Stat Experience & EV Training Guide (Pokémon Crystal)

What is Stat Experience in Gen 2?

Stat Experience is a hidden number that determines how much your Pokémon’s stats rise whenever they level up.

It’s very similar to the Effort Values or EVs found on later Pokémon generations, but it works differently.

The more Stat Experience you accumulate in a given stat, the stronger it becomes. You need roughly 1,024 Stat Experience points to raise a stat by one point.

Your Pokémon can get Stat Experience by defeating other Pokémon in battle. How much you get is equivalent to your opponent’s base stats.

Example: If your Pokémon defeats a Pidgey with a base Attack stat of 45, they’ll get 45 points to their Attack’s Stat Experience.

You can pour a maximum of 65,535 Stat Experience points into each stat. That means you can increase each stat by 64 points with enough effort.

Note: Stat Experience is divided equally among all battle participants. The EXP. Share will also redistribute any acquired Stat Experience just like regular EXP.

Max Level Pokémon & Stat Experience

Although level 100 Pokémon can no longer level up, these Pokémon can continue to gain Stat Experience and increase their stats thanks to Bill’s Storage System.

Leaving a Pokémon in a Storage Box in Bill’s PC and retrieving them will update their stats to match their Stat Experience just like leveling up would.

Farming Stat Experience

The best way to farm Stat Experience is to find a low-level Pokémon with a favorable stat distribution and defeat as many as possible.

Low-level Pokémon are great for this because:

• Stat Experience is determined by the opponent’s base stats, not their level
• They yield little regular EXP, so your Pokémon won’t level up prematurely
• You can defeat these wild Pokémon quickly (ideally, in one move)

Of course, not all Pokémon are made the same. Some of them have higher base stats and better distributions.

Popular Pokémon to hunt for Stat Experience at low levels include:

Evolved Pokémon tend to have much higher base stats but are usually higher-level as well.

As your Pokémon strengthens, you might want to find evolved Pokémon that you can still defeat in a single hit.

Some of the best places to find evolved Pokémon with great stats are:

• Victory Road
• Route 27
• Mt. Silver

Farming Unown for Stat Experience

Unown are among the best Pokémon to farm Stat Experience due to their relatively high stats and balanced distribution.

They’re ideal for Pokémon who are not strong enough to train in high-level areas.

Note: It takes around 900 Unown to max out your Stat Experience for Attack and Special, and 1350 for HP, Defense, and Speed. This number drops by 30% after 10 Vitamins.

You can find Unown early on in your adventure by visiting the Ruins of Alph, west of Violet City.

Running the E4 for Stat Experience

The Elite Four and Champion Lance at the Indigo Plateau have many fully-evolved Pokémon with excellent base stats.

This makes them a great option to farm Stat Experience if you have a powerful team that can deal with the Elite Four hassle-free.

Tip: The EXP. Share is ideal to redistribute some of this abundant Stat Experience to low-level critters in your party.

Moreover, defeating the Elite Four and Champion Lance earns you around 22,000 PokéDollars (or 44,000 with the Amulet Coin). You can use this cash to buy Vitamins for your Pokémon, increasing their Stat Experience even further.

Raising Stat Experience with Vitamins

The easiest way to raise a Pokémon’s Stat Experience fast is by giving them Vitamins.

Vitamins are items that can permanently increase a Pokémon’s Stat Experience. It’s like Rare Candy, but for your Pokémon’s stats.

Tip: They also raise the Pokémon’s Friendship by a small amount.

Each Vitamin raises a different stat:

Tip: You can buy these Vitamins for 9,800 PokéDollars each at the Goldenrod Dept. Store (4F) and the Celadon Department Store (5F).

After your Pokémon gets 25,600 total Stat Experience in a stat, they won’t be able to consume more Vitamins to raise it.

That means you can raise every one of your Pokémon’s stats by up to 25 points through Vitamins alone.

Tip: Make sure you give your Pokémon all the Vitamins you can before grinding any Stat Experience for maximum efficiency.

Pokérus & Stat Experience

Pokérus is a virus that will sometimes infect your Pokémon after battling a wild Pokémon.

Unlike most viruses, Pokérus benefits its host, doubling any incoming Stat Experience. The change is permanent and has no drawbacks.

Regrettably, Pokérus only occurs in 3 out of 65,536 wild Pokémon encounters.

Note: Pokérus infection is only possible after reaching Goldenrod City for the first time.

There’s no way to improve your odds of catching Pokérus normally. Instead, try to find someone willing to lend you a Pokémon with Pokérus for a while.

Day Care EXP Reset Trick

Sometimes you’ll want to raise your Pokémon’s Stat Experience without raising their level.

This is doable and pretty easy thanks to a minor exploit of the Pokémon Day Care at Route 34.

Leaving Pokémon in the Day Care resets their EXP to 0 (for that level). This allows you to keep a Pokémon from leveling up indefinitely while still raising their Stat Experience.

Just bring the Pokémon to the Day Care right before they would level up to reset their EXP. Then take them out and go back out to keep farming Stat Experience.

Later, you can deposit your Pokémon in a Storage Box and then retrieve them to update their stats.

Tip: This is useful when preparing to take on the Battle Tower challenges, which feature level limits.

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Nelson Chitty

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Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.

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