At what point do IV's make a difference in soloing T3 raids?
So people greatly exaggerate the importance of IVs in general, because they make tiny differences (smaller than many would imply IMO) in a game that rarely presents situations that need such small boosts. Soloing T3 raids is probably one of the few cases where those differences are potentially relevant. As someone who doesn't do those yet though, I'm curious: How much do IV's impact those endeavors, and how much of a difference in IV is required for those to be impactful or even noticeable?
There's a substantial difference between 100%s and 0%s, but if let's say you entered into the hardest T3 solo with the right pokemon with the right moves, would a team of 70% IV mons perform noticeably differently than a team of 100%'s?
And presumably PVP could make IV's infinitely more relevant.
Answers
TL;DR - the point at which IVs make a difference on a raid depends on matchup and moveset, but only attack makes a significant difference, they just mean you need to power up less.
For the most part only attack IV is valued in being the difference maker when it comes to soloing level 3 raids. One fringe case exists for HP/defence IV on Gengar which can help when soloing Alakazam with Confusion.
This is due to damage breakpoints, because damage values are rounded down then have 1 added to it, so a damage calculation resulting in anywhere from 6 to 6.(9) will result in 7 damage being dealt, but once you cross over to 7 or above your damage will increase to 8.
So take Alakazam vs a Machamp raid boss as an example. Psycho Cut does 7 damage between the levels 26 to 33.5 regardless of attack IV - between these points, differences in IVs have almost no impact, but at level 34 with 14 or 15 attack IV that damage gets increased to 8, while an Alakazam with anything less would still be doing 7 damage.
Unless you have a 0 or 1 attack IV Alakazam, you can still reach that maximum 8 damage point, it will just cost you more power ups. i.e. you can get around lower IVs by powering up.
With stardust being much more limited compared to high IV Pokemon especially if attainable from raids, it makes sense to power up higher IV Pokemon to reduce your resources spent in the long run.
If you've got multiple Alakazams which have crossed said damage threshold and you've used your quick move say, 200 times over the course of the fight, then that's 200 extra damage you've dealt which is not negligible. Machamp is one of the easier bosses but if it wasn't, that +1 damage to all your quick moves might mean the difference between winning or losing the raid.
The difference between a 70% mon and a 100% mon is noticeable, especially in solos that don't have much room for error. Ninetails is the hardest and 70% Golems would not be able to do it even maxed. 70% Gyaradoses would, but they'd need to be higher level than 100% Gyarados.
Probably the largest impact of IVs on performance I can think of is Gengar's def and hp IV against Confusion Alakazam. Gengar is so squishy that with low enough IVs it needs to be maxed to survive 3 Confusions, which lets it land 2 Shadow Balls and deal good damage. A perfect Gengar gets there at around level 30.
"would a team of 70% IV mons perform noticeably differently than a team of 100%'s"
YES...it would.
The difference it makes would be dependent on the IV split, and the mon in question.
% is a bad way to discuss IV, especially when trying to assess the impact the IV split will have.
IV difference can be small, but can make all the difference in some situations.
"greatly exaggerate the importance of IVs"
"they make tiny differences"
"smaller than many would imply IMO"
Sure, at times IV can get too much attention, but don't underestimate the impact - they can be the difference between the possibility of success and failure, in many raiding situations.
Actually nowadays, I don't think it matters too much- especially considering Ninetales is considerably easier now....
BUT: It is always good practice to power up only 90%+ mons with 15 attack. However, if you powered some 70-80% to level 30, it doesn't really matter, just take a look at the T3 bosses:
Porygon and scyther are a joke obviously, you can beat them with L20s pokemon even.
I soloed Machamp with L30 mons (some zams have 11 attack, 12 attack), Gengar with L30 mons, Omastar with a 0 Attack Venusaur in the mix
I would give ninetales a shot, but I am confident my L30 Gyarados army with WF/HP can take it down without sweating
That leaves Alakazam- in particular confusion/focus blast or shadow ball. I feel that this matchup requires more battle skill rather than IVs-you need to time your entry with Gengar and dodges with Ttar. So again, no, IV is not the end of the world, but you would be foolish to challenge it without at least 4 Ttar and some Gengar.
That being said, no the current T3 system doesn't require spectacular IVs. As long as you're happy with your previous power ups it doesn't matter, but it is good practice now to only power 90%+ and 15 attack.
