EV Training Pokemon for Gen VII VGC

Sun and Moon VGC EV Training guide by lucariomaster2

With the 2017 Pokemon World Championships having come to a close, many new players will be looking to compete in the 2018 season. One of the most important aspects of building a team is tailoring your Pokemon's EV spreads to suit your exact needs; a Pokemon may need to ensure a KO, survive a hit, or outspeed an important foe. Thus, while 4 / 252 / 252 spreads are often sufficient for Singles, successful VGC players train their Pokemon with their own precise spreads. This guide outlines how to get those spreads in-game; coming up with custom EV spreads is beyond its scope, but this article on Trainer Tower has a lot of good pre-made spreads to choose from.

This guide assumes that:
  • You have a copy of Pokemon Sun or Pokemon Moon and have completed the main story on it,

  • You have an untrained (likely level 1) Pokemon that you want to use in competition, ideally with Pokerus,

  • You are familiar with the basic mechanics of EVs, IVs, and natures, and

  • You know what EV spread you want your Pokemon to have.
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The Basics: Effort Value Manipulation methods
  • Battles: All Pokemon that gain EXP from a battle also gain EVs according to the defeated Pokemon's species. If a Pokemon has Pokerus, it gains double the normal EVs.

  • Power Items: If a Pokemon holding one of the six Power-items earns EXP from a battle, it gains 8 EVs of the Power-item's stat. This is in addition to whatever EVs it gets normally and is doubled by Pokerus. Power Items can be obtained from the Battle Royal Dome for 16 BP each.

  • Vitamins: Vitamins give a Pokemon 10 EVs of their corresponding stat, to a maximum of 100 EVs. They are most reliably obtained at the Battle Royal Dome for 2 BP each.

  • Berries: The inverse of vitamins, the EV Berries (Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tamato) reduce the EVs of their corresponding stat by 10 each. They can be found randomly under the tree on Route 10; it is then possible to use Poke Pelago to grow hundreds of them.

  • Poke Pelago: Isle Evelup can be used to passively and precisely EV train Pokemon. However, it is exceedingly slow.

  • Festival Plaza: Restaurants and Bouncy Houses offer services that can quickly increase EVs.

  • SOS Battles: The most efficient way of EV training in Sun and Moon, it will be detailed in the next section.
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SOS Battles

The bane of in-game runs and Pokemon catching alike, SOS battles are, in fact, incredibly useful for EV training. Each time a Pokemon is defeated in an SOS battle, it gives twice the EVs it would have if battled as a normal encounter. This includes the original wild encounter as long as it has successfully called at least one ally. Because this stacks with Pokerus and Power-items, defeating a normally 1 EV Pokemon yields the normal 1 EV, plus 8 from the Power-item (9 total), doubled by Pokerus (18 total), and doubled again by the SOS battle to give 36 EVs for each Pokemon defeated in the chain. In addition, defeating SOS encounters with no Power-item equipped gives 4 EVs per encounter, making it a viable tool for fine-tuning your spreads.

The quickest and most reliable way to trigger SOS encounters is to lead with a Pokemon with False Swipe, with the EXP. Share on, and the Pokemon to train in the back. Ideally, this False Swipe user should also have a regular damaging move and be capable of easily OHKOing the wild encounters. Once you have found the Pokemon you want to SOS chain, bring it down to 1 HP and use an Adrenaline Orb; it should start calling for help almost every round. Mow down the Pokemon it calls for doubled EVs.

The easiest places to EV train using SOS battles are:​
  • HP: Alolan Grimer, Malie City (Recycling Plant)
  • Attack: Yungoos and Pikipek, Route 1
  • Defense: Exeggcute, Exeggutor Island
  • Sp. Atk: Magnemite, Trainers' School
  • Sp. Def: Tentacool, Route 7
  • Speed: Spearow, Route 2
Note that Magnemite can have Sturdy, so bringing a Pokemon with Mold Breaker or a multi-hit move is a good idea.
A few things to remember when SOS training:
  • Pokemon with Pressure, Intimidate, and Unnerve make wild Pokemon more likely to call for help; this makes Weavile and Absol great Pokemon for SOS training since they have both Pressure and False Swipe.
  • Pokemon that are afflicted with status (paralysis, burn, etc.) will never call for help.
  • Battle animations can be turned off to make the process go slightly faster.
  • There is technically the risk of the original encounter running out of PP; however, the battle should never go on long enough for this to happen.
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Combining different methods for exact numbers

