wolfe is a teacher as his day job you can't convince me otherwise

[@akuro6470]

Wolfe really be out here playing the exam music for us

[@queeny5613]

Thanks for this. Could you possibly cover movesets and creating movesets for teams as that really confuses me

[@Shadowbuscus]

Great video! Helps me get excited about learning this stuff. Can you show off a somewhat competitive Shuckle? please lol

[@coolyeh1017]

Looking cool, Wolfy!

[@Tristen501]

Thanks for the lessons!

[@kadeschneider674]

1:27 *psychic terrain boosts psychic moves by 1.5 flashbacks intensify*

[@blueye95]

In case of Dracovosh i would also factor in tailwind for the speed evs

[@elk2594]

This may be obvious to the majority of people watching but for the absolute newbies the way you earn EVs (Effort Values *hint hint*) in game is by defeating Pokemon or using certain items (feathers and vitamins). As soon as your Pokemon has defeated another pokemon, you have started EV training. Also, because you can't know exactly how many EVs your pokemon has it is far easier to breed new Pokemon and raise them from scratch than trying to EV train your in-game team.

[@albericponcedeleon2696]

You can always use the EV-reducing berries and re-train

[@ghostmanic173]

You make it alot easier to understand nd therefore have yourself a sub. I look forward to more videos 🤗

[@NotTheWheel]

Oh neat you're reposting the lectures here? Cool.

[@kh9971]

I always heard people complaining about genning pokemon, but damage calcs/showdown are the real outside programs that give you a competitive advantage

[@Gich101]

How does it give a competitive advantage, anyone can use it and it is not hard to use

[@kh9971]

@@Gich101 for advantage think "people who use showdown vs people who don't" and it should be pretty clear if you use showdown you've got way more information from a damage formula that someone ripped out of the black box in the game. Showdown is pretty accessible but it requires a web browser and knowledge it exists outside of official games

[@Gich101]

@@kh9971 A web browser and a calculator, that's your best defense. Anyone who plays Pokemon has a 99.99% chance of having access to the internet and doing any amount of research into competitive Pokemon would lead you to Pokemon Showdown. Also, the damage formula is on other sites like Serebii and Bulbapedia the only difference you have to do the math yourself

[@narcissawright]

great vid

[@narcissawright]

I never thought about stuff like trying to take 1 less point of damage from life orb, sand, hail

[@yordisanders9859]

Haha great informational video! :) Im not a pro but I have been playing the game since the first pokemon basically and even I learned some things I didnt even know about until now so thanks! :) Oh and also you may want to discuss VGC doubles again a bit more with Dan because I was watching his couple last battles and didnt ran any protect basically on any of his mons.. even some which clearly could/should have it not to be rude ofc, everyone has their learning curve

[@whacker01]

Hey Mr. Glick, I’m excited for our next class period. If you don’t know what to teach, maybe defensive cores

[@Tensac926]

Hi Wolfey great vid bro! I kinda wish you could've gave links to the web sites you used in description.

[@SJNaka101]

I would argue it actually IS less optimal for newer/casual players to worry about things like 0 attack IV, because time would be better spent actually playing and learning at that stage of development.

[@andrewcapuno3507]

So while stat wise a neutral nature is never right, with mints it may be right. The 33% berries confuse based on your original nature not effective nature. So if you are using trick or bugbite to steal berries you can never be confused if you are serious then minted to jolly or whatever nature you need

[@li-gonn2342]

Even though I've been a fan of pokemon since the dawn of time.. I have definitely been slacking over the years with this modern mechanic! Only now finding out about vgc 🤣

[@trainerred8438]

Verlisify don't know that mr. Glick.

[@shash._.]

Lmao verlisfy don't know shit compared to wolfey

[@hellwroughtangel]

1:28 definitely looking at esam off camera.

[@badatgames3309]

Maybe how to make a team. I know it's a big topic but hey it would really help

[@vilestride335]

How do you go about weighing up % chances? I find I have a habit of kinda saying to myself, "well if it's not a guarantee I'm pretty much going to get the bad end of the roll every time". For example, let's say your current spread gives you 50% chance to OHKO a certain pokemon but leaves you short a couple EVs and gives you a only 50% chance of surviving a hit from another. In this case, would you typically accept both scenarios as a 50/50 or would you analyse deeper which one you think is more important and move that calc to be 100% even if it compromises the other? I face this choice a lot and I rarely come out feeling confident with my choice.

[@quinnmcdonald3763]

Yes. This is what I love

[@adamcannella3169]

Very cool

[@MrZelektronz]

So I always had the feeling that you need to fully ev train ur pokemon at level 1 in order for it to get all the stat boni at level 100. So catching a level 40 and using it competitively is inherently bad because you won't get full stat boni in 10 levelups only. But I assume that's wrong at the level u ev train at doesn't matter

[@nicholaskho432]

Can you please make ep 4?

[@shanejames9051]

"These are Pikachu's base stats, except their not, these are Pikachu's base stats" 16:14

[@AlexRiversMusic]

shane norton Base 216 speed would make that thing a monster

[@StrawberryCowMoo]

What are the other two websotes you used other than showdown?

[@Vexacus4666]

The professor is so damn cute 😍😍😍

[@miquel2423]

Clear video. Question about previous education. Does tailwind double the base speed stat or the speed EV's or both? That is still unclear to me.

[@GravityIsFalling]

It doubles the actual speed stat Nothing changes the base stats as far as I know

[@miquel2423]

@@GravityIsFalling o okay, thanks buddy :) Happy new year!

[@MiniKeanuReeves]

How come then when I max out two stats in Evs there is still 6 points left and not 4? I still can’t figure this out

[@MrRevern]

I thought I was crazy lol plz someone let us know

[@2cool42ndgradeblah6]

A drive Joey and deathly did 8 hour shifts. Still crazy

[@mathieul4303]

Join the agency

[@MrFish-dc1zm]

Professor Wolfey I need more homework and lectures but I’m starting to understand more about Pokémon. Give us more homework 📚

[@TheOldSchoolCrisis]

21:00 "The IV judge will only give you a range, except for 31s and 0s." As of Sword and Shield it will also tell you if you have a 30 stat. No Good = 0 Fantastic = 30 Best = 31

[@Zeusaroonee]

So if you get 5 best and 1 fantastic, don’t stress?

[@TheOldSchoolCrisis]

@@Zeusaroonee depends how much minmax matters to you. You can always bottle cap the last stat though.

[@stompingpeak2043]

@@Zeusaroonee depends on what its in. If your mon doesnt use that skill then it will be fine. For example: If you get a Durant with 5 best and a no good attack then its garbage

[@aarongarcia9016]

Is there no more Battle academy discord server?

[@jacobjackson7225]

So as a rule of thumb, if I want a modest Pokémon would I want a no good attack stat? Just for the off chance to hinder foul play?

[@jevo_2228]

I’m sorry but non-full beard Wolfey is inferior to current, majestic-bearded Wolfey

[@beverlyhyso7553]

Just wondering and i'm sorry to bother you on this but on G-max pikachu would you use jolly or timid?

[@JonesyVods]

is the academy discord still a thing? i attempted to join but only got a error

[@Zihark94]

this is kinda the reason I prefer battles at lvl 100. you don't need to worry about wasting EVs there as long as you pick the right nature

[@e_deus_disse]

I know it's been a while but I have a question. If I have a pokemon at level 100 and want to use it in ranked, should I still use the 252hp/252at/4s spread (for example) or that 244/244/4/0/4/8 spread, since it will be at level 50 in the ranked battles?