Pokémon X & Y super training ?

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

So my love and I got Pokémon X & Y, but haven't played Pokémon in many generations.
We've discovered this thing called super training that seems to increase some points (EVs).

I have no idea what an EV is and what this Super Training actually does. For example I do the HP training but my HP doesn't go up +4 like it says.

Can someone give me a super-simple explanation as to what EVs are and what Super Training actually does ?

Thank you !!

[Berry]

EV: Short for Effort Values; It is points gained from fighting Pokemon(or in this case super training). Now said points actually increase an overall value of a Pokemon stat( as of 2014 their is only six stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed). For each stat, the max is 252 points. The overall EV Max point that a pokemon can ONLY recieve is 510 points.

EV Yield: It's like a Pokemon typing but much more specific. The EV points for each stat vary from Pokemon. Like for example, a Pikachu can only give off 2 Speed points but if you fight Pikachu next evolution form, Raichu, the speed point increases by one, therefore Raichu gives off 3 speed points. Now a pokemon doesn't exclusively give off one specific stat. such as Venusaur who gives off 2 special attack points and 1 special defense point.

Super Training: a bunch of mini game that helps increase EV. For each Mini games, you must complete a certain number of scores in order to be beat the mini game. Like the HP minigame Lv. 1, the score needed is 200.


There you go, now Super training IS SUPER SLOW( it takes 2 hours in order to max at least ONE stat) so it isn't really recommended if you want to rush the progress.

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

Sorry, Berry, but I still don't understand the concept.

With a higher EV, your stats go up quicker ? Use super-simple terms, I'm horrendous at understanding this voodoo.
Increasing my HP EV won't automatically increase my stat -- it'll only increase faster from thereonin?

[Psychospacecow]

Basically, if you have 4 ev in one stat, the next time your guy levels, they will have 1 more of that stat increased than normal.

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

Oh cool !
Does it accumulate, or iis it only good for one level up ?
So, say, I get +4 EV on HP. Does that give me an extra HP point every time I level up, or just the next time ?

[Psychospacecow]

Just the one time. One thing you have to keep in mind though.

You can only get one stat up to 255 points by ev training. Those last 3 point are useless. You can only have a maximum of 510 EVs over all. So, 252 in strength, 252 in health and 6 in speed would take up all the evs, while allowing you to get an optimal bonus. Of course, what you want to invest in will differ on the pokemon and what you're aiming for, but that's up to you to decide. Serebii and smogon can be good guides for this, but keep in mind that smogon takes itself way too seriously unless you're doing tournament stuff within their guidelines.

Edit : Overall, since 252 divided by 4 is 63, that's the most you can expect to change your Pokemon's stats. Going further than that, you have IVs and nature which you want to look into before EV training usually but that's a whole other league of overcomplicated kids game math.

[Berry]

Does that give me an extra HP point every time I level up, or just the next time ?

Every time you level up.


Now Hopefully Visual aid could help you out on the situation:

[Carlos]

I wish I could put that in spoiler tags, but because spoiler tags don't work currently, I can't do anything about it.

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

All of this makes so much more sense -- Thanks, folks !!

[BumblebeeCody*]

I think there's something more important that you need to know before doing EV training, and that's IVs.

What are IVs?
IVs
1) IVs stand for Individual Values.
2) IVs show how much potential Pokemon can reach.
3) These actually have hidden numbers that you can't see(much like EVs).
4) IVs also have a limit. Each stat can only reach 31 IVs

Why is this important?
Simply put, your Pokemon will be able to achieve maximum stats at level 50/100. EV training the Pokemon is one thing, but if they don't have the IVs, then they're still pretty much useless, even if they are EV trained.

To make this easier you can follow along with me, go to Pokemon Showdown: 
New Team
Add Pokemon
Type "Lucario"

About:
Set the level to level 100
Any Gender
Max Happiness
Shiny...your choice
Specs:
Leave the item alone
Any ability
and leave the moveset alone

You've just captured
Lucario (at level 100)

(In Pokemon Showdown click on the EV section(green and yellow bars))

Lucario style:
Lucarios are generally sweepers. Sweepers is a term used to define Pokemon that serve no purpose other than to hit hard and fast. Alakazam and Gengar are special sweepers as they specializs in being fast(Speed) and using special attacks(Sp. Attack). 
Lucario is a physical sweeper as it specialises in Physical attacks(Attack) and being fast(Speed).
You would generally EV train a Lucario in Speed and (Physical) Attack. 

So for this example you'll want to give your Lucario (in Pokemon Showdown) 252 EVs in Attack, 252 EVs Speed and the remaining 4 in HP. Also, make sure that you give Lucario 31 IVs in each stat

What's the difference?
The results are as follows:

At level 100 Lucario is a beast. Very good stats.

However let's do the same but with random IVs. IVs that you'll most likely have since you haven't bred for IVs or RNG abused(I'll get back to this later). 

As you can see, at level 100 this Lucario sucks Pokeballs. It's not worth using since at level 100, even with EV training in it's right stats, it's still nowhere near as good as a perfect(31 IV) Lucario. 

Hopefully now you can see why having a Pokemon with 31 IVs is important. As I said before, even if you've EV trained it, you need to have right IVs to make the Pokemon most effective. 
Is that it?
Nope unfortunately there's more, however this is much simpler to explain. 

