Importance of IV's in Competitive

[Ketxki]

Hello there my fellow trainers, so this is my first time really getting into the nitty gritty of pokemon stats and that nature so i would like to ask is it a requirement to have a 6x31 or a 5x31 team when getting into PvP, re-battling gym leaders, Tournaments as of the moment i am pretty clueless when it comes to this sort of stuff since i only really played main story in past games and didn't really cared about PvP at all, so any information about this stuff will be greatly appreciated! 

[Eggplant]

7 minutes ago, Ketxki said:

Hello there my fellow trainers, so this is my first time really getting into the nitty gritty of pokemon stats and that nature so i would like to ask is it a requirement to have a 6x31 or a 5x31 team when getting into PvP, re-battling gym leaders, Tournaments as of the moment i am pretty clueless when it comes to this sort of stuff since i only really played main story in past games and didn't really cared about PvP at all, so any information about this stuff will be greatly appreciated! 

Depends on your budget.

Let's take a random pokemon like, say, cloyster. its maximum possible spatk stat is 150 at level 50. this assumes good nature, max evs, max ivs.

each IV is 1 stat point at level 100 -- so in level 50 comp, every 2 ivs is 1 stat point.

in other words, if that same cloyster had zero special attack IVs, he'll lose like 15 stat points. he'll go from 150 to 135.

That's pretty much a 10% drop.

 

That said, that is comparing 31 to zero ivs.

If you can afford it, by all means, go for 31.

But you can get like 25 ivs for close to nothing, and 31 is often insanely expensive.

so it all depends on your budget. you can go for 25spatk iv with trash catches or $1k gtl breeders. and settle for like 147 spatk instead of 150.

at this point, the difference is minimal enough that it may be worth sacking stats just to save hundreds of thousands of pokedollars.

in the end, that 1% damage loss is mostly only going to matter when matched against exactly even skill opponents.

 

if you're slightly better than your opponent, you will smoke them, even with 25ivs.

that 1% can change the outcome of a game, but typically mostly in difficult games where you're both playing perfectly.

it might be pointless just for the sake of getting started. you're better off having versatile teambuild options in your box. like having a dozen 5x25 ivs pokes offhand.

 

that said, you should (almost) always have 31IV in speed, because the cost of having less speed isn't as negligible as doing 1hp less of damage.

it's the difference between moving first or second. killing your opponent without even getting hit.

 

i think a "usable" comp is usually 2x31. 31 speed, + 31 in whatever is your offensive stat. and like 25+ in the hp/defenses.

zero is fine in the offensive stat you aren't using.

for tanks, well, just do the other way around, go 31 in the defenses etc.

 

again, it depends on your budget, but if you're just trying to pump out a dozen comps to get started, i recommend going the cheap route and settling for like 2x31, rest 25+

 

since a 6x31 will actually cost upwards of ten times more.

would you rather have ten usable comps, or one perfect comp that is 1% better?