Individual Values: Everyone is Unique

You may have been battling in the Battle Tower with, for example, your Golbat, and the enemy may happen to be using a Golbat as well. You are the same level, an you attack with Bite. It does decent damage, let's say it takes a quarter of your health away. The enemy Golbat then uses Bite on you as well. You lose half of your health. What happened here? "Individual Values" happened.

Individual Values, or IVs for short, determine how powerful a pokemon will be, and they cannot be changed. All pokemon have 6 IVs, one for each stat, and each IV ranges from 0-31. Once they are hatched from the egg, the IVs are set in stone. This is stepping into something I am not fully knowledgable on, and many websites make things vague or too much to swallow. I will tell what I know to be true, and please contribute if you know something I have not listed.

Let's start with an example to show you how much IVs can affect a pokemon. This example is taken from "gamespot.com";

For this set, a Hardy Heracross has an IV of 0 in every stat.

HP: 270
Atk: 255
Def: 155
Spa: 85
SpDef: 195
Spe: 175

Now to show you what a Hardy Heracross looks like with every IV at 31.

HP: 301
Atk: 286
Def: 186
Spa: 116
SpDef: 226
Spe: 206

You can see the difference in the stats of those Heracross. That's due to their difference in IVs. Natures play a role in IVs, but as you can see from the example, there's more to it than just that, since those Heracross had the same Nature.

Breeding for IVs;

The parents of an egg pass down IVs to their children. These children have the potential to take these IVs and improve them in their own IVs. So if you breed the children and then breed their children, and continuously breed children, getting better and better IVs each time.
NOTE: When passing down IVs, you should know that each parent passes down 1 IV, and then one of the parents will pass down a second IV. The remaining 3 IVs the child will have are chosen at random, and are not dependent upon a parent. In HG/SS and beyond, if a parent is holding one of the "Power Items" that can be purchased in the Frontier/Subway, the IV that that item represents will be passed down to the child. If both parents are holding a Power Item, only one of those stats is garenteed to pass down.

So that is how to alter IVs in the egg. It will prove to be very useful. You can find out your pokemon's best IV by talking to the man in the Battle Tower in Generation IV, or the Subway in Generation V. The Stat Judge, as he is called, will tell you a pokemon's "overall potential" and its highest IV stat.

"Overall Potential" is the total amount of IVs a pokemon has, ranging from 0-186. But he will not give you a number, but rather a ranking, and each ranking has its range of IVs. They are as follows;

"Decent": 0-90
"Above Average": 91-120
"Relatively Superior": 121-150
"Outstanding": 151-186

The Stat Judge will do the same for your highest IV stat. He'll tell you a stat, then a description of it, and these descriptions also represent values. They are as follows;

"Rather Decent": 0-15
"Very Good": 16-25
"Fantastic": 26-30
"Can't Be Better": 31(perfection!)

The characteristic on your Pokemon's description page is a representation of your Pokemon's highest IV. The chart above tells you what each characteristic indicates. I found the information from  http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Characteristic and made my own chart because I couldn't just copy-paste their's.

Brock out.

Swablu, the Cotton Bird Pokemon

Look, in the sky! It's a bird, it's a cloud, it's a soon-to-be dragon! It's all of the above! It's... Swablu!!!!! And look at that moveset!

Steel Wing
Dragon Pulse
Pluck
Rest

To get this elegant dragon, follow this process;

1) Breed a male Skarmory that knows Steel Wing with a female Swablu/Altaria.
2) Once you get a male Swablu from that, raise it to lv 50 to teach it Dragon Pulse, and use the TMs for Rest and Pluck. Raise a female Swablu to lv 50 and teach it Dragon Pulse as well(lv 62 if you let it turn into an Altaria). NOTE: In Generation IV, you can use a TM to teach Dragon Pulse.
3) Breed those two Swablus/Altarias to get the baby Swablus with this moveset. A neutral nature would be best.

Why does this moveset work for this pokemon? Let's explore that, shall we?

First, Altaria's ability is Natural Cure, meaning when it is switched out, it is cured of all status problems, including sleep. So if you have him use Rest, he'll go back to full health, then you can switch him out and he'll be at full health without the Sleep condition. His Attack and Sp. Attack are even, so we can safely put a mix of Physical and Special attacks. Steel Wing covers his Ice and Rock weaknesses, while Dragon Pulse covers his Dragon weakness. Pluck is just a nice move to take care of any potential berry the opponent may use, you may choose to switch it out for Sky Attack when it's lv 71, but that cannot be learned through the egg.

It's a nice moveset for a decent pokemon. Thoughts and ideas are welcome of course.

Brock out.

Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokemon

Have you been looking for a powerhouse-style build? This may be the one for you! Note that this build can only be done in Generation V games.

