POKEMON EXPERIENCE POINTS

What are Experience Points?

About

Have you ever noticed that after every time your Pokemon defeats an enemy Pokemon, your Pokemon earns Experience Points? Better yet, would you like to know "Why?" or "How?"? Experience Points are yet another value that Pokemon have that can make them stronger based on the value, but you can't take them away.

Why?

Why do I need them? Simple. In order to level up a Pokemon, they need to earn it. After every battle, they gain points based on the enemy. When you get enough points, you level up by one. As you may have noticed, it gets harder to level up after each significant level. I must say, training all the way to Lv. 100 isn't so easy. It can take time, effort, and sometimes, even hard work. I must also say, it does give me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when I know that I worked my hardest on that Pokemon.

Cheating your Pokemon to that level is frowned upon, and it doesn't give you as much pleasure or nice, fuzzy feelings. It also doesn't help you statwise. Yes, boosting Experience also helps you with gaining stats and makes it easier for you to earn those wanted EVs.

How do I Earn Them?

The Basic Facts

As mentioned, after each battle, your Pokemon earns Experience Points if they took part in it. Even if your Pokemon didn't make a move, you can still earn these points. However, if your Pokemon faints, no Exp. Points are earned. However, if it is revived, it will still gain a share of EXP (obviously, not the full share, since another Pokemon has entered the battle). Similar to earning EVs, Experience comes from the individual Pokemon you are battling.  Let's say that you wanted to level up a newly hatched Charmander. An easy way to level it up would be to put it first in your party and go battle the Elite Four. Since it's first in the party, it will go into battle first. Switch out Charmander for a trained Pokemon on your first turn and KO your opponent. Charmander has earned Exp. Points as well! Simple?

Also, more than one Pokemon can earn these points. If more than one Pokemon battles, the points are split evenly between them, then you modify it with boosters.

Extra Boosters

Let's say you wanted faster and better ways to level up. Here are the ways to do it.

Lucky Egg: This Hold Item grants 1.5x the Exp. Points earned in a battle, but only if the Holder takes place. These can only be found as Held Items on wild Chansey in the FRLG Safari Zone. Good luck finding one!

Exp. Share: This Hold Item grants half of the Exp. Points earned in a battle to the Holder, even if the Holder didn't take place! It won't work if the Holder has fainted though. This is given to you by Devon Corporation's Head in RSE, or by Professor Oak's Assistant in FRLG.

Traded Pokemon: Pokemon that have been traded to you by a friend also gain extra Exp. Points. These gain 1.5 times the normal Exp. Points earned.

Rare Candy: This does not really increase your Pokemon's Exp. Points earned. It only makes your Pokemon go up to the next level by adding the needed number of Exp. Points to go to the next level. Your Pokemon's Exp. Points will set to the average of the next level, just starting out. These can be found in many areas and should be used wisely.

Day Care: This has nothing to do with battling. This may also be one of the easiest or hardest ways to level up a Pokemon. While a Pokemon is in Day Care, every step that you take raises that Pokemon's Exp. Points by 1. Personally, I'm not going to walk a million steps just to get a Pokemon to Level 100. It also has its costs in money, however.

The Equation

Now that you know the basis of how they're earned, you might want to know the facts of the math behind the data. I'll explain the parts of it after you see it so it's easier to refer back. Here it is:

Enemy Experience Stat * Enemy Level Stat * Enemy Tame Stat ÷ 7 = Exp

Note: This Equation is not entirely accurate, but it will still be very close to the actual number.

Okay. First, the Enemy Experience Stat is a special stat given to each individual species of Pokemon  and is applied here. Next, is the level of the enemy. Next, is either a 1 or a 1.5 on whether your enemy is a trainer's pokemon. If it's wild, it's 1, if it's a Trainer's, it's 1.5. Finally, divide all this by 7, add any applied boosters, split evenly between Pokemon that battled, round them, and you've got about how many points each will earn from the battle.

When Can't I Earn Them?

In certain places or conditions, you don't earn Experience Points. Here are the ways that you won't earn them.

Level 100: Ironically, some people seem to forget there Pokemon are at this level already and wonder "Why didn't it gain Experience?". Simple. It doesn't gain Experience at Level 100, it can gain EVs, however. For the purposes of calculating experience shared among your Pokemon, a Level 100 Pokemon is treated the same as a Pokemon that has fainted.

Battle Frontier: Like it says on the rules of these competitions, you do not earn Experience here. This also goes for other Pokemon Facilities such as these. (Trainer Tower, Battle Tents, etc.)

Multiplayer Battles: As in the Battle Frontier, you can't earn Exp. Points from a Multiplayer Link Battle, that is with the exception of battling in your friend's Secret Base.

Faint: Again, your Pokemon does not earn Experience when it has fainted.

Different Types of Pokemon and Exp. Points

How Hard?

On certain different species of Pokemon, you may have noticed that it takes more Exp. Points to get to a certain level than other Pokemon. An example would be: Illumise needs much more Exp. Points to get to Level 100 than Volbeat does. However, each "family" of Pokemon needs the same amount of Exp. Points to reach Level 100. An example would be: Charmander needs the same amount as Charizard.

So, I've got another small list of the difficulties and the Exp. needed for level 100. The difficulties are:

Training Tips

In this section, I will list ways that you can level up your Pokemon quickly or in a unique way.

Elite Four: In my opinion, one of the definite easiest ways to level up. Just go back and face the Elite Four again.

Gabby & Ty: You know those reporters that keep on appearing and wanting to battle you over and over? Just fight them constantly in Double Battles. Bring along a strong water Pokemon that knows Surf as Second in your Party and put your to-be-trained Pokemon in the First Part. Win the battle with a Surf attack, and go to the next route the two trainers appear on. Simple.

Secret Bases: This way to train can be long but a good way of training Pokemon. Basically, all you do is make multiple Secret Bases by mixing records with multiple trainers who have the same Pokemon with them that give out a lot of Experience.

Bomb Squad: To train up a Pokemon this way, take the Pokemon you want to train as first in your lineup. Then, switch out to a powerful Pokemon that knows Explosion or Selfdestruct. Then, use the attack (making sure the enemy faints), and the Pokemon you want to train gains all the points for that battle.

Harmless Enemies: To do it this way, just make sure that the enemy you are going against has a moveset with attacks that won't affect you at all. (Splash on Gyarados, Snore on whoever, or even Explosion vs. You using Protect/Detect/Endure) Just make sure that you can at least KO your opponent.

FAQs

Right now, you might be wondering a few things that I may have missed along the way so here are some quick explanations:

Q: Which Pokemon has the highest Exp. Stat?
A: Actually, based on the list, it's a tie at 255 for Blissey and Chansey.

Q: Does PokeRus affect the way I earn Exp. Points?
A: No. It only doubles EVs you gain.