Natures.
Natures are important because they also limit a Pokemon's potential but only for 2 stats. 
Here is a Pokemon Natures table.
In the cases above, the Lucario has bitchin' stats but it could be slightly better. We know that Lucario needs to be a Physical attacker. From looking at that table I post(in the link), Serious has no beneficial stat gains. If Lucario is a Physical attacker it needs a nature that will slightly boost it's Attack or Speed stat(your choice). 

For this example I'm going to boost Lucarios attack by giving a Lucario Adamant nature. Adamant nature boosts physical attack while lowering his Special Attack. It's perfectly fine to lower Special Attack because it won't be using any special attacks. So a Lucario with an Adamant or Jolly nature is what you're looking for.
The difference is as follows.

Lucario now has boasts an incredible 350 attack. However this is: if the Lucario has the right Nature, IVs and EVs. This is the setup you want to be going for. 

Which means?
You cannot EV training effectively without these being set first. IVs and Nature come first. 

Wait so what do I do?
First find the Pokemon you want. (Lucario)
See how the Pokemon plays. (Physical sweeper)
See what nature you want that would benefit you (Jolly or Adamant)
The IVs you'll want to give it are 31 in everything. Special Attack can be any number since you won't be using special attacks. So basically five stats with 31 in each.
Then you can finally EV train


So how do I get IVs?
You don't. Unfortunately this is no way of getting a perfect Pokemon unless you know what you're doing. You will never catch a Pokemon with 31 IVs. You have to RNG Abuse or Breed. (I don't plan on writing a guide on breeding tonight, sorry).

I'll leave it there for now since I'm tired. I'm willing to help you with Pokemon breeding and even give you your own perfect Pokemon as I breed quite often since I play competitively. Feel free to ask for some Pokemon. It'll give you a good insight on what you can achieve.  

Also, yo can clearly tell I'm having a fucking blast with the formatting on this forum. FRIKKIN' SLOWPOKE BULLET POINTS, MAN!

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

One more question - If I'm at level 50, and suddenly decide I want to max out my HP EV, will that bump up the HP immediately ?
Just a point of curiosity, as I'm not going to do much EV training (and will therefore avoid online battles as I expect people take this very seriously) !

[BumblebeeCody*]

One more question - If I'm at level 50, and suddenly decide I want to max out my HP EV, will that bump up the HP immediately ?
Just a point of curiosity, as I'm not going to do much EV training (and will therefore avoid online battles as I expect people take this very seriously) !

Yeah but so long as you haven't maxed out your EVs. It's worth noting that it's no possible to EV train after at level 100 in the games before (and including) Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. -> Additional shit that's not really important.
The the older games you only ever gained EVs through leveling. However after Diamond and Pearl with the release of the B/W series, you can EV train at any level. What makes the older games slightly funner(word?) though is that you since you only gained(well confirmed) you EV training at each level up, you could EV train everything within one level and end up with a level up results screen like this:


If you wan to train at level 1 you can. If you want to train at level 50 you can and the same applies to level 100. 

You can actually try this yourself. 
Go to any Pokemon that hasn't been EV trained
Check their stats
Give them 10 HP UPs (these give 10 HP EVs) 
Then watch as their stats increase on the Pokemon selection screen. You can do this for all other stat boosting items.

Additional EV stuff
(Only if you're interested)
On the topic of stat boosting items, these are also important.
Each of the following Vitamins boost your Pokemons stats by 10 EVs.
Vitamins:c
Item
Effect on EVs

HP Up
+10 Hit Point EVs

Protein
+10 Attack EVs

Iron
+10 Defence EVs

Calcium
+10 Special Attack EVs

Zinc
+10 Special Defence EVs

Carbos
+10 Speed EVs


Since this is Nintendo we're dealing with, they're still stuck in the 90's and their 90's ways. You can only give a Pokemon 10 of each vitamins. To go back to the Lucario example. You can give Lucario an easy 100 EVs in Attack by giving him/her 10 Protein vitamins. After that you have to train the rest. However you can also give the Lucario 10 Carbos's to give to give it 100 in speed. I don't understand the point of the level cap but ....Nintendo....they added tripping in Brawl and removed Snaking in Mario Kart so. Eh.


Wings: 

Health Wing
+1 Hit Point EV

Muscle Wing
+1 Attack EV

Resist Wing
+1 Defence EV

Genius Wing
+1 Special Attack EV

Clever Wing
+1 Special Defence EV

Swift Wing
+1 Speed EV


Wings give you 1 EV in each stat. However there is no cap on using these. So get 252 of these and spam them for each respective stat. 

Berries:

Pomeg Berry
-10 Hit Point EVs

Kelpsy Berry
-10 Attack EVs

Qualot Berry
-10 Defence EVs

Hondew Berry
-10 Special Attack EVs

Grepa Berry
-10 Special Defence EVs

Tamato Berry
-10 Speed EVs



If you accidentally give a Pokemon certain EVs in a stat you didn't want ("Oh no I beat a Mime Jr with Lucario now I have 1 EV in Sp.Defence") these berries will rid that stat of 10 EVs and raise it's happiness. 

Sorry for the essays but it's worth knowing this kinda of information. EV training is hard to explain so I may as well talk indepth about it. There's still so much more I haven't talked about but I'm keeping it simple here. 

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

Such details yet simple answers, you all spoil me :D

Thank you all !

[BumblebeeCody*]

No problem. Feel free to ask for any more help.