The Pokémon series is very accessible, but it also has a surprising amount of hidden depth. For newcomers, competitive battling is a mystifying rabbit hole of EVs, IVs, natures, held items, damage calculations, and thousands of other intricacies. Your beloved Charizard from 1999 with Ember, Fire Spin, Flamethrower and Fire Blast isn’t going to cut it here, friend.

Serious battles are all about using the very best, which means that your EV spreads are going to need to be optimized. Whether you’ve never EV trained before or you’re just looking to see how things have changed in that regard in Pokémon Sword & Shield, these tips should help.

10 First Things First: What Is EV Training?

To start with the basics, you’ll probably know that a Pokémon’s nature defines its stats. A Modest Pokémon, for instance, will have a 10% higher Special Attack stat when all’s said and done, but a 10% lower Attack stat. Each nature affects two different stats in this way (other than ‘neutral’ natures).

This isn’t the only way to maximize a critter’s potential. Pokémon have 510 EVs (Effort Values) to work with, points that can be allocated across their stats. Typically, a 252/252 spread is used (a special attacker such as Alakazam, say, will want 252 EVs in Special Attack, 252 in Speed and the slim remainder elsewhere). Four EVs are worth 1 additional point in a particular stat.

9 How Are EVs Gained?

Considering the stat increase that Effort Values offer, it’s no surprise that a Pokémon will have to work to get them. There have been numerous ways to do this across the course of the series, from the Super Training mini-games of Pokémon X & Y to Sword & Shield’s Poké Jobs.

Classic methods of EV training also include repeatedly battling specific Pokémon (each species offers a different number of EVs in a different stat when defeated) and consuming Vitamins, which instantly award a small number of a certain EV each time. Before we take a closer look at some of these methods, let’s take a look at some essential items and features that can help your EV training go by quicker.

8 Get Yourself A Macho Brace And/Or Some Power Items

You may have been wondering about the functions of the Macho Brace and Power items. Put simply, the Macho brace doubles the EV the holder gains from battles (and some other sources), while the Power items each offer an increase of 8 EVs in a particular stat.

These items are typically bought with BP late in the game (they’re bought in the Hammerlocke Pokémon Center for 10 BP each this time around), and have proven invaluable for training battle-ready Pokémon. Perhaps not so much in Generation VIII, though, as you’ll see.

7 The Importance Of Vitamins

As the importance of the 5-a-day fruits and vegetables thing is drummed into us in the real world, it’s also important that Pokémon get their nutrients too. The Vitamins (HP Up, Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc and Carbos) are quite expensive to buy, but they offer a quick and easy +10 EVs in HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed respectively.

In the Isle of Armor DLC, donating enough Watts to the Master Dojo will eventually see Honey add a drinks machine, and then a second one. The second one will offer batches of these Vitamins at half price when fully upgraded and bought in sets of 25. But wait, don’t Vitamins stop having an effect when a Pokémon has a certain amount of EVs in a stat?

6 You Can Max Out A Pokémon’s EVs With Vitamins Alone Now

Not any more. With the Dojo’s second drinks machine offering its full menu, you’ll notice that you can buy bunches of 25 of each Vitamin. This offers the best discount, and all 25 can be immediately given to a Pokémon all at once to max out that stat (bar the lost 2 EVs).

While this is a huge time-saver, there’s an important downside to consider: it costs 125,000 Pokémon Dollars for a single set of 25 Vitamins. Needless to say, things get super expensive super quickly. Let’s take a look at some sources of money for trainers who want to EV train through Vitamins alone, then.

5 Money, Money, Money

One way to make a lot of money is selling Luxury Balls. These can be acquired by buying them from the Watt Traders, who sell them for 100 Watts each. You can then take them to the nearest Pokémon Center, where they sell for 1,500 Pokémon Dollars! To get the kind of Wattage you’ll need to make the most lucrative sales, Digging Pa (also of the Isle of Armor, in the Training Lowlands) can sometimes dig for huge quantities of Watts.

Alternatively, a Gigantamax Meowth’s G-Max Gold Rush offers enormous returns. The Meowth is level 84 or higher and has a luck Incense or Amulet Coin, it can earn you up to 99,999 Pokémon Dollars per battle!

4 Pick The Right (And Most Efficient) Target Pokémon

For some, the changes made to Vitamins has rendered the ‘traditional’ method of EV training obsolete. Depending on your situation and the Watts/ Pokémon Dollars you have available, though, you may still prefer to go about things the old-fashioned way: through battles with wild Pokémon.

A handy list from TechRaptor shows the best Pokémon to seek out for the stat you want to raise: For HP, seek out Skwovet (1 EV, Route 1) or Wobbuffet (2 EV, Route 5). For Attack, Chewtle (1 EV, Route 2, Lakeside) or Bewear/Crawdaunt/Machoke (2 EV, Axew’s Eye, Wild Area) are good picks. When it comes to Defense, go for Wooloo (1 EV, Route 1). For Special Attack, try Gastly (1 EV, Watchtower Ruins, Wild Area), while Nickit is a convenient choice for Special Defense (1 EV, Route 1). Finally, is you’re EV training Speed, you can go for Rookidee (1 EV, Route 1) or Ninjask (2 EV, Stony Fields, normal and rain weather, Wild Area). Combine this information with the Macho Brace or appropriate Power Item, and those gains increase exponentially. There’s one more thing you can use as well: Pokérus!

3 Don’t Forget About Pokérus Too

Pokérus isn’t an item, it’s a mechanic, a rare ‘illness’ that can ‘infect’ your Pokémon. It’s sometimes found on wild or traded Pokémon. It’s denoted by the small Pokérus icon on a critter’s status screen, and it has no negative effects. What it does is double the EVs that Pokémon gains from battle!

Should you come across a Pokérus Pokémon, then, pass it onto other Pokémon in your party by simply playing as normal while they’re in a slot.it has a chance to pass to others, who will gain the benefit. Just remember that a Pokémon with it is ‘cured’ (the icon will change to a smiley face) if they’re left out of the PC for one to four days (new days). They’ll still enjoy its effects, but can no longer pass it on.

2 If Time Isn’t So Much Of A Factor, Give Poké Jobs A Try

EV training can be a time-consuming, costly process, but there’s another method that can either supplement these efforts or replace them entirely. Poké Jobs aren’t just fun little distractions!

Aside from the typing-matching fun, Poké Jobs can also be used to gain your Pokémon EVs. On arriving in Hammerlocke, you’ll gain access to a series of Seminars for specific stats. They’ll gain the critters sent on that job anywhere from 4 to 96 EVs in that stat, depending on how long they’re sent away. At a 24 hour wait for the latter, though, this method is very time-consuming in its own way.

1 Don’t Simply Go 252/252 Every Time

While a lot of Pokémon work super well with an effective 252/252/4 spread in the stats you’re focusing on, it’s sometimes important to be more specific than that.

Using damage calculators, match-up knowledge and other elements of high-end competitive play, trainers can tailor their Pokémon’s EVs in very specific ways (to survive a certain very common attack in doubles play, say). Sometimes you may not need all that Speed and can afford some extra HP, or can make other tweaks. The more experience you get with competitive play, the more comfortable you’ll become with customizing these things.

NEXT: Pokémon Sword & Shield DLC: 10 Additions To Character Customization We’d Love To See