EV Training/IV Breeding Worth it for Story?

[Moneybanks416]

Hi everyone! It's been quite a while since I've posted anything on the site. I've completed episode 16 and as we're nearing the end of the story I was wondering if it was worth IV breeding and EV training my team for in-game purposes. I am a competitive battler so I understand the benefits of each, just not sure if I want to spend the time and effort to do it for my in game team. I'm also wondering as battles become more difficult in the story if I would be at a terrible disadvantage if I decided not to IV/EV. Would love to get some constructive input on the matter!

[Lucky98]

Personally, I've beaten Reborn a few times without EV Training or IV Breeding. So no, I would not say it's a requirement. The only thing I do is sometimes try to get is a pokemon with a decent nature. You have to remember, as battles become more difficult, you will also have access to better items for your pokemon to hold and better healing items to use in battle (revives, ultra potions, etc.), and unless you're against using them, you'll have less of a hard time.

[Okirua]

There would probably be a slight difference if you did ev train, as it would make battles a little bit easier, but I honestly think you don't need to

[ZEL]

Personally I've found that besides your preferences, it depends entirely on what you use on your team. I've never felt the need to care about natures, IVs and EVs on my mixed teams, and made it through the game just fine. The few 'mons that I EV trained were mostly late-game additions, because ya gotta do something in between episode releases.

But for some runs it can certainly be a big advantage. I can honestly say that without EV training, my normal/flying run would have nearly ended at Serra, because her Froslass outsped and one-shot my entire team. I only managed to beat it once my Swellow outsped, which it didn't without EV training.

That's a pretty extreme example, though - mixed teams and mono runs that allow for varying dual types are usually fine. It's only when you keep limiting what you can use that you'll want to get the most out of your options.

 

IV breeding and EV training can always make things easier, but the general consensus of the community seems to be that it's only a preference and your progress in the game won't be hindered if you don't do it.

Edited September 11, 2017 by ZEL

[Zander]

Now normally I would agree with everyone above and say that it's not all that great. I've even beaten everything up to episode 15 without any ev training or natures. But now I think that Amy is going to up the AI to make it more intelligent. This means that the AI will actually know how to use the random and useless feild effects to get max damage. Of course there is a very high chance that you won't know what the field even does like me 90% of the time but that was okay uptil now because the AI was kinda bad anyways. Now that the additional difficulty of feild effects will really be used properly you'll probably have a higher chance of losing due to ignorance of the feild.

BUT if you ev train then that will save you time so that you don't need to restart useless battles because of not enough damage and can pickup kos more easily. So I say do it. Power items makes it super easy anyways so it's good.

 

[Moneybanks416]

Thanks for the input everyone! As I said I normally  IV/EV for competitive battling but not for in game. Since Reborn is more difficult than normal I was wondering if IV/EVing would be more important. I've made it this far with balanced team building and move coverage, as well as using the guy in 7th street for specific natures. Besides I've gotten attached to the members of my team so I'm not in a hurry to replace them either!

[Seel The Deal]

Between new content and AI, and ez access to EV-reset items, EV training 'mons you use a lot could be good and honestly doesn't take too long if you've got the time, IV breeding isn't worth at all unless you have something insane like 6IV Ditto, and natures ofc are useful.

[Moneybanks416]

8 minutes ago, Seel The Deal said:

Between new content and AI, and ez access to EV-reset items, EV training 'mons you use a lot could be good and honestly doesn't take too long if you've got the time, IV breeding isn't worth at all unless you have something insane like 6IV Ditto, and natures ofc are useful.

Not a bad idea at all, I could just EV reset my team then EV train them the way I want without worrying about IVs. IV breeding in this game seems way more tedious than in the main series games due to lag and whatnot

[HUEnd]

Nope, EV Training/IV Breeding is not mandatory to beat the story. It would make your playthrough a bit smoother, though.

[highonpotenuse]

I have tons of teams ive pushed through this game. The only thing i suggest is natures, and just hit the ev resetter up after you return to a bebuilt reborn. I havent had to worry about ivs at all. Plus there is the one heart scale guy who resets the nature so it makes soft resetting for natures easy.

 

Just by worrying about egg moves (since tms are non existent until episode 16 and even then meh) and natures, should pretty doable.

 

For extra context ive done it with set battle style and no potions/revives or status healing items unless through holding. So i suggest not wasting your time iv breeding and ev training. 

 

TLDR naw you dont need to.

[-IR-]

i did breed 6iv mons and build their ev, then transferred it to my new save file.

gym was supper easy and win every battle