How do you train your pokemon?

We all have our "party" pokemon.
These guys are the ones that you have chosen from the entire pokedex, To be apart of your team.

For me personally. I don't have a vast party at all. Well, Not at this point in time anyways.
But the pokemon i do use MUST have the correct natures for the way i use each pokemon.
For example, My Lapras has a modest nature, Which ups Sp. Att at a loss to normal attack.
And he is maxed in EV's for Sp. Att.

I don't know why but i cannot use a pokemon for battles unless I'm 100% happy with its nature.
And i don't even battle people, These pokemon are only used in game.

And because i have two NDS i will catch/hatch a pokemon on the game i do not play regularly so it cuts my training times in half. Hey, Call me lazy.

So whats your opinions on the topic?

Does it even matter to you what nature, Gender Ect. Your party is?
Do you bother with EV training your pokemon?
If so, Why does it matter to you? maybe you participate in Wi-Fi battles.

Feel free to add in anything relevant.

Note; Honesty is key! there is no right, or wrong way to train your pokemon. I'm curious on how you guys operate your training.

huh, it always depends. As in, it depends with these questions:
"Would i be doing a casual run?"
"A challenge run?"
"Competitive battling?"

For casual runs, i don't care much about anything... aside from catching "pokemon i favor"

Challenge, I put some EVs, Egg moves, and Natures into consideration, depending on how difficult the challenge is.

Competitive, well, that's where I evolve into a nerd. Usually don't press B to hold back.

Just grind randomly until I reached the ideal level for my Pokemon according to myself before proceeding, and will give a bit of attention towards EV training after beating the main game. Not into breeding or IVs...

i like this.
we have one guy who likes to grind, and bother with the fine print if he chooses after he has finished the game.
and we have another who obviously plays the game a number of ways.
this is actually quite interesting.

On a normal run, I just use the Pokemon I like without caring much about natures, IVs or EVs. After I beat the game though, I start taking on the battle challenges in-game, like the PWT, Battle Subway etc, and then I do pay attention to natures and IVs. As for EV training, I do that sometimes, and not necessarily to prepare the Pokemon for a specific battle, I'll also EV train some of my favorite Pokemon, even if they're not competitive material, just to have them be the strongest they can be.

ETA: I've recently tried IV breeding, and it's surprisingly fun. I managed to get a few Pokemon with good IVs, but I haven't managed to train them yet. I remember this guy in particular, I'm not sure how I feel about him {XD}
#58 Growlithe ♂ (level 1)
OT: MIAU ♀ (Black 2, 19210/1428)
Bashful - Intimidate - 0/26/31/31/27/31 - Untrained
Bite - Roar - *** - ***

For the main game(Start-Champion)i just choose what i like based on appearence.I dont care about natures,IVs,EVs.
I want to complete he game so i can have access to various places before start training.
In the main story i do my ''5 level every city training'' by fighting random Pokemon in the routes.
After the main game i might train a bunch of Pokemon for Competitive battling.(Wifi and Battle Frontiers)

I never bother with Natures, EVs, IVs etc, the only thing that I'm specific on is the Level and Gender. I make sure that all my Pokémons levels are equal at a certain point in the game say before a Gym and that their gender suits their species, so Mr. Mime would be Male and Roserade would be Female.

we are all very different. i still haven't completed the 8th gym just because i want to get all the pokemon i want for my dream party before i continue.

For the story line, I stick to Pokemon who can use HM's then I usually grind in grass or re battle trainers depending on the game. I spent 4 days grinding my team in Heartgold from level 70 to 80 with rematches against gym leaders in preparation for Red.

After the story line though, I just keep re battling the elite four, using an EXP. Share to level Pokemon that need evolving to fill up pages in my PokeDex.

Then, after obtaining all Pokemon that can be obtained within the game (my in-game team would have reached the 90's or 100 by then), I'll move on to the battle facilities. I'll build up a team with certain Pokemon and EV train them. I'm not very good at IV breeding, I can only get one or two max stats with a 'perfect' Ditto, but it doesn't bother me much.

I train my Pokemon so that my starter is the strongest among the team, with the other team members being a few levels behind.

I always train all of my pokemon at least 3 or 4 levels above the Gym Leaders, because i'll have an advantage. I loved all my pokemon, so, i keep the balance and train them all.

