How to Train Pokemon

Okay let's face it training pokemon can be one of the most tedious parts of playing pokemon. Who hasn't wanted to take a few shortcuts. Even I have succumbed to the lure of easy leveling up using rare candies. I soon found out though that shortcuts really aren't worth it. If you want pokemon that can really devastate their opponents then you need to train them correctly. In pokemon Stadium it becomes an almost necessity because the opponents you are facing also are well trained. I seriously doubt rare candied pokemon will cut it especiallt if you want to get surfing pikachu. Follow these steps to better pokemon:

Step 1: Catch your Pokemon

THE biggest factor in training a strong pokemon is catching one with good stats. Each pokemon has it's own maximum potential in each stat. All pokemon have a maximum possible attainable stat level for their species. What that means is though each INDIVIDUAL pokemon has it's own maximum, the individual's maximum is almost always lower than the attainable maximum for the species. It is possible to catch or breed a pokemon that has maximum potential for all of it's stats. This is VERY difficult though (The actual chances of catching one are one in 65,536) and it's difficult to tell at low levels. If you are intent on catching a pokemon with maximum stat potential in all stats then I would suggest that you catch your pokemon at as high a level as possible and then compare it's stats to those for the stat calculator on The Pokegym Stat Calculator If you caught it above level 50 and it's stats match the wild max column then you most likely have a max pokemon. The closer the numbers the better your pokemon is. You can also breed for max stat pokemon by having a ditto with a defense DV of 15 and a special DV of 7 or 15. You'll have a one in 128 chance of breeding one. GO here for more info If you are just interested in have a good pokemon and not necessarily the best then catch it at the lowest level possible. You need as much time while training it as possible so that you can max out it's personal potential. You can do this with higher level pokemon but it requires training beyond level 100. This is explained inThe boxtrick. You should always use this trick on your level 100s as it will allow them to max out their personal potential even if you didn't train them perfectly before reaching level 100.

Step 2: Raise your Pokemon

Okay once you've caught or traded for the strongest pokemon you can get you need to level it up. You shouldn't level you pokemon up too fast. Taking a level 15 dratini to the unknown dungeon and putting it in the first position and switching to a stronger pokemon with every battle is NOT a good idea. This is especially true if your pokemon starts skipping levels. I accidentally did this with my charmader and it never learned ember. It also ended up fairly weak- bad scenario. What you SHOULD do is train your pokemon carefully. A good rule of thumb is around twenty battles per level. Much less than ten is getting kind of dangerous, more is always better. Train your pokemon such that they fight against wild opponents that they can kill in one hit. Not only does this ensure that you have the proper number of battles per level but it also makes training go faster. As your pokemon get stronger you can give them stronger opponents but be careful as you don't want them to level up too fast. If you are in a hurry you can use higher level pokemon and simply put the pokemon you are treining in first position and then switch to a stronger pokemon to finish off your opponent.

Pay attention to how many stat points your pokemon gain each time they level up. Unevolved pokemon tend to gain 2 points per level on stats that they are naturally high in and often only one in a stat that they aren't as good in. Evolved and higher level pokemon (about 30 plus) pokemon usually gain stats faster and can gain up to around 4 or five points per level on their good stats. Three point gains are more typical and you should only get two point gains on stats that the pokemon you are training, is really bad in.

Get the most out of your pokemon's stats
What are a pokemon's stats? Well they are what tell how strong your pokemon is. Attack is fairly obvious but only some move types are based on this stat. They include:
Normal, Rock, Ground, Poison, Bug, Flying, and Fighting move types( you can see a move's type when you use it when you push A to attack the move's type will come up)
Pokemon with high attack that use moves of these type will be more powerful than those pokemon with lower attack.

DefenseDefense also seems obvious but it only protects against moves that are ATTACK based

SpeedThis determines which pokemon will attack first. A faster pokemon often has an easier time winning matches than a slow one. And in stadium this makes a BIG difference.

SpecialThis is the most enigmatic of all of the stats but it is also,I think, the most important. The damage done by special based moves is based on this stat. Special based move types are:
Grass, Water, Fire, Electric, Psychic, Ice

Special also doubles as a defensive stat. A pokemon with high special recieves less damage from special based moves than a low special pokemon would recieve.

