GYMS: Explaining Base Stats
Something I'm sure some Trainers don't know are how base stats (attack, defense, stamina) impact the mon and are impacted in battle by opponents. I understand IV's (individual values) moderate Base Stats, but this is more about how these stats work in sync.
So, can some of you guys/girls (aSp, Di Torres, etc.) explain how they work together in battle, on attack and on defense. Let's discuss. Thanks.
Answers
Attack: affect moves' damage; higher attack = more damage
Defense: affect damage taken; higher defense = less damage taken
Stamina (HP): amount of damage a Pokémon can sustain before fainting (i.e. Cloyster takes less damage but cannot take a lot of that damage, Snorlax takes more damage but can take more of that damage)
My understanding
And Higher hp better than higher defense because for 2 hp lost you gain 1 energy. So a Vap, a Lap ,a Snor gain extra 100 energy during a battle just based on their 200+ hp at high level. Probably half a bar more than other top tier mons.
This is one of the aspects that make Vap better than Gya with hp, Lap better than Cloyster, Snorlax better than let's say Stillix(this is an extreme comparison, I admit :) )
Yeah, I read it and thought it might be confusing, but basically a Dragonite's Dragon Breath is going to do less damage to Cloyster because of its high defense but it's still going down quicker because it can't take a lot of hits (HP).
Stamina and defense are nothing without each other but I think at a certain point HP becomes more important, Blissey and Snorlax v Shuckle and Steelix for example
This issue relates to my question of are all 3 base stats important for all mons or sometimes to not all three matter for a specialist? For example if I have a mon that I use exclusively on defense, does it's attack base stat even matter or would I be totally happy with a 15 defense and a 15 HP with 1 Attack on a defensive mon?
You talk about IVs here, not base stats.
And all base stats matter, based on damage formula an overall number for a mon, more realistic than CP, is a product among the 3, att x def x hp. For cp att is multiplied twice (in fact the other two are square rooted).
Hence a balanced mon should be stronger than one with extreme values, all else equal.
But hp lost in battle gains you energy, so more hp in detriment if more defence can be more valuable. Also due to some rounding, small differences in attack does not matter (nit sure, but even 10 can be small enogh).
Each HP point lost translates into half energy point. So during a fight, if you attack, your Vape with 200 HP will gain 100 energy on top of the one generated by spamming water gun. Similar, your 150 hp gya will gain only extra 75.
On gym defending this is more relevant since the HP of a defender is doubled. So your Vap will gain 200 energy increasing the chance of lunching a hydro pump(unless you finish him with a Solar beam, when he will not have time to use that energy :)). Your gya will gain a lot less.
I would like others to confirm or infirm this, since now as I write I'm thinking at Blussey and at the fact that I did not had a fight with more than 3(maybe 4) HBs, while with 400 hp she shoul have the energy for more. I also heard that is something like 50% chance for defending mon to lunch his charge attack when he has the right amount if energy, that might explain the reduced number of hyper beams.
Yes :), given that defence is not shitty (you will loose hp fast, gain energy, but not enoght time to use it since you will loose the rest of your Hp to fast :)) and your attach is at list average, so you put a dent in your attacker.
Wobuffet, jiggly, wiugly have ton of HP but shitty def and or att. They are nit goud defenders :).
So yes, you need synergy among all 3 stats.
But typing trumps all.
Rhydon has most balanced stats among top tiers I think, but his typing makes him a 2nd hand among top tiers.
Slowbro and king have balanced stats. And they punch a lot above their weight in defence thanks to that and their typing too.
Glossary?
Base stat-the base value for a pokemon species at a certain level. All lvl 30 vap have same base att, def, sta.
IV stat- 0-15 value added to base stat. Rhe higher the better. Depending on base stats distribution, some are more important than others for some mons(i.e Blissey att iv is extremelly important, sta not so, both for CP and for battle results).
This is my understanding, and if I read corectlly some of above posts I think not all interpret them the same
Basically, the higher the base stat of a mon, the less important is certain IVs for him. For example:
Dragonite's most important IV is STA because it's his lowest base stat, thus having more IV on STA would increase his performance by a better percentage compared to ATK or DEF.
Blissey benefits way more from DEF than STA in terms of bulkyness. Since she has more than double STA than DEF, the IVs on DEF would make her hitpoints more effective than if she had 15 IV on STA and 0 on DEF. Also, ATK is very important to her, since it's her lowest stat.
Now, talking about CP (which is a major factor in the current gym system), ATK is the most important IV for any defending mon, since it weights more in the CP formula than DEF and STA. And more CP means a better spot in a gym.
TLDR: For general performance, the lowest base stat is generally the best option for IVs.
For defending gyms (getting a good spot), ATK is generally more important than the other stats.