SOS battles are good for multiples of 36, while vitamins work for multiples of 10. However, oftentimes in VGC, you need an exact number of EVs that does not divide evenly by either. To solve this, it is possible to combine vitamins, EV berries, and SOS encounters to get the desired value.

The problem becomes a math puzzle of sorts: starting at zero, add a multiple of 36 and either add or subtract a multiple of 10 to get to your desired value. For example, to get exactly 116 EVs in a stat, give the Pokemon 8 vitamins for 80 EVs, and then defeat one SOS call for the remaining 36. Likewise, for 42 EVs, two SOS Pokemon and three Berries = (2*36) - (3*10) = (72 - 30) = 42.

It is possible to tell how many SOS Pokemon must be defeated by looking at the last digit of the desired number of EVs for a stat:

Last digit of desired number / SOS calls to defeat
0 / 0 (if desired <=100) or 5 (if desired >100)
6 / 1
2 / 2
8 / 3
4 / 4
// Note to HTML people: This would work best as a proper table

Note that you should always give the vitamins to the Pokemon BEFORE SOS training because vitamins cannot give more EVs past 100.

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Tips, tricks, and shortcuts to EV training

The method described above becomes tedious after awhile; fortunately, there are ways to further expedite EV training.

  • Save difficult numbers for last: Sometimes, a Pokemon's EV spread only has one or two difficult numbers to hit. If the spread has 252 EVs in any stat, start with that. Then, if it has 20 or less in any stats, do those with Poke Pelago. Thus, when you get to the difficult numbers, sometimes you can just use SOS battles to train them, taking advantage of the 510 EV cap.
  • Multiple Pokemon at once: If you have more than one Pokemon that needs the same number of EVs (usually 252) in the same stat, there is no reason to not equip them all with Power-items and train them all at once.
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A practical example
If all this theory is a bit confusing, we'll look at it in practice. Let's imagine that we are EV training Sejun's Firium Z Arcanine as described on Trainer Tower's spread repository, with a spread of 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 164 Spe.

Step 1: Use SOS battles to quickly train any stats with 252 EVs. Since EVs are capped at 252 per stat, the same method you use to raise 4 / 252 / 252 Pokemon works to train up Attack.

Step 2: Train stats using combinations, as described above. In this example, it is easy to see that 76 = 36 + 40, or one SOS encounter plus 4 HP Ups. Thus, we can take care of the 76 HP next.

Step 3: Use Poke Pelago to train small amounts. Defense and Special Defense both have very small investments; a fully upgraded Isle Evelup can complete them in one hour. Alternatively, the Pokemon can defeat SOS encounters with no Power-item equipped to gain 4 EVs per Pokemon defeated.

Step 4: Use SOS battles to train the remaining stat. 164 Speed is equal to 4 SOS calls plus 2 Carbos, but this is not as easy to realize as with HP. Luckily, since Speed is the only stat left to train at this point, it can be done using SOS battles; the 510 cap on EVs will ensure that the Pokemon gets the correct amount.

*Note: When viewing a Pokemon's summary, even though the exact numbers of EVs are hidden, a stat with 252 EVs sparkles, and a fully EVed Pokemon's indicator turns blue.

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Appendix: Festival Plaza
The Bouncy Houses and Food Stalls at Festival Plaza can quickly EV train a Pokemon at the cost of Festival Coins.

Bouncy Houses

Bouncy Houses offer six courses, A through F, with each one corresponding to a stat. Thump-Bump Park gives B (Attack) and D (Special Attack), Clink-Clunk Land gives C (Defense) and E (Special Defense), and Stomp-Stomp House gives A (HP) and F (Speed).

