ADV mechanics overview

This page aims to list the most important mechanics introduced in the third generation, which began with the Ruby and Sapphire versions, released in North America in March 2003, followed by the first generation's remakes FireRed and LeafGreen in September 2004. A few months later, in May 2005, Emerald version was also released, following the storyline of the Ruby and Sapphire games. Unlike what you'll find on the ADV Banlist page, everything here is directly tied to the games' core mechanics and does not depend on specific community rules. Therefore, everything described below applies both on cartridge and simulators.

IVs and EVs

DVs and Stat Exp are replaced by IVs and EVs.

IVs, or Individual Values, are values ranging from 0 to 31 for each of a Pokémon’s six stats. These values are determined when the Pokémon is caught or upon hatching. From Generation 3 to Generation 5 included, they could not be modified. From Generation 7 onward, however, they can be maximized for a level 100 Pokémon through the use of Gold and Silver Bottle Caps. In practical terms, 1 IV equals 1 stat point at level 100. Therefore, a Pokémon with 31 Attack IVs will have 31 more Attack points at level 100 than the same Pokémon with 0 IVs.

EVs, or Effort Values, are values ranging from 0 to 252 for each of a Pokémon’s six stats. When a Pokémon is caught or upon hatching, its EVs are equal to 0. As the Pokémon battles, it gains EVs depending on the Pokémon it defeats. A Pokémon can only have a total of 508 EVs overall. At level 100, 4 EVs are equivalent to 1 stat point. Therefore, a Pokémon with 252 EVs in a stat will have 63 more points in that stat than the same Pokémon with 0 EVs.

Natures

A Nature provides a 10% boost to one stat (excluding HP) in exchange for a 10% reduction to another. There are 25 in total (the bolded ones are the most commonly used):

Abilities

Abilities provide special powers that may have an effect during battle. You can click here to get more information on the subject and see the list of the most commonly used abilities in competitive play.

Spikes

It is now possible to use up to 3 layers of Spikes. Damage is dealt as follows:

Critical hits

From now on, stat changes always favor the attacking Pokémon. Therefore, when calculating damage for a critical hit :

• the attacking Pokémon’s attack drops are ignored, while its boosts are retained.
• the opposing Pokémon’s defense boosts, as well as the effects of screens (Reflect and Light Screen), are ignored, while its defense drops are retained.

The halving of the Attack stat caused by burn, however, is still taken into account in the damage calculation.

New Weather condition

Hail, the fourth and latest weather condition introduced to date, makes its first appearance:

• can be triggered by the move Hail.
• inflicts 6.25% damage each turn to non-Ice-type Pokémon.
• halves the power of Solar Beam.

Status Condition Mechanics

Sleep

The move Sleep Talk has a unique mechanic in Generation 3. If, and only if, the Pokémon is switched out while still asleep, the turns during which it used Sleep Talk are not counted toward the progression of its sleep turns.

Also note that if Rest is selected through Sleep Talk, the Pokémon will not be healed, unlike in Generation 2.

Freeze

A Pokémon can now attack on the turn it thaws out.

Badly Poisoned

A Pokémon poisoned by the move Toxic will remain badly poisoned even after being switched out.

Burn

Burn no longer directly affects the Pokémon’s Attack stat. Instead, the physical damage it deals is now halved.

Activation timings of residual damage and Leftovers

Unlike in the previous two generations, residual damage caused by poison, burn, weather conditions or Leech Seed now activates at the end of every turn regardless of the situation. In addition, a Pokémon fainting no longer prevents the opposing Pokémon still on the field from taking damage from these status effects.

When a Pokémon faints, the incoming one immediately takes all residual damage for that turn, while also benefiting from the potential Leftovers recovery. This will no longer be the case from Generation IV onward.

Contact moves

From now on, offensive moves have an additional property: they may or may not make contact with the target. In Generation 3, this has only a limited impact, most notably with Breloom's ability Effect Spore, which has a chance to poison, paralyze, or put to sleep any Pokémon that makes contact with it. However, over the generations, it has become increasingly important, particularly with the introduction of the abilities Rough Skin (Gen 4) and Iron Barbs (Gen 5), the item Rocky Helmet (Gen 5), and the growing popularity of abilities such as Flame Body, Static, and Poison Point.

Reflect and Light Screen

Unlike in Generation 2, where these moves doubled the defenses of all of the user’s Pokémon, they now halve the damage dealt during damage calculation.

Explosion and Self-Destruct

Using the moves Explosion or Self-Destruct no longer ends the turn, unlike in the first two generations.

Stats are no longer capped

Unlike in the first two generations, stats are no longer capped at 999 when a Pokémon uses boosting moves.

Summary

A red box means that the feature is absent from that generation, while a green box indicates that it is present.