Stone Edge
Drill Run
Ice Fang
Crunch

First, let's see how to get him:

1) Raise a female Rhyhorn to lv 45 so it learns Drill Run(if you evolve him at lv 42, he won't learn Drill Run until lv 47).
2) Teach that Rhyhorn Stone Edge with the TM(if you do not have the TM, you can level Rhyhorn up to lv 52 and he'll learn it naturally).
3) Have a male Smeargle learn Stone Edge, Drill Run, Ice Fang, and Crunch via Sketch.
4) Breed the male Smeargle and female Rhyhorn to make eggs with this moveset. A Careful or Sassy nature would be best in order to compensate for his low Sp. Defense stat.

This build is designed to inflict mass damage, and on a wide range of types. This build is super-effective against 13 types, much like the Electivire build I posted earlier. Rhyperior, the final evolution of Rhyhorn, is a Rock/Ground pokemon. It just so happens that Stone Edge and Drill Run are both powerful Rock and Ground attacks, that get the same-type-advantage-bonus(STAB) and also have a high-critical hit ratio. These will be his most powerful attacks. Crunch lowers the enemy's Defense, and Ice Fang helps to fight off more weaknesses. Rhyperior's impressive Attack stat only makes it better.

This build can do some massive damage to a wide-range of types. I am always open to suggestions on my builds, so don't be shy!

Brock out.

Faster than the Speed of Breed

This section will discuss how to speed up the breeding process. Let's start with getting an egg.

First of all, recall the basic rules of breeding as explained in the first post, what pokemon can breed with others and which cannot. Now when you talk to the Day-Care Man, he'll say how well your pokemon are getting along with each other;

1) "They seem to get along very well" - fastest egg production rate
2) "They seem to get along" - average egg production rate
3) "They don't seem to like each other" - slowest egg production rate
4) "They prefer to play with other pokemon" - no egg production, pokemon are not compatible

The way(s) to achieve the fastest egg production:

1) Two pokemon of the same species with different ID numbers.

The way(s) to achieve average egg production:

1) Two pokemon of the same species with the same ID number.
2) Two pokemon of different species with different ID numbers.

The way(s) to achieve the slowest egg production:

1) Two pokemon of different species with the same ID number.

So that's how to get the eggs. I highly recommend migrating a Ditto and male Smeargle from a game, so you can use them to breed and still have a decent egg production rate.

The fastest ways to hatch an egg once you have it, just follow these guidelines:

1) Have a pokemon with Flame Body or Magma Armor for its ability in your party, it halves the hatch time
2) Ride your Bicycle, it makes you go twice as fast, there for halving the hatch time(again!)
3) Use a nice straight area to hatch your pokemon, it makes things easier. In Unova games, the Skyarrow Bridge is best. In Sinnoh, the right-most edge of the dirt road by the Day-Care Center is best. For Johto, the middle path of Goldenrod is your best bet.

Use these tips to get what you want faster!

Brock out.

Natu, the Tiny Bird Pokemon

This is a must-have addition to any team. Here's the moveset;

Faint Attack
U-Turn
Wish
Future Sight

Why this moveset? Think about it. Future Sight attacks the enemy 2 turns in the future w/ a powerful Psychic-type attack. Wish heals whatever pokemon you have out one turn later. U-Turn makes you switch out after your attack. If you use the moves in that order, you will attack the enemy twice in one turn and heal a pokemon, all at once. If you have a pokemon you can't afford to let die, switch it out for this guy and start the attack sequence in order to heal the damaged pokemon. Faint Attack is there for the event that Xatu is left alone to fight.

To get this beast, you gotta follow the process as follows;

1) Breed a male Murkrow that has Faint Attack with a female Natu/Xatu
2) Raise the male offspring to lv 42 and have it learn Wish and Future Sight. Also teach it U-Turn via the TM.
3) Breed that male Natu/Xatu with a female Natu/Xatu that knows Wish and Future Sight.
4) The offspring should have the desired moveset. The best nature would be a neutral one, or maybe one that lowers Speed if you're feeling risky.
But that's a good build to have as a support pokemon. Even if the opponent switches out for a Dark-type when they see you've used Future Sight, don't worry, because U-Turn is super-effective against Dark-type pokemon, so you will do damage regardless of what they do. As always, comments and ideas are welcome.

Brock Out.

Duskull, the Requiem Pokemon

I thought up this build at work today, and have not yet tested it, however, in theory, it is unstoppable. This must be done in Generation IV. The move set it will have from the egg should be:

Disable
Grudge
Torment
Night Shade

We will rid Night Shade for the move Spite, which it learns from a Move Tutor in Generation IV.

First, the process;

1) Breed a male Bannete that knows Grudge and Torment with a female Duskull.
2) Raise the male offspring a few levels to make it learn Disable.
3) Breed that male Duskull with a female Duskull that knows Disable.
4) The pokemon that hatches should be a Duskull that knows Grudge, Torment, and Disable. Take it to a Move Tutor to teach it Spite in exchange for a few Shards.