Beyond level 1, Thump-Bump Park is native to Pokemon Moon, and Clink-Clunk Land is native to Pokemon Sun. In addition, Stomp-Stomp House has even-numbered levels native to Sun and odd-numbered levels native to Moon.

Level of course (number of stars) / EVs obtained / Price / Minimum facility level
// Note to HTML people: This would work best as a proper table
1 / 4 EVs / 5 FC / Level 1
2 / 8 EVs / 10 FC / Level 2
3 / 16 EVs / 15 FC / Level 3
4 / 32 EVs / 30 FC / Level 4
5 / 64 EVs / 50 FC / Level 5
6 / 128 EVs / 100 FC / Level 1
7 / 252 EVs / 200 FC / Level 5

Food Stalls

Unlike the Bouncy Houses, Food Stalls are not specific to EV training; however, they can be used for that purpose. The Lunches at the Battle Table each give a Pokemon 10 EVs of the corresponding stat at a cost of 20 FC. Using vitamins is generally more viable because the Lunches can only be given once per day each, but they can still be given if the Pokemon has more than 100 EVs in the stat.

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This covers everything you need to know in order to get precise EV spreads in Gen VII. I hope to meet you in a tournament someday!
 
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Other than adding pictures (which I can't do now, but in a few weeks I will have access to a Capture Card 3DS), this article should be ready for QC.
 

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You pretty much covered everything haha. You could add in a mention of the festival plaza since some shops can raise/lower your EVs once per day. Not great for doing a ton of Pokemon at once, but helpful in a pinch. If you want to include a general tip, turning off battle animations can speed up the process as well.

Couple corrections: There is no Macho Brace in SM and the EV cap is technically 510, not 508 (though yes, only 508 are usable).
 
Hope it's ok to post here but I've been reading this and I found the base EV provision explanation from SOS battles a little confusing. I ended up having to write the explanation you had down as algebraic formulas before I could begin to understand how Power Items and PKRS would affect the EV's given. Basically I wrote:


EV's from SOS call = EV provided by the mon targeted x (1 + number of successful calls in the SOS chain)

Therefore the absolute base minimum you can get from just one SOS call, assuming you use a mon providing just 1 EV and without any modifiers like PKRS, Power Items or combining methods, is 2 EV's .


Adding a Power item and the base EV formula would then change to:

EV's from SOS call = ( EV provided by the mon targeted + 8 for the power item ) x (1 + number of successfull calls in the SOS chain)

Therefore the minimum you can get from just one SOS call, assuming you use a mon providing just 1 EV and inclusive of the power item, is 18 EV's .


Using your Trainer Tower Grimer example for HP training and with a power item you would need:

76 HP / 18 EV's = 4.22 - obviously not possible given base SOS ev's so:

4 x 18 EV's = 72
72 / ( 1 EV + 8 EV's from power item ) = 8
8 - 1 original mon = 7 successful calls

Therefore 1 original mon plus 7 successful calls and an additional 4 individual Grimers = 76 HP EV's


I also wrote the formula inclusive of Pokerus but I've got a problem in that I can't work out how to control when infection will take place so that your EV's end up being what you want.

With Pokerus: EV's from SOS call = ( ( EV provided by the mon targeted + 8 for the power item ) x (1 + number of calls in the SOS chain) ) x 2 for Pokerus

Therefore the minimum you can get from just one SOS call, assuming you use a mon providing just 1 EV and inclusive of all modifiers, is 36 EV's.


I haven't managed to understand the explanation of mixing ev methods yet so I'm rather confused as to how to translate that into a formula as well as how Macho Brace would change what I've written above.

I was also looking for an explanation how to use Poke Pelego or the Festival Plaza with the Rare Kitchen as well as how SOS training in one stat but with a different power item would work.

Also if this guide is aimed at new players then maybe a section about efficient ev training would be worth including? I found in Gen 6 that if I wrote down each mon that needed training and grouped them in order of how many ev's were needed in which stat I could then plan when to include or remove a mon from the party so it took the least amount of time possible. I could also use it work out when the best time to infect a mon with Pokerus was as, unless you can infect from hatching, needing 252 ev's in one stat and leaving that stat until last seems to be the best point in order to gain EXP as well.

