Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Best Ways to EV Train Fast

Are you looking to EV train your Pokemon quickly and bring out its best version in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet?  Are you interested in achieving the maximum stats reachable for your Pokemon?

Effort values or EVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet increase certain stats of your Pokemon when you win a battle. However, there’s a limit to how much a stat can rise and how much EV you can use.

In this guide, I’ll clear out the intricate details regarding Effort Values and share with you, the best ways to EV train fast in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, so that you can go on and ace it in the stadiums and six-star raids.

How do Effort Values (EV) work in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?

Effort Values (EV) are points that you receive for a certain attribute after you’ve defeated a Pokemon in battle. The points can range from 1 to 3. These points are also dependent on the type of Pokemon you have defeated.

For example, if your Pokemon wins in a battle against Magikarp, the Speed stat of your Pokemon will gain +1 EV. On the other hand, if you defeat a Gabite, your Pokemon will achieve +2 EV for its Attack stat.

However, the increase in EV won’t directly boost your stat. Your stat will increase by 1 for every 4 EVs gained in that particular stat.

Let’s say, the Attack stat of your Pokemon is 90. So, you’d need to earn 4 Attack EVs to increase it to 91. The process will repeat for every 4 EVs gained.

However, there’s a limit to that. For every stat in its base value, you can only earn up to 252 EVs, which will result in an increase of 63 for that stat. Anything more than that won’t have any effect.

So, using the previous example, the maximum value your Pokemon can reach for the Attack attribute is the sum of 90 and 63, which is 153.

While you may be allowed to use 252 EVs for one stat, you can implement 510 EVs in total across the entire attribute set of your Pokemon.

EV spread out among stats in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
EV spread out among stats

You may decide to focus all 252 EVs on one stat and spread the rest of EVs out for other stats. Or, you may decide to equally divide the EVs among all the attributes.

The most efficient and common method is to allocate 252 EVs for one key attribute, allocate 252 more EVs for the Speed stat, and spend 4 EVs on boosting your Pokemon’s HP.

EV focused on two specific stats in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
EV focused on two specific stats

You’ll still have 2 EVs left, but that would be futile, since 4 EVs are needed to change stats. However, if you feel that dividing the EVs for particular stats will be more efficient in your case, then go for it!

You will be earning a maximum of 3 EVs per battle won, which makes the process quite slow and tedious. Auto-battles won’t earn you any EV either, so you’ll need to sit it out through each battle.

EV training fast is necessary if you want a strong party in a short period of time for the tera raids or competitive modes.

Best Ways to EV Train Fast in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Winning Pokemon Battles

As I discussed above, EVs are earned by battling and defeating wild Pokemon and the amount of EV you can earn for a particular stat of your Pokemon depends on the pocket monster that you defeated.

All you have to do is interact and battle with a particular Pokemon, which will help you earn EV for a certain stat, and come out victorious.

The Pokedex consists of a huge number of Pokemon and covering the EV for each and every one of them will take up huge space. These Pokemon are also found in varying locations.

Let’s take a look at a brief list of Pokemon that will earn you EVs for each attribute.

Attack

Defeating Scyther will earn you 1 Attack EV, while beating Bisharp and Luxray will earn you 2 and 3 EVs respectively. All three of these Pokemon can be found towards the north-eastern part of Paldea, in Area Two of North Province.

Bisharp in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Yungoose also gives +1 EV for Attack, whereas it’s +2 in the case of Gabite. These are found in Dalizapa passage, between the Great Crater and Glaseado gym.

Sp. Attack

Girafarig and Flaaffy will drop +2 EVs for Sp. Attack attributes and you can easily find them in Colonade Hollow, outside Porto Marinada.

Flaaffy in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Deino is a great Pokemon for a Sp. Attack EV as well, and you can find it in the same place as Gabile and Yungoose for Attack EVs.

Speed

Acquiring Speed EV is one the more important ones among the other attributes. You can get +2 Speed EV from Salazzle and Dugtrio by battling them in the Dalizapa passage.

Dugtrio in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Moreover, several Pokemon that drop Speed EV can be found in the city of Levincia, where the Electric gym is located. Defeating Cyclizar will earn you +2 EV, while Murkrow and Deerling will earn you +1 EV for the Speed stat.

Defense

Look to defeat Avalugg and Slowbro in order to earn +2 EVs for the Defense stat. You find these Pokemon in the area around Casseroya Lake.

Slowbro in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Furthermore, Torkoal and Carkol will also drop +2 EVs, and are found towards the western parts of Zapapico.

Sp. Defense

Swablu in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

In the central land situated in the middle of Casseroya Lake, look out for Swablu and Altaria; battling these Pokemon will help you earn +1 and +2 EVs for Sp. Defense, respectively.

HP

Makuhita and Hariyama will earn you +1 HP EV and +2 HP EV respectively, once you’ve won against them. You can encounter these Pokemon towards the western side of the city, Zapapico.

Hariyama in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Furthermore, Maril and Azumaril can be amazing options for HP EVs. Both of these Aqua type Pokemon can be found in the Casseroya Lake without having to search a lot.

