If you think EV training is confusing, then I have some good news for you. Getting good Individual Values or IVs is a bit more straightforward. Here’s how to raise & increase IVs in Pokemon Sword & Shield.
How to Raise & Increase IVs in Pokemon Sword & Shield
When you obtain an egg or catch a wild Pokemon their IVs will be (mostly) set in stone. You can’t see these stats until after you reach rank four in the Battle Tower and unlock the judge function which lets you see a rating for each IV.
Getting Good IVs
You can find Pokemon in the wild that are surrounded by Brilliant Aura, which is a ring of gold energy. These Pokemon are guaranteed to have at least two max IVs. That means they have 31 IVs in two stats.
Pokemon from Max Raid Battles that are level four or higher are guaranteed to have at least four max IVs. This makes high-level Ditto raids extremely important for raising strong Pokemon.
Once you have a Ditto with four maxed out IVs, then you can really have some fun. You can use the held item Destiny Knot to assure that five of a possible 12 IVs from the parent Pokemon will get passed down to the child.
There are many ways to get Pokemon with perfect IVs in Sword & Shield, but only a couple of items can be used to Hyper Train a creature to perfection.
Hyper Training
Even though Bottle Caps and Gold Bottle Caps get placed in your treasures pocket you should not sell them. These items are much more valuable than any amount of Pokedollars you could get for selling them.
The reason why they’re so valuable is that the Hyper Trainer only accepts bottle caps as a form of currency. You may not know it yet, but Hyper Training is one of the most important processes in Pokemon.
The NPC in the Battle Tower behind the counter on the far right side will raise a single IV of one Pokemon to 31 if you give him a Bottle Cap. If you’re lucky enough to get a Gold Bottle Cap, then he’ll max out all six IVs.
The only caveat here is that your Pokemon must be level 100 in order to undergo Hyper Training. This can be done quickly by farming Max Raids for EXP Candies to quickly level up your Pokemon.
Here’s a quick summary of how to raise & increase IVs in Pokemon Sword & Shield:
- Unlock the Battle Tower
This gives you access to Hyper Training.
- Obtain a Bottle Cap or Gold Bottle Cap
By the time you reach the Max Rank you’ll have earned at least 7 Bottle Caps and one Gold Bottle Cap. Bottle Caps can also be purchased for 25 BP in the Battle Tower.
- Get a Pokemon to Level 100
Farm Max Raids to level up your Pokemon quickly.
- Hyper Training
Speak to the NPC behind the right side counter in the Battle Tower and exchange your Bottle Caps for Hyper Training sessions.
That’s all there is to know about how to raise & increase IVs in Pokemon Sword & Shield. If you want to combine this knowledge with some info on EV training, then check out our EV Training Guide.
If there’s anything else at all in this game that just isn’t making sense to you, then check out our Guide Wiki for Pokemon Sword & Shield.
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