I tend to choose Pokemon I like the looks of and also how effective they are in battle, genders or natures don't matter as far as in-game playthroughs go, unless if I prefer a specific gender on the species in question or has one ability better than the other. I also tend to level grind when necessary.

I tend to train Pokemon with potential. Call me crazy or whatever, but I cannot stand weak Pokemon. At least, not weak Pokemon that don't gain any strength later on.

In game, I can care less about the nature my Pokemon has, what EVs and IVs it has inherited and what gender it is. All that matters, is the love and affection between you and your Pokemon.. and violence. Lots and lots of violence for evolution.

Edit: I will also try to train my Pokemon maybe a few levels higher than the next Gym Leader that I have to face, by causing lots and lots and lots of wild Pokemon to faint. If I'm lucky, I'll use a Lucky Egg, unless the Pokemon I'm training is traded (Luckily for me in Pokemon White 2, I have 3 Lucky Eggs and 2 traded Pokemon, so training is a breeze).

All of these are good answers but I'm going to be breaking that cycle. Honestly I use rare candies ALOT because usually I get stuck at a gym leader or sometimes get bored of training mostly lazy.

Run in grass, battle, Run in grass, Battle, Trip to Pokemon Center. Rinse and Repeat.

CJBlazer said:

I tend to train Pokemon with potential. Call me crazy or whatever, but I cannot stand weak Pokemon. At least, not weak Pokemon that don't gain any strength later on.

Click to expand...

Amen. I won't even bother with training a pokemon unless it is going to do substantial damage. my party is set up to work with each other. for example. sometimes, instead of using my nidoqueen, i will have my tyranitar use sandstorm. KO the opponents first pokemon, and when i get the chance to switch. ill bring out my garchomp. that way i am taking full advantage of her ability. setting your opponent up is really fun.

Post game I generally give a low level pokemon an EXP Share and then fight the Elite 4 a bunch of times until the former low level pokemon can fight them. :)

I tend to train one pokemon to a certain level before training the next party member to that level. until the are all level 60 then I train one with five exp shares to the others against the league until all level 100.

Up until recently, I had never played a single pokemon game (other than one solo challenge) with a set team. I've always worked out of a pool of pokemon, rearranging my team as necessary for whatever I'm doing at the moment and/or whoever I want to use at the moment. Just a couple of weeks ago though, I did a run of Black 2 with a set team. It was... okay, but sort of dull, just as I always suspected it would be. I tried to do another one on Platinum, but I've already gone back to using a pool and rearranging my team. I just enjoy that more.

So... the point is, since I use so many different pokemon, I have to pay attention to training. Partly it's that I have to level grind, but partly it's that, even with level grinding (or as much of it as I can stand), I'm almost always underleveled, and often by a fair ways, so my pokemon need to be as good as possible.

First - nature is crucial. When I'm preparing to catch a pokemon to use in-game, I leave one slot open in my party, then save at the edge of the grass/water/sand/whatever. Then I go around until I find what I'm looking for (usually running from everything else) and catch it, then immediately check its nature. If it's not what I want, I reset and do it again. Some of them are okay with a range of different ones (like a mixed sweeper with a neutral nature - any neutral will do, or something fast and powerful like Mienfoo/Mienshao - either Adamant or Jolly is okay), but others are absolute - Sigilyph MUST be Modest.

If possible, I use a Synchronize lead to force the nature I want. And there are times when I'll catch whatever I can just so long as it's female, then breed for the nature I want, since breeding for nature is often easier than catching for nature. And of course if there's an egg move I want, I do it that way.

Ability matters sometimes, but only if there's one that's clearly better than the other. Scraggy can be either Shed Skin or Moxie, but Marill/Azumarill must be Huge Power.

As far as EV training - I do it if it's convenient, particularly if it's a pokemon I plan on taking to the E4 or using in the post-game. If it's a starter or something from an early route, I don't bother, since it's just too difficult to do it accurately early on. If it's late in the game though, and particularly if it's a pokemon that's relatively low-leveled, I'll usually do it just because I have to level grind it anyway, so I might as well level grind it on things that give the EVs it can best use. For instance, on my current Platinum, I evolved a Vaporeon for my main water, and it was about 5 levels lower than I wanted it to be, so since I needed to level grind it anyway, I went to Lost Tower and did it on Gastlys, so it'd pick up Sp Atk EVs along the way.

And that should definitely be more information than anyone ever wants to read...