Spinoff/Mobile [Data] IVs and how they work in Pokemon Go

Orithan · Dec 14, 2018

Screenshot_20200226-230628_Pokmon GO.jpg

A perfect IV Machamp, evolved from a Machop caught in the wild. Screenshot taken ingame.

What are IVs:
Each Pokemon in Pokemon Go have three stats; Attack, Defense and Stamina, which are used to determine their Combat Power (CP). These vary a bit between each Pokemon of the same species, due to Individual Values (or IVs for short) which are rolled randomly to ensure no two Pokemon completely alike. Each stat can have an IV of between 0 and 15, with 0 being the lowest and 15 being the highest. Naturally, finding Pokemon with high IVs is important because they will have better overall stats than one with low IVs, but depending on your time and resources this may not always be viable.
A Pokemon with IVs of 15 rolled in every stat is said to have perfect IVs while a Pokemon with 0 rolled in every stat is said to have the worst possible IVs. This makes a significant difference in the Pokemon's CP and emphasizes on the search for high IVs. If you capture lots of Pokemon, I would suggest keeping only high IV Pokemon and transferring all others because it reduces the clutter in your Pokemon storage - Your storage will quickly fill up otherwise.

How do IVs work:
Each IV on a Pokemon is randomly rolled; evenly from 0 to 15 in most cases. This results in a total of 16³, or 4096, possible IV combinations. This makes searching for high IV Pokemon tedious and makes monsters like the 100% IV wild Machop I pictured especially rare.
Here is the break down of the various categories of IV spreads and their appearance rate for regular wild encounters:

Code:

Normal wild Pokemon. Full range of IVs are rolled.
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| % (total) IV       | Quality       | Freq. | Cum.  | % Freq. | Cum.    |
|                    |               |       | Freq. |         | % Freq. |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| 0% (0)         IV: | Worst         |     1 |     1 |   0.024 |   0.024 |
| 1-15% (1-7)    IV: | Terrible      |   119 |   120 |   2.907 |   2.930 |
| 15-30% (8-13)  IV: | Bad           |   440 |   560 |  10.742 |  13.672 |
| 31-50% (14-22) IV: | Adequate      |  1488 |  2048 |  36.328 |  50.000 |
| 51-60% (23-27) IV: | Above Average |   920 |  2968 |  22.461 |  72.461 |
| 61-80% (28-35) IV: | Good          |   908 |  3876 |  22.168 |  94.721 |
| 81-90% (36-40) IV: | Great         |   185 |  4061 |   4.517 |  99.146 |
| 91-99% (41-44) IV: | Excellent     |    34 |  4095 |   0.830 |  99.976 |
| 100% (45)      IV: | Perfect       |     1 |  4096 |   0.024 | 100.000 |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+

Freq.: Frequency. Number of combinations which fall into this range.
Cum. Freq.: Cumulative Frequency. Total number of combinations from before this point are added up to this.
% Freq.: Percentage Frequency. Percentage of combinations which fall into this range.
Cum. % Freq.: Cumulative Percentage Frequency. Total percentages of combinations from before this point are added up to this.

As you can see here, the chance of getting high IVs are relatively low, with only a 5.279% chance of rolling a Pokemon with an IV score of over 80% if they were caught in the wild under normal conditions. This gets even more narrower if you want more than 90% IVs like I do, at a bleak 0.854% chance of obtaining those IVs per roll.

However, there are conditions that tweak the IV rolling system, enforcing a higher roll floor than 0 and thus raising the likelihood of getting high IV Pokemon.
During weather events, wild Pokemon with the types corresponding to the weather appear more often and are higher-levelled. This also influences the IV rolls, causing the game to roll IVs between 4 and 15 for each stat on wild Pokemon spawned during their respective weather.

Code:

Weather-boosed Wild Pokemon. IVs 4-15 are rolled per stat.
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| % (total) IV       | Quality       | Freq. | Cum.  | % Freq. | Cum.    |
|                    |               |       | Freq. |         | % Freq. |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| 0% (0)         IV: | Worst         |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 1-15% (1-7)    IV: | Terrible      |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 15-30% (8-13)  IV: | Bad           |     4 |     4 |   0.232 |   0.232 |
| 31-50% (14-22) IV: | Adequate      |   282 |   286 |  16.319 |  16.551 |
| 51-60% (23-27) IV: | Above Average |   470 |   756 |  27.199 |  43.750 |
| 61-80% (28-35) IV: | Good          |   752 |  1508 |  43.518 |  87.269 |
| 81-90% (36-40) IV: | Great         |   185 |  1693 |  10.706 |  97.974 |
| 91-99% (41-44) IV: | Excellent     |    34 |  1727 |   1.968 |  99.942 |
| 100% (45)      IV: | Perfect       |     1 |  1728 |   0.058 | 100.000 |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| The minimum possible IV score for wild Pokemon receiving weather       |
| bonuses is 12, or 26.7% IV score                                       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

When catching Pokemon in their boosted weather, there is a 185/1728 (or 10.706%) chance they will have over 80% IV score and a 34/1728 (or 1.986%) chance of rolling over 90% IV score. Much better odds!

