Part 93: Side Note #14: Competitive DVs

Side Notes 14: Competitive DVs

Since we're actually getting into the competitive mindset, it's time to really go into how a Gen 2 Pokemon ticks when you want to make it literally the very best. The main thing to talk about here is DVs, which determine a lot of things. Firstly, a Shiny Pokemon cannot have max DVs, not even close. The best it can have is 8/15/10/10/10/10. It's actually not that big a deal, since you can have full Stat Exp no problem, which takes the edge off. But in such a slow and stall filled metagame, losing a few points off Speed, or even the Defenses isn't actually that big a deal. Nothing really hits hard since the power creep of later generations hasn't set in yet. So if you want to make a Pokemon shiny, just go for it, it's really not a big deal.

The next big thing that DVs determine is Gender. It all relates to the Attack DV and, indeed, also determines Shiny Pokemon. Let's have a look:



So that's how it works. If you want a competitive Pokemon, it has to be male. But with some gender ratios, the Pokemon will still work fine even if it's female. Due to a Pokemon being Shiny if its Attack DV is 2 or higher, it means that a Pokemon with a ratio of 87.5% male, 12.5% female can never be female AND shiny at the same time. It doesn't matter for genderless Pokemon, or Pokemon that are 100% female, they can be shiny no problem. Even for ratios that are 50:50, a Pokemon will be male 9/16 times, compared to 7/16 times for female. It's weirdly skewed heavily in the male's favour. But that's society for you. Again, for a Pokemon that doesn't give two shits about its Attack stat, it can be female and Shiny or whatnot, who cares. However, those are pretty hard to come by due to the amount of Normal moves and the various physical attackers in the metagame.

Finally, there's also Hidden Power, which can be tweaked around in all kinds of ways, to get the right power of 70 and the right typing that compliments the Pokemon's movepool well. While it's not as prevalent as it will be in later generations, it can still be a good option for the many, MANY Pokemon that are just missing one move they can use effectively. The fact that it can also be special or physical depending on the type actually adds more variety, but unless it's hitting a 4x weakness, it's best to use super effective STAB, or another coverage move that best works for its standard counters. Again, there's a lot of variety in what DVs you can have that fit the 70 power and typing you want, but to list them would take too much time.

Oh yeah, you can also tweak DVs to have a competitive Unown with the right form and Hidden Power, but ahahahahahahahahaha.