How to Reduce Your Pokemon’s EVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

With the arrival of 7 Star Tera Raid Charizard, you might be looking at your teams and wondering if they’re up to snuff. Are they strong enough? Fast enough? Will friendship be enough to carry you through?

The answer to the last question is no. Your Pokemon will need to be at least level 100, and if you want a pretty good chance of bringing down that big boy, your Pokemon will need to be bringing its A-Game. Fortunately, there’s an objective way to determine if your Pokemon is at its strongest and most efficient: and that’s through its various stats like IVs and EVs.

IVs, for those unaware, are a Pokemon’s individual values. A Pokemon’s IVs are generated the moment they enter the game, and in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, a trainer can maximize their Pokemon’s IVs by taking them to the Hyper Trainer in Montenevera.

Related: 10 Best Competitive Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet Ranked

EVs, however, are effort values. A Pokemon gets effort value points by defeating other Pokemon. For example, if your Eevee defeats a Machop, it will gain +1 Attack EVs. Perhaps you can already see the potential issue with this.

If you level up your Pokemon against any random enemy, it will gain EVs that aren’t best for an optimal build. Who knew that using your favorite Pokemon for every fight was a bad thing? But if you’re now to cultivate a Pokemon you’ve used in inefficient battles, don’t despair and box it. Some items will allow you to reduce your Pokemon’s EVs.

How to Reduce Your Pokemon’s EVs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Fortunately, there’s a way to adjust and reduce your Pokemon’s EVs.

To reduce your Pokemon’s EVs, you’ll need to feed them berries that lower that specific stat. Here’s a chart.

Feed your Pokemon one of these berries, and you’ll be able to redistribute those lost points into stats that benefit it more. Options to do this are to fight specific Pokemon, like Rookidee for Speed or Spoink for Special Defense, equip your Pokemon with a Power Item, or use one of the feathers found floating in Casseroya Lake.

Good luck building that perfect Pokemon!