Apologies for the wall of text.
 
EV's from SOS call = EV provided by the mon targeted x (1 + number of successful calls in the SOS chain)
This is false; it's a flat 2x multiplier. With Pokerus and a Power Item equipped, 76 EVs equals 36 from one successful encounter, plus 40 from vitamins.

That being said, you do bring up some good points. What I might do is move the example with Arcanine to a dedicated section, and then have a section dedicated to shortcuts such as EVing multiple Pokemon at once. I might also add an appendix listing the effects of Festival Plaza shops, though I'm hesitant since the information on that is already on Bulbapedia.
 
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This is false; it's a flat 2x multiplier. With Pokerus and a Power Item equipped, 76 EVs equals 36 from one successful encounter, plus 40 from vitamins.

That being said, you do bring up some good points. What I might do is move the example with Arcanine to a dedicated section, and then have a section dedicated to shortcuts such as EVing multiple Pokemon at once. I might also add an appendix listing the effects of Festival Plaza shops, though I'm hesitant since the information on that is already on Bulbapedia.
Ok, now I'm absolutely confused about EV'ing. If the base formula for just one SOS call is the EV value provided by the mon targeted x 2, then how do you calculate how many EV's you are gaining without using any modifiers? I'm having trouble understanding how each additional SOS call stacks the EV gain.

I know you are saying use Power Items and PKRS but if you don't understand how SOS chaining works without those modifiers (or you don't have access to those resources in game yet) how do you get ev's that aren't in multiples of 18 or 36 without knocking one mon out at a time?


Re your comment about Festival Plaza, counting this thread, Bulbapedia and other articles I've read about 10 different articles and I'm still in the dark about Gen 7 ev'ing and training. Having everything in one place does make a difference to players like me that want a really good explanation of the whole process in one article published by a site that has a good reputation for quality. I'm not having a go btw, I'm genuinely interested in what you're writing as up until now, I've done no Gen 7 ev'ing simply because there hasn't been an article that explains all the options well enough so that I can easily work out how to start.
 
The formula for SoS is pretty simple, every Pokemon that comes in SoS is double the EV.

So if say, a Pokemon gives 1 Speed, you get 2. That's about it.

Every bonus obtained also get doubles, so (still for SoS pokemon, not the original one), if a Power Item is equipped, you get +16 instead of +8.

Pokerus further doubles everything again.

And that's about it.

Since as far as competitive EVs go you only care of multiples of 4, you can reach a "multiple of 36 or 18" and then simply kill non SOS-d mons a few times to reach specific numbers, or use vitamines to add 10 up to 100, or berries to remove 10, depending on which is more practical to the specific case.


It's actually way simpler than you thought Hare_vs_Tortoise :)
 
Added an appendix detailing Festival Plaza (may edit it later for clarity) and changed around a couple other points to hopefully make the guide clearer.
 
No no buddy you are not understanding it.

every SOS called poke gives same EV, which is double the base give.

It does not keep further doubling with more SoS calls.

If you kill 4 SoSd pokemon, you simply get
1 base
+8 brace = 9
x2 since SoS = 18
x4 since you killed 4 pokes = 72 total
x2 further if you have Pokerus = 144

That's the TOTAL of the EV received from all 4 kills, not the amount the 4th kill gives.

There's no complicate math involved, I'm not sure where you pulled the numbers on that table from >_>
 
No no buddy you are not understanding it.

every SOS called poke gives same EV, which is double the base give.

It does not keep further doubling with more SoS calls.

If you kill 4 SoSd pokemon, you simply get
1 base
+8 brace = 9
x2 since SoS = 18
x4 since you killed 4 pokes = 72 total
x2 further if you have Pokerus = 144

That's the TOTAL of the EV received from all 4 kills, not the amount the 4th kill gives.

