If you like Minecraft and Pokemon, you probably also play Pixelmon – a fan-made modification for Minecraft that allows you to catch and breed Pokemon. Just like in the original series of games your Pokemon have various stats (HP, Atk, Def, Spa, SpDef, and Spe) that indicate your creature’s strengths and weaknesses.
The two main values in Pixelmon that you should be aware of are EVs (Effort Values) and IVs (Individual Values). While EVs are nothing complicated and can be gained after defeating other Pokemon in the fight, IVs can only be gained during the breeding process and cannot be changed anymore.
This guide will explain what benefit can be gained from knowing your IVs, how to calculate your current IVs in Pixelmon and how you can use this knowledge to improve your Pokemon stats.
What IVs do in Pixelmon
The easiest way to understand IVs is to think of them as Pokemon genes. These can only be inbred and that’s the process that will be discussed in our next guide. But first you need to know how to identify and calculate your IVs before moving onto the breeding process.
If you let the Pokemon breeding go without controlling their initial stats, then you can easily end up with a not-so-strong Pokemon. So, if you want to be competitive, you need to make sure that your IVs are high enough.
The higher your IVs are the easier it will be to work with your EVs, and make your Pokemon even stronger. The highest number of IVs you can get for each of the six stats is 31. This means that in addition to your hard-earned EVs you will get extra 31 points of stats, which make a huge difference.
How to calculate IVs in Pixelmon
First, you need to know your current stats. Go to your Inventory -> choose a Pokemon -> click on Stats. You will see a complete breakdown of your Pokemon’s abilities with corresponding numbers, which you need to write down or save on your hard-drive.
Also, take note of your Pokemon’s nature – it is needed for calculating purposes, since your IVs define your creature’s nature. With the help of these numbers you now need to go to the Pokemon Damage Calculator website.
Pokemon Damage Calculator is used to calculate how much damage your Pokemon will be able to deal with its current stats. But we will be using it to calculate the IVs of our Pokemon.
Here are a few simple steps you need to take in order to determine your Pokemon‘s IVs:
- Choose the game mode as Black and White (B/W). (Other modes won’t work with Pixelmon since they are outdated).
- In the “Pokemon 1” section enter the numbers you’ve saved previously, including your current level and nature.
- Now, in order to calculate your IVs for each of the stat enter a number from 1 to 31 in the IV section until it matches the stat number of your Pokemon.
- For example, if your current HP is 74, then keep entering IVs (up to 31) until it matches your Pokemon’s stat total in the calculator. In the example below you will see that this Pokemon’s HP of 74 corresponds to 26 IVs.
How to use IVs in Pixelmon
If you’ve done your calculations correctly, you will be able to use this data to breed your Pokemon with the best possible IVs. This is necessary in order to select the right kinds of parents that have high IVs for your hatchlings.
You can’t just take any Pokemon parents and breed new Pokemon with high IVs – that’s not how things work in Pixelmon. High quality genes need to come from somewhere, and now with the help of this guide you will know how to choose the strongest parents for your next generation.
Come back soon for more Pixelmon guides at GameSkinny!
