Unfortunately, Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver removed the Vs. Seeker that had been around in FireRed & LeafGreen as well as the trio of Sinnoh games, meaning fighting against wild Pokémon is the primary method of EV Training in these two games.
As with Diamond, Pearl & Platinum, you’ll want a set of the Power Items and, if you’re lucky, the Pokérus. The Macho Brace can also be used, but it’s much slower than using the Power Items.
EV Training Spots
There are potentially other options that involve setting your DS’s date and time to a specific time and day of the week so you can rematch Trainers using the Pokégear, but this can be a bit of a pain to set up. These encounters may later be added to the guide, but for now, recommended wild Pokémon are included.
HP
- Slowpoke (Slowpoke Well 1F — 100% while surfing) gives 1 HP EV.
Attack
- In Cerulean City and Routes 4, 24, and 25, Goldeen (90%) and Seaking (10%) can both be found while surfing. Goldeen gives 1 Attack EV while Seaking gives 2 Attack EVs.
- They are also very low level (5–10), making them easy for any Pokémon to EV Train against.
- Higher level encounters can be found on Routes 9 and 10 (10–15) as well as Route 42 and Mt. Mortar (10–30).
Defense
- Tangela (Route 21 — 90–95% in the tall grass) gives 1 Defense EV.
Special Attack
- Psyduck and Golduck both give Special Attack EVs and can be found while surfing in Route 6 (levels 5–10), Ilex Forest (levels 5–20), or Route 35 (levels 10–25). Psyduck gives 1 Special Attack EV and appears 90% of the time at those locations while Golduck gives 2 Special Attack and appears 10% of the time.
Special Defense
- Tentacool and Tentacruel both give Special Defense EVs and can be found in most areas by surfing. Tentacool gives 1 Special Defense EV and while Tentacruel gives 2 Special Defense EVs.
- In HeartGold only, Route 41 is a particularly good place as Mantine can also be found there, which gives 2 Special Defense EVs and appears 10% of the time, while Tentacruel now appears 30% of the time here.
- Otherwise, Cherrygrove City and Cianwood City are decent spots that are close to a Pokémon Center and have fairly low-level Tentacool and Tentacruel, which appear 90% and 10% of the time respectively.
Speed
- Rattata (Sprout Tower — 100% except at night) gives 1 Speed EV. It has only a 15% encounter rate at night, though.
- Diglett (Diglett’s Cave — 90%) and Dugtrio (Diglett’s Cave — 10%) both give Speed EVs. Diglett gives 1 Speed EV while Dugtrio gives 2 Speed EVs. Be wary that Arena Trap will prevent you from fleeing.
How Many EVs You’ll Actually Gain
It’s important to keep in mind that all of the numbers listed above for how many EVs each Pokémon give are their base yield, so that’s before any multipliers or bonuses. The actual number you’ll get should be much higher than that.
Here’s a little cheatsheet for how much EVs you’ll gain (the base EV yield is the number you see listed in the encounters):
- If you have no Macho Brace, Power Item, or Pokérus…
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 1, you’ll get 1 EV each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 2, you’ll get 2 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 3, you’ll get 3 EVs each.
- If you have the Macho Brace but no Pokérus or the Pokérus but no Macho Brace…
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 1, you’ll get 2 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 2, you’ll get 4 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 3, you’ll get 6 EVs each.
- If you have the Macho Brace and the Pokérus…
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 1, you’ll get 4 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 2, you’ll get 8 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 3, you’ll get 12 EVs each.
- If you have a Power Item but no Pokérus…
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 1, you’ll get 5 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 2, you’ll get 6 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 3, you’ll get 7 EVs each.
- If you have a Power Item and the Pokérus…
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 1, you’ll get 10 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 2, you’ll get 12 EVs each.
- If the Pokémon’s base EV yield is 3, you’ll get 14 EVs each.