There's no complicate math involved, I'm not sure where you pulled the numbers on that table from >_>
I'm sorry but words just aren't explaining what the incremental progression is that's why I put the table together using what you said in your prior post of each call doubling the ev's. If that table is wrong then please use the same kind of table and show me. I can't be the only person that sometimes needs an alternate way of learning.
 
I'm sorry but words just aren't explaining what the incremental progression is that's why I put the table together using what you said in your prior post of each call doubling the ev's. If that table is wrong then please use the same kind of table and show me. I can't be the only person that sometimes needs an alternate way of learning.
There is no incremental progression. Each Pokemon called as an SOS encounter, when defeated, gives double the normal EVs it normally would.
You know what, sure. Here's a table of how it actually works. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1idMcfbjj-XTGnoCCVfvOGHD-3wFa4iTKltPnnHM3lM0/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1idMcfbjj-XTGnoCCVfvOGHD-3wFa4iTKltPnnHM3lM0/edit?usp=sharing
Please do me a favour and point out where the guide mentions any form of incremental progression or EV yields increasing for longer SOS chains.
 
The simple way to explain it is: If an SOS has been initiated at any point, then there's an extra x2 that lasts for the rest of the battle. So basically, if you're doing an SOS battle, period, then everything is double.

Even the initial Pokemon gives x2 if you kill 6 of its partners and then the first one.
 
Does the initial Pokemon actually give you 2x? I was of the impression that the original Poke still gives non increased value, but I'd be happy to find out I'm wrong.
 

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I remember hearing somewhere that it doesn't, but I have no proof for or against.
Decided to test this a bit (fwiw/in case you'd like to add it). All tests were done with non-trained Pokemon, fighting against mons that yield 1 EV.

KOing the initial Pokemon after another had been called provided 2 EVs, regardless of whether there was another Pokemon on the field.
KOing the initial Pokemon after it tried to call for help and no one came yielded 1 EV. This was the first time it tried to call for help.

So yes, it looks like once another Pokemon has successfully entered the field, even the initial Pokemon will yield 2x the EVs.
 
Decided to test this a bit (fwiw/in case you'd like to add it). All tests were done with non-trained Pokemon, fighting against mons that yield 1 EV.

KOing the initial Pokemon after another had been called provided 2 EVs, regardless of whether there was another Pokemon on the field.
KOing the initial Pokemon after it tried to call for help and no one came yielded 1 EV. This was the first time it tried to call for help.

So yes, it looks like once another Pokemon has successfully entered the field, even the initial Pokemon will yield 2x the EVs.
Updated the OP accordingly. Thanks!
 
The easiest places to EV train using SOS battles are:​
  • Attack: Yungoos, Route 1
  • Speed: Zubat, Seaward Cave
Pikipek on Route 1 is just as common as Yungoos and also gives 1 Attack. They both work if you encounter either of them, but Pikipek is all day while Yungoos is daytime only (if you're playing at night, you could go through the wormhole to make it day but it's much faster to just find a Pikipek instead).
For Speed, Spearow in Route 2 (right next to the Pokemon Center). Not only is is easier to get to than Seaward Cave, but Zubat has Supersonic which can mess with your EV Trainer Pokemon. Also Alolan Rattata is in that same patch if you're playing at night (Cutiefly is too but it has Stun Spore so don't use it).

I know that this isn't the main focus but perhaps include a note that Intimidate/Pressure/Unnerve increase SOS odds and thus Pokemon like Absol (easy to get) or Weavile make good "EV trainers" because they also learn False Swipe (though this may be approaching the territory of the "general tips and tricks" guide).
 
Pikipek on Route 1 is just as common as Yungoos and also gives 1 Attack. They both work if you encounter either of them, but Pikipek is all day while Yungoos is daytime only (if you're playing at night, you could go through the wormhole to make it day but it's much faster to just find a Pikipek instead).
For Speed, Spearow in Route 2 (right next to the Pokemon Center). Not only is is easier to get to than Seaward Cave, but Zubat has Supersonic which can mess with your EV Trainer Pokemon. Also Alolan Rattata is in that same patch if you're playing at night (Cutiefly is too but it has Stun Spore so don't use it).

