EV Training Hotspots in Pokémon X & Y
Hello! My name is Konrad “Gonzo” Janik also known as your favourite EV training aid! This time, I want to share with you a list of good hotspots for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. The code of the games cannot be decrypted yet, so I am not listing any Pokémon introduced in 6th Generation games because their EV yields remain unknown. The rarity of listed Pokémon is estimated and not 100% precise. Unfortunately, it is all we can get so far. This guide will be updated as soon as we get more information.
I stated Pokémon’s locations, their approximate levels, encounter rate (well, not really) and method of encountering. I also put EV gain from battling each Pokémon and calculations for EV gain modifiers so you’ll know exactly how many EVs you’ll get. A new type of wild Pokémon encounters — horde battles — are also listed. There are many other hordes, but I picked the most common ones, made of a single Pokémon species with the lowest possible levels. The guide is divided into four sections: Introduction, Hordes, Friend Safari and alternative methods.
1. Introduction
Important changes in EV Training compared to older games:
- The maximum amount of EVs in a single stat prior to XY was 255. In 6th Gen it was reduced to 252, so now you don’t have to worry when maxing out a single stat.
- Horde encounters are the fastest way to EV train your Pokémon.
Ways to Modify EV Gain:
- Pokerus – doubles EVs gained, can be combined with Macho Brace and Power Items
- Macho Brace – doubles EVs gained, halves holder’s Speed, can be combined with Pokerus
- Power Items – give 4 additional EV points to a corresponding stat, halves holder’s Speed, can be combined with Pokerus
In XY, you can find Macho Brace lying on the ground at Route 15, Power Weight (+HP), Power Bracer (+Atk), Power Belt (+Def), Power Lens (+SAtk), Power Band (+SDef) and Power Anklet (+Speed) can be purchased in Battle Maison (Kiloude City) for 16 BP each.
Calculations for EVs per Battle (Don’t forget to multiply by 5 for horde encounters!):
Base 3 points:
- Pokérus / Macho Brace: 6 EVs
- Pokérus + Macho Brace: 12 EVs
- Pokérus + Power Item: 14 EVs
Base 2 points:
- Pokérus / Macho Brace: 4 EVs
- Pokérus + Macho Brace: 8 EVs
- Pokérus + Power Item: 12 EVs
Base 1 point:
- Pokérus / Macho Brace: 2 EVs
- Pokérus + Macho Brace: 4 EVs
- Pokérus + Power Item: 10 EVs
Tips:
- Avoid Pokémon introduced in 6th Generation when EV training, as their EV yields are currently unknown.
- If you need simple 252/252/4 spreads, use Hordes. Using vitamins is unnecessary – two Horde encounters give you the same amount of EVs as 10 Vitamins.
- If you need a more complicated EV spread, use Hordes + Friend Safari or find wild Pokémon that can give you the amount of EVs needed.
2. Hordes
In XY, if you use Sweet Scent or Honey, you have 100% chance to encounter a horde. A horde is a group of 5 Pokémon at a level around one half of the Pokémon you can encounter at the same location in regular one-on-one encounters. Method is not listed as this works in tall grass and caves only. Recommended for fast and easy maxing stats.
HP
Location: Route 5
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 5
EVs: 1 HP per each
or:
Location: Connecting Cave
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 7
EVs: 1 HP per each
Attack
Location: Route 14
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 16
EVs: 1 Atk per each
or:
Location: Route 19
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 24
EVs: 2 Atk per each
In case it’s raining on Route 14 or 19, you can’t use Sweet Scent and Honey to encounter hordes. Alternatively use:
Location: Frost Cavern
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 20
EVs: 1 Atk per each
Defence
Location: Route 10
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 11
EVs: 1 Def per each
or:
/
Location: Route 18, Terminus Cave
Encounter Rate: common/uncommon
Level: 23/23
EVs: 1 Def per each/2 Def per each
Special Attack
Location: Frost Cavern
Encounter Rate: Common
Level: 20
EVs: 1 SpAtk per each
Smoochum horde can be found in Frost Cavern as well. It’s very rare, but the EV yield is the same as Vanillite’s, so you can just use them if you find them.
Special Defence
Location: Route 7
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 6
EVs: 1 SpDef per each
Speed
Location: Route 8
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 9
EVs: 1 Speed per each
Taillow horde can be found on Route 8 as well. It’s very rare, but the EV yield is the same as Wingull’s, so you can just use them if you find them.
In case it’s raining on Route 8, you can’t use Sweet Scent and Honey to encounter hordes. Alternatively, use:
Location: Connecting Cave
Encounter Rate: common
Level: 8
EVs: 1 Speed per each
3. Friend Safari
After you beat Elite 4, you’ll gain access to Kiloude City where you can find Friend Safari. Each of your 3DS friends generates three Pokémon of one type that can be encountered there. At the beginning, you can find just two species, and a third can be found after your friend beats the Elite 4, so non-Pokémon 3DS players will give you just two Pokémon. The list of Pokémon depends on Friend Codes you have, so after you go and discover your friends’ species, just check their EV yields. The best way to do this is to use Bulbapedia’s, Serebii’s or Veekun’s Pokedex, as all of them list the EVs you can get from beating specific Pokémon. This method is recommended for adding smaller amounts of EVs, impossible to get via Hordes.
4. Alternative Methods
(this section will be expanded when we have accurate encounter rates)
Poke Radar
If you don’t want to use Hordes or Friend Safari, you can try something old-fashioned. Finding random Pokémon in grass quite inconvenient, so you can try using Poke Radar to chain specific Pokémon with desired EVs. When 100% accurate encounter rates are found, I’ll expand this section. For now, I need to leave you with the idea.
