When you level up a Pokemon with a Rare Candy, does the Attack, Defense, Speed, Special, all of that grow as they would had you leveled up by strictly battling?
This is a question that's been bugging me for a while, does anybody have an answer?
Could you explain a little more in detail. I have no idea what you're talking about.
There is a BIG difference between leveling up by Rare Candies and leveling up through battling. The difference has to do with what is termed
Effort Values. Effort Values (EVs) are basically bonus points your Poke earns by battling. Every Poke in the game is assigned an EV in one of the six different stats. For example, battling a Raichu will earn 3 Spd EVs while battling a Wigglytuff will net 3 HP EVs.
Now, once your Poke has gained 4 EV points in a particular stat, that stat will increase by 1 point. There is limit to how many EVs a Poke can earn though. It is 510 points. There is also a limit to how many EVs a Poke can earn in one particular stat. That is 255 points. So, essentially you could max out two stats. I will advise you though to NEVER put 255 points in one stat as that is just a waste. Since it takes 4 points to increase a stat by 1 point, if you do the math you will see that 255 doesn't go into 4, but 252 does. That leaves 3 wasted points that you could put somewhere else. If you were to max two stats, you should use the 252 / 252 / 6 spread. That is 63 extra points in two stats and 1 point in a third. You are still wasting 2 points, but that is better than 6.
Now for the bad news. In the game, there is no possible way to track how many EVs a Poke has learned or in which stat they have been learned. That is something you must do on your own. I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use and I also use metalkid's offline pokemon program to help too. The game can only help in two areas. The first is visiting the Energy Guru's wife in Slateport. If you have a Poke that has earned 510 total EV points, she will give an Effort Ribbon for your trouble. Woopdee-freaking-do, right? The other area is the Happiness Berries in Emerald (#21-#26) will decrease 10 EVs of the corresponding stat while increasing its Happiness. If you save the game first and then start feeding your Poke one of the berries and count how many berries it took to say the EVs won't go any lower, and then restart the game, you have a pretty good idea of how many EVs have been added to that stat. Repeat as necessary for the others stats.
So what does all this really mean? Let me break it down for you. Let's say that you and I both have a Lv5 Bagon with an Adamant Nature. You are going to feed your Bagon 45 Rare Candies until it evolves into Salamence. I am going to battle in-game until it evolves into Salamence. However, I am only going to battle Pokes that increase Atk EVs and Spd EVs. So, at Lv50, here is your Salamence's stats:
HP: 155
Atk: 154
Def: 85
SAtk: 103
SDef: 85
Spd: 105
Not too bad, right? Well, let's take a quick look at my Salamence:
HP: 155
Atk: 188
Def: 85
SAtk: 103
SDef: 85
Spd: 136
See the difference? Well, we aren't finished yet. Now that my EV training has been completed, we are both going to use RCs to raise our Salamence to Lv100. Once again, here are the stats of your Lv100 Adamant Salamence:
HP: 300
Atk: 302
Def: 165
SAtk: 202
SDef: 165
Spd: 205
Pretty impressive. Well, until you see my stats:
HP: 301
Atk: 371
Def: 165
SAtk: 202
SDef: 165
Spd: 268
So, with EV training in Atk and Spd (and 6 points in HP), my Salamence has 63 more points in both Atk and Spd (and 1 point in HP). That can be the difference between getting a OHKO or not. This also shows you why Salamence is a much better physical attacker than a special attacker. Even with a Modest nature that -Atk, its Atk stat will still be the same as the SAtk stat. Don't forget that Salamence can hold either the Choice Band to increase its Atk by 10% or it learn Dragon Dance, which will increase both its Atk and Spd. Physical Salamence wins in a landslide.
So, aside from the little rant at the end, that is EVs in a nutshell.