I know that this isn't the main focus but perhaps include a note that Intimidate/Pressure/Unnerve increase SOS odds and thus Pokemon like Absol (easy to get) or Weavile make good "EV trainers" because they also learn False Swipe (though this may be approaching the territory of the "general tips and tricks" guide).
Implemented - thanks!
 
Sorry I haven't been around to read this, have been and still am rather busy with irl stuff. Anyway I've been turning this over in my mind and what seems to be missing is what I would call the process ie what do you actually do get to say 48 ev's and what happens with the anchor mon at the beginning of the chain once you've accumulated the ev's needed.

Still not completely100% sure I've understood how the ev's stack cumulatively but if I've got it right then maybe a section on the process of SOS ev training would clarify things better as just stating every mon is x2 or saying that you can get a whopping 36 ev's doesn't mean much when you try to put it into operation. That was what was good about the 6th gen guide because you could clearly see how the ev's cumulatively stacked whether knocking out 1 mon or multiple hordes before you factored in the modifiers and could then quickly work out the best training combination.

This is what I would suggest with some clarification and rewording maybe needed:

SOS Chaining Process

When commencing ev training consideration needs to be given to working out how many pokemon in an SOS chain require knocking out in order to attain the ev's required. Each pokemon (without Power Items or Pokerus) called in the chain yields 2 ev's therefore to gain 4 ev's you will need to knock out 2 pokemon, for 8 ev's knock out 4 pokemon and so on adding on 2 ev's each time you knock out one more pokemon in the chain. Once all the pokemon that have been knocked out to attain the required number of ev's then run from the battle so that the original anchor pokemon is left alive as otherwise this will add 1 more ev to your total - This bit about knocking out the anchor mon I'm not sure about or even what happens to ev's when you need to switch out the anchor mon.

When either a Power Item or Pokerus is used then each pokemon in the chain yields 18 ev's therefore when training for 36 ev's only 2 pokemon called in the chain will require knocking out with the anchor pokemon left alive. When a pokemon is infected with Pokerus and a Power Item is used at the same time to train then each pokemon called in the chain yields 36 ev's therefore knocking out two pokemon will yield 72 ev's with the anchor pokemon left alive. However when training with Pokerus consideration should be given to when the infection needs to take place as this needs to be factored into working out the best method of ev training in order to prevent additional ev's being acquired in the wrong stat.


Like I said before I'm not trying to offend but I think adding a "How To" section would really help.
 
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GP 1/2
remove add

With the 2017 Pokemon World Championships having come to a close, many new players will be looking to compete in the 2018 season. One of the most important aspects of building a team is tailoring your Pokemon's EV spreads to suit your exact needs; a Pokemon may need to ensure a KO, survive a hit, or outspeed an important foe. Thus, while 4/252/252 is spreads are often sufficient for Singles, successful VGC players train their Pokemon with their own precise spreads. This guide outlines how to get those spreads in-game; coming up with custom EV spreads is beyond its scope, but this article on Trainer Tower has a lot of good pre-made spreads to choose from.

This guide assumes that:
  • You have a copy of Pokemon Sun or Pokemon Moon and have completed the main story on it,
  • You have an untrained (likely Level 1) Pokemon that you want to use in competition, ideally with Pokerus,
  • You are familiar with the basic mechanics of EVs, IVs, and natures, and
  • You know what spread you want your Pokemon to have.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Basics: Effort Value Manipulation methods
  • Battles: All Pokemon that gain EXP from a battle also gain EVs according to the defeated Pokemon's species. If a Pokemon has Pokerus, it gains double the normal EVs.
  • Power Items: If a Pokemon holding one of the six Power items earns EXP from a battle, it gains 8 EVs of the Power Item's stat. This is in addition to whatever EVs it gets normally, (comma) and is doubled by Pokerus. Power items can be obtained from the Battle Royal Dome for 16 BP each.
  • Vitamins: Vitamins give a Pokemon 10 EVs of their corresponding stat, to a maximum of 100 EVs. They are most reliably obtained at the Battle Royal Dome for 2 BP each.
  • Berries: The inverse of vitamins, the EV berries (Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tamato) reduce the EVs of their corresponding stat by 10 each. They can be found randomly under the tree on Route 10; it is then possible to use Poke Pelago to grow hundreds of them.
  • Poke Pelago: Isle Evelup can be used to passively and precisely EV train Pokemon. However, it is exceedingly slow.
  • Festival Plaza: Restaurants and Bouncy Houses offer services that can quickly increase EVs.
  • SOS Battles: The most efficient way of EV training in Sun and Moon, it will be detailed in the next section.
------------------------------------------------------------------
SOS Battles

