In Pokémon Go, beyond your Pokémon’s CP (Combat Power), all your caught partners have semi-hidden base stats called individual values, or IVs.
Our Pokémon Go guide will explain what IVs are and how to check them, so you can maximize the strength of your beloved Pokémon (and perhaps not waste candy evolving a suboptimal critter).
What are IVs in Pokémon Go, and how important are they?
IVs determine how strong a Pokémon can potentially get. For example, a perfect IV Chansey will have a higher CP and Stamina at its maxed out level, as opposed to a Chansey with only so-so IVs. There are just three stats to worry about: Attack, Defense, and Stamina, each of which maxes out at 15.
Of course, this only matters so much. If your goal is to simply catch ‘em all and treasure all of your precious new friends in Pokémon Go, the IVs don’t need to be perfect. But if you’re a player who likes to try to solo or duo high-tier raids, or get the edge in PvP / Go Battle League, then every stat point counts. It’s always wise to check those IVs before you make a big candy investment or transfer your precious ‘mons to candy, especially when it comes to Legendaries.
How do you check Pokémon IVs in Pokémon Go?
Within Pokémon Go, you can check IVs by opening the menu on a Pokémon’s screen (the icon in the lower right corner) and clicking Appraise. Your chosen team leader will show you how your Pokémon’s stats fare.
A 100% IV would mean that Attack, Defense and Stamina are all at 15. Everything below that works out to being a percentage of the maximum possible stat of 45. For example: A Gengar with 10 Attack, 10 Defense and 12 Stamina would have an IV of 71%. In other words, 71% of 45.
The team leader will tell you how your Pokémon ranks using stars and a pretty easy to understand graphic using bars:
* If your Pokémon has three stars and a red stamp, it means that it has 100% perfect IVs.
* If it has three star with an orange stamp, it has around 80-99% perfect IVs.
* Two stars means 66-80% IVs.
* Finally, one star means 50-65% IVs.
Each tick of the stat bar is five stat points, so you can eyeball it out and see how good your Pokémon’s individual values are.
It’s also worth knowing that on this screen, you can swipe left or right to another Pokémon to check their stats. This is useful if you want to quickly determine which has the best out of a group you’ve just searched before committing to powering up or evolving.
A general rule of thumb is you want a Pokémon with the highest IVs before you evolve or power up them (especially when it comes to Legendaries, where Candy is at a premium), though there is an exception for PvP / Go Battle League where you’ll want some stats higher than others when it comes to certain CP brackets. We discuss more on that in a later section.
Is there an IV calculator in Pokémon Go?
Checking IVs in-game shows bars where you have to squint and try to figure out the exact stats of your Pokémon, but by using external apps and websites, you can get a pretty specific range.
To check IVs on the go, you can use PokeGenie, an app for iOS and Android. The iOS version requires you just to take a screenshot of your Pokémon and upload it. The Android version will let you check IVs from within the app with the tap of a button.
Poke Genie works great, but there are times when there can be multiple combinations of IVs, requiring you to have your leader appraise your Pokémon and inputting what the leader says to get a more accurate reading.
What’s the best Pokémon IVs for PvP?
The ideal IVs you want for PvP is dependent on both which league you’re using it in, and which Pokémon you’re using. Typically the Pokémon will want higher HP and defensive IVs no matter what, so this is a good bet when checking IVs if you don’t plan on min-maxing.
If you’re looking for exact IVs, we recommend using IV4U, a site that allows you to enter a Pokémon and see what the highest ranking IVs for it are per league.
How do Pokémon Go IVs translate to Pokémon Home?
Your IVs will transfer when moving Pokémon from Go to the storage app, Pokémon Home. However, there is a caveat. There’s no speed stat in Pokémon Go, so it will just randomly give your Pokémon a speed IV when transferring.
That being said, all of the other five stats (Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, and HP) will be generated based on the Pokémon’s IVs in Go. For all of these stats, it’ll take the Pokémon Go IV, multiply it by two, and add one for the respective stat.
For example, if you’re moving a Gengar with 13/14/10 IVs, then it’ll have 27 Attack, 27 Special Attack, 29 Defense, 29 Special Defense, 21 HP, and a random value for Speed. If you transfer an 100% perfect IV Pokémon to Home, it will have almost perfect IVs in Home — all of its IVs will be 31, except speed which will be rolled randomly.
