If you’re going for a raid or competitive build, you’ll want to know how to train IVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Maximizing a Pokemon’s power output can be confusing, and the game does a horrible job explaining the particulars behind how IVs work, even though they’re the most influential aspect of how a Pokemon grows. Fortunately, unlike some earlier generations, you can raise these relatively easily.
How to train IVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Training IVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet allows you to increase a Pokemon’s base power. Each Pokemon is born with a set of six IVs:
- HP
- Attack
- Defense
- Special Attack
- Special Defense
- Speed
These IVs determine how a Pokemon’s stats will grow as it levels up. So, these foundational values are the base for every calculation involving a Pokemon.
In most previous Pokemon games, you had to breed Pokemon to increase IVs (which you can still do). It’s an arduous, time-consuming process that can thankfully be skipped in Scarlet and Violet. In these games, you can use Hyper Training to raise a Pokemon’s IVs to max instantly.
To do so, head to Montenevera and look north of the Pokemon Center for a man wearing sunglasses and standing next to an Abomasnow. Unfortunately, Hyper Training isn’t free, and you’ll have to spend rare Bottle Caps to increase your Pokemon’s IVs.
One Bottle Cap allows you to Hyper Train a single stat, and a Gold Bottle Cap will enable you to increase all six. These used to be rarer and were mostly found by grinding the Academy Ace Tournament, encountering them at the Porto Marinada auction, or occasionally as Tera Raid drops. However, with the debut of the Indigo Disk DLC, you can now exchange Pokemon Materials at the Item Printer for a chance to get Bottle Caps. In my experience, they drop much more frequently here, which is excellent.