Pokemon obtained by hatching, defeating raid bosses and research rewards instead roll 10-15 per stat, resulting in much higher average IV yields.

Code:

Hatched Egg, Raid Boss and Research reward pokemon. IVs 10-15 are rolled per stat
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| % (total) IV       | Quality       | Freq. | Cum.  | % Freq. | Cum.    |
|                    |               |       | Freq. |         | % Freq. |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| 0% (0)         IV: | Worst         |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 1-15% (1-7)    IV: | Terrible      |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 15-30% (8-13)  IV: | Bad           |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 31-50% (14-22) IV: | Adequate      |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 51-60% (22-27) IV: | Above Average |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 61-80% (28-35) IV: | Good          |    56 |    56 |  25.926 |  25.926 |
| 81-90% (36-40) IV: | Great         |   125 |   181 |  57.870 |  83.796 |
| 91-99% (41-44) IV: | Excellent     |    34 |   215 |  15.741 |  99.357 |
| 100% (45)      IV: | Perfect       |     1 |   216 |   0.463 | 100.000 |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| The minimum possible IV score for a hatched Pokemon, raid boss and     |
| research boss and research Pokemon is 30 or 66% IV score               |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

As shown, the odds increase dramatically. These Pokemon have a 160/216 (20/27 or 74.764%) chance of rolling over 80% IV score and a 35/216 (or 16.204%) of rolling over 90% IVs, making them ideal situations you want to hunt for to get high IVs but they are generally rare and difficult to get

There is, at the time of writing, no possible way to directly manipulate the IVs you roll. The only methods of influencing your IV yield are to catch Pokemon during weather conditions where they receive bonuses in, to hatch them, catch them as part of field research, catch them as a raid boss or by purifying them and it is advised to acquire these Pokemon through these methods if possible.

How to check IVs:
Now that you know the rate of obtaining Pokemon in each bracket of IVs, you may be wondering how you can check their IVs. Well, there are two ways of doing so, of which I will briefly go into.
The first way is to have your Pokemon appraised by your team leader. You appraise pokemon by doing the following:

Touch the Pokeball icon on the main screen.
Touch the Pokemon icon.
Select a Pokemon.
Touch the Menu button.
Touch Appraise.
Repeat the previous three steps for as many pokemon as you wish.

A screen pops up showing the Pokemon's IVs in a series of neat gauges, like what is shown in the above screenshot, when you do this. From this, you can read the Pokemon's IVs by reading the gauges. Each segment in the gauge has 5 stages of fill, one for each point in that IV. Each fully filled segment represents 5 points in that IV. If the gauge is full, that pokemon has an IV of 15 in that stat and it becomes pink in colour. If a gauge is fully empty, that pokemon has an IV of 0 in that stat.
Just above the gauges is the star rating the pokemon is assigned; from 0 to 3 star to "4 star". This replaces the old "overall potential" comments the team leader makes. The following IV ratings produce the following star ratings:

Total of 22 or lower (< 50% IV): 0 Star
Total of 23 to 30 (50-66% IV): 1 Star
Total of 31 to 36 (67-80% IV): 2 Star
Total of 37 to 44 (81-99% IV): 3 Star
Total of 45 (100% IV): 3 Star, star background is pink ("4 Star")

More details can be found here. Most of the information about appraisal mentioned here comes from this page.

You can also search for pokemon of a particular "overall potential" rating by searching for their star rating in the search bar in the pokemon menu, as shown below.

Screenshot_20200203-183942_Pokmon GO.jpg

Typing in "4*" brings you the list of 100% IV Pokemon you have. This works for all "Overall Potential" ratings.
There are various search terms you can search for unrelated to IV ratings eg. "Shadow", "Purified", "[Type]" which brings up pokemon that fall under these search criteria

I will not go over the odds of getting optimal IVs for Great Leauge and Ultra Leauge PvP battles in this guide in depth but, as a rule of thumb, you want to search for pokemon that are good in the format you are playing with low Attack IVs and high Defense/Stamina IVs to maximize your statline to stay within the allotted CP.

Sources:
https://pokemongo.fandom.com/wiki/Pokémon_Appraisal (Pokemon Go Wiki)

Team Go Rocket shenanigans are to be covered next post.

Orithan · Feb 26, 2020

Team GO Rocket and IVs

Screenshot_20200227-091119_Pokmon GO.jpg

A Team GO Rocket member. Screenshot taken ingame.

What is Team GO Rocket?:
On July 25^th 2019, Team GO Rocket launched. In a matter not too dissimilar to Pokemon Raids, Team GO Rocket raids pokestops and challenge you to a fight if you happen to spin these stops. Pokestops being raided by them appear corrupted, twitching randomly and flickering with black until you approach them; turning black revealing the Rocket member who is raiding the stop. When you defeat the Rocket member, they leave behind a Shadow Pokemon for you to catch.
Shadow Pokemon roll the full range of IVs evenly just like any other Wild Pokemon but you can purify them to increase all three of their IVs by 2, up to a maximum of 15 in each stat.

