You just caught a Paradox Pokemon with a cracked Nature, and now you're itching to take it into Ranked Battles or maybe a 7-star Tera Raid. But there’s a problem. If you just go out and start blasting random Lechonks, you’re going to ruin your stats. Pokemon Scarlet EV training is the invisible backbone of competitive play, yet the game does a pretty mediocre job of explaining how it actually works. It’s basically the difference between a glass cannon that actually shatters things and a wet noodle that gets outsped by a Slowbro.
Effort Values (EVs) are points your Pokemon earns every time it defeats another Pokemon. Think of it like a specialized workout routine. If you fight a bunch of fast things, you get faster. If you fight tanky things, you get tougher. You’ve got 510 points total to play with, but you can only dump 252 into any single stat. It’s a math game, honestly. Most people just go 252/252/4 and call it a day, but that’s often a waste of potential.
Stop Winging Your Pokemon Scarlet EV Training
The biggest mistake? Training without the right gear. Seriously, if you aren't using Power Items, you're just wasting your afternoon. Delibird Presents sells them in every major city—Levincia, Cascarrafa, Mesagoza—for 10,000 Pokedollars a pop. Get the Power Weight, Bracer, Belt, Lens, Band, and Anklet. Each one adds a flat +8 EVs to a specific stat every time you gain experience.
Without an item, a stray Yungoos gives you 1 Attack EV. With a Power Bracer, that same Yungoos gives you 9. You do the math. You’re cutting your grind time by nearly 900%.
The Vitamin Route: For the Poke-Rich
If you’ve been grinding Academy Ace Tournaments or selling off Ability Patches from raids, you might be sitting on a mountain of cash. You can just buy your way to a perfect build. Proteins, Carbos, Zinc—they all give 10 EVs per bottle. To max a stat from zero, you need 26 vitamins (though the last one only uses 2 points of the 10). It’s fast. It’s brainless. But it’s also $500,000+ per Pokemon. Most of us aren't that rich in-game, so we hit the grass.
The Feather Alternative
Health Feathers, Muscle Feathers, and the rest are the "change" of the EV world. They give exactly 1 EV point. You find these shimmering on the water in Casseroya Lake or as raid rewards. They are perfect for those weird, specific "spreads" where you need exactly 144 Speed to outrun a specific threat under Tailwind, but they're annoying for bulk training.
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Where to Actually Hunt (The Best Spots)
Location is everything. You want areas where the spawns are consistent so you don't accidentally knock out a Psyduck when you’re trying to build a physical attacker.
HP Training: Go to the area around the Poco Path lighthouse or the small ponds near Los Platos. You’re looking for Lechonk (1 EV) or Chansey (2 EVs). If you eat a sandwich with Encounter Power: Normal, Chanseys will spawn like crazy in North Province (Area Three) near Team Star’s Fairy crew base. This is the gold standard for HP.
Attack Training: South Province (Area Four) is crawling with Shinx and Yungoos. But honestly? Just go to the bamboo forest in North Province (Area Two). Bisharp and Scyther are everywhere. Put on a Power Bracer and start swinging.
Defense Training: The desert. Asado Desert is filled with Orthworm, Sandygast, and Hippopotas. They all drop Defense EVs. Just watch out for the occasional Cacnea that’ll mess up your Special Attack.
Special Attack Training: Golduck in Casseroya Lake is the classic choice. They give 2 EVs each. Alternatively, the area around the Poco Path has plenty of Girafarig.
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Special Defense Training: Swablu and Spoink around Los Platos are easy targets for beginners. For higher levels, Florges and Floette in the flower biomes are better, though they can be a bit more annoying to find in clusters.
Speed Training: Inlet Grotto is the GOAT. Diglett and Rookidee are your targets. They’re low level, die in one hit, and give exactly what you need.
The Sandwich Meta and Auto-Battling Warning
Here is a massive "heads up" because the game doesn't tell you: Auto-battling (Let's Go feature) does NOT give EVs. I’ve seen so many players send their Pokemon out to clear a field of Chanseys thinking they’re getting HP, only to realize an hour later their stats haven't budged. You have to actually enter the battle screen.
Sandwiches, however, are your best friend. You don't need fancy sparkling power for this. Just a simple Encounter Power sandwich for the type you're hunting. If you're hunting Chanseys, eat a ham sandwich. If you're looking for Defense from Orthworms, go for something with Earth Power. It makes the "boring" part of Pokemon Scarlet EV training go by significantly faster.
Fixing Your Mistakes: The Berries and Fresh-Start Mochi
We’ve all done it. You used your favorite starter for the whole playthrough, and now its EVs are a chaotic mess of random points from every wild encounter between Cabo Poco and the Great Crater. It’s a disaster.
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You have two ways to fix this:
- The "Effort-Lowering" Berries: Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tamato. Each berry drops a stat by 10 points. You usually find these as sparkles on the ground in the East Province or at the Porto Marinada auction.
- Fresh-Start Mochi: This is the nuclear option. Introduced in the Teal Mask DLC, this item wipes every single EV off a Pokemon, giving you a clean slate. You get these from the Ogre Oustin' mini-game. It’s way faster than feeding 50 berries to a single Charizard.
Advanced Nuance: Why 252 Isn't Always the Answer
Competitive players like Wolfe Glick or the folks over at Smogon often use complex spreads. Why? Because of "benchmarking."
Imagine you have a Gholdengo. You could put 252 in Speed, but what if putting only 164 points allows you to outspeed the most common Great Tusk builds? You could then take those extra 88 points and put them into HP, allowing you to survive a hit you otherwise wouldn't. This is where the real depth of Pokemon Scarlet EV training lives. It’s about survival thresholds.
Check your "IVs" too. If your Speed IV is "Decent" instead of "Best," your EV training won't reach its maximum potential. Use a Gold Bottle Cap or regular Bottle Caps at the NPC in Montenevera (next to the Abomasnow) to Hyper Train your stats first. Hyper Training and EV training are the two halves of the same coin.
Actionable Steps for a Perfect Build
To get your Pokemon ready for high-level play right now, follow this sequence. Don't skip steps or you'll just have to use Mochi later.
- Check the Nature: Use a Mint (Adamant, Jolly, Modest, etc.) to ensure your stat growth is aligned with your goals.
- Hyper Train: Head to Montenevera and use Bottle Caps on every stat except the ones you don't use (like Special Attack on a physical hitter).
- Buy Power Items: Go to Delibird Presents. Get the full set.
- Equip and Hunt: Put the Power Item on the Pokemon you’re training. Even if it stays in the back of the party and doesn't fight, it still gets the full EV gain from the experience share.
- Verify the Sparkle: Go to the Pokemon's summary and hit the "L" button on the graph. If the stat name is sparkling, it’s maxed at 252. If the whole graph turns blue/cyan, you’ve used all 510 points.
Don't overthink the 510 limit too much on your first try. As long as your primary two stats are maxed, you're already ahead of 90% of the casual player base. The refinement comes later when you start losing matches by a sliver of HP—that's when you know it's time to start calculating specific damage rolls.