Individual Values (Metal Generation)

Pokémon Gold and Silver built upon the foundation laid by the original games, refining existing mechanics and introducing new ones. The use of Individual values (IVs) expanded to new uses compared to their color generation counterpart.

This article focuses specifically on the key differences in how IVs function in the metal generation compared to the color generation.

The Special stat split

One of the most fundamental changes to stats was the splitting of the single Special stat from the color generation into distinct stats: Special Attack and Special Defense.

The prior generation used a single Special IV (0–15) to calculate the Special stat. In the metal generation, this single underlying Special IV is used for both Special Attack and Special Defense. This means the two stats will always have the same IV.

This shared IV allows for backwards compatability when trading Pokemon between the color generate and metal generation titles.

Expansion of the gender split

Gender is expanded beyond Nidoran, giving each Pokémon species a gender ratio. When a Pokémon’s Attack individual value is on the lower end of the ratio, the Pokémon is generally female. On the higher end, generally male.

Alternate-colored shiny Pokémon

Another major addition is shiny Pokémon, rare alternate-colored Pokémon that sparkle at the start of battle.

Whether a Pokémon is determined by its IVs. A Pokémon is shiny when it meets these IV criteria:

• Attack IV = 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, or 15
• Defense IV = 10
• Speed IV = 10
• Special IV = 10

This spread of required IVs results in an 1 in 8,192 chance of a wild Pokémon being shiny.

As the hit point IV is calculated based on the other IVs, a shiny Pokémon’s hit point IV will always be either 0 or 8.

Introduction of breeding

One of the most impactful new features in the metal generation is breeding. Breeding allows IVs to be inherited from parent Pokémon, reducing the random element in determining how strong a Pokémon can become.

This introduced the possibility of strategically breeding Pokémon to obtain offspring with desirable IVs, rather than relying solely on luck with wild encounters.

The offspring inherits the Defense IV from the parent of the opposite gender, or Ditto. The Special IV has a 50% chance of being the same or offset by 8. When offset, a lower IV increases by 8 points, and a higher IV decreases by 8 points.

If two Pokémon have the same Defense IV and their Special IVs are the same or offset by 8 points, the two Pokémon are considered potentially related. In this situation, and egg will not appear.

A wild Pokémon has a 1 in 65,536 chance of having perfect IVs. When using a Ditto with a 15 for Defense and a 7 or 15 in Special, the possibility of the offsping having perfect IVs is 1 in 512. When inheriting stats without a Ditto, the gender of the baby impacts which parent it inherits from, decreasing the chances of having perfect IVs.

An egg’s individual values are set when the egg is first generated.

Breeding for shiny Pokémon

By breeding a parent with IVs of 10 for Defense and a 2 or 10 for Special, it is possible for the offspring to be be shiny.

The best chance of hatching a shiny offspring to a parent with these stats is when one parent is Ditto or the offspring’s gender ratio is a 100% male or 100% female. These give the most control, with a 1 in 64 chance of the offspring being shiny.

Without a Ditto, the gender ratio of the offsping Pokémon factors into the equation. Only one parent can have shiny-compatible stats, so the likelyhood of the correct parent passing down its IVs decreases.

Finding the perfect shiny-breeding parent

A Ditto is the best vehicle to pass IVs down in hope for a shiny offspring. Because you only need the Defense IV to be 10 (a 1 in 16 chance) and the Special IV can be either 2 or 10 (a 1 in 8 chance), you have a 1 in 128 chance of finding a compatible Ditto.

There are a few color generation locations where it is easy to encounter Ditto. Take a lead Pokémon at a specific level and use a Repel to encounter only Ditto.

You want the Ditto’s stats to be:

Factoring for the pseudo-random number generator used for encountering wild Pokemon in the color generation, you have a slightly higher chance of finding a compatible Ditto by searching in Cerulean Cave 2F in Red/Green (Japan) and Red/Blue (international) have the hightest rate. The second best is the same location in Yellow. However, this only increases your chances from 0.78% to 0.89% (give or take).

Aside from Ditto, the guaranteed shiny Gyarados at the Lake of Rage always passes down shiny-compatible Defense and Special IVs to an opposite gender offspring. With a little bit of mapping out egg groups, it’s possible to get the shiny-compatible spread Pokémon not directly compatible with Gyarados.

Creating a shiny Ditto

With a little bit of trading back and forth, you can use the guaranteed shiny Gyarados to create a shiny Ditto:

1. Catch the shiny Gyarados in either Gold, Silver, or Crystal.
2. Trade the shiny Gyarados to Red, Green, Blue, or Yellow.
3. Teach Gyarados Mimic from TM31.
   • TM31 is obtained in Saffron City by giving Copycat a Poké Doll.
4. Battle a wild Ditto.
5. Mimic the move “Transform”.
   • In the color generation, Mimic lets you select which move to copy.
6. Wild Ditto transforms into a Gyarados knowing Transform.
   • Transform stores the Ditto’s original IVs so it can copy Gyarados’s.
7. Transform Gyarados into the Wild Ditto.
   • It’s possible this step isn’t necessary.
8. Wild Ditto transforms into Gyarados.
   • Transform stores the “shiny” IVs, overwriting the original stored IVs.
9. Catch Wild Ditto.
   • The stored “shiny” IVs are set as the Ditto’s IVs.
10. The Ditto’s HP bar may appear glitchy due to being based on its original HP. Heal the Ditto at a Pokémon Center to fix this.

If successful, the Wild Ditto’s Defense, Speed, and Special will all be the same. This is due to Ditto’s stats all having the same base stat value, and the IVs copied over from shiny Gyarados all being 10.

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