Fishing
Attack
Location: Route 3
Encounter Rate: 100% combined
Level: 25
EVs: 1 Atk per each
Rod: Good Rod
Speed
/
Location: Route 3/Route 8
Encounter Rate: 100%
Level: 15
EVs: 1 Speed
Rod: Old Rod
Magikarp is on Route 3, Luvdisc is on Route 8
Surfing
Special Defence
Location: Route 8
Encounter Rate: very common
Level: 20-30
EVs: 1 SpDef
The other Pokémon is Wailmer with very low encounter rate. In case you find it, just run away.
Speed
/
Location: Frost Cavern (outside)
Encounter Rate: 100% combined
Level: 38-40
EVs: 2 Speed per each
That’s all we can get so far. I’ll keep an eye on any EV Training related information and will update the guide as soon as possible. Meanwhile, good luck with your EV training!
About the Author
Gonzo gave VGC a shot during Autumn Friendly in '11, fell in love with it and never looked back. World's #1 Stunfisk fan.
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69 Responses to EV Training Hotspots in Pokémon X & Y
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Is there an alternative route for Atk EV training? Seems to rain a lot on that damn route 14 and neither Honey or Sweet Scent work for whatever lame reason.
Is there an alternative route for Atk EV training? Seems to rain a lot on that bidoof route 14 and neither Honey or Sweet Scent work for whatever lame reason.
It’s not working when it’s raining. You can try Cubchoo in Frost Cavern.
I will update the guide tomorrow with all random weather thingies and stuff like this.
Would like to add Tailow also swarm on Rt 8 for speed.
I am going to mention both Taillow and Smoochum for speed and SpA respectively, but they will be just mentioned, as they’re very rare.
There’s no reason to mention inefficient hordes just because they exist.
Actually, there is. Both are in the same places as the effective hordes. They are very rare but their EV yield is the same, so in case you encounter them, you can just use them.
Thanks a ton Gonzo! I was going to mention Smoochum and Taillow since they’re in the same route, so that’ll be great!
Honestly, for the lefties out there, Hordes >>>>> Super Training. Even with only 1 Power Item on 1 Pokemon, with Pokerus that’s still 70 EV’s gained for 30 seconds, whereas Super Training (if you’re quick) would give you 24 at best. Training multiple mons is so much faster via hordes. Once I’ve got a couple copies of each Power Item, I’ll be able to train a whole team in like… half an hour. Amazing.
*** that’s 70 ev’s if you were training say… 3 Pokemon with one holding a power item.
I find Zubat in the connecting cave to be MUCH more reliable and common for speed evs, I kept trying to find wingull but on rainy days (literally in game) sweet scent never seems to pick them up.
Funny, for the first time I actually welcome zubats into my life.
Doing some quick work, and Pyroar gives off 2 SAtk EVs
In rain, Sweet Scent doesn’t work period?
I personally tried Sweet Scent about 10 times, and I also tried Honey twice. If it works during Rain, I must have got unlucky.
Sweet scent has never worked under any weather condition.
The guide has been updated. I added alternatives for when it’s raining, corrected levels of encountered Pokemon, added info about other hordes that can be found in the same place and have the same EV yields and added some traditional EV training information.
Whismur give SpA, not HP. Fortunately for me, the Pokemon I was training needed SpA too anyway…
Ah, wait, darn, I think I just realized why I was getting tons of SpA EVs instead /puts foot in mouth
LOL, Whismur gives HP. You should pay more attention when choosing the Power Item, lol.
Does the Power Item/Macho Brace has to be holded by the lead poke or the one on the back (the one on the back means the that is gonna be ev trained)
Power Item/Brace should always be held by the mon being EV trained.
Hey Gonzo! One thing to add might be that hordes of Ekans can occur on route 14 when looking for bellsprout.
And Ekans gives 1 atk, so it’s valid training.
Arbok hordes on the same Route as Weepinbell hordes. Also 2Atk.
Quick question. If you have multiple of the same Power Item can you give them to all of the Pokemon you want to train when horde battling and get the same EV’s for all of them?
If you give all the same power item and all of them get pokerus at the same time then yes, it would be the same.
You can also combine different power items to save time, like if you’re training a 252 Atk 252 Spd one and training another poke in Atk, you can just put the Spd power item on the other in the meantime and kill two birds in one stone.
… Or more like 5 birds with one stone
Not sure if it’s been mentioned or not but for hordes….
Psyduck gives +1 Sp. Attack and it’s fairly common(route 7)
Roselia does give +2 Sp. Attack even though it’s fairly rare(route 7)
Floatzel gives +2 speed(Victory Road at the exit)
Graveler/Geodude gives +2 Defense/+1 Defense(Victory Road)
Lickitung gives +2 HP(Victory Road at the exit)
….think Lickitung is a little rare but still not too bad. Geodude appears at the exit but I’m pretty sure you can find Graveler further in.
The hordes I’ve mentioned are easily accessible and are easily encountered. If I’ve mentioned all existing hordes, the article would be way too long. Thanks for the suggestion.
It was raining for me on Route 19 so I saved and went to my system settings, changed the time by about 10 hours (from night to day), and went back in game and the rain had stopped. Not sure if it was the time change or just exiting/re-entering the game, or just lucky, but thought I’d mention it.
Thanks a lot! Ok stupid question, but what is base 1,2,3?
That’s the amount of EVs you get without Macho Brace, Power Items and Pokerus.