Maril will drop +2 HP EV while you’ll be rewarded with +3 HP EV upon defeating Azumaril.

Based on the attribute you’re looking to boost, choose the Pokemon you’ll be battling wisely. A little bit of research on your part should help you find the perfect Pokemon that will enable you to rack up EVs on your preferred stat.

If you can’t find a certain type of Pokemon that you’re looking for, make use of the Encounter Power in sandwiches, which can be found in various peanut butter sandwiches, ham sandwiches, pickle sandwiches, and more!

Luxray in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

For example, if you want to battle Luxray to boost your Attack EVs, then you should have a sandwich that raises the Electric type Encounter Power. This will spawn more of these Pokemon near you, enabling you to earn higher Effort Values.

Lastly, do remember that, the EV that you earn with a Pokemon after battle, applies to each and every Pokemon in your party, regardless of the type and level.

Therefore, make sure you remove any Pokemon for which you don’t want particular stat upgrades.

Now that you know how you can EV train and boost your Pokemon’s stats, you do see that it’s not the fastest method, right? So, how do we speed it up?

Feeding your Pokemon Vitamins

There are certain Vitamins present in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that will help boost specific stats of your Pokemon at a price.

Chansey Supply shop inventory in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

These Vitamins can be purchased from the Chansey Supply shop that’s available in various parts of Paldea – Mesagoza, Montenevera, Levincia, and Cascarrafa. The price is a whopping 10,000 Pokedollars for one of these Vitamins!

Carbos is one such vitamin that will add 10 EVs to the Speed stat of your Pokemon, resulting in an increase of 2.5.

Carbos in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Protein and Iron work on the Attack and Defense attributes, while Calcium and Zinc will boost the Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense traits. All these stats increase by the same amount.

The HP Up medicine will obviously raise the health bar of your Pokemon.

Using Feathers

Feather is another item in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that boosts EV for a particular attribute of your Pokemon. It has almost the same effect as the vitamins.

There are a few different feathers available in the game and almost all of them are focused on increasing EV for a certain trait.

The feathers can be purchased through auctions that take place in the city of Porto Marinada. You can obtain these by completing tera raids as well, especially the 6-star tera raids.  

The Muscle Feather and Resist Feather will provide a +4 EV gain on Attack and Defense, in order. The Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense stats gain the same amount of EV as well, thanks to Genius Feather and Clever feather.

Swift Feather is quite useful in getting a +1 rise on your Speed stat. Health Feather only provides a +1 EV gain, so you’d need to purchase 4 of these to actually have an impact on the Pokemon’s HP level.

Implementing Pokemon Power Items

There are several, expensive items in the game that will definitely help boost the attributes of your favorite Pokemon.

Delibird Presents shop inventory in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

These are known as Power items and can only be found in the Delibird Presents shop. It has branches in Mesagoza and Cascarrafa. Delibird presents features other items like the Choice Band and Fire Stone, which is important for Growlithe to evolve into Arcanine.

The price of these Power Items, though, is off the roof, with each costing 10,000 Pokedollars!

If you use one of the Power Items on your Pokemon, the speed during battles will be reduced, but at the same time, a particular stat of your Pokemon will be boosted greatly. That’s a sacrifice you’ll have to make!

Power Items in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

The Power Bracer and Power Lens focus on the offensive attributes of your Pokemon, while the Power Belt and Power Band items are there to strengthen the defensive ones.

The Power Weight item will help to increase the HP of your Pokemon, but if you’re looking to improve speed, Power Anklet will be your perfect choice.

Combining these four methods will definitely help you EV train any of your Pokemon quickly and efficiently.

But, what if you make a mistake and upgrade an unwanted stat for a Pokemon?

Using Berries to reduce EV

Berries are quite useful in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Not only does it to reduce the EV of a Pokemon, it enriches your Friendship Level with the Pokemon as well!

EV reducing berries in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Similar to the Feathers discussed earlier, these berries can also be obtained from the auctions in Porto Marinada. Moreover, you can run into a lot of these berries if you carefully go through the area sandwiched by Levincia and Artazon.

With each particular berry, the EV decreases by 10. The actual value of the stat also decreases accordingly. There are particular berries for reducing each EV stat.

Kelpsy Berry in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

The Pomeg berry reduces HP EV points, while Kelpsy and Hondrew berries focus on nerfing the attacking stats. Qualot and Grepa berries are great when it comes to cutting down on EV by 10 for defensive stats.

Once you’ve removed any form of EV upgrades, you can follow the steps above again to boost the EV and stat of your preference.

Wrapping Up

Each of the EV farming methods mentioned above are not quite efficient while working alone.

That’s why, combining them with a proper plan in place is necessary. You need to make sure that the right Pokemon are battled for EV boosts, proper vitamins are being fed, and the right type of Feathers and Power Items are used.

Even then, it can take some time for your Pokemon to reach its absolute best. But, as they say, good things take time! So, keep grinding and maximize on those EV in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet!

For the aid of the reader, several screenshots of Pokemon were used. These images are copyrighted and qualifies as fair use under the United States copyright law.

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