Experience Points, commonly shortened to either EXP or Exp. Points, are something that Pokémon gain after knocking out an enemy Pokémon, or sometimes through other methods. They are used to determine a Pokémon’s level, with each Pokémon needing a certain amount of EXP in order to attain a certain level.
The amount of EXP a Pokémon needs for each level varies by Pokémon species and is determined by something known as the Growth Rate (or Exp. Curve), with six possible EXP Growth Rates. Some Pokémon, such as Legendary Pokémon, require more EXP in order to reach the same level as other Pokémon. This is explained further down.
EXP Gained After Battle
The primary way of gaining EXP is by fighting. Every time an enemy Pokémon is knocked out, any Pokémon that participated in the fight against that Pokémon (meaning it was sent out against that Pokémon for at least one turn) will receive a share of the EXP from that Pokémon.
In Generation I–V, if more than one Pokémon would gain EXP, that EXP would be divided evenly among all participants. For example, if an enemy Pokémon gave 1000 EXP and two Pokémon were sent out while fighting it, each would gain 500 EXP. Any modifiers (except for the Trainer Battle modifier), such as the bonuses for traded Pokémon or the Lucky Egg, are applied after this split, so a traded Pokémon would receive 750 EXP while the other Pokémon would receive 500 EXP. (Also, Generation V introduced scaled EXP gains relative to the Pokémon’s level versus the enemy’s level, which is explained later, so these modifiers are also applied after the split.)
Starting in Generation VI, any Pokémon that participated in the fight against the knocked out Pokémon at any point receives the full amount of EXP—it is not split or divided. As such, in these later generations, it can often times be beneficial to send out Pokémon even for just one turn in a battle to make sure it gets EXP, since it is effectively a bonus rather than splitting it up.
Switch Training for Weaker Pokémon
One popular, smart tactic for training up newly-caught or freshly-hatched Pokémon is to “switch train” the Pokémon so it can gain EXP. Since weaker Pokémon may not be able to take down wild Pokémon on their own, they may have difficulty gaining EXP.
To remedy that, the switch training process involves leading with the weaker Pokémon, but then immediately switching it out in the first turn of battle to a stronger Pokémon. That way, the weaker Pokémon isn’t at risk of fainting, but still gains EXP.
This process is even more effective in Generation VI and beyond since EXP isn’t split in these generations, meaning both Pokémon will get the full amount of EXP; in earlier generations, it’s still a viable tactic, as your stronger Pokémon are usually doing fine for their level and don’t need EXP as much as the weaker Pokémon.
The Exp. Share
Another very useful way for weaker Pokémon (or more defensive Pokémon that have a harder time fighting wild Pokémon quickly) is to have them hold the Exp. Share item in Generation II–V, or simply turn the Exp. Share Key Item on in Generations VI and VII (in Generation VIII, it is not an item but rather a constant effect and cannot be turned off).
This functions similarly to switch training, except the Pokémon holding the Exp. Share don’t even have to participate in battle—they receive 50% of the EXP from the knocked out Pokémon, before any bonuses. An important note about that: this split is separate from the split for participating Pokémon, meaning if you have two Pokémon that participated in a fight and a third that didn’t but is holding the Exp. Share, the two Pokémon would each receive 25% of the EXP (in Generation II–V) while the Pokémon with the Exp. Share would receive 50%. This can be further boosted by leading with the Pokémon holding the Exp. Share and switching out to a stronger Pokémon to finish the job; the Exp. Share Pokémon would receive 75% of the EXP while the other just 25%, since it is getting 50% from the Exp. Share and then half of the remaining split (25%) on top of that.
Of course, in Generation VI and beyond, this is completely unnecessary as the Exp. Share works for every Pokémon and doesn’t split the EXP gain. However, for Generation VI and beyond, a Pokémon still receives only 50% of the EXP unless it participated in the battle. If it wasn’t on the field, it will only get half of what Pokémon that were on the field received, so it still pays to fight in these later generations. Also, unlike earlier generations, if the Exp. Share is on and a Pokémon participates in the fight, it gets 100% of the EXP rather than 50%, since it isn’t being split anywhere else (like the 75% vs. 25% example above).
Scaled EXP
Introduced in Generation V, and then brought back for Generation VII and VIII, “scaled EXP” (also known as proportional EXP, relative EXP, or level-based EXP) is a mechanic that rewards more EXP to Pokémon of a lower level than the enemy Pokémon and actually rewards less EXP to Pokémon of a higher level than the enemy Pokémon.
For instance, let’s say you have a level 40 Azumarill and a level 60 Serperior. Both Pokémon participated in a battle against a level 50 Audino. The level 40 Azumarill would receive much more EXP than the level 60 Serperior would, since it is 10 levels lower than the enemy Pokémon while the Serperior is 10 levels higher.
It’s important to remember that every enemy Pokémon will have its initial EXP pool when it’s knocked out, and then each participating Pokémon has its scaled EXP modifier based on that pool. What does that mean? It means it doesn’t matter which Pokémon you knock out an enemy Pokémon with, as it always has the same initial value of EXP.
For instance, let’s say a level 50 Azumarill knocks out a level 50 Audino, and let’s say it gives exactly 1000 EXP for that. That’s its initial EXP pool: 1000. If a level 50 Azumarill knocks out that Audino but there was also a level 50 Serperior (same level) in the fight, the EXP pool is split in two (in Generation V only!) and then each Pokémon gets 500 EXP. If the Azumarill was level 40 like the earlier example, it still gets the 500 EXP to start with, but then gets that value modified by its level, so it might end up getting 750 EXP while the level 50 Serperior gets 500 EXP, and if Serperior is level 60, it might get just 350 EXP instead of 500 EXP. What doesn’t change is that the Audino still gave out 1000 EXP for its initial EXP pool and that value was split up by the number of participants, and then the scaled EXP modifiers take effect.
In Generations VII and VIII, EXP isn’t split, but rather every Pokémon gets the same initial EXP (or 50% of that amount due to the Exp. Share, if the Pokémon didn’t participate in the fight), and then each Pokémon’s actual EXP gain is based on its own bonuses (like the traded Pokémon bonus, Lucky Egg, etc.) as well as the level difference affecting its scaled EXP modifier.
Hopefully that makes sense, as it can be a bit tricky of a concept to grasp!
Experience Tables
Below you’ll find complete EXP tables listing the amount of EXP needed at each level. There are six different tables, each representing a different Growth Rate. To find a Pokémon’s Growth Rate, check the Marriland Pokédex and it will tell you what it is, and then you can use the corresponding table below to see how much EXP it needs for each level.