Screenshot_20200227-092536_Pokmon GO.jpg

Screenshot_20200227-092558_Pokmon GO.jpg

"The IVs of a Shadow Vulpix; before and after purification. Note the increase in IVs. Screenshots taken ingame"

The rates of getting Purified Pokemon of a specific IV quality:
With this rule in play, let's calculate the rates at which a Shadow Pokemon that will become of a particular IV quality when purified.

Code:

GO Rocket Raid Pokemon when purified, based on the regular appearance rates. Full range of IVs are rolled and then 2 is added to each IV in the result, capping at 15.
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| % (total) IV       | Quality       | Freq. | Cum.  | % Freq. | Cum.    |
|                    |               |       | Freq. |         | % Freq. |
+------------------------------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| 0% (0)         IV: | Worst         |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 1-15% (1-7)    IV: | Terrible      |     4 |     4 |   0.098 |   0.098 |
| 15-30% (8-13)  IV: | Bad           |   116 |   120 |   2.832 |   2.930 |
| 31-50% (14-22) IV: | Adequate      |   879 |   999 |  21.460 |  24.390 |
| 51-60% (23-27) IV: | Above Average |   935 |  1934 |  22.827 |  47.217 |
| 61-80% (28-35) IV: | Good          |  1484 |  3418 |  36.230 |  83.447 |
| 81-90% (36-40) IV: | Great         |   485 |  3903 |  11.841 |  95.288 |
| 91-99% (41-44) IV: | Excellent     |   166 |  4069 |   4.053 |  99.341 |
| 100% (45)      IV: | Perfect       |    27 |  4096 |   0.659 | 100.000 |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| The lowest possible IV score for a Purified Shadow Pokemon is 6, or    |
| 13.3%                                                                  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

As you can see from this chart, the rates of catching a Shadow Pokemon that will have high IVs after purification is significantly higher than catching a random wild Pokemon under the same conditions. Of particuar note is the rate of rolling Pokemon in the highest two brackets: a 90% after purification is almost as high as getting an >80% in the wild and the rate of rolling a 100% is almost as high as getting a >90% in the wild.

Weather Boost:
The Shadow Pokemon left behind can be weather boosted if they are left behind in the appropriate weather, rolling the regular Weather Boosted IVs. This is much more uncommon than you would expect though, as the weather does not influence the Pokemon Team GO Rocket raids and hideouts use. This makes weather boosted Shadow Pokemon an uncommon occurrence.

Code:

GO Rocket Raid Pokemon with Weather Boost when purified. IVs 4-15 are rolled and then 2 is added to each IV in the result, capping at 15.
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| % (total) IV       | Quality       | Freq. | Cum.  | % Freq. | Cum.    |
|                    |               |       | Freq. |         | % Freq. |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| 0% (0)         IV: | Worst         |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 1-15% (1-7)    IV: | Terrible      |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 15-30% (8-13)  IV: | Bad           |     0 |     0 |   0.000 |   0.000 |
| 31-50% (14-22) IV: | Adequate      |    35 |    35 |   2.025 |   2.025 |
| 51-60% (23-27) IV: | Above Average |   191 |   226 |  11.053 |  13.079 |
| 61-80% (28-35) IV: | Good          |   824 |  1050 |  47.685 |  60.764 |
| 81-90% (36-40) IV: | Great         |   485 |  1535 |  28.067 |  88.831 |
| 91-99% (41-44) IV: | Excellent     |   166 |  1701 |   9.606 |  98.438 |
| 100% (45)      IV: | Perfect       |    27 |  1728 |   2.113 | 100.000 |
+--------------------+---------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+
| The lowest possible IV score for a Shadow Pokemon caught with Weather  |
| Boost and Purified is 18, or 40%                                       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Similarly to before, the rates of rolling high IVs after purifying is much higher compared to simply catching them in the wild. You almost have a 40% chance of rolling a >80% Pokemon or a 10% chance of rolling a >90% IV Pokemon after purification with Weather Boost. Really good odds!

For the Shadow Pokemon the Admins leave behind and the legendaries which Giovanni leaves behind on defeat, you may want to consider waiting for a weather in which these Pokemon will be boosted in if possible. Their hideouts appear at 6 AM and disappear at 10 PM local time, giving you plenty of time to wait if the hideout is near your home.

Determining if your Shadow Pokemon will become a high IV Pokemon when purified:
Now that we've explained this, you may be wondering how to identify if a Pokemon would become a high IV Pokemon when purified before doing so. For the sake of this guide, we will be determining if a Pokemon will fall into the three highest brackets shown here after purifying: >80%, >90% and 100%
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, purifying a Shadow Pokemon will raise each of its IVs by 2 to a maximum of 15 per IV. With this, simply add 2 to each IV while not going above 15 in each IV to get its purified IVs and then add the total of the three IVs together to get your result.
Reminder for values to each IV bracket:

100%: 45
91-99%: 41-44
81-90%: 36-40

If their IVs would add up to these respective numbers after purifying, that means you have a pokemon that reaches those IVs after purifying them.

And that is it for this portion of this guide. If any more features that manipulate IVs come into play, I may continue this.

Spinoff/Mobile [Data] IVs and how they work in Pokemon Go

Orithan

Orithan