Individual Values & Personality

The two hidden numbers behind every Pokémon's stats, gender, nature and more.

Hidden values

Behind the scenes, every Pokémon carries two numbers the games never show you directly: its Individual Values and its Personality Value. Both are rolled at random the moment you meet a wild Pokémon, and neither can be changed afterwards. Between them they decide a long list of traits, from stats and gender to ability, nature and characteristic.

Individual Values (IVs)

IVs are one of the biggest factors in a Pokémon's final stats. They're set at random whenever you encounter a wild Pokémon, and the same goes for gifts and Pokémon hatched from eggs. Once a Pokémon is yours its IVs are locked in, and the games never display the exact numbers.

A Pokémon has six IVs, one each for HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Each one falls somewhere between 0 and 31, and a higher value means a higher stat. Two Pokémon of the same species and level can end up with noticeably different stats purely because of their IVs.

IVs also set the type and power of Hidden Power, so two Pokémon using the same move can get very different results. In Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver, a man in the Game Corner prize exchange (Veilstone City in Platinum, Celadon City in HeartGold and SoulSilver) will tell you which type a Pokémon's Hidden Power would be.

Breeding lets you pass some IVs from parents to their offspring. See the breeding guide for how it works.

Personality Values

The Personality Value arrived in Generation 3 with Ruby and Sapphire. Like IVs, it's a random number assigned when you encounter or receive a Pokémon, and it controls most of what makes that individual Pokémon unique:

Its gender
Whether it's shiny (a 1 in 8192 chance in the games where this applied)
Its ability, for species that have two to choose from
Its nature
Which letter an Unown is
Whether Wurmple evolves into Silcoon or Cascoon
The pattern of spots on a Spinda

Characteristics

Characteristics are the games' way of hinting at a Pokémon's strengths. A short phrase on its summary screen tells you which of its IVs is the highest. If it says "Proud of its power", for example, its Attack IV beats all its others.

Each stat has five possible phrases. Which one appears depends on the value of that top IV: divide it by 5 and the remainder (0 to 4) picks the row in the table below.

HP
- Loves to eat
- Takes plenty of siestas
- Nods off a lot
- Scatters things often
- Likes to relax
Attack
- Proud of its power
- Likes to thrash about
- A little quick tempered
- Likes to fight
- Quick tempered
Defense
- Sturdy body
- Capable of taking hits
- Highly persistent
- Good endurance
- Good perseverance
Sp. Atk
- Highly curious
- Mischievous
- Thoroughly cunning
- Often lost in thought
- Very finicky
Sp. Def
- Strong willed
- Somewhat vain
- Strongly defiant
- Hates to lose
- Somewhat stubborn
Speed
- Likes to run
- Alert to sounds
- Impetuous and silly
- Somewhat of a clown
- Quick to flee

IV mod 5	HP	Attack	Defense	Sp. Atk	Sp. Def	Speed
0	Loves to eat	Proud of its power	Sturdy body	Highly curious	Strong willed	Likes to run
1	Takes plenty of siestas	Likes to thrash about	Capable of taking hits	Mischievous	Somewhat vain	Alert to sounds
2	Nods off a lot	A little quick tempered	Highly persistent	Thoroughly cunning	Strongly defiant	Impetuous and silly
3	Scatters things often	Likes to fight	Good endurance	Often lost in thought	Hates to lose	Somewhat of a clown
4	Likes to relax	Quick tempered	Good perseverance	Very finicky	Somewhat stubborn	Quick to flee

Before Generation 6, two of the HP phrases were translated differently: "Takes plenty of siestas" read "Often dozes off", and "Nods off a lot" read "Often scatters things".