The bane of in-game runs and Pokemon catching alike, SOS battles are, in fact, incredibly useful for EV training. Each time a Pokemon is defeated in an SOS battle, it gives twice the EVs it would have if battled as a normal encounter. This includes the original wild encounter as long as it has successfully called at least one ally. Because this stacks with Pokerus and Power Items, defeating a normally 1 EV Pokemon yields the normal 1 EV, plus 8 from the Power Item (9 total), doubled by Pokerus (18 total), and doubled again by the SOS battle to give 36 EVs for each Pokemon defeated in the chain. In addition, defeating SOS encounters with no Power Item equipped gives 4 EVs per encounter, making it a viable tool for fine-tuning your spreads.

The quickest and most reliable way to trigger SOS encounters is to lead with a Pokemon with False Swipe, with the EXP. Share on and the Pokemon to train in the back. Ideally, this False Swipe Pokemon user should also have a regular damaging move and be capable of easily OHKOing the wild encounters. Once you have found the Pokemon you want to SOS chain, False Swipe bring it down to 1 HP and use an Adrenaline Orb; it should start calling for help almost every round. Mow down the Pokemon it calls for doubled EVs.

The easiest places to EV train using SOS battles are:
  • HP: Alolan Grimer, Malie City (Recycling Plant)
  • Attack: Yungoos and Pikipek, Route 1
  • Defense: Exeggcute, Exeggutor Island
  • Sp. Atk: Magnemite, Trainer's School
  • Sp. Def: Tentacool, Route 7
  • Speed: Spearow, Route 2
Note that Magnemite can have Sturdy, so bringing a Pokemon with Mold Breaker or a multi-hit move is a good idea.
A few things to remember when SOS training:
  • Pokemon with Pressure, Intimidate, and Unnerve make wild Pokemon more likely to call for help; this makes Weavile and Absol great Pokemon for SOS training since they have both Pressure and False Swipe.
  • Pokemon that have a status problem (Paralyze paralysis, burn, etc.) will never call for help.
  • Battle animations can be turned off to make the process go slightly faster.
  • There is technically the risk of the original encounter running out of PP; however, when EV training the battle should never go on long enough for this to happen.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Combining different methods for exact numbers

SOS battles are good for multiples of 36, while vitamins work for multiples of 10. However, oftentimes in VGC, (comma) you need an exact number of EVs that does not divide evenly by either. To solve this, it is possible to combine vitamins, EV berries, and SOS encounters to get the desired value.

The problem becomes a math puzzle of sorts: starting at zero, add a multiple of 36 and either add or subtract a multiple of 10 to get to your desired value. For example, to get exactly 116 EVs in a stat, give the Pokemon 8 vitamins for 80 EVs, and then defeat one SOS call for the remaining 36. Likewise, for 42 EVs, two SOS Pokemon and three Berries = (2*36) - (3*10) = (72 - 30) = 42.

It is possible to tell how many SOS Pokemon must be defeated by looking at the last digit of the desired spread:

Last digit of desired number / SOS calls to defeat
0 / 0 (if desired <= 100) or 5 (if desired >100)
6 / 1
2 / 2
8 / 3
4 / 4
// Note to HTML people: This would work best as a proper table

Note that you should always give the vitamins to the Pokemon BEFORE SOS training because vitamins cannot give EVs past 100.

------------------------------------------------------------

Tips, tricks, and shortcuts to EV training

The method described above becomes tedious after awhile; fortunately, there are ways to further expedite EV training.