SO! Now that you know how important stats are how do you improve your pokemon's stats? Each pokemon has a a natural tendency in their stats. Slowbro tend to have very low speed but high defense while Alakazam tend to have high speed and special with low attack and defense. Each pokemon has it's tradeoffs. To learn about each pokemon's strengths and weaknesses go to all 251 pokemon by typeSo you want to improve your pokemon's stats. They increase with each level but you can also use stat modifiers like protein, carbos iron, calcium and hp up. Each of these permanently raises your pokemon's stats by a point or three. It is not necessary to use stat modifiers to max out you pokemon's potential. But it is helpful in case you get impatient in your training. If you decide you want to use stat enhancers do it ASAP. I wouldn't do it whan your pokemon is lower than level 15 or so though. The game tends to let you use more of them than if you try it on your level 45 or 50 charizard. Another way is somewhat more secret and I didn't even believe in it for a long time. It's called stat-specific training. The idea is that if your pokemon battles lots of fast pokemon like diglett then it will gain more speed stats. It actually does work and my favorite is speed and special training in pokemon tower. Gastlys have lots of speed and special so you can really pump up the speed and special of your pokemon. Best of all pokemon tower has that spot where you can heal your pokemon every five seconds if you need it. The only downside is you can't use any pokemon that only knows normal moves because you can't kill the gastlys. Stat specific training works best if the pokemon you are training is naturally high or at least decent in the stats you are trying to improve. Trying to train an onix for speed and special probably won't work too well. This works because of stat exp. Stat exp is an invisible stat. Pokemon gain stat exp independantly of regular exp. For each pokemon they fight they gain a certain ammount of stat exp based on the level 50 stats of the pokemon you defeated regardless of the ACTUAL level of the pokemon. So pokemon with high stats give you high stat exp. Chanceys give you TONS of HP stat exp while a slowbro would give you good special stat exp and defense stat exp while little speed stat exp. Also if you ever get the pokerus it DOUBLES your stat exp in every battle

Good stat specific training spots: Attack:Pokemon mansion on cinnabar Defense:Almost any cave, try to fight onix and geodude. Speed: diglett's cave and pokemon tower Tentacools/cruels in water Special:pokemon tower and surfing in water areas(tentacools)

Step 3:Evolution 101

Many people have said that it's good to hold pokemon back and not allow them to evolve. I have found just the opposite to be true. Fully evolved pokemon gain stats faster than less evolved pokemon. It's not detrimental to hold your pokemon back but you should only do it if you have a good reason. Pokemon that are evolved by stones typically won't learn any more moves so you need to look up when they learn their moves either in your strategy guide or on the net The Universal Pokemon network is a good place to go

Holding pokemon back that evolve on their own is almost never a good idea unless you really want them to learn a move at an earlier level. Evolving improves a pokemons stats immensely. They also tend to gain more stat points with each level after evolving. You'll notice the difference when fighting unevolved vs. evolved pokemon in Stadium. Battles with uneveolved pokemon are usually much easier.

Step 4:How high do I go?

How high you want to raise your pokemon is really a matter of opinion and what you need. Level 100 is the highest level a pokemon can achieve and it takes a LONG time to get them there when you train them right. BUt if you want to get surfing pikachu and be able to beat the Prime cup Round 2 then you had best go for it. The good thing about stdium is if you can beat at least 2 of the cup levels Pika, Petit, Poke or Prime then you can get the doduo and then dodrio game boy. This means you can train your pokemon MUCH faster just set it to double or triple speed mute the TV and put on your favorite CD or Radio station and go to town. You'll be at level 100 in no time.

Step 5:What Moves should they learn?

You have four move slots for each pokemon, what should you fill them with? Well Each pokemon should have at least one move that matches it's type. If It's a two type pokemon then try to have one for each type. For some pokemon this isn't necessarily true like ghosts and The only moves that match their type do a set ammount of damage. They aren't bad but they aren't a necessity.

So which water, fire, electric move to go with? Well, this can be a hard decision. It's mostly an accuracy vs. power decision. Hydro Pump for instance is extremely powerful but it has a 30 percent chance of missing. Surf has less power but is far more accurate. As a general rule you should choose accuracy. There are SOME exceptions but in the long run Fire Blast is the most powerful fire move and is fairly accurate but I often have flamethrower on my fire pokemon just in case. Thunderbolt is almost a necessity for any electric.

Try to match special based moves with decent special pokemon and attack based moves with decent attack pokemon. Don't put strength on a Gengar it has virtually no attack Same is true of alakazam and Espeon but put special based moves on them and watch the difference

Now you might have one or two slots left for moves for your pokemon. Now what to put? You may choose to have all moves that do damage and no stat changing moves. It sounds good on paper but it may be a mistake. I did this on my vaporeon once and I have been kicking myself ever since.

For in depth on stat changing moves click here

Step 6:How do I battle?

You can have the most powerful team of pokemon in the world, but if you don't know how to use them you're in trouble. The most obvious technique is to use what's super effective on your opponent. This is almost always the best move choice but there are times when it isn't. Also what do you do if you don't have a move that's super effective on your opponent? To find out go to Pokemon Battling. If you can train a great team and know how to use it then you can be a Pokemon Master too! Back to the Pokemon Page