I know the first thought on your mind. "This thing cannot deal any damage with these moves! Do we have to hold an intervention for you?"

First of all, yes, because I'm addicted to BEING AWESOME!!! I just can't get enough of it.

And secondly, look at all these moves on a Dusknoir, Duskull's final evolution. Disable will stop the foe from using one of its attacks. Then use Torment, and the enemy will not be able to use the same attack twice in a row. Then continue to use Spite. Spite reduces the PP of the last move the target used by 4. Include the Pressure ability Dusknoir has, and it just cost the enemy 6 PP to use a single attack. That means you can deplete your average attack in 3 turns. And when you are near death, you Grudge, and that will deplete the PP of the move that knocked you out.

Now the theories as to why this will work(I have not yet tested it, will confirm later). Dusknoir has extremely high Defense and Sp. Defense stats, so it can withstand most any attacks. It only has 2 weaknesses, making it even better for Defense. And Struggle, though it can still damage him despite being a Normal-type attack, will still be subject to Torment, so it will only be able to attack every other turn.

So any thoughts or ideas? They are always welcome.

A thanks to Misty for informing me on the rules of Struggle!

Brock out.

Nature vs. Nurture? The Truth Revealed

I've mentioned Natures without explaining what it is they really are. Natures affect how your stats turn out as you raise a pokemon. There are many Natures, and each one will boost one stat and lower another, except for the 5 neutral Natures, that neither raise nor lower any stat. A handy little chart to help you decide Natures.

But what do the stats mean? Why should one stat be more important than another? Allow me to show you.

Attack: This stat determines how powerful your Physical-based attacks will be.

Defense: This stat will determine how much damage you take from a Physical-based attack.

Sp. Attack: This stat determines how powerful your Special-based attacks will be.

Sp. Defense: This stat determines how much damage you take from a Special-based attack.

Speed: This stat determines when you will attack in battle, the highest speed attacks first, the lowest attacks last(except for attacks that bypass this, such as Quick Attack or Dragon Tail).

Some attacks will go around the rules of these stats, however. Psyshock is a Special-based Attack, but will attack the enemy at its Defense stat rather than it's Sp. Defense stat. Bullet Punch will make the user attack first. Dragon Tail will make the user attack last. There are many other attacks like these that bypass the laws of stats. There are certain abilities that do this as well, for example, Stall makes you attack last.

Different pokemon work better with different Natures. The Vulpix I recently put up, for example, it uses only Special-based attacks, meaning its Attack stat will go unused. So for this pokemon, we'd want a Nature that lowers your Attack and raises something useful. We look look at the pretty chart, and see that the Attack-lowering Natures are Bold, Timid, Modest, and Calm.

The Growlithe I put up is a little more tricky. He uses both a Special-based attack and a Physical-based attack. Lowering Defense or Sp. Defense wouldn't be smart ever, really. Nobody likes low Speed. The stats of Arcanine are fairly well-balanced, so we don't really want to lower any of them. So we would want a neutral Nature. So we see in the chart that the neutral Natures are Hardy, Docile, Serious, Bashful, and Quirky.

Let's look at Sableye. This pokemon will have the Stall ability, meaning he will go last. This means his Speed stat is pretty much pointless. So why not get a Nature that lowers Speed and raises something else? We look at the chart and see the Natures we'd want are Brave, Relaxed, Quiet, and Sassy.

Also, if the female pokemon in breeding(or the ditto substituting for the female) is holding the Everstone item, there is a 50% chance that that pokemon's Nature will carry through to the baby. A good technique to get a Ditto with a nice Nature, I have a Calm one, and let it hold the Everstone when it's appropriate(like for the Vulpix for example).

This isn't directly related to breeding, but if the Pokemon leading your party has the ability Synchronize, a wild Pokemon you encounter has a 50% chance of having the same Nature as the Pokemon with Synchronize. This can be useful if you are searching for a certain Pokemon with certain Natures.

There are a lot of things to look at when deciding your Nature. Your moveset, the Pokemon's Base Stats, and so forth. So just study the Pokemon you'll be breeding and figure out what you think will be the best approach.

In the Battle Park/Frontier/Subway, you can purchase items called "Power ---". Each of these help your pokemon grow stronger in that particular stat on lv up. The Power Anklet, for example, will help your pokemon to level up with more Speed boost. Similar items are the Vitamins availible for purchase at the regional malls, or the Park/Frontier/Subway. These items are one-time use, but will make your pokemon stronger in their given stats, and as a nice bonus, will make your pokemon a little happier.

Through breeding for a desired Nature and using the Vitamins and Power items, you can breed pokemon with unimaginable stat increases. Have you ever seen a Crobat get +11 Speed in one level up? I have.

Brock out.