  • Save difficult numbers for last: Sometimes, a Pokemon's spread only has one or two difficult numbers to hit. If the spread has 252 in any stat, start with that. Then, if it has 20 or less in any stats, do those with Poke Pelago. Thus, when you get to the difficult numbers, sometimes you can just use SOS battles to train them, taking advantage of the 510 EV cap.
  • Multiple Pokemon at once: If you have more than one Pokemon that needs the same number of EVs (usually 252) in the same stat, there is no reason not to equip them all with Power items and train them all at once.
------------------------------------------------------------
A practical example
If all this theory is a bit confusing, we'll look at it in practice. Let's imagine that we are EV training Sejun's Firium Z Arcanine as described on Trainer Tower's spread repository, with a spread of 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SDef / 164 Spe.

Step 1: Use SOS battles to quickly train any 252 spreads. Since EVs are capped at 252, the same method you use to raise 4/252/252 Pokemon works to train up Attack.

Step 2: Train stats using combinations, as described above. In this example, it is easy to see that 76 = 36 + 40, or one SOS Encounter plus 4 HP Ups. Thus, we can take care of the 76 HP next.

Step 3: Use Poke Pelago to train small amounts. Defense and Special Defense both have very small investments; a maxed out fully upgraded Isle Evelup can complete them in one hour. Alternatively, the Pokemon can defeat SOS encounters with no Power item equipped to gain 4 EVs per Pokemon defeated.

Step 4: Use SOS battles to train the remaining stat. 164 Speed is equal to 4 SOS calls plus 2 Carbos, but this is not as easy to realize as with HP. Luckily, since at this point Speed is the only stat left to train at this point, it can be done using SOS battles; the 510 cap on EVs will ensure that the Pokemon gets the correct amount.

*Note: When viewing a Pokemon's EVs in its stat screen summary, even though the exact numbers are hidden, a stat with 252 EVs sparkles, (comma) while a fully EV'd EVed Pokemon's indicator turns blue.

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Appendix: Festival Plaza
The Bouncy Houses and Food Stalls at Festival Plaza can quickly EV train a Pokemon at the cost of Festival Coins.

Bouncy Houses
Bouncy Houses offer six courses, A through F, with each one corresponding to a stat. Thump-Bump Park gives B (Attack) and D (Special Attack);, (comma) Clink-Clunk Land gives C (Defense) and E (Special Defense);, (comma) and Stomp-Stomp House gives A (HP) and F (Speed).

Beyond level 1, Thump-Bump Park is native to Moon and Clink-Clunk Land is native to Sun. In addition, Stomp-Stomp House has even-numbered levels native to Sun and odd-numbered levels native to Moon.

Level of course (number of stars) / EVs obtained / Price / Minimum facility level
// Note to HTML people: This would work best as a proper table
1 / 4 EVs / 5 FC / Level 1
2 / 8 EVs / 10 FC / Level 2
3 / 16 EVs / 15 FC / Level 3
4 / 32 EVs / 30 FC / Level 4
5 / 64 EVs / 50 FC / Level 5
6 / 128 EVs / 100 FC / Level 1
7 / 252 EVs / 200 FC / Level 5

Food stalls

Unlike the Bouncy Houses, Food Stalls are not specific to EV training; however, they can do so be used for that purpose. The Lunches at the Battle Table each give a Pokemon 10 EVs of their corresponding stat, (comma) at a cost of 20 FC. Using vitamins is generally more viable because the Lunches can only be given once per day each, but they can still be given if the Pokemon has more than 100 EVs in the stat.

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This covers everything you need to know in order to get precise EV spreads in Gen VII. I hope to meet you in a tournament someday!
 
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Implemented! :)
Um, excuse me? It would be nice if you at least responded to me even if you aren't going to include my suggestion. I'm the kind of person you're aiming your guide at ie casual/new and if I don't get it then the guide isn't doing the job it's intended for. I've ev trained in prior gens but this gen is different enough that being a bit more explicit with how the basic SOS mechanics work and the ev's stack is a good idea.
 

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