Individual values: Difference between revisions

IV redirects here. For the fourth generation of Pokémon games, see Generation IV.

Individual values, IVs for short, sometimes also known as determinant values, DVs for short, are the Pokémon equivalent of genes. They are instrumental in determining the stats of a Pokémon, being responsible for the large variation in stats among untrained Pokémon of the same species.

Overview

Each of the six battle stats has an IV associated with it, with that IV coming into calculation alongside the Pokémon's base stats and EVs to determine the actual stat number. A Pokémon's IVs are determined when it is generated by the game; when it is obtained as an egg from the Pokémon Day Care, encountered in the wild, or given to the player by an NPC.

Generation I

In Generation I, there were only four IVs stored for each individual Pokémon: Attack, Defense, Speed, and Special. Each of these covered the respective stat, with the HP IV determined from the IVs stored for the other four. IVs had a range from 0-15, in binary 0000-1111, with the HP IV taking the final binary digit of the Attack, Defense, Speed, and Special IVs and placing it, in that order, for its own IV. As such, a Pokémon with an odd-number Attack IV had 8 added to its HP IV, Defense had 4 added, Speed had 2 added, and Special had 1 added.

The IVs' determination of stats follow the below formulas:

• HP = floor((Level × (Base + IV + (EV/2048) + 50)/50) + 10)
• Others = floor((Level × (Base + IV + (EV/2048))/50) + 5)

For two Mewtwo caught in Cerulean Cave:

Generation II

To maintain backwards compatibility with the Generation I games, IVs remained unchanged, though now the four stored IVs covered for six stats. Whereas the HP IV's matter of determination went unchanged from the original games, the Special IV now covered for both Special Attack and Special Defense, being used in the calculations for both of them.

Several things aside from stats came to be based on the randomly-generated IVs, however, in Generation II. While most of these would, in Generation III and later games, go on to be determined instead by the personality value of the Pokémon, the type and power of the move Hidden Power remains to the present based on a Pokémon's IV set.

Gender

A Pokémon's gender, was determined based solely on its Attack IV when compared to a specific value native to each Pokémon species. If the Attack IV was less than the gender code associated with the Pokémon's species, it would be female, whereas in all other instances, the Pokémon would be male. For species of only one gender, or those with no gender, the calculation based on the Attack IV is ignored.

Due to this calculation, it is impossible to obtain a female Pokémon with high Attack, unless the Pokémon is a member of an all-female species like Jynx or Chansey. Starter Pokémon and others with a gender ratio of seven males to one female suffer the most, with the maximum Attack IV for a female Pokémon of those species being 1.

For two Cyndaquil obtained from Professor Elm:

Shininess

Whether or not a Pokémon is Template:Shiny2 or not is also determined by IVs, though in a much more specific manner than its gender is. A shiny Pokémon, in Generation II only, must have IVs of 10 in Defense, Speed, and Special, as well as an IV of 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, or 15 in Attack. Such a lineup only has a 1/8192 chance of occurring, the standard rarity of a shiny Pokémon to this day.

Due to the lineup excluding Pokémon with a 0 or 1 IV, female Pokémon of species with a seven male to one female ratio can never be shiny in Generation II.

For two Sandshrew caught in Union Cave:

Hidden Power

Main article: Hidden Power calculation

The calculated type and power of the move Hidden Power is based on the IVs of the Pokémon. This I will finish tomorrow. I promise. Love, TTE.

Generation III

The IV system was completely overhauled in Generation III, with IVs now ranging from 0-31 (binary: 00000-11111). IVs are now stored individually for all six stats, instead of four. Shiny status and gender are no longer determined by IVs, and are instead calculated from a randomly-generated 32-bit integer called a personality value. Hidden Power remains IV-based.

The IV data for each Pokémon is stored as a packed bitfield, taking up one doubleword (32 bits) including one bit to set if the Pokémon is an egg, and one bit which dictates which of a Pokémon's abilities is active.

If the Ability bit is clear, the Pokémon will have its first Ability. If the bit is set, the Pokémon will have its second Ability. When the IVs of a Pokémon are generated, if the Pokémon only actually has one Ability, this bit will be forced clear (forced to 0). In this case, artificially setting the bit will result in the Pokémon having no ability.

In Pokémon Emerald, there is an elderly man in the house north of the Pokémon Center in the Battle Frontier. He will examine a Pokémon in the player's party and give information about the Pokémon's IVs, revealing which of its IVs is the highest.

Generation IV

As Generation II remained similar to Generation I, Generation IV remains much the same as Generation III. Still, two bits in the doublewords switched their positions:

A small blurb about a Pokémon's Personality has been added to the Trainer Memo. These are actually indicative of the Pokémon's IVs; these quotes also refer to the exact values of the Pokémon. for example, "often dozes off" means that HP is its highest IV, and its HP IV ends in either a 1 or a 6.

The traits for 1 or 6(max stat possibility) are:
HP: "often dozes off"
Attack: "likes to thrash about"
Defense: "capable of taking hits"
Special Attack: "mischevious"
Special Defense: "somewhat vain"
Speed: "alert to sounds"

See also

• EVs
• Pokémon data structure:
  • in GB games
  • in GBC games
  • in GBA games
  • in DS games

External links

• IV calculator at veekun.com