In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald, fighting against wild Pokémon is the name of the game. Thankfully, there are a lot of decent training spots where you are nearly guaranteed to fight the Pokémon you need.
These games don’t have the Power Items, so you’ll need to depend on the Macho Brace to speed up training, as well as the Pokérus if you are fortunate enough to have it.
Remember that if you earn 1 EV from a Pokémon, it will be 2 EVs if you have either the Macho Brace or the Pokérus, and it will be 4 EVs if you have both. Likewise, for 2 EV Pokémon, it is 4 EVs and 8 EVs instead.
EV Training Spots
Below you will find recommended spots and Pokémon for EV Training. The Pokémon’s name is bolded and the location is usually in parentheses, along with the encounter rate. These recommendations focus on giving you the highest rate of encounter for the respective Effort Value you’re training, although sometimes alternate options may be available.
HP
- Whismur (Rusturf Tunnel — 100%) gives 1 HP EV.
Attack
- Corphish (Route 102, Route 117, or Petalburg City — all 100% with Super Rod) gives 1 Attack EV.
Defense
- Clamperl (Underwater Route 124 or Underwater Route 126 — 65% with Dive) gives 1 Defense EV.
- In Pokémon Emerald only, the Magma Hideout has Geodude (55%) that gives 1 Defense EV, and both Graveler (15%) and Torkoal (30%) that give 2 Defense EVs each. This may be harder to count, but there’s a 100% chance of getting Defense EVs from fights in this area.
Special Attack
- Numel (Route 112 — 75%) gives 1 Special Attack EV.
- Spinda (Route 113 — 70%) gives 1 Special Attack EV.
Special Defense
- Tentacool (Abandoned Ship — 99% while Surfing) gives 1 Special Defense EV.
- Tentacruel (also in the Abandoned Ship — 1% while Surfing) gives 2 Special Defense EVs.
Speed
- Wingull (Route 104 — 95% while Surfing) gives 1 Speed EV.
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 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.