the real mechanisms behind stat gain:
beleive it or not, but the amount of stats you gain is controlled by what pokemon you fought as you gained that level. this is called 'The EV (Effort Values) System', a concept first discovered by ROM hackers.
EVs: when you get four EVs to one stat, then that stat gets one more unit added to it.
some pokemon give more EVs than others, and some give one point to two stats! usually, they add point/s to the stat that they are strong in. but say i'm training ho-oh to have a really high spec. attack. i should just verse lotsa natus and all these points would build up. but say i battled 3,996 natus - i would not only be bored to death, but i would eventually aquire 999 on my spec attack stat! so there is a limit: 255 points to one stat, and a 510 cap on the sum of your EVs. so, you can add up to 64 to two stats - quite useful, eh? BUT, you don't have to completely max out EVs, because those last three EVs to one stat won't help it. because 255 does not divide by four evenly. so just add 252 to two stats, and you'll get the same result! plus, you are left with six EVs, but they won't do THAT much.
does this seem like a lot of work to do? well, you can speed it up with vitamins. each vitamin (protein, carbos etc.) can add 10 EV points, and there is a max of 10 vitamins of one sort to a pokemon. unless your stats are already maxed out.
EV training: is when you just battle certain wild pokemon JUST to max out your EVs. here are some places to EV train:
hit points: national park at night - only hoothoots there
attack: the first route after New Bark town, just fight sentrets
def: any cave where there are rock/ground pokemon
sp. att: the part in ruins of alph where you find natus, you know, you have to go up into union cave, surf in the water, go past the couple hikers and take the north road? then you have to defeat this psychic with a girafarig? and just run from any smeargles
spec def: anywhere where there are tentacools
speed: diglett's cave
and you should count how much EVs you have with pencil and paper - just put another tally on the column with the stat on it.
Note: EV training gives you an edge in pokemon crystal's battle tower and in link battles, but if you just want to play the game through and thats it then theres little point in spending so much time honing your pokemon's stats.
Rare candies: once your EVs are maxed, you aren't gunna get much more stats, are you? this is when you can't tell the difference between normal-level-up stats and a rare candy-level-up stats, and it is safe to use rare candy without any damage to your stats. |