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How to EV in Pokemon Sapphire?

Effort values, or EVs, help boost a Pokemon's stats in a given area, such as HP, Speed, or Attack. Every Pokemon that you battle, whether wild or trained, will give your Pokemon EVs, and though these values are never displayed on-screen, they cause major differences in how your Pokemon's stats develop. Which Pokemon you battle, and how many, will have a big effect on your Pokemon's stats in the end. For every four effort values you earn, you get one point in a stat. To get the most out of your team in "Pokemon Sapphire," consider EV training. While Pokemon trained the normal way, with no attention given to EV training, will still be good, their EV trained counterparts will truly excel in the stats you've chosen to focus on.

Instructions

- 1
  Catch a wild Pokemon of the species you want to EV train. For example, capture a Skarmory on Route 113 in "Pokemon Sapphire."
- 2
  Examine your Pokemon -- in this case Skarmory -- looking at its base stats and nature to see if it is worth training. A Pokemon's nature provides a bonus to one stat and a penalty to another; the good stat is highlighted in blue and the poor stat is highlighted in red on the status screen. Skarmory should have high defense and a good attack. A nature like Impish, which raises Skarmory's already-high defense and lowers its already-poor special attack will be beneficial for EV training, since the stat you want to focus on primarily -- Defense -- will already be quite high.
- 3
  Fly to Slateport City and walk to the market. Talk to the Energy Guru to buy stat-boosting items. Purchase HP Up to raise your Pokemon's HP, Protein for Attack, Iron for Defense, Carbos for Speed, Calcium for Special Attack and Zinc for Special Defense. You can only use 10 of each of these items on a given stat, so long as its Effort Values are not already maxed out. Start with HP Up and Iron to boost Skarmory's HP and Defense stats, for example.
- 4
  Find a location with Pokemon that give out EVs in the stat you want to focus on. For Skarmory, HP and Defense are beneficial to use it as a tank. Other stats depend on strategy and personal preference. In this example, just focus on those two stats.
- 5
  Battle Pokemon that give the EVs you want, while running away from any that give undesirable EVs in stats you do not want to focus on. EVs accrue only from battles that give experience. Get two EVs in HP every battle by heading to Petalburg City and surfing to battle wild Marills. The Gravelers you encounter in Victory Road give two EV points to defense. The Zubats and Golbats in the Cave of Origin give Speed EVs, while you can train for Special Defense by battling Tentacool and Tentacruel. The Spinda on Route 113 are good for one Special Attack EV each. For attack, try fishing up Carvanha or Sharpedo with your Super Rod along Route 118.
- 6
  Make a chart with a column for each stat, marking down how many EVs your Pokemon has earned in each stat so you know when to stop and work on another stat for a while, since you can only get 255 EVs in any given stat. Since EVs give bonuses in increments of four, stop when you reach 252 in whatever stat you're trying to max out; the additional three EVs needed to reach 255 will provide no benefit.

Nintendo DS